To Eve it all happened in the blink of an eye. There were no thoughts, no brain talk, no concerns, just a firm hand holding her waist and the rush of air beneath her feet flying by with the bright blurry lights. Everything fell eerily silent, the sky, the earth, even the people whose consistent honking was similarly muted. The lack of sound was like the breath of some omnipotent force, sliding over her skin like burlap.
And then… She wasn’t moving anymore. Extending her small dirt covered hand grabbing the strangers, Eve watched with rapt concentration as the strangers face sharpened into a recognisable shape. The small blonde listened reverently, soft blue eyes taking in every word.
Not going to hurt you? Run? Cheetah?
She had no recollection of what a cheetah was, yet something told her it was fast. The woman was taller and her strides much bigger while Eve could turn and move, move and turn, making her a very speedy little thing to catch. It had given her the upper hand at first. Unfortunately, she knew nothing of New York and that’s how she’d ended up like this.
Nodding (More to herself than the stranger) Eve listened to her instincts, sensing an uneasiness coming from within. Simple deduction however was seized by a well meaning influence, altering a thought here and a synapse there to reflect a kinder outcome. Mitochondria stirred and filtered out the tangible signs of life, from the one presence it could so easily have mistaken from its own, finding in its wake an intriguing pulsation. It was a tingling, a curious benevolent tingling that ran through Eve’s body like a generator; an inky flow that pushed outward to every extremity. It was trying to reach out; to understand, to communicate, to be protected.
Not realising entirely what was going on, salty tears clouded her vision as if the very action had actually instigated the outburst. Seconds later with a cry barely several octaves higher than a whimper, she latched on bravely, clinging for dear life.
There was that stare again with those piercing eyes; Aya tried not to let it get under her skin again and simply couldn't look away from the contact. Her cheeks felt like they would redden in embarrassment if it weren't for the cold weather leaving her skin already a rosy red. For a moment she wondered if the kid was a mute-- but she had cried out when she fell, so that seemed unlikely.
Deaf? she guessed lamely, but found herself perking as the child nodded. Well, whoever raised her sure knew how to keep her quiet. Maybe too much so. Kids were supposed to be rambunctious and loud, it was their only chance to be that way until adulthood slapped them in the face.
Aya eased her grasp on the girl's arm, and crouched down slightly to be level with her. "You understand me, so you gotta be able to talk, right? You're way too young to be out here alone, it's dangerous." Her expression softened briefly, until she suddenly noticed large tears forming and spilling from the blonde's gentle blue eyes. "H-hey," the cop began awkwardly, but was completely surprised to feel the child press into her.
Something instantly moved over her, hot and startling, but soft. Memories of Maya snuggling against her after a bad nightmare, thoughts of familial intimacy that she had been without for years. She had toughened up enough, she thought bitterly even as she wrapped an arm gently around the girl. It seemed like betrayal now, but she couldn't help herself. This mysterious child and her presence drew Aya in, and she somehow doubted herself capable of turning away from it. Her cop's facade had fallen, if just for that moment.
After a couple moments passed, the sound of sirens in the distance jogged Aya's mind slightly and she regained herself enough to regard the girl again. "I'm Aya," she murmured, waiting in eager anticipation for the girl's voice to come out, if it ever would: "What's your name?"
Blinking numbly for a moment, half wondering if the sight before her was real-- the woman (Aya as she’d called herself.) holding her comfortingly, or the slowly oncoming crowd of people curious to see what all the fuss was about.
Suddenly looking up impossibly high to stop the people from staring at her Eve focused on a light behind Aya’s head. The bright yellow hue was still a little blaringly strong for her eyes, but it was better than looking at those scary faces, feeling the familiar sense of life before it was changed into something entirely different.
They had all changed. Every single one of them. She heard their contempt and did not wish to hear it again let alone face to face.
“Eve…” The smaller blonde finally said in nothing more than a hushed whisper, hoping that her co-operation would garner her affection. It seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time, like she wasn’t really talking at all. Yet she was her voice childlike and sweet, reminiscent of the child the woman she was cloned from had been.
“Aya?”
She spoke up once again, nuzzling her face into Aya’s shoulder as if promising unquestionable, almost unconditional love. She had been scared too long, running too much to let these people snatch her from her only semblance of safety she could cling on too. Unfortunately all she could think to do was apologise; the only action that reasoned with the Doctors who sought to condition her behaviour in the simplest means possible.
It was more than satisfying to finally hear Eve's soft voice, Aya caught herself grinning wide in accomplishment. Her cheeks tingled a little even; she hadn't done that in quite a while. "Eve, huh?" she repeated, and nodded. "Fits you."
Her gaze turned back to the streets, people were emerging, whispering and staring. Some of the very same she had evaded during the initial incident. Ah, that was right. She had left the scene back there. Well, hopefully her car was still in one piece.
"Hm?" Aya was shaken from her thoughts again, and gazed at the girl curiously as she nuzzled into her once more. The motion seemed so desperate and fearful, Aya couldn't help but correlate her actions to a small animal again. A lightbulb went off in Aya's head suddenly, realizing Eve could be a victim of abuse. It seemed to fit, she supposed with a small frown. Poor kid.
"So long as you promise," Aya replied, knowing there were no real repercussions she could give the child for crossing the street like that. Still, gently reprimanding her would hopefully teach a lesson. Standing straight, Aya shrugged off her leather jacket and wrapped it over the other's small shoulders. Lifting her up again, Aya kept the child turned towards her own body as she flipped out her badge to clear a path through the crowd. Hell, if she were in Eve's position, she'd be damn scared of the other people too. Not all in Manhattan were lookers. Some looked outright terrifying.
"I've gotta take you back to the station," she explained, wondering why her body wasn't freezing over yet. Maybe it was all the exercise. "We can figure out where to go from there. The heater doesn't work that well, but at least they have food in there." Assuming the night shift cops hadn't scarfed it all down already. "More importantly, you'll be safe."
“I promise.” She swore in a whisper, nodding vehemently as she watched Aya take off her leather jacket and drape it around her own small shoulders. More than a little strange she stilled herself for a brief second, stiffening at the touch. It was… heavy… yet not entirely unwelcome. It of course felt a lot like Aya herself and offered a brief respite from the confusion. Before long she was clinging to the sides, using it as a proverbial safety blanket.
She even refused to let go after Aya had picked her up, leaning into the woman instead, allowing her small form and gravity do its work. The crowd of faces as the two made their own path through the carnage however seemed to test it’s strength. Most of the crowd was made up by mean faceless angry people who glinted in the yellowed light with a sickly hue. She blinked hard and made sure that they weren't actually moving towards her as the shadows flickered over seemingly moist surfaces, shifting with the preternatural sound of life itself. Still the jacket held onto her, acting as sentry. It wouldn’t fail. It couldn’t… could it?
“Safe?”
Breaking her from the mental reverie, the word filtered through a haze of fractured thoughts. Partially having listened she knew what safety meant to Aya, but wasn’t exactly sure what she’d meant by a station.
“Aya? Are there doctors in your station too?”
Breathing softly, glancing to the side into eyes that seemed to mirror her own Eve frowned fretfully.
Returning to the street of the initial incident, Aya sighed to herself again. Little progress had been made in clearing out the street even with several cop units surrounding the area. The street had been blocked off with cones which meant they had no idea how to work the street. Night shift cops were always rookies. The blonde didn't have the patience nor the desire to help them out.
Aya briefly glanced down at her new companion a moment, noticing she was in thought or either playing quiet again. "Yeah, safe." she repeated casually. Weren't cops supposed to symbolize safety? Aya liked to think so, maybe she was just over playing her ego as a detective.
Her patrol car seemed relatively unharmed, much to her surprise. There was enough room to leave the scene, taking care of accidents wasn't really her realm of expertise anyway. Ignoring the glares of cops in uniform, Aya moved to the passenger side of the car and opened the door just as the small blonde spoke up again.
"Doctors?" she echoed with a small laugh, placing Eve into the seat. She should have put the girl in the back, but somehow Aya figured the child would be adverse to the separation. "No. There's a psych doctor that comes in once in a while, but I doubt he'll be around." Well, when they tried to figure out what to do with her, Aya guessed he would have to be called in. Though Eve's apparent fear of them was something to look into. Maybe she'd be able to work around calling the doctor in or taking her to a hospital.
After closing the door, Aya circled around to the driver's and finally felt a cold shiver move through her body. Before anything else, she flipped the heater on. "Kinda cold tonight," she muttered sarcastically to herself, but paused as she glanced to the small blonde. "Buckle up, Eve." her expression softened a little. "Manhattan drivers are reckless, we don't wanna risk you getting hurt again."
Granting Aya her best most compliant behaviour, Eve refused to voice a single complaint, resolutely easing back into the uncomfortable seat. She would not give Aya an excuse to punish her, to take away her jacket or to get angry and start shouting, even if that meant sitting in another one of the unfamiliar machines, fearfully waiting for whatever fate had in store.
Gentle unfocused eyes however, echoed the soothing voice in the back of her mind, altering her anxious thoughts, quelling further outbursts of panicked tears. Aya had said she would not hurt her if she was good and she had been nothing but good after that. What’s more, Aya was like herself, different, special. Even if she wasn’t aware of just how much, Eve believed without a doubt that it was something they shared, something she could use to her own advantage.
Finally focusing on Aya, her eyes loosing their vagrant glare, Eve awaited further instructions, unpleasantly shocked when the door was finally closed, separating her from the metaphysical link she’d come to feel somewhat secure around.
“Aya?!”
Frowning anxiously, she followed Aya with a distraught glint in her eyes, raising her knees to her chest protectively. At least she still had her jacket, a jacket that she instinctively wrapped around her legs and held it so tight her knuckles started to tingle. It was the only thing between herself and the unknown, the sudden loneliness that begun to sink in. Soon enough however, Aya opened the adjacent door and sat one seat over. Confused and wary yet still trying to be good, she didn’t move a muscle.
Buckle up?
Blinking in confusion behind her wary demeanour, her mouth partially open with an unstated question Eve let an uneasy silence hang between them awhile longer. Aya’s request had just been as strange as her actions, but at least she could see her again, feel a sense of maternal warmth in place of the emptiness that remained from her world. If only she knew how to complete her given task…
“Aya...” She piped up, casting her eyes to the floor.
Aya's hand was moving to change gears when she heard Eve's soft voice again, her body in turn warming up all of a sudden. The car's heater hadn't even kicked in yet...what was that? Her brow furrowed just briefly before her gaze flickered to Eve. Curiosity suddenly phased into confusion. Didn't know how? Was she joking? ...No, her apparent fear and shame seemed to knock that from a possibility. Perhaps she had never been in a car before. Hell, maybe she had never even heard of one if she had darted across the street like that. Aya quickly turned her head to look out the window. Maybe Eve really was from the woods...
Wait, what was she thinking!? What kind of deducting work was that?
Shaking her head, Aya slowly reached out to pat Eve's head. She wasn't good at comforting, but somehow she felt that the contact would do just that. The strange connection she bore with Eve seemed to heighten through physical touches. Maybe it was just her imagination, but Aya wondered if Eve felt it as well. "I'll show you," she said, reaching over the blonde to pull out the seat belt, then across her lap to fasten it. "All done." she mustered something of a faint, awkward smile, wondering if she was making an idiot of herself or actually being "sisterly" as she once had from her memories. They were coming back to her slowly nonetheless.
Switching the car's gears into drive, Aya decided to maneuver slowly as she left the scene of the initial incident, hoping that she wouldn't get zinged by the higher-ups for abandoning it.
A silence came afterward where the cop fell into a silence of deep contemplation and slowly built hypotheses to her small companion's origins. Aya wasn't certain she was persuasive enough to get it out of the girl, but then again, Eve seemed too scared to even be in the presence of a doctor, or really, anyone foreign. It was at least worth a shot.
"Eve, they're gonna want to know where you're from and who your parents are." she said slowly, furrowing her brow again towards her own ungraceful bluntness. "If you don't want to talk to them, I can do that for you." she turned her gaze from the road to regard Eve a moment. "I just..." she hesitated for a few seconds, glanced forward. "Don't want you to be scared anymore, is all."
Sitting ramrod straight in the passengers seat, the familiarity of the strap tight against her body left an eerie familiar taste in her mouth. Why was she being restrained? Did this machine have parts to it she wasn’t aware off, parts that she wouldn’t like to know about? Eve gulped submissively trying to tell herself she shouldn’t be scared. Her surface thoughts however were strangely scattered, a tinge of paranoia washing over them like an inky liquid lapping at the corners of her mind. Between that and the odd feeling of being drawn towards the older woman beside her, the experience was turning into one she’d not soon forget. Just what exactly did this machine do while it took you to another place? It didn’t hurt you did it?
Looking out into out into the streets as the older woman fell silent, Eve inspected a small line of automobiles unable to move next to them. A car not unlike Aya’s was in front... its deeply tinted windows turned both driver and passenger into amorphous dark blobs behind the glass. Behind that lay a bigger, squarer machine with the letters U-H-A-U-L painted on its side. Following them at a more respectable distance were several other machines of varying colours to which Eve looked sideways at, only looking back when Aya finally spoke.
“I’ll tell you anything Aya.“ She promised her voice semi- dubious as she half-listened to what Aya was saying. Her thoughts were ultimately elsewhere, wandering over the events that still had her reeling as well as the sudden jerky movements of the machine. Her stomach was beginning to feel awfully peculiar as her innards tied themselves in knots. Maybe this was what it did? But Aya wouldn’t just let this happen, would she?
“But…”
She paused as the woman’s vehicle pulled off from the stretch of road she’d abandoned to save the smaller blonde from harm, They were moving. Her stomach still wasn’t happy.
Aya decided it was ultimately best to keep her eyes on the road and tried to politely ignore the fact Eve was awkwardly sitting like a stone statue beside her. She was finding it more and more difficult to draw conclusions about the small blonde aside from the fact she seemed completely ignorant of the industrial world around her. And terrified, certainly. But that didn't answer any questions, only drew out more.
The cop bit her lower lip in contemplation, only half-hearing the girl assure her she would answer anything. Glancing over her shoulder just briefly to change lanes, she caught a glimpse of Eve's paled face-- she looked nearly as scared as before when they had initially met. Or maybe she was car sick... Patrol cars weren't exactly Cadillacs either. Aya suspected the axle was a little offset so every slight movement made the car jerk around. "Machine?" she muttered, holding back a snort, that was, until a hypothetical light bulb smacked her square in the face.
"It's a car," she answered slowly. "You're saying...you've never been inside one before?" Aya's brow furrowed as she turned on her blinker once again, pulling off to the shoulder of the street. It was illegal to just park there, but hell, she could abuse her power just this time. Once the car slowed to a stop, Aya removed her hands from the wheel and gave Eve an even look despite the confusion rampant in her mind.
"Now I've really gotta know," she said finally. "Where exactly did you come from?"
The ‘car’ as Aya had informed her it was, was small and, the walls made from a material totally different from the floor below her feet. In the corner closest to her was a pane of glass hidden in a strangely shaped door. Behind that where she couldn’t reach was a mirror on an angle that allowed her to see the few cars behind them. She wasn’t sure she liked it, or knew exactly what it was for, but these machines weren’t as scary as she’d first thought. If only they’d stop shaking!
Reeling her gaze back into the cars interior, trying her best to ignore the rising queasiness in the pit of her stomach as she caught Aya’s attention, Eve forced herself to nod, shaggy blonde hair falling in front of her despondent eyes. Was it bad that she had not known?
Leaning forward in the chair, the black belt across her waistline allowing her the liberty of at least some movement, Eve resisted the urge to extend her hand out and press a button, wondering what would happen if she did. Was she supposed to do something? Know something? By the time she contemplated finally asking, the ‘car’ suddenly came to a stop and she was asked where she had come from. Was that what she was meant to do all along?
“My nursery…” the blonde stated, a little more than relieved that her stomach wasn’t being assaulted by the jerky motions.
This place was certainly not her home, but it was fast becoming a haven. In another time, another set of chances, she could have very well come to stay here with Aya as her doctor, maybe even her friend. If only she could allow herself to be that hopeful.
“My nursery in Neo Ark…” Ok so Aya, despite what she was, was still an outsider, a ‘prospective’ as the doctors had called them. As such, she probably had to say where it was, even if part of her hoped Aya already knew.
Aya raised an eyebrow questionably to the term "Nursery", thinking Eve was a little too old to be in care by one. Maybe it was another term coined for an orphanage, most kids didn't refer to their home as a nursery or otherwise.
But the small blonde seemed earnest in her reply, so that must have meant her parents were far gone or dead. The cops expression softened a little in pity. However, the term "Neo Ark" caught her attention, despite the fact it sounded like a Planet from some cheesey kid's show. At least it was a name she could work with.
"Neo Ark, huh..." Aya repeated to herself, sitting back into the poorly cushioned seat and rubbed the back of her head. "Never heard of it." Well, the database at HQ would, hopefully. Yet Aya had a sneaking suspicion Eve had no intention of being returned there. She would put that off for the time being.
"I've got an apartment close by downtown," she replied, staring through the windshield for no reason except to contemplate. "I guess you could call it my...nursery, 'cept no one takes care of me but myself." Blue eyes flickered down to the other's who strangely mirrored her own. "Where is this Neo Ark?" she asked. "I mean, d'you feel safe there?"
Right then left or left then left? Eve couldn’t remember where it had been and in all truth, didn’t want too. But upon Aya’s questioning words, she tried, pausing to close her eyes and try to search out her mental diagrams. There were places, people, signs with strange symbols on them, yet the turns and twists were covered with a thick shadow. "I…. I can’t remember." she finally confessed solemnly, opening her eyes once again.
“But I was safe when I was good Aya…” She added, even if ‘they’ were mad when she did exactly as the doctors said. Freezing in place as she looked up to similar facial features she remembered the words, the violent threats of the subjects she’d changed. Unfortunately, if she made one side happy, the other was still hungry for blood. Would that happen here too?
“Have I been good?”
Had she been in a calmer state of mind, she might well have questioned why it was that her own life force was far more intense than she'd ever experienced around a single person before. ‘If’ she'd been in a calmer state of mind that is, which she wasn’t, far more anxious than calm or relaxed.
Aya guessed it wasn't so surprising that the child didn't know where she lived. She probably didn't either, at her age. Well, hopefully it was on file somewhere if she didn't want her parents called. Though from this stand point, the detective wasn't sure how to place Eve's home circumstances or environment. She had evidently run away for a good reason.
"When you were safe," she found herself repeating, then blinked and suddenly turned to the blonde. "Your parents...didn't hurt you, did they?" she asked, silently scolding herself for her poor lack of tact. While she was no social worker, she could see the conditioning Eve's parents--or whoever the hell was taking care of her-- had done. She was a fearful child, which meant there was no such stable environment to be had.
Maybe...going back home wasn't the best idea.
Aya's expression slowly softened, and she rested her hand on the other's shoulder. "Don't worry about it," she assured. "You're way better behaved than the punks I deal with on a daily basis." Well, being a detective usually called for dealing with annoying and belligerent people, but Aya decided not to make light of that. "Heh...that was s'posed to be a compliment, just came out weird. Anyway, relax. You're safe with me, I can promise you that."
Parents? They weren’t parents. They were doctors with, as they put it, a ‘much more important job’. Eve had met parents though. She didn't know their names, or even what they did other than care for the children they’d beg for, but their pain echoed keenly in her own nerves as they were made into other things, making her hate the doctors even more. She didn’t want any part in it.
Clenching her teeth and shaking her head briefly, Eve forcibly put those thoughts aside. It was easier, safer, not to think about it at all. And, hello, now there was a hand, a warm gentle hand on her shoulder, only inches from her own curious eyes.
“Safe?” She repeated, squinting shut one eye lid, deep in thought about the five fingered phenomenon. Obviously the hand had stolen the words attention. And for good reason! Aya’s hands were so small. Were they small because she was a girl? The doctors were all boys. Boys had big hands. But so did some girls. Maybe it was because she was like her? Would their hands be alike one day?
“Aya… Why are your hands so small?” She asked looking to her own hands for good measure. “Is it because we’re both special?”
And then… She wasn’t moving anymore. Extending her small dirt covered hand grabbing the strangers, Eve watched with rapt concentration as the strangers face sharpened into a recognisable shape. The small blonde listened reverently, soft blue eyes taking in every word.
Not going to hurt you? Run? Cheetah?
She had no recollection of what a cheetah was, yet something told her it was fast. The woman was taller and her strides much bigger while Eve could turn and move, move and turn, making her a very speedy little thing to catch. It had given her the upper hand at first. Unfortunately, she knew nothing of New York and that’s how she’d ended up like this.
Nodding (More to herself than the stranger) Eve listened to her instincts, sensing an uneasiness coming from within. Simple deduction however was seized by a well meaning influence, altering a thought here and a synapse there to reflect a kinder outcome. Mitochondria stirred and filtered out the tangible signs of life, from the one presence it could so easily have mistaken from its own, finding in its wake an intriguing pulsation. It was a tingling, a curious benevolent tingling that ran through Eve’s body like a generator; an inky flow that pushed outward to every extremity. It was trying to reach out; to understand, to communicate, to be protected.
Not realising entirely what was going on, salty tears clouded her vision as if the very action had actually instigated the outburst. Seconds later with a cry barely several octaves higher than a whimper, she latched on bravely, clinging for dear life.
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Deaf? she guessed lamely, but found herself perking as the child nodded. Well, whoever raised her sure knew how to keep her quiet. Maybe too much so. Kids were supposed to be rambunctious and loud, it was their only chance to be that way until adulthood slapped them in the face.
Aya eased her grasp on the girl's arm, and crouched down slightly to be level with her. "You understand me, so you gotta be able to talk, right? You're way too young to be out here alone, it's dangerous." Her expression softened briefly, until she suddenly noticed large tears forming and spilling from the blonde's gentle blue eyes. "H-hey," the cop began awkwardly, but was completely surprised to feel the child press into her.
Something instantly moved over her, hot and startling, but soft. Memories of Maya snuggling against her after a bad nightmare, thoughts of familial intimacy that she had been without for years. She had toughened up enough, she thought bitterly even as she wrapped an arm gently around the girl. It seemed like betrayal now, but she couldn't help herself. This mysterious child and her presence drew Aya in, and she somehow doubted herself capable of turning away from it. Her cop's facade had fallen, if just for that moment.
After a couple moments passed, the sound of sirens in the distance jogged Aya's mind slightly and she regained herself enough to regard the girl again. "I'm Aya," she murmured, waiting in eager anticipation for the girl's voice to come out, if it ever would: "What's your name?"
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Suddenly looking up impossibly high to stop the people from staring at her Eve focused on a light behind Aya’s head. The bright yellow hue was still a little blaringly strong for her eyes, but it was better than looking at those scary faces, feeling the familiar sense of life before it was changed into something entirely different.
They had all changed. Every single one of them. She heard their contempt and did not wish to hear it again let alone face to face.
“Eve…” The smaller blonde finally said in nothing more than a hushed whisper, hoping that her co-operation would garner her affection. It seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time, like she wasn’t really talking at all. Yet she was her voice childlike and sweet, reminiscent of the child the woman she was cloned from had been.
“Aya?”
She spoke up once again, nuzzling her face into Aya’s shoulder as if promising unquestionable, almost unconditional love. She had been scared too long, running too much to let these people snatch her from her only semblance of safety she could cling on too. Unfortunately all she could think to do was apologise; the only action that reasoned with the Doctors who sought to condition her behaviour in the simplest means possible.
“I won’t do it again…”
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Her gaze turned back to the streets, people were emerging, whispering and staring. Some of the very same she had evaded during the initial incident. Ah, that was right. She had left the scene back there. Well, hopefully her car was still in one piece.
"Hm?" Aya was shaken from her thoughts again, and gazed at the girl curiously as she nuzzled into her once more. The motion seemed so desperate and fearful, Aya couldn't help but correlate her actions to a small animal again. A lightbulb went off in Aya's head suddenly, realizing Eve could be a victim of abuse. It seemed to fit, she supposed with a small frown. Poor kid.
"So long as you promise," Aya replied, knowing there were no real repercussions she could give the child for crossing the street like that. Still, gently reprimanding her would hopefully teach a lesson. Standing straight, Aya shrugged off her leather jacket and wrapped it over the other's small shoulders. Lifting her up again, Aya kept the child turned towards her own body as she flipped out her badge to clear a path through the crowd. Hell, if she were in Eve's position, she'd be damn scared of the other people too. Not all in Manhattan were lookers. Some looked outright terrifying.
"I've gotta take you back to the station," she explained, wondering why her body wasn't freezing over yet. Maybe it was all the exercise. "We can figure out where to go from there. The heater doesn't work that well, but at least they have food in there." Assuming the night shift cops hadn't scarfed it all down already. "More importantly, you'll be safe."
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She even refused to let go after Aya had picked her up, leaning into the woman instead, allowing her small form and gravity do its work. The crowd of faces as the two made their own path through the carnage however seemed to test it’s strength. Most of the crowd was made up by mean faceless angry people who glinted in the yellowed light with a sickly hue. She blinked hard and made sure that they weren't actually moving towards her as the shadows flickered over seemingly moist surfaces, shifting with the preternatural sound of life itself. Still the jacket held onto her, acting as sentry. It wouldn’t fail. It couldn’t… could it?
“Safe?”
Breaking her from the mental reverie, the word filtered through a haze of fractured thoughts. Partially having listened she knew what safety meant to Aya, but wasn’t exactly sure what she’d meant by a station.
“Aya? Are there doctors in your station too?”
Breathing softly, glancing to the side into eyes that seemed to mirror her own Eve frowned fretfully.
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Aya briefly glanced down at her new companion a moment, noticing she was in thought or either playing quiet again. "Yeah, safe." she repeated casually. Weren't cops supposed to symbolize safety? Aya liked to think so, maybe she was just over playing her ego as a detective.
Her patrol car seemed relatively unharmed, much to her surprise. There was enough room to leave the scene, taking care of accidents wasn't really her realm of expertise anyway. Ignoring the glares of cops in uniform, Aya moved to the passenger side of the car and opened the door just as the small blonde spoke up again.
"Doctors?" she echoed with a small laugh, placing Eve into the seat. She should have put the girl in the back, but somehow Aya figured the child would be adverse to the separation. "No. There's a psych doctor that comes in once in a while, but I doubt he'll be around." Well, when they tried to figure out what to do with her, Aya guessed he would have to be called in. Though Eve's apparent fear of them was something to look into. Maybe she'd be able to work around calling the doctor in or taking her to a hospital.
After closing the door, Aya circled around to the driver's and finally felt a cold shiver move through her body. Before anything else, she flipped the heater on. "Kinda cold tonight," she muttered sarcastically to herself, but paused as she glanced to the small blonde. "Buckle up, Eve." her expression softened a little. "Manhattan drivers are reckless, we don't wanna risk you getting hurt again."
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Gentle unfocused eyes however, echoed the soothing voice in the back of her mind, altering her anxious thoughts, quelling further outbursts of panicked tears. Aya had said she would not hurt her if she was good and she had been nothing but good after that. What’s more, Aya was like herself, different, special. Even if she wasn’t aware of just how much, Eve believed without a doubt that it was something they shared, something she could use to her own advantage.
Finally focusing on Aya, her eyes loosing their vagrant glare, Eve awaited further instructions, unpleasantly shocked when the door was finally closed, separating her from the metaphysical link she’d come to feel somewhat secure around.
“Aya?!”
Frowning anxiously, she followed Aya with a distraught glint in her eyes, raising her knees to her chest protectively. At least she still had her jacket, a jacket that she instinctively wrapped around her legs and held it so tight her knuckles started to tingle. It was the only thing between herself and the unknown, the sudden loneliness that begun to sink in. Soon enough however, Aya opened the adjacent door and sat one seat over. Confused and wary yet still trying to be good, she didn’t move a muscle.
Buckle up?
Blinking in confusion behind her wary demeanour, her mouth partially open with an unstated question Eve let an uneasy silence hang between them awhile longer. Aya’s request had just been as strange as her actions, but at least she could see her again, feel a sense of maternal warmth in place of the emptiness that remained from her world. If only she knew how to complete her given task…
“Aya...” She piped up, casting her eyes to the floor.
“I don’t know how.”
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Wait, what was she thinking!? What kind of deducting work was that?
Shaking her head, Aya slowly reached out to pat Eve's head. She wasn't good at comforting, but somehow she felt that the contact would do just that. The strange connection she bore with Eve seemed to heighten through physical touches. Maybe it was just her imagination, but Aya wondered if Eve felt it as well. "I'll show you," she said, reaching over the blonde to pull out the seat belt, then across her lap to fasten it. "All done." she mustered something of a faint, awkward smile, wondering if she was making an idiot of herself or actually being "sisterly" as she once had from her memories. They were coming back to her slowly nonetheless.
Switching the car's gears into drive, Aya decided to maneuver slowly as she left the scene of the initial incident, hoping that she wouldn't get zinged by the higher-ups for abandoning it.
A silence came afterward where the cop fell into a silence of deep contemplation and slowly built hypotheses to her small companion's origins. Aya wasn't certain she was persuasive enough to get it out of the girl, but then again, Eve seemed too scared to even be in the presence of a doctor, or really, anyone foreign. It was at least worth a shot.
"Eve, they're gonna want to know where you're from and who your parents are." she said slowly, furrowing her brow again towards her own ungraceful bluntness. "If you don't want to talk to them, I can do that for you." she turned her gaze from the road to regard Eve a moment. "I just..." she hesitated for a few seconds, glanced forward. "Don't want you to be scared anymore, is all."
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Looking out into out into the streets as the older woman fell silent, Eve inspected a small line of automobiles unable to move next to them. A car not unlike Aya’s was in front... its deeply tinted windows turned both driver and passenger into amorphous dark blobs behind the glass. Behind that lay a bigger, squarer machine with the letters U-H-A-U-L painted on its side. Following them at a more respectable distance were several other machines of varying colours to which Eve looked sideways at, only looking back when Aya finally spoke.
“I’ll tell you anything Aya.“ She promised her voice semi- dubious as she half-listened to what Aya was saying. Her thoughts were ultimately elsewhere, wandering over the events that still had her reeling as well as the sudden jerky movements of the machine. Her stomach was beginning to feel awfully peculiar as her innards tied themselves in knots. Maybe this was what it did? But Aya wouldn’t just let this happen, would she?
“But…”
She paused as the woman’s vehicle pulled off from the stretch of road she’d abandoned to save the smaller blonde from harm, They were moving. Her stomach still wasn’t happy.
“What is your machine doing?”
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The cop bit her lower lip in contemplation, only half-hearing the girl assure her she would answer anything. Glancing over her shoulder just briefly to change lanes, she caught a glimpse of Eve's paled face-- she looked nearly as scared as before when they had initially met. Or maybe she was car sick... Patrol cars weren't exactly Cadillacs either. Aya suspected the axle was a little offset so every slight movement made the car jerk around. "Machine?" she muttered, holding back a snort, that was, until a hypothetical light bulb smacked her square in the face.
"It's a car," she answered slowly. "You're saying...you've never been inside one before?" Aya's brow furrowed as she turned on her blinker once again, pulling off to the shoulder of the street. It was illegal to just park there, but hell, she could abuse her power just this time. Once the car slowed to a stop, Aya removed her hands from the wheel and gave Eve an even look despite the confusion rampant in her mind.
"Now I've really gotta know," she said finally. "Where exactly did you come from?"
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The ‘car’ as Aya had informed her it was, was small and, the walls made from a material totally different from the floor below her feet. In the corner closest to her was a pane of glass hidden in a strangely shaped door. Behind that where she couldn’t reach was a mirror on an angle that allowed her to see the few cars behind them. She wasn’t sure she liked it, or knew exactly what it was for, but these machines weren’t as scary as she’d first thought. If only they’d stop shaking!
Reeling her gaze back into the cars interior, trying her best to ignore the rising queasiness in the pit of her stomach as she caught Aya’s attention, Eve forced herself to nod, shaggy blonde hair falling in front of her despondent eyes. Was it bad that she had not known?
Leaning forward in the chair, the black belt across her waistline allowing her the liberty of at least some movement, Eve resisted the urge to extend her hand out and press a button, wondering what would happen if she did. Was she supposed to do something? Know something? By the time she contemplated finally asking, the ‘car’ suddenly came to a stop and she was asked where she had come from. Was that what she was meant to do all along?
“My nursery…” the blonde stated, a little more than relieved that her stomach wasn’t being assaulted by the jerky motions.
This place was certainly not her home, but it was fast becoming a haven. In another time, another set of chances, she could have very well come to stay here with Aya as her doctor, maybe even her friend. If only she could allow herself to be that hopeful.
“My nursery in Neo Ark…” Ok so Aya, despite what she was, was still an outsider, a ‘prospective’ as the doctors had called them. As such, she probably had to say where it was, even if part of her hoped Aya already knew.
“Do you have a nursery Aya?”
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But the small blonde seemed earnest in her reply, so that must have meant her parents were far gone or dead. The cops expression softened a little in pity. However, the term "Neo Ark" caught her attention, despite the fact it sounded like a Planet from some cheesey kid's show. At least it was a name she could work with.
"Neo Ark, huh..." Aya repeated to herself, sitting back into the poorly cushioned seat and rubbed the back of her head. "Never heard of it." Well, the database at HQ would, hopefully. Yet Aya had a sneaking suspicion Eve had no intention of being returned there. She would put that off for the time being.
"I've got an apartment close by downtown," she replied, staring through the windshield for no reason except to contemplate. "I guess you could call it my...nursery, 'cept no one takes care of me but myself." Blue eyes flickered down to the other's who strangely mirrored her own. "Where is this Neo Ark?" she asked. "I mean, d'you feel safe there?"
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“But I was safe when I was good Aya…” She added, even if ‘they’ were mad when she did exactly as the doctors said. Freezing in place as she looked up to similar facial features she remembered the words, the violent threats of the subjects she’d changed. Unfortunately, if she made one side happy, the other was still hungry for blood. Would that happen here too?
“Have I been good?”
Had she been in a calmer state of mind, she might well have questioned why it was that her own life force was far more intense than she'd ever experienced around a single person before. ‘If’ she'd been in a calmer state of mind that is, which she wasn’t, far more anxious than calm or relaxed.
"I don't mean to forget... I don't.”
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"When you were safe," she found herself repeating, then blinked and suddenly turned to the blonde. "Your parents...didn't hurt you, did they?" she asked, silently scolding herself for her poor lack of tact. While she was no social worker, she could see the conditioning Eve's parents--or whoever the hell was taking care of her-- had done. She was a fearful child, which meant there was no such stable environment to be had.
Maybe...going back home wasn't the best idea.
Aya's expression slowly softened, and she rested her hand on the other's shoulder. "Don't worry about it," she assured. "You're way better behaved than the punks I deal with on a daily basis." Well, being a detective usually called for dealing with annoying and belligerent people, but Aya decided not to make light of that. "Heh...that was s'posed to be a compliment, just came out weird. Anyway, relax. You're safe with me, I can promise you that."
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Parents? They weren’t parents. They were doctors with, as they put it, a ‘much more important job’. Eve had met parents though. She didn't know their names, or even what they did other than care for the children they’d beg for, but their pain echoed keenly in her own nerves as they were made into other things, making her hate the doctors even more. She didn’t want any part in it.
Clenching her teeth and shaking her head briefly, Eve forcibly put those thoughts aside. It was easier, safer, not to think about it at all. And, hello, now there was a hand, a warm gentle hand on her shoulder, only inches from her own curious eyes.
“Safe?” She repeated, squinting shut one eye lid, deep in thought about the five fingered phenomenon. Obviously the hand had stolen the words attention. And for good reason! Aya’s hands were so small. Were they small because she was a girl? The doctors were all boys. Boys had big hands. But so did some girls. Maybe it was because she was like her? Would their hands be alike one day?
“Aya… Why are your hands so small?” She asked looking to her own hands for good measure. “Is it because we’re both special?”
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