[Private] Like clockwork - (For Bombay)

It feels like... What does it feel like? Is it like waking up? Or like breathing when you've held your breath too long? What does it feel like to come to life?

The first thing she was ever aware of was the ticking of her own mechanical innards. Tick, tick, tick, tock, it went. Loudly and persistently. A heartbeat thundering in her ears. This was before she ever opened her eyes. She felt everything inside her churning. Then she started to feel things outside her core. A cold air on her artificial skin. Something hard she was lying on. She moved her fingertips before anything else – not because she tried to feel the surface but because she’d just realized she had fingers to move.

Then, and first then did her eyes slowly slide open. At first everything was dark and then light came as little shadows dances across her vision. Once her eyes had adjusted to the light, the big amber disk searched her surroundings. They were unnatural just like everything else about her. Her eye colour was to uniform to seem real, her face a little too symmetrical, her chestnut hair too even a length and all though this added up rather uncanny valley she might well pass between a crowd unnoticed of even fool a person not too observant.

She placed her hand upon the table beneath her and struggled to push herself up in a sitting position. She was strong enough but she was not used to using her limbs. As she sat up a keyhole on her lower back was made visible but no key is there at the moment. She wore something a little like a white bathing suit which did not cover this mechanical part of her back.

The doll stared strait ahead of herself. She lived.

[Bombay]

Ever since Marianne was a little girl, she grew up around clocks and gears. Her father was a clockmaker who made amazing pieces. Lifelike cocks that would squak out of birdhouses on the hour, sweedish couples who would dance around one another with every ring of the clock, even one of a mother spanking their naughty child, which is the one she remembers the most from her childhood.

It was he who inspired her to become a clockmaker. He taught her everything she needed to know, and once she was a master, his time on this earth was finished. Clutching his dying hands, she promised him she’ll continue his legacy. Even if she’s celibate, she’ll make sure his memory lives on. She’ll make the perfect child!

Twisting the girl’s key, she was unsure if this would actually work, but she needs to try. If it doesn’t work, she’ll just need to try again with the knowledge she learned. Even if she spends the rest of her life, she will defy god and make a daughter to carry the family name!

Hearing the gears squeak, she took a seat with a tired smile. Her chestnut hair fell into her face before she bkowed it out of the way. Her hazel eyes looked at her daughter trying to find her place. Her leather apron covered in oil protects a neutral brown dress “Morning sunshine…” she said as tears feel down her cheeks “Y-You have no idea how happy I am to see you” her head slung over so the mechanical girl’s first image of her mother wasn’t one filled with tears. “T-Take your time. You’ll be adjusting to your body soon enough”

The doll froze the moment she heard a voice. It took a few seconds for her ears to pinpoint where it came from as they too were waking up. Then she slowly and evenly, without moving anything else, turned her head and and looked to to see someone there. She heard the words and she comprehended them but in a quite literal sense as her brain accessed information. She moved her lips just like the lady in front of her, mimicking her as best she could. No sound immediately emerged. The doll had no yet realized speaking required more.

She felt strangely fascinated by this woman, her eyes fixated upon her and she had a great desire to get closer to her. So without taking her eyes off her, she began to turn her body to crawl. She at once smacked her face into the tables her arms slipped and did not support her. She felt it of course. She felt pain and it surprised her. The doll jumped backwards and sat once again on the table. Her face bore no sign of the impact save for a single, golden tear which rolled down her cheek. She held up her hands and caught it on a finger, the held it up for close inspection while her brain tried to figure out what the word to go with this was.

The doll looked to the lady again. She'd know. Instead of crawling she scooted nearer and nearer to the edge and dangled her legs over it as she contemplated jumping. She found she didn't dare just yet. She moved her lips again. This time she seemed more fortunate.

"W... What?" it was the word that came to her and the doll looked rather pleased with herself for producing this sound. She held out her hand. The tear had evaporated but that didn't much matter.

[Bombay]

Tick…Tick…Tick…like a heart beating she can feel the energy of this new being in the room with them and it’s overwhelming. Hearing the gears turn trying to comprehend what is happening, and if she’s alive or not ignited a fire which was once snuffed in the woman. Finally, she heard her make her first movements. The pipes squeaked as the fingernails tapped against the wooden table and suddenly BANG.

Like a bullet, she jumped from her spot only to see the mechanical girl had bashed her head against the edge “Jesus! You must be careful!” she said trying to assist her up, but she seems to be doing just fine alone. Her soft hand grabbed her chin so she can tilt the head and examine the spot. The cheeks were a bit rosier, but no substantial damage, which is always good. Finally, with a loud sigh, she plopped next to her on the table “You must be careful, I’m not sure if I can make another, well you”

Clutching her hand at the first words, she guided it to her lap where she gently stroked it “You are my daughter. I created you with my own blood, sweat, and tears. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you”. Hoping down, she squeezed the hand “Come along, let’s test out your body. Please don’t worry, I’m here to catch you”

The doll's eyes were full of wonder. She was gently moved over on her lap and the doll made no move to resist. She felt instantly safer nor her. It was as her consciousness had started even before she became aware. Like the first little connections in her brain had heard and felt the presence of that lady, but the doll could no remember it. Her memory was fresh. She watched the lady and carefully considered her words. It took her a little time to make certain she comprehended.

At the word 'tear' she held a finger to her own eye. There were no tears there but the memory was.

"Test?" said the doll and seemed to smile. She held onto the lady's hand and clothes and thus kept herself attached to her maker.

She moved her head around to take in their surroundings. The more she saw, the more things she wanted to touch and explore.

[Bombay]

Nodding her head, she grabbed the hand that the teardrop fell on “Yes, you wipe tears with your hands. Oh, there’s so much you’re going to learn” she said with a beaming smile before she could tell the curious girl wanted to experience more. “Test, yes. It’s…errr…when we assess, no that might be too advanced, uhm…when we” she tried to think of the right words “try out something or measure how much you’ve learned”. Keeping a firm grip on the girl, she helped her down “there we go, can you try to walk for me?” but she could tell her mind was already starting to wander.

“Oh, what’s around you, I suppose I didn’t explain that. This is a clockmaker’s shop, and I am a clockmaker. Your grandfather actually taught me everything I know, rest his soul, and one day all of this will be yours” she booped the girl’s nose. She’s going to be the perfect protégée!

The doll nodded eagerly. She was awfully excited to the learn something and she did follow the maker's words well enough to comprehend. She began walking as soon as instructed, cheerfully even. Of course her walk was stiff and not very elegant. She swayed as she did so but the her joints were new and not yet as smooth as they'd soon enough be. She stopped and sort of sidestepped, turning back around in a crablike manner to to look at her creator.

A clockmaker's shop? She saw lots and lots of springs and clock faces around her. She smiled up at her maker as her nose was booped. "Did he make you?" she asked curiously in regards to the comment about the grandfather. The doll moved her hands, gesturing from the lady and back to herself to illustrate that she meant made like she had been. There surely was no other way.

Her mind was buzzing and ticking. She had a certain amount of information already restored but accessing it the first time was difficult. She seemed almost pensive as she did so. "What is your name?" She finally asked, having come across the word 'name'. "What is my name?"

[Bombay]

Sher was about to respond before she saw the doll pointing back and forth between the two. Blushing gently she shook her head “oh no, not like you!...well, kind of…how do I explain…uhm. Him and another clock maker, my mother, did make me in the literal sense, but they made me a different way. A way only humans can do with two people” she said with a sad sigh before she brightened up again “But, in that same vein, I created a way to make life with only one human!”

“My name? Why, my name is Angelina Geppetto” she said her last name with pride as she finally made it to the young doll’s room. It was set up perfectly for the doll with a bed, window, desk with chairs, and an elaborate coco-clock hanging on the wall. “I did have a few ideas in mind, but I thought it would be more appropriate for you to decide on one"

The doll seemed to pause but wasn't exactly at a standstill. She could as a machine both listen perfectly and taking everything she saw - but this did mean that she could easily do too many things at once and it was hard to know what to prioritize. She didn't exactly comprehend what her maker was saying about how she herself was made. It made the doll wonder why she didn't tick like the doll did.

As she announced her name, the doll mimed the words perfectly along with her. Angelina, Angelina, Angelina. That was a nice name but she didn't think Angelina would want to share it. She looked over the furniture - so perfectly suited to herself and heard the ticking of the clock. She pointed to the clock and said:

"Ticking! A clock!" Then she pointed at herself. "A clock?" she said, this more of a question. Things had names based on what they were, she thought, Angelina was obviously an Angelina.

[Bombay]

Angelina had no idea what the girl was saying at first. She didn’t quite comprehend the difference between how an automaton’s brain works and how a human’s brain works. Staring at the clock, she nodded her head “You are correct, a clock ticks, but other stuff ticks as well. Take you for example, you’re ticking, but you’re not a clock” she said with a soft smile. “A name is something else that makes you unique. You see, my name is Angelina, but I’m also a human. Humans are the species I am or how I can be identified on the most basic level. You’re technically a robot or automaton, but you’re so much more than that! That’s why the perfect name is so important. You’re not just some amalgamation of gears and springs, you’re a living, breathing, feeling wonder!” as she kept talking about the girl, she could see her face lighting up.