There was a lot of work to be done, and TO was happy to have the distraction. They weren’t used to being idle for very long; even their down time with DH used to be filled with some kind of mild urgency. It was as though they had to work hard to enjoy every second since back then they had limited time. Since coming to the underground, time took on a strange, unreal quality to TO. It felt like nothing mattered, and a day could have been three days or an hour. Of course, maybe their days of isolation at the beginning had something to do with that.
At any rate, being suddenly busy felt good. Having a list of tasks to do made TO feel normal, and settled the whirling torrent of all the other thoughts that raged in their mind. They didn’t have to worry about the dead civilians because right now their task was to go from bed to bed and find out which people were together in a family. Pearla said that they wanted to keep family members together. This was simple work for TO; they had an excellent memory, so they rarely lost track of where they were, or forget if they had asked a specific person who they were with. Their concentration wasn’t easily broken either, so it was quick work for them.
Of course, little hands tugging at the hem of one's shirt would distract anyone.
“Yes, can I help you?” TO finished inputting some data in the datapad before turning around, their eyes flicking down to view the child trying to get their attention.
They nearly dropped the datapad.
At first, they thought the child was a synth. A young, juvenile synth like they had seen in the tanks back in the training center. It, of course, only took an extra moment to realize that this was entirely not the case. Yes, the young one had big black eyes, similar skin tone, and long ears that looked just a little too big for their head, but rather than being bald like a synth, they had three fins on their head; two on the side, one on top. Their nose was flatter than even a synth, and of course there were no wings. This child had fins at their elbows, and a long tail instead of legs. Instead of a wheelchair like Pearla had, the child pulled themself around on a long, flat board with small wheels attached to the bottom; wheels that might have come off an office chair.
“Hello.” TO said, kneeling down to get a closer look. The resemblance to the synths in the tanks was striking, and it made TO feel sad, though they didn’t know why. “What’s your name?” They asked, keeping their tone as soft as possible; as though speaking too loud or low might damage their ears.
The child straightened up as much as possible on the board and spoke with a clear, practiced lilt that brought a smile to TO’s lips and an amused twitch to their ears. “Constance Clora Skimmer. She/her.” She looked up with her big fearless eyes at TO. “What’s yours?”
“You can call me TO. They/them.” TO said as they quickly recorded the name. They hadn’t come across too many people down here with last names, and none with the last name of Skimmer. “Constance, is Clora your last name, or is it Clora-Skimmer?”
The child giggled, “No!” She said, as though TO had said something entirely foolish, “Constance is MY name. Clora is my mother, and Skimmer is what my father does.” She flicked her enormous eyes over TO’s face, to their ears, their eyes, and let them linger on TO’s wings. Finally, she said, “Aunt Pearla says you’re a synth. Are you really?”
The question, TO realized, had become harder to answer in the last week. Were they a synth, or a Chilacian? What really is the difference between the two? Did they have the right to call themself a synth? Did they even want to?
“Yes.” They said, The simplest answer in this case was the best. The child probably just wanted to know if TO was like the synths she had seen about the city, or seen on the news.
“... But you don’t look scary.” She said, huffing in annoyance. “And you don’t have big teeth!”
“I’m supposed to?” TO asked. They opened their mouth so that Constance could see their fangs. “I ‘ave ig teef.” They said, pointing to the sharp, glistening fangs.
“Mine are bigger.” She said, and when she smiled, she revealed a row of thin, pointed teeth. Perhaps they were thinner than TOs, but they were longer, and left TO wondering how she spoke around them.
She closed her mouth and puffed up her little chest, the fins on her head puffing up at the same time.
“Mx Daska said that If I kept playing in the water and didn’t sit right in the chair, that they’d call the synths, and they’d take me away, and eat me!” She said, “But Aunt Pearla said that you wouldn’t hurt me. But, just in case-” She flashed her teeth again, “If you try to eat me, I’ll bite you!”
The chuckle that slipped from TO’s mouth was only half of amusement. Though the child was small, and clearly very young, those teeth looked like they would hurt.
“Also, if you’re a synth, where's your armor!?”
“I don’t know.” TO said. They had an idea that Vik had it, but he hadn’t offered it back, and TO hadn’t asked for it. They were just happy enough to have their chips back.
She looked them over once more, frowning at their ears. In that moment, though TO didn’t know what it was signaling, they could see a peculiar twitch in Constance’s ears.
“You don’t look scary.” She finally said, “Your eyes are too big.”
“And their ears are too fluttery to be scary.” A very familiar voice said behind them. “That’s the real thing to watch for.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Their own ears perking up, TO turned around, their face brightening as they saw DH standing behind them. They wore fresh clothes; a knee-length dress of cheap fabric. The back was cut out of it to accommodate wings, but the ends were left rough and the fabric was curling in on itself.
Several things went through TO’s mind. First; it wasn’t fair. DH loved clothes so much, and had such nice things before, and now they were wearing a plain, tattered outfit. Of course, to TO they lit up the room no matter what they wore, just by appearing, just by speaking, but DH loved the nice clothes, and TO wanted them to have things they liked.
Second; the way DH looked at them; their expression calm, their ears relaxed, their smile bright as always. It didn’t matter that they killed seven civilians; DH was just happy to see them and, for a moment, DH’s light chased away the residual shadows of their earlier actions. Maybe it would only last a moment, but TO was happy for that moment.
Third; They were just so happy to see DH. They didn’t realize they dropped the data pad as they got up and wrapped their arms and wings around their mate, gripping them.
“I was worried.” They muttered into DH’s neck. DH chuckled and wrapped their arms around TO’s waist.
“I wasn’t the one getting the surgery done.” They said, their voice soft so close to TO’s ear. “I wasn’t even doing the surgery, just assisting.”
“I know.” TO said, pressing their face against DH’s skin. They could smell the soap off their mate, and still feel the residual dampness on their skin. “You bathed?”
“I didn’t want to smell like an operating room when I saw you.” They whispered. “And I guess it’s a good thing I did.” They gently scratched the back of TO’s neck.
“See. Synths don’t hug either.”
The voice of Constance brought TO back to their senses, and while they didn’t pull away, they looked around, their ears flushed and flicking with anxiety as they searched for watching eyes. To their surprise, though, nobody was watching them. Well, nobody except for Constance.
“Only out of armor.” DH said with a smile at the small child. Then, to TO they asked, “You made a friend, I see?”
“Constance?” Pearla’s voice rang over the crowd.
“She’s over here, Pearla.” TO called back. It wasn’t even a moment later when Pearla made her way through the crowds and to the girl. When Constance saw Perala, she scooted over to her, her tiny arms wrapped around Pearla’s waist.
“Are you sure they’re Synths?” Constance asked. “They don't act like synths.”
“No, they don’t.” She said as she put a hand on Constance's shoulder, “But they were.”
“I’m guessing you know her parents.” TO said as they picked up the communicator, “She called you Aunt. She’s not Tham’s child, is she?” TO knew that hybrids were commonplace between many species, but she seemed so radically different from Tham that they couldn’t imagine that the two might be related. Maybe Constance was the child of a half-sibling’s child?
“Oh, no no no.” Pearla said laughing, “I’m ‘aunt Pearla’ but I’m not related by blood.” She said, at the same time giving a reassuring squeeze to Constance’s shoulder, “I’m friends with her parents, and I watch her a lot.”
“So she calls you aunt, but you’re not her aunt.” TO said, their ears twitching in confusion.
“Yeah, it’s a thing.” Pearla said, smirking.
“Alright.” TO said, “Where’s her parents then? I’ll list her with them now-”
“Daddy is working, but he’ll be back soon.” She said, “Mommy died before I hatched. But, I have lots of aunts, so it’s ok!”
“Right.” Pearla said, her face dropping. She patted Constance on the shoulder. “Now, I found some old toys for you, and put them under your bed. Why don’t you crawl under and make a little fort with the sheets, hmm?”
Constance gave Pearla a quick hug. “Ok!” she said, then started scooting away as quickly as her arms could move her towards a bunk near the back.
“Will her father be back soon?” TO asked. Pearla sighed and gave TO a tired look.
“I sometimes forget how you lot don’t really pick up on lies.” She said, “The authorities took her dad. She was playing with some friends further back, so we could get her out.”
TO’s ears pinned back, “And you lied to her?” They asked. Pearla shrugged.
“She’s six, TO. She couldn’t do anything about it, and it’s just going to make her miserable. Besides, we’re hoping we can get him back before we have to go, and before anything happens to him.”
“And if you can’t-”
“Then my lie has done nothing but save her a few days of heartache.” Pearla said. “List her as alone for now, but if anything happens, get me.”
“Alright.” TO said. They went into their file, and added Constance in a group of her own… but it seemed so sad to TO. They didn’t remember their own ‘childhood’ as they were in the tanks and it passed like a dream that’s been long forgotten, but they knew children shouldn’t be alone. Besides that, Constance was small, and going about on their scooter kept her low to the ground. In case of an emergency, someone had to watch out for her and make sure that she was safe.
Above her name, they put their own name, and DH’s. If they found her father, then TO could fix that later. Then, after a moment of hesitation, they added Avery’s name. They could ask their friend if that was alright later, but for now, if they were putting their own name on this list, grouping themself in a family of sorts, they’d add Avery.