1/31 Instance: The Thing from the Basement

[Slarti]

Current timeline

<Jessica> Jess sighed, slumping a little in her seat on the sofa and frowning at the TV. She was bored and there was nothing on but she didn't feel like doing anything else. Especially not going outside.

<TFTB> In the basement, right on schedule, something quietly whirred to life. Two pinpoints of light grew slowly in intensity, slowly illuminating the room.

<Jessica> Deciding she should probably make an attempt at lunch as she hadn't eaten breakfast, she peeled herself off of the sofa and went for the stairs to the kitchen.

<TFTB> The lock on the workshop door was no challenge, and soon quiet footsteps echoed through the room leading to the stairs.

<Jessica> Jess didn't register the sounds right away over her own footsteps on the stairs and Sharky's. When she did, however, she paused, trying to pinpoint where it was coming from. The TV, maybe?

<TFTB> The carpeting on the stairs muffled the footfalls and they didn't stop at street level, simply ascending at a steady pace.

<Jessica> That... was not the TV. Jess abandoned the idea of lunch and hurried up to the top of the house to hide in the cupola.

<TFTB> Where was the small other silver creature? Now to the level of the kitchen, the footsteps moved across to the kitchen, and the refrigerator door swung open. There was an easy way to get the silver friend to come.

<Jessica> Sharky had been dutifully following his mistress but the sound of the fridge door lured him back the other way. "Sharky!" Jess hissed, turning to go after him. "Come back here!"

<TFTB> There was the silver friend! Meat now in his bowl, a tentative hand gently petted the small creature as it ate.

<Jessica> Jess slid to a stop in the hallway as she caught sight of the thing in the kitchen patting Sharky. She stared at it, eyes wide.

<TFTB> Sensing the movement, wide unblinking luminescent eyes in a wide metallic face turned toward her.

<Jessica> She stared for a long time, not really sure what to do with the fact that there was a robot in her kitchen, petting her dog-thing. "The hell...?" she managed eventually.

<TFTB> The head tilted at the sound of her voice and processed the words. The hand was still moving over Sharky's back.

<Jessica> Well Sharky wasn't freaking out so obviously he knew this robot thing.... maybe... she eyed her pet. "Friend?" she tried.

<TFTB> Eyes moved from her to Sharky and back to her. The head nodded once, reflecting the light in the room.

<Jessica> She eyed the robot again, "Are you the thing from the basement?" Surely she'd have heard it breaking the door down if it was a Sentinel thing.

<TFTB> There was another nod and the figure fluidly straightened up to its full height, which still wasn't very impressive. It took one step toward her and held out a five-fingered, articulate hand.

<Jessica> ... It wanted to shake her hand? She very tentatively reached out to do that. "Nice to meet you?"

<TFTB> The fingers were just as tentative as they closed around hers, calibrated, gauged the strength required, then very carefully shook her hand. It was important to do this correctly. The robot burbled at her a little.

<Jessica> "Okay... so you can't talk yet... what can you do?" She released his(?) hand and went to put the kettle on.

<TFTB> After another trilling burble, the robot indicated Sharky licking at the bottom of his bowl.

<Jessica> "Right so you can feed Sharky... anything else?" She glanced over at him as she filled the kettle. "Because if that's all you can do, someone's been slacking.... and I can only teach you how to be a housewife."

<TFTB> There was a sad whistle and the bot crouched again to play with Sharky.

<Jessica> And that pitch made her feel sorry for it. It was a machine and she felt sorry for it. She chewed her lip, "Would you like to help me bake a cake?"

<TFTB> The robot looked back up at her and the whistle pitched upward.

<Jessica> "Okay then," she offered a small smile, going to one of the recipe books and taking it down. She found a page with a suitable cake on it and laid it open on the counter, "I need all the things on this list, think you can find them?"

<TFTB> Rising quickly, the silvery robot moved to the counter and scanned the list, burbling quietly. It looked up at her after a moment and nodded twice.

<Jessica> "Alright, you get all those things while I finish making my tea and find you an apron because I'm sure Sebastian will be upset if you get flour in your circuits..."

<TFTB> The whistle was affirmative – it knew this name – Sebastian - and the robot whirred around the kitchen, occasionally misjudging its own strength or reflexes and spilling or crushing items. Soon, however, the ingredients were in a precise line next to the cookbook and the robot looked at Jessica expectantly.

<Jessica> Jess carefully put the full length apron on the robot to protect it from any mess and tied it in place. "It suits you."

<TFTB> Locked in position while she tied the apron around it, the robot watched her face as she did so, then looked down at itself with a bemused sound.

<Jessica> "I'll take it off when we're done, Sebastian doesn't need to know you wore it." She assured the robot... as if it would be embarrassed.

<TFTB> The robot whistled its appreciation and reached a hand out to her, petting her arm awkwardly as it had petted Sharky.

<Jessica> Huh... maybe it was. She gave it a small smile then moved to take out the mixing bowl, electric whisk and the kitchen scales. "Now we have to carefully weigh the ingredients to the weight it says in the book and add them to the bowl there."

<TFTB> Its nod was excited and it held out a hand in offer to help.

<Jessica> Jess set up the scales for it and moved the mixing bowl to close by, "Dry ingredients first, so the flour and the sugar, then the butter, okay?"

<TFTB> The robot didn't need the scale, and it found an empty container, holding it first in the palm of its hand to get the base measurement, then making quick work of moving through the list of ingredients.

<Jessica> "Well now you're just showing off...." She picked up one of the eggs when he was done with the other ingredients. "Okay now we tap the eggs gently on here to break them and drop what's inside into the mix in the bowl," She showed him breaking the egg on the rim of the bowl. "Or maybe you want to practice breaking one on something else until you know how much pressure?"

<TFTB> This earned Jessica an electronic trill sounding suspiciously like a giggle. Very carefully, it picked up an egg and weighed it in its palm. Pulling it close to its face, it inspected the egg with all available artificial senses.

<Jessica> "Try not to get any of the shell in the mixture... cakes don't taste very nice when there's shell in there...."

<TFTB> The robot giggled again, poising the egg above the rim of the bowl. After two false tries the robot's hand jerked back and the uncalibrated movement caused the egg to pop inside its fist. Egg slime oozed between the silver fingers and onto the counter and the robot's sounds became distressed and confused.

<Jessica> "Oh dear, don't worry...." Jess hurried to get a cloth to clean it up, wetting it with a bit of water and squeezing out the excess before she returned to it. "We'll clean it right up."

<TFTB> Offering her its hand, the robot shifted its feet, watching her for a moment, then turning away, then watching its shuffling feet, before finally raising its wide eyes up to meet the human's.

<Jessica> Jess cleaned up the last of the egg from the metal fingers, folding the cloth a couple of times in the process, "There we go. All gone... want to try again?"

<TFTB> An excited gurgling whistle was the affirmative answer and the robot picked up another egg, very, very carefully. This time, the tap on the rim of the bowl didn't even crack the egg, but the second time it did and the task was done.

<Jessica> "Hey! Good job!" She grinned, "So that's all the ingredients we need, now we have to mix them all together evenly." She tapped on the whisk, "That's what this is for... but let me show you how first...."

<TFTB> The robot watched raptly, hands resting on the counter and neck craned to pick up every detail.

<Jessica> "Okay so the most important thing for not making a mess is to turn the whisk on and off when it's in the mixture and to start at a low speed and build up." She showed what she was doing, "You have to mix it together until everything is all together and you can't see any more flour. It'll go kind of a light yellow colour... you can see colours, right?"

<TFTB> It nodded again, once, pointing at the pale yellow flowers decorating the bowl, and then noticing another source of yellow. Reaching for Jessica's face, it gently touched a finger to her blonde roots.

<Jessica> Jess cringed a little, "Yes... okay..." she sighed, passing the robot the mixer. "You try...." she was going to have a drink of her tea and think about deactivating her powers and drinking.

<TFTB> Pleased with itself, the robot took the instructions to heart and used the mixer, both slowly and carefully. Every few revs of the appliance, it paused to look at its human.

<Jessica> Jess watched it watching her, looking down at her feet when she felt Sharky sit on them. "Well hi."

<TFTB> Noticing the little silver friend's presence, the robot burbled happily at Sharky, who yipped in return.

<Jessica> "So I guess I don't have to worry you'll get bored on your own anymore, huh?" She crouched to pet Sharky herself.

<TFTB> The batter seemed to have reached optimum consistency, so the robot turned off the mixer carefully and joined its human and its friend. Slowly, the silver hand reached out to pet the silver dog again.

<Jessica> Jess straightened up, extracting her feet from beneath Sharky's butt and moving to get the round cake tins from the cupboard and turning the oven on, pressing the express heat control as she passed it. "Now we grease the tins so the cake doesn't stick."

<TFTB> For just a few moments, the robot's attention faltered and then it located the ball beneath the cabinet and threw it for its silver friend. Pleased with the animal's happy reaction, the robot turned back to its human friend.

<Jessica> Jess showed him how to get the butter on some kitchen towel and rub it around the inside of the cake tins. "You do the other one."

<TFTB> Whistling an affirmative, the robot did as it was told, taking perhaps a little too much time making sure each nook and cranny was coated in an even glaze of butter.

<Shaw> Parking on the street, Sebastian gave the building he wished to purchase a rather pointed and longing look, half hoping the elderly property owner was watching. It was taking far too long to receive a response on his offer. With a sigh, he clicked the lock on the Aston and started for the side door to his new home.

<Jessica> "That's enough, I promise." Jess gave the robot a gentle pat. "Now all we do is transfer a roughly even amount of the mixture into each tin and then we can put them in the oven to bake."

<TFTB> The pat seemed to please the silver robot and it trilled softly, picking up the bowl to slowly pour the contents. After a bit, it stopped, seeming to think, and poured into the other. Pleased with its calculations, it compared the even lines of batter in each pan.

<Shaw> Suit jacket already half off by the time he arrived at the door, Sebastian made quick work of the biometric security system and went inside. Immediately, he knew something was wrong - his workroom door stood open.

<TFTB> Just as the maker activated the lock, the robot knew it was in trouble. A high, distressed whine broke free and it stared down the stairs.

<Jessica> Jess hurried after it, "Apron!" she hissed, trying to tug at the ties on it as it walked away from her.

<TFTB> Too confused - and perhaps this was frightened? - to process information at its normal rate, the robot forgot about the apron entirely, forming scenarios to escape, or defend. If this was an intruder, and not the master, or those the master had approved, it would be the robot's job to defend its new human friend.

<Jessica> "Wait!" She tried to catch up but the spiral staircase made it difficult.

<TFTB> It did as it was told, stopping to look back to the human. Was she frightened too? Did she need its protection? Its maker protected this human, and did much more with her as well. Would it be expected to mimic these behaviors as well? A silver hand extended back up toward her, if she wanted to accept it.

<Jessica> Jess took the robot's hand and tugged it to get it back onto the landing where she could take the apron off of it properly.

<TFTB> Burbling what it hoped were soothing noises, the robot tried to help her and tangled the knots in the apron strings. All the while, it listened, and finally, when its connection to the home security system flared to life, it let out what was very nearly a sigh of relief.

<Shaw> Sebastian paused at the bottom of the spiral staircase, looking up to the highly confusing and somewhat amusing sight of Jessica trying to get an apron off his creation. "Well, well, what goes on here when I'm away?"

<Jessica> "Absolutely nothing, this is all a figment of your imagination." She waved the robot's hands away and swiftly freed it of the apron at last.

<TFTB> The robot took one look at the Maker and squeaked, the sad trill continuing as it move back up the stairs and took up a position beside the pet bowl, pointing to prove it had done its duty.

<Shaw> "I wouldn't be surprised," he chuckled, not terribly concerned with the robot's antics until he greeted Jessica. He climbed the stairs by twos and swept her into his arms, apron and all. "Have you had an interesting day, love?"

<Jessica> She returned the hug, pressing a kiss to his cheek, "The last little bit has been, yes... and we're not finished." She turned back to the kitchen to put the cake tins in the oven.

<Shaw> "I'm sorry if he frightened you," he began, licking his lips and sliding his hands into his trouser pockets as the joined them in the kitchen. The project was playing ball with Sharky now, all while keeping a wary electric eye trained his way. Watching her baking reminded him of happier times and soon he was unable to help himself.

<Shaw> Sebastian moved in behind her, resting his chin on her shoulder and wrapping both arms around her ribs and belly. Eyes closed, he angled his face into the crook of her neck to breathe in her scent and lose the cares of the day.

<Jessica> Jess leaned back against him, closing her own eyes, "I was a little worried when I heard noises... but Sharky seemed okay so...."

<Shaw> "Yes, well, Sharky's rather familiar, since I learned my creation had been sneaking out of the work room while you were in the hospital to feed and, apparently, play with your pet." He kissed her neck softly, smiling a little.

<Jessica> "Mmhmm... apparently you've been slacking on teaching it about the world..." she turned her head slightly towards him. "So I offered to teach it how to bake a cake."

<Shaw> "Ah, that would explain the apron," he chuckled a little, squeezing her tighter. After a moment, he went on. "He. For no particular reason I believe it's a he. It hasn't had the time to learn like your Danger, who was most definitely female, but she seemed to believe he was male as well."

<Jessica> "I thought I should put the apron on him just in case there was an accident with the mix... I didn't want to get him all broken..."

<Shaw> "He should be more resilient than that, but thank you." He raised his head to look at his robot, which was still playing with Sharky. "If things had gone as planned, he would be far from here at his new home now."

<Jessica> "Well... while he's here we might as well teach him things... I don't know anything really useful but I can teach him how to cook..."

<Shaw> "He can learn just by observing you, by spending time with you," he said, looking back to Jess, eyebrow raised. "If he doesn't disturb you too much, that is. You seemed fairly comfortable with him a few minutes ago." This earned her a smirk.

<Jessica> "He's sort of..." her nose wrinkled, "Cute..."

<Shaw> Sebastian's expression cracked into a broad grin. "He's cute?"

<Jessica> "Yeah..." she looked over at the robot, who was throwing Sharky's ball for him. "He got all... embarrassed I think... when I put the apron on him... so I promised to take it off before you got home..."

<Shaw> Bemused, Sebastian looked between the robot and Jess. "Really," he said with a chuckle. The robot, perhaps sensing the scrutiny, looked up at them and after a moment gave a slow wave.

<Jessica> "See? You can't tell me that's not endearing..." She smiled at the robot and waved back. "What filling and kind of icing do you want for the cake?" she glanced at Sebastian again.

<Shaw> "Well, as I told you before, he's curious and rather like a child." He hummed with thought. "Perhaps you should ask him?"

<Jessica> "But... we don't have prepackaged icing and I'm not sure he'd know the difference between them..."

<Shaw> He pressed his lips together in amusement. "I'll let you decide then," he said. Letting go of her, he moved over to the robot and dog-thing and held out a hand, nodding for the ball. Taking the hint, the robot tossed it to him and he smiled.

<Jessica> Jess nodded, going to the cupboard to get the makings of some frosting. "What colour do you think the icing should be?" She decided to put this to the robot, lining up the different coloured food dyes for him to choose from.

<TFTB> After catching the ball the maker threw back to it, the robot turned to its new human friend. Carefully, it considered the line of small bottles. Almost hesitantly, it curled its fingers and pointed to the blue bottle, then looked between the humans and even Sharky to see if this met with approval.

<Jessica> "You like blue? Okay," she smiled, going to get another mixing bowl to start on the icing.

<Shaw> Sebastian took the ball from his creation before Sharky had a fit and gave it a toss across the floor, watching the silver dog-thing scramble after it. He was probably thinking far too hard about the possible significance of the color choice. "You know, since he's going to be around, he needs a name."

<Jessica> "Maybe we should let him choose his name. He is going to have to respond to it for the rest of his existence..." She quickly weighed out the ingredients and got to work, adding a generous amount of the colouring so that the mixture didn't come out green.

<TFTB> The robot burbled happily as it watched Jessica stir the green mixture.

<Shaw> "Well, that would be a simple matter, but he hasn't yet learned to speak," Sebastian said, wandering back to the counter to watch them both.

<Jessica> "Can he write yet?" She glanced over his shoulder at him as he approached, adding a little more colour to get some blue. "That blue enough for you?"

<Shaw> "In theory," he said, watching the robot's enthusiastic nod. "While he clearly understands, he's programmed to learn in an organic fashion, and I've not yet had time to teach him much, as you so kindly pointed out. He has entire databases of information at his disposal, of course, but realizing he has it seems to be something else."

<Jessica> Jess giggled, "Well it's okay, it's kind of cute this way... and I don't mind teaching him how to talk... it's something to do...."

<Shaw> "I'll leave it to the two of you to come up with a name then," he said, smirking a bit and leaning in to give Jessica a kiss.

<TFTB> The robot watched this human behavior with wide eyes.

<Jessica> She returned the kiss, eyes wandering to the robot before she broke it off, "Aaaand now it's creepy again."

<Shaw> He laughed. "As I said, he's simply curious." In response, the robot trilled.

<Jessica> "Curious or not... it's weird to be watched." She focused on the robot, "No sneaking into the bedroom after we've gone to bed, okay?"

<Shaw> The affirmative warbling whistle made Sebastian chuckle. "This then may not be the time to point out that he's part of the security system of our home. He has access to the cameras and he's been helping to protect you."

<Jessica> "Oh... well that's okay... that's less creepy than having him standing at the bottom of the bed and staring at me when I'm asleep."

<Shaw> "He was designed to manage and monitor an integrated headquarters for a superhuman initiative in the UK, actually," he said, sliding his arms back around Jessica as the robot went back to play with Sharky.

<Jessica> "So he's going to go there one day?" She finished stirring the icing and set it to one side while the cake baked.

<Shaw> "Mmm, perhaps, if the British government gets over its skittishness. For now, their order is on hold, so I have a fully integrated artificial intelligence inorganic life form wandering around my home." He kissed her shoulder, resting his chin there again.

<Jessica> "What's going to happen if they decide they don't want him anymore?"

<Shaw> "I could find another buyer, but considering what Osborn's been up to I'm reticent to let him fall into the wrong hands." Tilting his head, he watched her profile.

<Jessica> "Can... can we keep him? Maybe let him live at the school when he's all... grown up?"

<Shaw> He grinned. "Yes, I believe we can."

<TFTB> Across the room, the robot reached underneath a sofa to extract the ball while Sharky danced and yipped in anticipation.

[steyn]

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Broo has to meet this new friend!