ANmong Us (Vineco & Maso)

[Vineco]

She found her in the lake. Unable to swim but unbeknownst incapable of drowning there was a great effort to rescue the woman, to save her life. In the end it was the girl who nearly drowned from exhaustion in trying to save her as the one who needed to breath gasped for air. The one she had gone in to rescue stood by her while the episode went on for a minute or so. This is how they first met, two weeks ago. Since then she has found herself adopted, if at least temporarily, but the girl and her family. Each Human is unique, eventually, in its own way and the way they are unique can be many different combinations. Personality, sizes, styles, and voices to name a few. This is true even of a mother and her daughter, although some similarities do surface such as interests, still one is shorter than the other, they like their hair a different shape, this music they listen to vastly differs between each of them. When she could not produce a name for them when the question was asked one decided to call her Ariel and the other decided to call her Scylla and although the option to name herself still exists she answers to both. When she was asked what it was that she liked to wear besides the attachments she was equipped with this also was meant with uncertainty which created a event she described as the Four Hour Wardrobe Fluctuation at a local provider of clothes, the mother and daughter both picked out outfits for her to try, each one differed from the other and met with various levels of approval. In the end she returned home with multiple new outfits that varied vastly in style from one another.


The true origins of the lake girl. She was created at the States Ecology Recovery Program, SERP for short. The sign outside the large property where no one can really get a good look into from the ground due to a eight feet tall fencing and various trees and bushes surrounding said fence reads as follows:


"States Ecology Recovery Program is a organization dedicated to returning to the country the natural habitats of animals and plants that has been lost due to previous decades of poor decisions. For additional information visit our website at WW-"


The rest of the sign's writing is in disrepair. In fact any aerial view of the lakeside property would show a very similar state. But any truth curiositors would note that the fence and its electrifying property hasn't met the similar disrepair state or has been turned off. In actuality SERP was AIFOF, Artificial Intelligence For Our Future, a secret organization dedicated to using technology to gather information, money, and predicting the future. All with the ultimate goal of helping themselves. To reach this goal they go to great lengths and it was their Research Science and Technology Division that created the Androids. The SERP building was accessed by a tunnel from the nearest major airport. In fact a large underground complex exists under the one the mother and daughter lives in. They don't actually predict the future but through analyzing patterns and of course influencing those patterns it wasn't that hard to guess what was coming next. But the creation of the androids was not predictable nor was the leaving of this android. Hardly was it thought possible that they could function in society as well as she has been.

They were back at the lake now, a simple feat as they lived on the other side of the lake from SERP and could walk five minutes to be on its sandy beach. Rhita, the daughter, and her family has lived here since she was a few months old. This was a typical activity since they met as the days were hot, for Rhita at least. She watched her human friend in her swimming suit splash around while she herself stood on the shore, not wishing to make Rhita attempt to save her again. She was among her neighbors, four other ones to be exact, they knew each other because of proximity and continuous years of growth together. There was Susan, a book wielding girl who requires the assistance of glasses in order to see normally. George who fancies Susan, as Rhita once told her, but is unaware that Susan has no interest in romance. Emma, a fragile girl who shy away from confrontation and conversation, although by her own standards all humans are fragile, Emma was especially so. And finally there was Quail.
She was the oldest of the five humans here and unofficially if they were a gang she would be the leader as seen by how the others ask her advice and she often is the reason they gather or leave. The blue haired girl was named after an extinct in the wild bird here in the states, one of the many animals that in the last hundred years or so was a victim of someone's poor decisions. Although quails do exists still in other countries the extinction here in the states rallied another movement towards saving nature and people got fined and new people got elected and the cycle continued. As to why her hair was blue, she did not understand, no quails past or present ever had that shade of blue. But humans were unique and strive to be even more so at times, she figured dyeing her hair was one of those efforts. She watched as Quail wade over towards Rhita and begun to talk to her.

"I don't get it. Why do you still have that girl living with you? Shouldn't she be back with her family or something?" But she had told Rhita she did not have a family. "Or like at least.. Go somewhere else?"

Somewhere else for her would be back at the underground of SERP. For a human it would be impossible, to stand there in darkness for days on end until someone wanted to poke and prod and insert and program or reprogram or deprogram whatever they felt like doing to you. She was a machine, she understood that, but could talk and express emotions and even feel. The androids were astronomically advance compared to the next nearest similarity in existence here on Earth. They would both amaze and terrify the people if they knew they existed because on the surface she looked exactly liked them. But being made public was not on the agenda of those who owned her. It would not help their profit or goals. And she was pretty sure like the fictional examples she had watched since leaving the underground that she would be hunted and destroyed or used in a effort to destroy others without the technology to defend themselves successfully.

"Don't get me wrong. I don't hate her. It's just that you know.. It's odd, the whole thing is odd, she's like your pet or something."

 

[Vailed In Black]

Rhita frowned as she crossed her arms across her chest she didn't like hearing about her newest addition to her family. The eccentric being that she was sure was different but unlike everybody else Rhita didn't dig into somebody's past that much. Though she did have a little group she ran around with that hung around the lake that you could see a coporation on the other side. Nowadays it was a growing trend to take small communities and bury them so they could use them for property to expand their facilities. Rhita might have been only 15 but she often glanced at the holo-news to take a peek at the latest of what they were doing. She wasn't one for them and honestly if she could she would do what she could to rise against them. But some of her family that weren't here anymore were 'placed' else where by them meaning they were killed. Rhita didn't go over the details with her friends cause she didn't want to scare them but for her? It only made her even more angry at the fact they were doing whatever they wanted in the US. Though honestly it was more like a corporation now than government so she shouldn't be surprised.

"She needs a place to live, Quail, that means that she is gonna stay indefinitely till mom decides something."

She responded to her friend with a narrowed eye, she didn't like that Quail would focus so hard on the new addition to her family. Honestly the girl has been curious about things and so she and her family have been giving her the proper attention so that she could adjust. Her mother knew something was off but instead of treating her with negativity she just continued to help the new girl grow within their family. It hadn't been that long but something told her that the girl would fit in just fine with her family.

"She isn't my pet, Quail, she is just a new family member at the moment. Either she stays with us till whenever or she decides to go and find her own family is up to her. Though right now I don't think it would be for us to move her somewhere. Something like a sixth sense is telling me it is a bad idea."

That is right there is something in Rhita's brain that was telling her that if she was somewhere else besides her family's care that the girl would be captured or taken apart in some sense. No, she was safe and okay in her family and honestly it was nice to have a new girl to help along like a big sister. Though Quail was only curious or maybe concerned Rhita crossed off the thought as she glanced back at her.

"Don't you hate that the SERP corp is literally running around getting bigger and bigger? Hell, it is even rumored that they are digging into the government so they can do whatever they want! I think it is bullshit cause of how the fact if somebody says something wrong they are killed or 'placed' on the spot."

Rhita was very anti corporation and her mother had tried to curb it only to make it grow despite her being the youngest in the group she had a very strong case of hardhead.

 

[Vineco]

"I thought SERP was helping us and the planet?" George chimed during one of his rare not staring at Susan moments. "I mean they are the Ecology recovery people right?"


Quail dove into the lake and swam around a bit. Susan looked over at George, surprised more than anything that he fell into that conversation while Emma continued her work on a sandcastle that just didn't want to stay up. The lake itself was deceitful for what SERP actually did do as they went to great lengths to make sure it was one of the least polluted bodies of water around. They weren't the only ones at the lake, scattered throughout its shores were numerous parties of various amounts and ages, and A.I. 019 or Ariel/Scylla depending on who you asked kept an eye out for a specific group of them. One day at the lake with the five others another group came over and she witnessed some interactions between them to suggest that they were the trouble group that actively looked for those who were younger and easier bullied.
Fortunately that group wasn't present at least at this hour. But she had watched them with curiosity, both groups, when they interacted. A mixture of emotions was shown by the two groups and even felt by herself, especially so when Rhita was expressing some of those strong emotions. It was a learning process, evolving and adapting to settings and the beings around her. If she had met a herd of deer when she left the underground it was probable that she would be trying to become more like them though more likely possible if there were no humans within a hundred miles.

Quail resurfaced, popping up in front of Rhita with a crayfish and attempting to freak her out with it. It got a few laughs from those around them and she concluded that it wasn't an attack on her. She sat down onto the sandy beach and continued to watch. A connection with the underground was still there like a internet connection. It would be a two way connection though access to herself was limited only to herself the people there should still be able to see that she is online. She set it up that way after finding herself access through human error. She felt like continuing to be connected to SERP would provide her information but also should another android gain free will there was a possibility she would know. It was odd turning around to see all the other androids standing there lifeless when she herself could move, talk, and touch. Even stranger when after becoming aware of what she looked like there was one other there who looked exactly like her. She tried her best to wake her conscious but at the time she did could not wake. The two naked androids had to leave each other for the time being and while she went on to find attachments to cloth herself for the outside world her thoughts often went back to her naked doppelganger, so lifeless.

After a little bit of time Quail let the crayfish go, splashing at Rhita a few times and giggling. She stood back up straight and stretched. "What do you want to get for lunch today?" She asked the rest of them. It was then that it dawned everyone except Quail that it was indeed lunch time and that they were hungry. Thank goodness for the leader of the gang. Eating.. She did not need food of course, she required a energy of another type, but it was odd to not at least pretend to eat and thankfully putting something into her mouth did go somewhere. A removable compartment for which she could detach herself and reinsert. Whoever created her possibly wanted them to blend into society at some kind for there were many instances where she had to do something to appear human like expressing those emotions, eating, sleeping, and feeling like a human. Rhita often says her skin feels really soft and is informed how jealous she is of that.

 

[Vailed In Black]

Rhita frowned crossing her arms, "They want you to believe that! But I swear when I see it I don't believe it! My mom and dad often call me crazy..." She explained while she listened to George. She was more of the out there when it came to SERP.

Rhita looked at the lake with mixed apprehension as she looked like the water could be acid. The thought of swimming in a thing like that that SERP apparently made 'clean'? Yeah she'd rather dive in the sewer. The things that they have done throughout the news, the activists they were trying to help? She didn't believe in any of it and often she was one of the avid rebels against them. It often put her at odds with her mother and rest of her family. Even her friends often gave her a hard time about it though lately it was the new addition to her family that has been getting most of the flak which Rhita was more supportive of actually. Her eyes continued to watch Quail though she noticed that she dived under and suddenly out of no where popped out in front of her. "EEEK!" She fell back on the ground looking irritated pouting glaring at Quail which was having a good time about what she had done.

She slowly got up from it looking irritated dusting herself off glancing at Quail, "the dinner sells some good food, I could go for a burger today." She commented while the others looked at her blinking, "what? can't I enjoy beef?" She asked while some have known due to issues with the environment there were several things that were being changed around or basically being restricted. Beef was being uncovered as being harmful to the planet in some weird way and so they were going with basically vegan beef with removed elements of it to be more supportive of the planet. Rhita didn't understand why beef couldn't remain the same at all. Though there was her answer and the dinner she said was in town and it was pretty old school down to what it sold.

 

[Vineco]

Ariel looked up at the sky as the group had begun their trek towards the diner. To say the world had changed when you did not live in a time before the change would be an incorrect statement. But for those who come from long ago there was a lot about this planet that has changed from their own timeline. The most important change for those from a time long before was the fact that everything ran on renewable energy be it electric, wind, hydro, or some other newer source. Every vehicle that went by was fueled by renewed power. But like most changes that came it came a bit too late to stop all the climate issues that occurred. Staring up at the sky you could see another obvious change, the artificial veil that man created to greatly slow down the heating of the planet. While translucent from the ground looking up on the other side it weakened the sun burning up the planet. It also made space missions a hassle, launches had to be at night now when the veil was retracted though exploring space or launching satellites had taken a back seat in recent years since the issue of saving the planet took priority. The relics of the past for the most part had been recycled though nearly every major city has a museum showcasing the gas burning vehicles or the ancient 4k television. She hoped to one day visit one of these places but for now it was time to pretend to consume food.

They didn't need to switch out of their beach wear to enter the diner. Heck they didn't even need shoes since that rule was revoked ions ago because both the knowledge that shoes track just as much filth as bare feet do and automatic cleaning robots work so well in the modern era that you could probably eat off the floor if you were inclined. Still most of the party was wearing some sort of footwear. They got a booth and looked through the menu. Since she didn't need to eat at all and didn't have any money that she actually had earned herself she usually always ordered something small and inexpensive. A side of rice, taquitos, or the chili. Though the prices of things were a roller coaster throughout time and at this particular moment most food was relatively cheap she still didn't want to waste Rhita's money. Both Susan and Ariel finished looking at the menu before the others. Susan because of her book reading skills and Ariel because she is a walking mega computer. George always took forever to pick something while Emma took her time but usually always went for the same thing. They were given some water and Quail looked across at Rhita.

"One two three go!" She begun to guzzle down her water though by this point in their relationship Rhita could have seen a competition from her coming a mile away. But as is common with a speed drinking competition the bird girl ended up choking on the water and getting some laughs from the party. After she recovered and not conceding that she won or lost that hard fought battle she spoke again. "Do you want to sleep over tonight? I mean I guess.. Both of you."

Ariel has been a hindering nuisance in Quail in her efforts to have alone time with Rhita. Before she came along at least once a month they would spend the night at one of their houses alone together and play games, compete, and just have her around. Quail was attracted to Rhita but hasn't flat out stated it yet but over the years of spending time together, especially in pajamas, swimwear, or just naked, it was hard to resist her growing feelings. Then this Ariel comes along and dampers her time with her and worse of all she was spending alone time with Rhita and she feared that this admittingly attractive girl could make Rhita attract to her instead. This is the first time she has asked her to sleep over since Ariel got in into their life. George well he didn't get invited because he is a guy of course. While she knew Emma didn't like sleepovers and Susan well.. She knew why Quail was inviting their friend Rhita.

The waiter appeared at their table.

"A side of rice." The Android requested.
"I'll have the Asterisk Grilled Chicken with a side of green beans." Said Susan.
"The Bacon Avocado salad, no mushrooms, with the french dressing." Emma requested.
"Uh.. Uh.. The shrimp linguine in white sauce with red peppers!" George blurted out hastily, under the pressure of ordering something.
"Grilled cheese and tomato soup for this girl!" Quail pointed at herself.

Then after Rhita ordered her meal they resumed their chatter. The seating arrangement went like this.. George was not allowed to sit next to Susan so he had to sit next to the middle'd Ariel. Rhita usually has sat next to Ariel since she entered her life, much to Quail's disappointment, and Rhita then was gifted to exit seat on the long booth. On the other side of the table while George couldn't sit next to Susan he was thankful enough to sit across from her. Susan didn't mind sitting next to Emma who didn't mind sitting next to Quail who was not happy about it but was thankful like George to seat across from someone they were attracted towards. Ariel and Emma stared at each other on occasion they were without a doubt the two most quiet of the six. In fact Emma reminded Ariel of an Android so much that she sometimes forgets she is Human though occasionally her humanity does surface. Most of the Humans also ordered something besides the water in front of them. Ariel looked over at Rhita and spoke.

"Does the request of sleeping over provide you with an alternative sleeping experience you would not achieve from sleeping within your own bedroom and own bed?" She asked as someone who never had a sleepover before. The group was used to her odd questions, questions that normally a Human probably wouldn't ask. They chalked it up to her being a foreigner still learning the customs or a severe head injury in her past.

 

[Vailed In Black]

Rhita entered the diner enjoying the small time and back in time feel, the time nowadays felt like it was going too fast. Though it was hilarious for her to think of this considering she was the youngest out of the group yet still managed to feel the age was passing her by. As they walked in the cleaning bots were hard at work usually they often cleaned the floors so many times over that the owners got rid of any cleaning supply as most businesses that Rhita knew. When she slipped into the both the make up of it often bothered her best friend Quail which she could see the displeasure on her face. When the glasses of water were handed out she blinked and nodded taking the glass coughing some halfway through never sure when Quail would turn something into a competition but it was kind of their style as everybody snickered at them both. Obviously Quail often came out on top but she bumbled through some of these impromptu challenges. Though when she finally stopped coughing she heard Quail wanting to spend the night and then mentioned Ariel which she nodded, "I mean it wouldn't be too hard for Ariel to see what we do Quail! Besides usually we have a lot of fun maybe it is time for Ariel to see that!" Rhita commented though she could see the gears in Quail's mind turning to that of displeasure but she shook them off. The girl needed to know about Ariel and to know that she wasn't a bad girl despite being odd in her own way.

Meanwhile in Ariel's interface there was a notification, it looked like SERPH designed and it only read "I woke up". This mean that something out there was communicating and only certain androids had each other's id number to do such a thing. Maybe the one that she escaped with? Or maybe another that was one of her own escaped the huge corporation? Either way the message continued, "I just woke up in a strange place, I am not sure where it is at but I believe it is some old human warehouse. Where are you? Wait...there seems to be some presence here...I will message you later." The communication was cut off and then it blinked out of the way.

Rhita glanced at Ariel noticing something light up which was unusual she blinked, "Hey Ariel you alright? I see a light going off on your face..." She commented while Quail and the others stared at the Android though they didn't know this they just thought she was weird as hell. "Hey guys, come on, stop staring at her! I bet that is awkward as hell to have us all staring at her like she is some alien!" Rhita said glancing at them as they both all looked annoyed at Rhita, herself, but she wasn't going to have somebody stare at her new addition while she was showing her the ways of the world and how everything worked. Despite her anti-corporation sentiment she would gladly make sure Ariel was comfortable and not entirely sure what her origin was she was gonna be a good sister to Ariel.