#its not a hard rule i intend to set for myself in my art bc that'd be restrictive but i like to think abt that stuff

[buqbite]

keep your guard up, buddy

[famedroleplayarchive]

there's a serious problem with lack of dash activity and plotting here. and even though you don't really take advice on how to improve the group or adding groups(unless its specifically something /youre/ asking of the group), the unwillingness to change much of anything besides "model groups" instead of making interesting changes like opening trainee slots, potential duos, bands, and staff positions, fun hinting at group debuts, or even a revamp of the blog with new features is discouraging.

Hi! As a policy, it’s much easier for me to address concerns off-anon, but I do want to start off by saying that I’m always open to taking suggestions for what people want to see! I address that and the bulk of your message more fully under the cut, but I wanted to touch on your dash and plotting concerns first above the cut since I wanted to give members a little reminder, too.

If you’re having problems with or concerns about any specific members, please come to me off-anon and I will speak to them. I can’t ever fully know what’s going on with plotting since that almost exclusively happens over messages, which I have no access to. If your writing partners have been slow to reply lately, we’ve got mini-events with the Base blog along with future full-group events and tasks that will be ramping up that will provide more to write about, as the dash does slow down when we don’t have any real events or tasks going on.

I definitely hear your concern, though, so, members, please make sure you’re putting in the effort to write and plot with those who express interest in doing so with you, and don’t be afraid to reach out to others if you feel your plots are currently lacking! Life can make people slow (myself included right now, especially when it comes to responding to plotting messages and, to a lesser extent, messages on the main), but make sure to follow up when you do get the chance, and it never hurts to let someone know that you’ve got a lot going on right now, so maybe going with the flow on a starter or doing a text thread (though, reminder: those don’t count for activity) would be better for the time being.

Likewise, members, if you ever have concerns about feeling excluded by anyone, please message me off-anon and I will do what I can to try to help you out! Your comfort is of utmost important to me.

Now, I’d like to address the latter part of your message, since it concerns me that I may have given off any kind of impression that I’m not open to suggestions or advice.

As I said at the beginning of this post, I am always open to hearing out suggestions and advice! A lot of updates that have been added recently are at the suggestion of members. Almost all of the claims that have been added to the points shop recently were specific requests by members, as well as several past rule updates and general changes to how the group is run. The biggest addition we’ve had to the group in a while was the addition of the Base blog and the events that will come from it (and the full scope of possibilities I want to incorporate through that has yet to be shown!) was an idea I’d had since the beginning of the roleplay in some sense, but was largely shaped by suggestions and requests from members past and present and those who submitted what they wanted to see anonymously. 

Generally, as a rule, I don’t publicly reply to suggestions for the group that come in since it can be hard to make an official statement on any plans I have for incorporating them before I’ve entirely thought it through and figured the best way, time, and method to implement a suggestion. I keep all anonymous suggestions I receive, so that I can keep them in mind and come back to them later. Messages do get eaten, though, so if you want to be one hundred percent sure I got something, please message me the suggestion off-anon and let me know you’d like to know I got it!

I do understand that the few times I have replied to anonymous suggestions publicly, it’s more often than not been to say that something won’t be able to be implemented (or that, if it will, it’s a ways off), but I only do that when a request or suggestion has been made multiple times and I’ve thought it through enough that I really don’t see it working within the confines of the group so that members aren’t holding on for something that I won’t be able to make happen for them. This includes what you’ve mentioned about opening the roleplay up for trainees, staff, or bands, because those are simply not roles that would work within the mechanics of the roleplay and its concept since everything (events, claims, points) is based around the specific lives and careers of debuted idols. Muses outside of that would naturally feel left out unless I were to do a major overhaul of the group’s core. I know idol roleplays with those types of open roles have been done before and are probably being done out there right now, though, so I do hope you can find a place to write your trainee, staff, or band muse if that’s what you really want to write out! Unfortunately, the specific sub-set of the idol roleplay genre that I’ve chosen for Famed to exist within doesn’t easily accommodate the types of roles outside of those that already exist within it. As for duos, I had suggestions brought to me about people wanting to see more sub-unit and canon collaboration opportunities and I’m doing my best to make that happen through all of the recent sub-unit debuts and the COLLA3ORATE event through the Base blog, and beyond that, music collaborations, dramas, variety shows, etc. are always available as a claim for two muses to work and/or promote together if they want to!

No group debuts have been hinted at recently because there’s none immediately planned anymore. I had a boy group I wanted to debut this summer, but it’s more important to me that existing muses have group mates to write with before I bring in new spots, so nothing is planned to happen there with that new boy group debut until next calendar year at earliest. We’ve had at least one new group or soloist debut every year since the roleplay opened (Femme Fatale in 2017; Lucid and Dimensions Soloist 2 in 2018; BC Soloist 1 in 2019; Dimensions Soloist 3 in 2020) and new debuts are something I’d like to keep up for as long as it’s reasonable.

I’m not able to accommodate what every single request, suggestion, and desire everyone has for the roleplay because not everything will fit into the roleplay realistically and logistically, but I promise I have never refused to make a suggestion happen out of sheer stubbornness or refusal to be open to others’ ideas!

In my view, my role as an admin is to keep the roleplay running and offer updates, changes, plot drops, story lines, etc. to encourage muse for writing among muns, but I am also very aware of roleplay as a collaborative art — meaning, as an admin, I also want to work with members to help craft a community unique to the members we have had and do have that wouldn’t exist in the form it does without their creativity and ideas. That’s why I will sometimes put out surveys for opinions and feedback like you mentioned. I never want to make members feel burdened by those, as they are always completely optional, and are intended to help me, as a solo admin, get a broader view on suggestions that have been brought to me to see if it’s something more widely desired. Other times, yes, they do involve concerns and ideas of my own, but I have no desire to put the burden of admin-ing on members’ shoulders and I sincerely apologize if it ever feels like that’s what I’m doing by putting out opinion and feedback surveys. I do often make decisions without surveys, but when it’s something that I’m not fully set on doing or not doing, I like to know if it’s something that will make members happy since, once again, I really do want the roleplay to be shaped in part by what brings members muse instead of forcing things that might suck inspiration out of the roleplay when that’s the opposite of my intention. If I’m asking for member opinions, that is always completely optional and if you don’t want to answer, you should never feel you have to! If the requests for opinions and feedback don’t match what you want to give, then you are encouraged to message me anyway with your own!

I do want to reiterate again since I am very saddened to hear I may have come off contrarily: I love receiving ideas for the roleplay from members. I do not regularly reply to anonymous suggestions so that I can keep them in the inbox to come back to, but I am happy to read them and consider them. I was actually thinking very recently about how I might want to open a separate ask box or open submission form for suggestions to encourage members to send their thoughts in when they have them, but we have quite a few blogs already, so I didn’t know if that would be wanted.

I’m one person and while I try my best to try to come up with new ideas and ways to keep the group exciting without being overwhelming, I’m under no illusion that there aren’t people out there with ideas I never would have thought of that are better than anything I could come up with on my own and it excites me when I get messages with new ideas for the group, even when I’m not able to implement them, because people making suggestions means they’re excited about the group and/or they have enough investment to want to see something and that means the world to me!

As for a revamp of the blog with new features, I’m not confident I know exactly what you’re referring to there, but if you mean a revamp for a new look, I know we’ve had the same graphics and themes on our blogs for a while as it hasn’t been a priority for me to change those with everything else I’ve had going on, but any suggestions you might have for functional features you want to see on any of our blogs would be great to hear! I’ve been working behind the scenes on creating a timeline of major canon career events (tours, first award wins, foreign debuts, that kind of thing) for each of the groups, sub-units, and canon soloists, so I hope to have those added to the new page layouts some time within the next few months, but other new features on the main, Exclusive blog, Base blog, and company blogs are more in their infancy, so any suggestions there would be lovely to hear!

[jsl65-blog]

My Dispute with Paul Weiss and David Lakhdhir - The Context

Last month (March 2019) the Central London Employment Tribunal gave judgment in a preliminary hearing related to the case, A Christie v Paul Weiss and David Lakhdhir. 

(David Lakhdhir)

For those unfamiliar with legal jargon, Ms Christie is the “claimant” in the case (i.e., she brought proceedings and is “claim”ing X, Y, Z). Paul Weiss and David Lakhdhir are the “respondents” (i.e., they are defending or “respond”ing to Ms Christie’s claim against them). Paul Weiss is an American law firm with an office in London; David Lakhdhir is one of the managing partners of the London office. Ms Christie is a former employee of Paul Weiss, and David Lakhdhir was her direct supervisor during her employment.

Paul Weiss and David Lakhdhir face allegations of:

sex discrimination;

harassment;

victimisation; 

automatic unfair dismissal for making a whistle blowing disclosure; and

religious discrimination

Paul Weiss and David Lakhdhir asked for the preliminary hearing, the reasons for which will be discussed below, and invited the Employment Tribunal to consider striking out (i.e., dismissing) Ms Christie’s claim. The judge ruled in Ms Christie’s favour. The judgment can be found here. 

The judgment got the attention of RollOnFriday, which is a British media website designed for and used by those in the legal profession. I think it is safe to assume that RollOnFriday had an interest in the case because Ms Christie is claiming £136 million against Paul Weiss and David Lakhdhir. RollOnFriday subsequently published a piece about the judgment. The piece can be viewed here.

I am not a party to the case, but it will be obvious to readers that my name is all over both the judgment and the RollOnFriday piece. Why?

The short answer to this question is that I tweeted and wrote several correspondences that were designed to draw public attention to the allegations (see above) the respondents are facing. The respondents were none too pleased about this unwanted publicity. They were (and are) desperate to ensure that no one finds out that they are facing these allegations. And I think it would be fair to point out that the respondents surely do not want people to know that it was not just Ms Christie who sued them on similar grounds (I will mention more on this in a later post). 

At the preliminary hearing, Paul Epstein QC attempted to argue that Ms Christie had directed me to put public pressure on the respondents so that they would settle the case. In the respondents’ view, my behaviour was egregious, vexatious or unreasonable and that, since Ms Christie allegedly directed me to act, she ought to be held accountable for my actions by having her case struck out. However, the judge essentially held that while there was some information sharing between Ms Christie and myself, the respondents had started a separate dispute with me personally and I was retaliating against them by drawing public attention to the allegations (paragraph 39 of the judgment). 

But what the judgment does not explain is how the dispute between the respondents and myself arose. Thus, I thought I would start a blog about the case, and other things going on in my life. With respect to my motivations for writing about the case in particular, I would suggest (off the top of my head) that there are at least two such motivations, but perhaps more. First, because the final hearing (set for May 2019) will undoubtedly be widely reported on, I think it would be useful for those interested to understand the background and the issues in plain language from an insider’s (and also a lawyer’s) perspective. Second, there seems to be quite a bit of conjecture surrounding the case and why I decided to speak out about it. Therefore, over the coming days I will try to unpack my connection to the case and explain as best I can what led up to the preliminary hearing, although I cannot promise the updates will be at regular intervals. 

Before I conclude, I have always been fascinated by Sun Tzu (545-496 BC), who was a very influential Chinese military strategist and philosopher. Among other things, Sun Tzu said that, in order to properly understand and wage war, one must first master the art of deception. In particular, Sun Tzu suggested that deceiving an adversary into thinking their opponent to be inferior is a powerful weapon, albeit only if wielded properly. Such a deception could encourage an adversary’s arrogance, and arrogance invites decision-making error and ultimately defeat.  

This leads me to another, hidden, aspect of the judgment. The judge noted that “[w]hilst the Tribunal is invited to infer from the fact that the tweeting stopped on 17 December 2018 that it was a joint enterprise, it could also have been because Mr Liptrap realised that he might be legally exposed himself. He had separately received a strongly worded letter from Stephenson Harwood on the same day pointing this out” (paragraph 38 of the judgment). 

This was not why I stopped tweeting. Call it a (Lip) trap, call it a ruse, call it a deception. I knew that Paul Weiss and David Lakhdhir would - arrogantly - ask for a preliminary hearing and make a strike out application (bearing in mind that they were desperate to keep people from knowing about the case to prevent reputational damage). I knew that any preliminary hearing would likely be about me, and I also knew that I would not be invited or alerted to its existance. Therefore, when I found out that the respondents got themselves twisted in my spider’s web, I wrote to the Employment Tribunal president, Judge Doyle, and then to the Employment Tribunal itself.

It was a nifty insurance policy, if I do say so myself. Indeed, while it is not quite visible, there are shadows of it in the subtext of the judgment, if one knows where to look.  For example, paragraph 39 of the judgment is eerily similar to what I wrote in my application to the Employment Tribunal after the preliminary hearing. Of course, I would never have been able to draw more attention to the case on my own without the help and hard work of the respondents’ legal representation. So I have Anne Pritam (partner at Stephenson Harwood) and Paul Epstein QC to thank for that. 

(Anne Pritam)

(Paul Epstein QC)

Cheers for all your efforts, lads. 

Now the case is even more conspicuous - Paul Weiss and David Lakhdhir have no one to blame for that but themselves. Furthermore, RollOnFriday intend to follow up on what is below next week (but obviously whether that actually happens remains to be seen). It is also only a matter of time until larger media organisations pick up on the case, and I need not lift a finger to make that happen. 

[toldumpurple]

by crazychase

Celebrating the Soon to be completion of my novel! Here are the First Two Chapters! Enjoy and Look forward to Seeing A Kickstarter For first publishing and Editing! It will have some pretty cool rewards to go with it!

Prologue

The Date is 7165 AD or it would be if AD/BC was used anymore.

Welcome to the capital of the Global Peace and Science Treat Organisation aka GPSTO, Kondinumim, or Kondi as locals like to call it. Ever since the GPSTO took over the planet 1220 years ago the scientific development of the world has been strictly limited and monitored. The organisation’s eyes and ears were everywhere. Their enforcers are as strict as they are brutal and did not show leniency on even the smallest of offences toward the endless rules imposed by the GPSTO. The True Date according to the new system is 1221 GSR Imposed by the GPSTO standing for the date since their Global Scientific Reform.

The Global Scientific reform was a brutal era not unlike the records of the WW2 Holocaust where the organisation set up “re-education camps” sending almost 30 percent of the population being sent and never to be heard of again. The rest of the population was put under a dictatorship like reign of this faceless organisation under the premise of global peace. The Surviving population have silicon biotags that are needed for the simplest of tasks like walking down the street for exercise. These are known as Bio-Silicon Personal ID Pass, the SPIP. Even with all this security and force however there still is and always will be the Black market and shady dealers exploiting the system and evading the authorities.

After all… This is Human nature.

Five Years ago a mysterious Research publication by an unknown writer appeared on an open source mechanical engineering website. It was only online for 2 hours before the paper and the company vanished entirely without a trace. The paper has sparked a widespread urban myth about its existence though word of mouth as any mention of it within the network disappears. The Contents of the paper? The Complete mapped out pathways of the human brain, the theory of creating artificial consciousness, and how to replicate the human brain using bio-silicon and optic fibre components. One last copy of the paper remains. Printed and held by a young Mechanical engineer called Zeke Crassus who has every intention to try out the design.

Chapter 1: Sweet Beginnings

*CLICK*

An old video camera whirred to life and begins to record a young man in his mid-twenties sitting on an old metal stool in an engineering workshop. His hair messy but off his face almost teased up, face dirty from work in the garage. His bright green eyes highlighted by the deep blue work outfit he was wearing.

He takes a deep breath and starts to speak.

“Hi my Name Is Zeke Crassus, 26, mechanical engineer. For the last year I have been working on and fabricating parts for project Eden.

So here is the quick rundown on progress so far.

The torso head and first part of the limbs have been constructed and assembled using a special non- magnetic titanium alloy composite covered in porcelain to make the endoskeleton. The porcelain surface allows the attachment of the synthetic muscles by my design using glues and resins strong and flexible enough to prevent it from tearing away from the endoskeleton while generating enough force to move quicker than biological humans. Since any Idea of this concept or RND is considered Illegal by the GPSTO it is essential that by all regards that the finished product will appear to any one undergoing tests that project Eden is indeed human. Of course some alterations will have to be made so biological test will be evaded but this will not be too hard to overcome with the utilisation of a few medical advancements. For power GPSTO’s new eco power generation technology is going to be used which utilises Bacterial Symbiosis to break down food into electrical energy. This will create a more human feel allowing it to eat as a human would and go undetected. Specifically simple sugars will be needed to generate power and so biofilm coated silicon pouches that will excrete substance similar to salvia in humans accepting a larger range in diet.”

Zeke Pauses and rubs his eyes for a moment displaying signs of fatigue. He stands up beginning to pace as he continues his description of the project.

“However I digress as I have talked about a lot of this on a prior video diary. The Artificial brain is constructed as the paper specified but I am yet to get a response to show it is operational. Utilising the synthetic silicon heart technology from the medical field as a hydraulic pump I have managed to get the synaptic fluid to flow as intended relocating energy to the power generation areas and resupplying and supporting the symbionts according to isolated test results. The Muscle structure and silicon polymer skin has successfully mimicked natural form and project finally looks humanoid and not like some ancient sci-fi villain. Face and eyes have been fitted and the project has taken on a cute appearance which was an unintentional result. If the project identifies as male I may have to alter face structure and eye colour as purple would not come across as a male’s choice within the designer eye community. A Silicon keratin polymer has been created as hair which looks and feels like real hair however I have not figured out how to change its colour from silver yet. A test will be performed to see if a Dye can be used on the fibres as they are porous. Finally the project has had internet protocols enabled allowing downloading language and behavioural parameters after I enable the voice protocols from the workshops secure intranet.”

Zeke lets out a large sigh walking toward a large surgical style work bench and removes the sheet form the project.

There lay a humanoid figure with only a head, upper arms and thighs attached to the torso The Synthetic muscle was exposed on the entirety of the body with the exception of the face where the silicon skin was attached covering the multitude of small synthetic muscles needed for complex face movement

Zeke looks over the frame silently for a moment.

He begins to think to himself, “It’s Incredible that I have manage to build this much so far and avoid arousing suspicion or be caught yet,’ as he ponders whether it is fine for him to continue to the next stage of the experiment. In an attempt to motivate himself he states out loud as he flicks the power up switch to on, “It’s too late now to back away! You must finish this beautiful thing, Zeke!”

The project sits up and looks around the room from its position on the bench.

“Good”, Zeke stated, “at least we haven’t gone backwards from the last 93 tests.”

He starts to walk toward a laptop station connected to the power equipment thinking out loud, “Now just to activate voice and download the protocols from the intranet to see if that brain has started up yet.”

As he approaches the computer a sweet musical voice calls out from behind him, “Hey Zeke, you don’t have to do that.”

Frightened at the sudden voice Zeke Panics and spins around looking for the source of the mysterious voice calling out, “Who is there? How did you get into my show?! It’s after hours and we are closed!”

The mysterious voice pipes up again and says, “but I have always been here… you are the one who put me here and I cannot move for myself properly yet!”

Zeke dumbfounded and shocked looks toward the bench to see the project with a quizzical look on its face.

“Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-you can talk?!” Zeke stammered out. “But I haven’t activated any of your systems! How is this possible?! None of my other tests worked or even got a response!” Zeke exclaimed both shocked and excited.

“Well, I can turn on my own systems thank you but as for why I am talking now and not before…” project Eden stated trailing off then with a bashful full tone said, “I guess this is the first time you called me beautiful.”

Dumbfounded, Zeke froze mouth gaped.

“You mean you made me believe that you were defective 93 times just because I hadn’t complimented you yet?!” Zeke Exclaimed frustrated

“Please don’t yell at me”, Project Eden Said as it cowered as if waiting to be hit,” I just thought you were mad cause you always used rude words when working on me and well…”

“Well what is it?” Zeke inquired.

“Well, I thought if I talked you would stop spending so much time with me and I was lonely.” Project Eden said embarrassed.

Zeke let out a large sigh regaining his composure and warming up to this new development.

He moves closer to the bench turning off the still recording camera and grabbing his metal stool and approached the bench where project Eden was still sitting looking quite worried.

“So, look.” Zeke started as he sat down on the stool looking up at the cute worried face and stunning purple eyes, “I am sorry about all that, you surprised me and I didn’t know you were conscious, could hear me, or even were working at all. I was frustrated. Will you forgive me?” Zeke asked apologetically. While thinking, “I cannot believe I am apologising to my experiment!”

“Well you are forgiven”, Project Eden replied, ‘ Oh, and before I go back to sleep because I am fatigued, you can go ahead and finish putting me together as it is improper to leave a girl like this, I think I better introduce myself!”

“W-W-W-What?!” Zeke exclaimed, “Your name is Eden like Adam and Eve Eden! Cause you could have been male or fem…”

“God No!” She stated loudly cutting him off, “That is a horrible name! Where the hell did you get that from? You may be a genius but you are terrible with names!”

“WELL…. what shall you have me call you ‘The Mighty naming Princess of names’?!” Zeke replies with all the sass he can muster.

She lets out a cute and sweet toned giggle, turns toward him to look directly into his eyes and pulling the biggest smile Zeke had ever seen and proceeds to introduce herself.

“My name will be Arinel Rose and for when we are alone you can call me Ari!”

Zeke just sits there speechless at the sight that just befell him. His creation telling him off, showing varied emotions and even deciding on her own name and gender without any of his input codes.

“Good night Zeke, I look forward to getting my hair and the rest of my body assembled too, so I can move around and spend more time with you. It was lovely to finally start talking to you! I have been quite lonely.” Arinel states as she begins to lay down and take on the appearance of going to sleep.

Zeke replies as he begins to turn off all the equipment except Arinel’s maintenance power, “It was lovely to talk to you, the pleasure was all mine….

Ari….”

Chapter 2: In all the Time Gone By

Two weeks has passed since the day that Zeke spoke to Arinel. In those days Zeke never left his workshop, eating and sleeping within the shop to spend every waking minute that he was not doing commission work getting Arinel to completion. He had prepared a hospital gown for her feeling bad that she was unclothed and probably conscious. Once touch and heat sense was connected to the artificial skin he also got an extra pillow for her wondering if she was uncomfortable and every day he would talk to her about what he was doing, about himself, and the city that they live in. Arinel, unfortunately due to lack of operational power did not or could not reply to Zeke’s conversations.

In spite of this Zeke found that talking to this pretty and peaceful face laying on his bench very soothing. He found himself watching his language around her with the knowledge from his last conversation with her that she can more than likely hear him. Zeke found himself smiling more and more than he had in a long time while working to complete this cute, bright and bubbly mystery that he had found.

Today is August 13th of the Year 1221 GSR and in spite of all the exciting things that has happened to him over the last few weeks Zeke was very melancholy. He sat on his metal stool in his workshop unwilling to move, listening to the hum of the BIO Works Sili-synth generating Arinel’s synthetic skin over the sensory frame. Zeke realised that he should be fine tuning Arinel’s muscle microcomputers in her outer limbs or tweaking the heat/touch sensory system however he could not help but to just sit there silently staring at the plain concrete floor unable to move. He lifts his head and looks around his workshop from his stool and has a sudden feeling of emptiness. There are no voices, No people, and no one to be there for him. Zeke was alone. He was always alone.

It has been this way for him for the last five years.

Zeke turns his gaze to the almost complete Arinel laying on the bench looking at the peaceful and pleasant expression that she always has on that cute face now adorned by her pure silver hair.

“Ari…” Zeke manages to blurt in a squeaky and broken voice as if trying to clear his throat, Hold back tears and talk at the same time.

“I want to tell you a story…. A story that no one has heard roll from my lips because I have no one to tell. This Story is from 5 years ago.” Zeke said as he pulled his stool closer to the Bench that Arinel lay.

“I know you cannot respond and tell me to stop due to currently lack of power to initialise your voice function systems but I am going to need to tell you anyway because this is important to me and this day to this memory.” Zeke trailed off pausing for a moment as if waiting for her to respond before taking a deep breath in and out before continuing to speak.

“You see this place used to be a lot more lively than it is now… three times as much to be exact.” Zeke let out a large sigh and attempted to quickly stretch his back.”

“Five years ago I used to have a mother and father who ran this place and built it from the ground up. Dad was a doctor and specialised fixing people’s bodies with science and medicine while mum was the engineer who took on all the problems that dad could not handle or fix entirely like missing limbs and deformity correction. They were the perfect team and the city loved them. It wasn’t long before they had this place and all the equipment payed off. I have left out one important member of this team that came a bit later. My little sister, Anastasia Isabell Crassus… My adorable, ‘Stasha’… I adored her and the world has never seen or probably ever will see a Bio-silicon Skin Designer. In the skin being constructed for you was her last ‘gift’ to me if you could call it a gift. I found the design it on my desk under all the paperwork 4 years ago with a note saying, ‘I think this is my best yet! You cannot tell it apart from real Skin! Love you Big Bro!’ I almost threw it away but decided to keep it instead. I didn’t have any interest in the shop before this day five years ago, I just wanted to go out into the city and find more classic shows to add to my collection from the ancient times. I wanted to be a historian back then and have nothing to do with the shop, medicine, or bio-engineering at all but they made me help out at the shop anyway and I was good at it. I hated it, all I wanted to do was leave and get away from everyone and everything but looking back that time spent with them, is the best memories that I have.”

Zeke Paused and stood up stretching again and begun to pace around the shop.

“We made synthetic muscles, Limbs and even organs to assist anyone who may walk through the doors of the building or submit a request or problems. We constantly pushed the boundaries of the field into the future benefiting everyone with the technology we created in this very room. Mum and Dad’s revolutionary designs went out into the community and medical fields saving thousands of lives.”

“Or they used to …” Zeke said stopping abruptly in the middle of the room and proceeds to sit on the workshop’s concrete floor.

“You see, Ari… on this day five years ago,” Zeke’s voice began to crack and break as he spoke and he put his face in his hands, “They died, leaving me all along without a single word of goodbye. That morning I woke up to an empty shop. No Cute and bubbly little sister. No kind and caring Mother. No Honest and hardworking Father. I thought that they must have gone shopping for some parts but usually they could just use the ordering service and not have to leave the shop. I stupidly did not even question it or wonder why they had left. I wish that they had woke me before they left even if it was to hear the words ‘I Love you, big brother’ or ‘I love you, son’ come from my little sister or mother’s lips for one last time.”

Zeke paused for a moment from his monologue and stared at the ceiling before moving back to his stool next to Arinel as if he could not get comfortable.

“Then later that day just when I was starting to wonder why they were still out… I-I-I got a call. It was the authorities from the lower districts. They had discovered a body and they wanted me to come down. In our work that happened a lot to identify people by the alterations done to them such as artificial legs or eyes so I was not prepared for what I found when I arrived. My dear little sister and mother…”

Zeke stopped unable to continue and wept for a short time.

Once Zeke had regained some composure he began again, “It was my Dear little sister and mother. Broken. Dismembered. Partially burned beyond recognition and shot in several places each… I threw up at the site and to this day the thought of it makes me want to vomit. There are nights I still cannot sleep from seeing their faces burned into my mind. “

Zeke took a deep breath and realised he was trembling. He took a few more deep breaths in order to calm himself and then continued.

“The authorities instead of letting me adjust slapped handcuffs on me and lead me away to a questioning room where they questioned me in a way that made it sound that they believed I was the obvious culprit. The Best I could do was tell them the truth of what I knew between tears. They asked me about my father and if I hid the body. Once they realised and confirmed that I was home all day they told me that they found enough blood belonging to my father at the scene to indicate that he would be dead and were expecting the his body to turn up. It never did. To this day I do not know what became of my father. Ever since then I have worked to keep this store open and working in order to keep their memory alive. I kept the doors locked and shut, only taking orders through the ordering service. I don’t even know if the doors even open anymore and yours was the first voice I have heard since then.”

*DING* a machine chimed within the room startling Zeke lost within his own story.

Caught off guard by the sound he jumped from his seat looking to see where the sound came from, to realise the skin-synth had sounded and was complete ready to attach.

“Well that is perfect timing”, Zeke muttered, “I had just finished my tale anyway. Time to apply the rest of your skin, Arinel.” As he finished saying her name he glanced at her face to see the glistening surface of tears flowing from her closed eyes and a sorrowful expression twisted onto her face.

Zeke feeling surprised and upset with himself then spoke a deep apology saying, “Arinel, I am so sorry for making you listen to that. When I get your skin on, I will power you up again with the main generator so I can apologise properly so please wait till then.”

Zeke retrieves the skin from the Sili-Synth and applies it to her frame connecting all the heat and touch sensors carefully to the micro receptor frames built into the new skin and adds the gel based filler to provide shape, and create a natural body look and feel. Lastly he grabs the hospital gown that he had removed to apply the skin to cover her naked body then flicks the main power switch to the main power generator causing it to whir to life. Arinel’s eyes snap open immediately. She suddenly sits up and swings her arm slapping Zeke square in the face with the palm of her hand.

“ZEKE YOU IDIOT!” She yells at him visibly upset and cheeks still wet with tears. “You do not need to apologise for sharing your heartache with me!”

Zeke lowered his head ashamed. Suddenly he feels arm reach around him quickly and gets pulled in close softly.

“I was Sad you see, Zeke.” Spoke Arinel in her sweet soothing voice, “I was sad because you have been suffering all this time and I was not able to hug you and tell you it will be ok now and that you can rely on me from now on, ok?”

Zeke Nodded softly. He stood there still for a moment before attempting to pull away from the grip that has seized him unsure how to react but as he does Arinel pull him closer. Zeke surrenders into Arinel’s embrace and slides his arms around her as well pulling her closer into his chest. As he does he realises that she feels warm and soft and cannot help but ignore that just a bit earlier in the day she looked and felt like any of his machines and models within the shop but now she felt like any girl you would meet on the street.

She was beautiful, Cute, Warm, Soft, and comforting and while he held her he felt so comforted that he wished he could stay like this forever.

After a minute or so Arinel spoke up again, “So are you feeling a little better yet, Zeke? I don’t wanna see that sad look on your face again.” Zeke and Arinel separate from their embrace. He stares into Arinel’s glistening purple eyes and says to her,” As long as I never have to see you cry like that again.”

Arinel pulls a big smile wipes the remainder of her tears from her face with the sleeve of her gown.

“Of Course Zeke! Let’s do our best ok?” She says with a shining smile.

Zeke replies with the biggest smile he can muster and says, “Yes, Let’s.”

“I am glad you finally connected and turned the generator on so we could talk together again!” Arinel Said Joyfully. “Although I enjoyed listening to you talk to me every day and all the time you spent with me. It has been lovely hearing you talk to me even though I could not respond. You need to solve this power issue soon…”

“Oh!” Zeke Exclaimed remembering something, “that’s right to start generating power you need to start eating to get the power systems operational!”

“WHAT!” Arinel replied shocked, “You mean I could have just been eating the last few weeks and we would have been able to talk properly?!”

“Well…” Zeke trailed off, “I guess you could have but I hadn’t initialised any of the systems for tha…”

“DONE!” Arinel Chirped happily cutting him off.

“Ah… ok…” Zeke replied in a questioning tone then continued, “Just wait here a second.”

Zeke quickly jogs to his desk, opens a drawer and retrieves something from one of its trays before returning.

“This is a chocolate power bar, eat this and tomorrow you should have no problems getting around without a generator.” Zeke Explains handing her the packaged bar.

Arinel takes the bar, removing the brightly coloured packaging and begins to eat the contents.

Her Eyes Light up upon the first bite and with a half full mouth she call out, “Zeke! This is delicious! I love it!”

Zeke lets out a hearty laugh and responds saying, “I had a feeling you would like it!”

Suddenly feelings overly tired Zeke then comments,” Ari, I am going to leave the power generator on tonight so all your power systems initialise correctly but I have been up for 48 hours straight making sure your legs and arms would work properly so I am going to try get some rest…”

“Ok sleep well, Zeke!” Arinel pipes, “I will try to rest too so I can spend more time with you tomorrow!”

Well see you then…. Ari,” Zeke said walking toward the living quarters.

“See you then, Zeke! I look forward to it!” Arinel Calls out excitedly as he walks away.

*The Next Morning*

Zeke walks out of his sleeping quarters into the garage in a sleepy daze. He lets out a large yawn as he stretches.

“Morning Zeke!” a happy voice calls out.

Zeke rubs his eyes in an attempt to get the sleep out of his eyes so he can focus his eyes on the source of the voice. Once his eyes adjust to the bright morning light piercing through the sky lights he sees Arinel on the concrete floor to the shop in a w-sitting position with several dozen empty power bar wrappers strewn around her, remnants of chocolate smeared on her face and her silver hair sparkling in the morning light appearing almost amber I some parts.

Zeke was momentarily stunned by the oddly cute scene playing before his eyes.

“Uh… Good morning, Arinel. How are you feeling?” Zeke enquired.

“Zeke’s Girlfriend, Ari-Chan, Feeling better than ever!” Arinel calls out throwing her right arm into the air causing a power bar wrapper to get caught in the gust and float around like confetti.

Zeke Falls over shocked at what he just heard, “W-w-w-w-w-w-w-what are you talking about Arinel?! I don’t have a girlfriend!” Zeke Calls out embarrassed.

Arinel pulls a cute and soft grin at Zeke and states to him with a sweet tone, “Good, Well you do now!”

Zeke Sits up from his position on the floor, crosses his legs and begins to rub his eyes. “What the hell have I gotten myself into…” he thinks quietly to himself.

“Zeke, I want another chocolate bar! Can I have one? There is no more in the drawer…” Arinel asks sweetly tilting her head to the side as she asks.

Zeke mutters to himself as he attempts to get up, “It’s way too early for this… I need coffee…”