#on second thought i probably should have posted this on my sideblog but whatever :P

[novelmonger]

@thesteadfastnarnian expressed interest in hearing more about my clone sister story idea, so here it is! (And it really needs a title :/)

In the near future, cloning of human beings has become possible, though it's still prohibitively expensive. There are also lots of laws and regulations surrounding human cloning, so there won't be any billionaires cloning an army of themselves to take over the world or something :P

The most relevant restriction for our story is that you're only allowed to clone someone after that person has died (and there's a limited window of time after death in which to start the cloning process). When the clone has developed, it will take on the legal identity of the person who died. Basically, cloning is intended to be used to restore people who die prematurely and unexpectedly, like a reset button. For handwavey science reasons, it takes five years for the full cloning process to be completed, and you can choose to implant the clone with the person's memories/personality (may have limited effectiveness unless the brain was mapped while the person was alive), as well as choosing what age to have the clone be at the end of the cloning process.

The story I want to write involves a family with two girls, whose names I think I've decided are Lily and Rose. The sisters are ten years apart; Rose was a surprise, but a welcome one. The two sisters weren't particularly close, though they loved each other; Lily was used to being an only child at that point, and struggled a bit at first with suddenly being a big sister. But Rose was so cute, she won everybody's hearts. While the two sisters were never best friends or anything, since they were so far apart in age and thus had little in common, they still had fun times growing up.

Then came the accident. I haven't decided yet exactly what happened, except that it came out of nowhere and was over before anyone could come to grips with what happened. Something like Rose was walking home from school and got hit by a truck. Maybe Rose clung on for a few hours, just long enough for Lily to rush to the hospital from college, but then she died. She was ten years old.

Everyone was grieving, but her mother took it the hardest. This wasn't supposed to happen. Her baby had her whole life ahead of her, and it was snatched away. She refused to let that happen.

So she insisted that they clone Rose and start over again. Her husband tried to dissuade her, saying they needed to just let Rose go, but the mother would have none of it. They had such a short window of time to make the decision, and they were all hurting, so eventually the father agreed, and made the call.

Now, the family was well off (I'm thinking the dad is like...a dentist or something?), but not super rich or anything. In order to afford this, they had to cut as many corners as they possibly could. Instead of implanting the clone with Rose's memories and personality, which might not have worked anyway, they went with the lowest-cost blank slate option, where they give the clone a basic understanding of language and how to walk and that sort of thing, but beyond that nothing. Also, it's more complicated (and thus more expensive) to choose a specific age for the clone to be, so instead of having the clone be ten years old when they're done with her, they chose the cheapest option, which is to have the clone be five years old when the process is done. Additionally, the dad increased his hours at work and the mom (who had only done volunteer work up until then) got a job she doesn't like to help pay the bills. Lily dropped out of school, moved back home, and started working too.

And so the five-year wait begins. They all begin to process their shock and grief over losing Rose, and come to grips with the decision they made to make a clone. I haven't decided for sure yet, but I'm leaning towards them being a sort of nominally or casually Christian family - they go to church most Sundays, maybe the mom helps out at the church's soup kitchen or something, but otherwise their faith doesn't really affect their day-to-day life.

But maybe in the wake of this tragedy, they start going to church more often. Maybe they start reading the Bible more, searching for some kind of meaning in what's happened, some comfort they can lean on. The mom, at least, has a complete renewal of her faith. She realizes that she's been angry at God for taking away her daughter, and also sees how the whole situation is a wake-up call for all of them to stop just living for their own comfort, but to live for a greater purpose.

And so the mom realizes she was wrong to clone her dead daughter. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. She shouldn't have tried to cheat death. But they're a few years into the process already. They've been getting reports from the organization about how things are progressing smoothly. The mom arranges to go out to the place where they're making the clone, and see it for herself. She timidly asks, "What happens if I decide I don't want the clone after all?" And they explain calmly that, for a small cancellation fee, they can stop the process and inject certain chemicals into the tube where the clone is being made, which will break down the proteins of the developing body.

But when she looks at the half-formed fingers and toes of the barely human shape in the tube, all she can think is, "That's my daughter. It might not be Rose, but that's my daughter." So she has them continue to the end.

And only now are we getting to the beginning of the actual story! XD Exactly five years after Rose died, they finally bring the little clone home. She looks exactly like Rose did at five years old, but she acts and talks kind of like a robot - flat, no emotion, able to talk and understand what they're saying, but without the charming little lisps and kid-talk you'd expect from a five-year-old. Her diction is perfect, by the book. And she doesn't immediately know what things are just by looking at them; she might try to bite into a red ball because she knows that an apple is something round and red that you can eat. So she has a lot to learn about the world.

The mom throws herself whole-heartedly into raising their little girl (though her legal name is Rose, they call her Iris, for the flowers they planted at Rose's grave), and though the dad is a little uncomfortable at first, he warms up to her before long. The one who ends up having the hardest time is Lily.

She's never expressed it, but she realizes now that Iris is home that she feels bitter towards the whole situation - losing Rose, and then having to upend her entire life just to bring into the world someone who looks like Rose but isn't Rose. And at first, she's not even sure Iris is human, because she acts so mechanical and flat. She looks like Rose, but she doesn't act like Rose. That's not her little sister. Maybe she doesn't even have a soul at all.

So the whole story would just be a slow, everyday sort of family drama in which Iris starts learning about the world, discovering her own emotions and humanity, while Lily has to learn how to be a big sister all over again. By its very nature, this is a pro-life story, and I'd want the themes to be about what it means to be human, the value of every life even when the circumstances are not ideal, and what it means to be a sister. There would definitely be some big emotional moment at the end where the sisters are hugging and crying, and maybe Iris whispers, "Tell me about Rose." And Lily gets to tell her all about her other baby sister.

[imrainai]

[OOC Message log, imrainai & trashrightsactivist]

These are really old. Like, last in-universe year old. But some people wanted to see them, so here they are.

Summer, 3422

imrainai: Could I read the sideblog? You have a lot of really interesting things to say, and I'd like to read them. If you're ok with it. ^_^'

Trashrightsactivist: I would trust a promise from you, you seem trustworthy. So I will add you if you promise me that you understand how serious it could be if someone like tidalwave got hold of information that could tell her who I am in real life - I could quite easily die - and also promise you won't mention any of that info anywhere public. Is that okay?

Imrainai: Yeah, I promise. I definitely don't want anything bad to happen to you.

Trashrightsactivist: cool, adding you in a sec

Weeks Later

imrainai: ruby? are you ok? just laying low for a bit? You're safe, right?

Trashrightsactivist: yes. i am very sad and angry about things. but safe.

Imrainai: <3 please stay safe ok

Trashrightsactivist: i'll do my best. you too

Later

Imrainai: I think the internet's gonna cut out in a bit, so just wanted to tell you again to stay safe and take care of yourself. you're a good internet friend, OK, so make sure you're still here when I get back

Imrainai: taz liked your story about the aliens btw. I had to modify it some because I don't want him telling his teachers he's getting red-positive propaganda at home, it was about criminals and poor people. but the basic moral was intact, and he seemed to agree with it.

I just... be careful, OK, the world needs all the good people it can get

Trashrightsactivist: thank you. and I'm glad he liked the story, it's about the downtrodden whatever colour their hair is so yeah

Weeks Later

imrainai sent a post caste flexibility meme!

Imrainai: tag, you're privately it

Imrainai: also the internet's back and your blog is not back, are you still there

Trashrightsactivist: I will post caste meme soon. I have a secret new blog.

Trashrightsactivist: as in - the blog is not a secret but the fact that it's me is a secret

Trashrightsactivist: what i learned from tryna fill out the meme is mostly that i would be a sucky purple :P

Imrainai: ohhh, ok

Imrainai: also same

Imrainai: but I also feel like I'd feel like that no matter what I was. probably everything looks easier than it is from the outside

Trashrightsactivist: well you're like coping and looking after a baby so you must be doing something right! But probably true

Imrainai: at least if i were YELLOW i could ADVANCE in the LIBRARY SYSTEM

Imrainai: but yeah I guess Ves is more important anyway, so I can't be, like, totally failing at life in general

Trashrightsactivist: yeah that's one of the dumb things about the caste system tbh - as a purple its super hard to get anywhere really successful unless you got this one specific skillset of 'run a business'

Imrainai: well you can only run certain kinds of businesses, is the thing. like, I can't start an editing service or watch other people's kids or something

Trashrightsactivist: which is sooo dumb

Imrainai: I do not think I could, like, successfully run a restaurant or a furniture company or make clothes

Imrainai: there are lots of options, so you'd think ONE of them would work, but so far nah

Imrainai: ............I should probably not actually be complaining about my life circumstances to you, that seems rather inconsiderate

Trashrightsactivist: hmm - idk if homeschooling is a thing in Voa. If I was the kinda oddball economics green i mighta been in another life I would suggest you might be able to set up a purple-for-purple homeschooling group and argue the income as being purple either on the basis of it being like house spousing or like consultation (in that being your caste *is* the qualifying factor for a purple-for-purple homeschool)

Trashrightsactivist: and nah, it's fine - it's actually helpful to give me different things to think about tbh

Trashrightsactivist: you could apply the same argument to a daycare specifically meant to socialise purple kids in a purple environment. But idk your employment law well enough you'd need to get a solicitor to advise on it.

Imrainai: Homeschooling is a thing, but I think if you make money at it it stops being homeschooling

Imrainai: I dunno, maybe one of the librarians can help me figure it out tho

Imrainai: they're good about stuff like that

Trashrightsactivist: yeah, I mean at minimum they can probably help you find and understand the books with the law stuff in

Imrainai: Liet's orange and I could maybe finagle something around that, but she's old enough that asking her to actually work is not really.... fair to her, so

Imrainai: and yeah

Trashrightsactivist: what is it you actually do rn if you don't mind me asking? or are you at home with the kid?

Imrainai: oh! no, I work two jobs

Imrainai: I do cleaning at a nursing home and I shelve books at the library

Imrainai: And my second cousin is living here too, she works in a warehouse and sometimes watches the baby

Trashrightsactivist: ahh, right. I was confused for a bit cause i remember a post about the 1st one and i thought you were a care worker and was like 'that's purple?'

Trashrightsactivist: is that liet? the orange person?

Imrainai: Liet's my great-great-grandmother, I am am sort of EFFECTIVELY her caretaker but she's family so I don't get paid for that

Imrainai: and I do look after the old people at the nursing home, but that is not actually my job, it is just... a thing that happens when I am in close proximity to people who need things

Trashrightsactivist: really should be crossover work

Trashrightsactivist: you know one of those jobs thats two castes

Trashrightsactivist: if orange-grandma lives with you it miight be doable to do the daycare and have it that like, she owns it officially and employs you, but again you'd need to check out the legalities

Imrainai: I mean in THEORY there is a simple dividing line between "care worker" and "cleaning lady" but with elderly people the line is not always actually clear

Trashrightsactivist: yeah thats why it should be crossover

Trashrightsactivist: are you any good with numbers and people management?

Imrainai: And yeah, maaaaybe, but if anyone ever investigated it I think it would rapidly become obvious that Liet wasn't really... doing anything

Imrainai: I've never really tried those things?

Imrainai: I don't think I'm awful with numbers

Imrainai: Though I never got past algebra in school

Trashrightsactivist: I imagine you gotta have people skills to a degree cause like - you're really nice, and dealing with the old ppl probably requires like, being nice but firm

Trashrightsactivist: wouldn't require algebra just finance - you could build up to a small cleaning business?

Imrainai: Oh, I hadn't thought about that, but I guess there's no reason that should be illegal

Imrainai: I do all the budgeting here, I can handle money OK

Trashrightsactivist: yeah well afaik that is entirely a purple thing to be doing, it's cleaning and it's business

Imrainai: That makes sense

Trashrightsactivist: and your library connections and self-starter attitude will mean you can pick up the extra knowledge you'd need

Imrainai: I don't know if I'd actually make more money than just working at the nursing home, but I can look into it

Trashrightsactivist: probly need some seed money i guess

Imrainai: ...yeah, you need some to get started I think

Trashrightsactivist: yeah it would at least have more potential to grow, is what i was thinking

Imrainai: but not THAT much for a cleaning business, you don't need an office or anything for that really

Imrainai: I bet you could do it with just a web page actually

Imrainai: not that I know how to make a decent website

Trashrightsactivist: yeah you probably wouldn't make more to start with but could eventually - if you read the books and stuff and came up with a good business model you could probably pitch it to people to get a small investment for like, a website and some supplies, maybe a vehicle

Trashrightsactivist: tell the nursing home they can hire you as a contractor through your business, but if you've got other work you have more leverage to get better pay there

Imrainai: That's an interesting idea... I dunno if they'd go for it, but at least this is something to look into. It's good to have options.

Imrainai: Thanks :)

Trashrightsactivist: I mean. In a sane world you could learn more about the library while you stack shelves and work your way up to librarian but we don't live in a sane world

Trashrightsactivist: np :) I better get back to work but good luck if you decide to try it

Trashrightsactivist: oh secret new me is truth-from-ashes btw. Trusting you to keep that sceret.

Trashrightsactivist: ttyl

Weeks Later

Imrainai: Wanted to thank you for the idea to start a business. Liet's going to be starting up after-school tutoring really soon, and apparently it's absolutely legal for me to volunteer at her business and for her to then put that money towards food and rent. I'll get to make money while spending time with my family and helping Taz and his classmates with their homework. :D

Days Later

Imrainai: ruby did you hear about the thing

Imrainai: the orvara thing

Imrainai: you're not in orvara are you

Days later

Imrainai: please don't be in orvara

Later

Trashrightsactivist: I'm not there. I'm sorry if my absence from the online was worrying- reds everywhere are panicky right now and that's been my focus.

Imrainai: no no it's ok! just wanted to make sure you weren't. uh. actually dead

Imrainai: be safe

Imrainai: or as safe as possible I guess

Trashrightsactivist: You too. I don't know what's going to happen now but it's not going to be good and it's not going to just be us that suffers for it in the end.

Fall, 3422

Imrainai: ruby are you still alive and kicking and there and stuff

Several weeks later

Imrainai: rubyyyyyyy