For Science! [Titan Plot]

[Morishige]

"This is quite the place you've made here, security seems pretty tight for a corporation..." began Taro, looking a little nervous? No...not nervous. But in the back of his mind, he was definitely a bit concerned for his safety. The rich guy was already beginning to regret his decision to not wear the suit.

Masahiro couldn't help but laugh and nod his head in agreement. He seemed to be in a unusually cheerful attitude. "You wouldn't be the first to say we are overcompensating. I just go farther than most when protecting company secrets, I am sure you understand. After all, your own company has some pretty advanced puppet technologies, does it not?" he asked. But of course, Masahiro knew the answer. Taro wouldn't be here if his engineering and intellect weren't renowned in certain communities.

"You have a point," said Taro, chuckling along with the mysterious man. There was a light tension in the room; no doubt from the unknowns that were still hanging in the air. "Is that why you have requested a meeting with me? I'm not so sure I would be able to provide puppets for the village since my factory in fire country has been compromised." he countered in a somewhat distant voice. He still had no word on his father who had been hospitalized for a long time.

It was obvious that something was amiss, and Masahiro moved in like a vulture to play on his emotions. "I had heard about leaf and the upheaval. Not only devastating for you financially, but that was your home correct? Family?"

"I haven't been able to get word about what happened specifically. My secretary went missing shortly before this trip, and I only hired one right before leaving Konoha." he said while looking down at his hands. "I'm not sure she would send a letter or not..."

"Not to worry, we have several surveyors out in fire country at this time, we'll get a message to them and have them check for you. Would that put you at ease?"

Taro looked up with the unexpected offer, kind and most...opportune. But he wouldn't deny it. "I would be grateful if you did."

"It shall be done, now let's get to business shall we? I specifically called you here because of your reputation." he began, and Taro looked at him skeptically. The reputation wasn't the best when it came to public image. "Not that reputation, I refer to the one concerning your brilliance in the field of engineering. You see, I have come to an impasse...I have a project that my own employees cannot handle, and I would like a more forward-thinking mind to take a look at it. Do you mind?" he asked, hitting a button at one end of the table. Slowly, a screen under the glass flickered to life. "I must remind you this is still in production and confidential." warned Masahiro, but he proceeded none the less.

The screen looked muddled but became clear with a different button, revealing what appeared to be a slideshow. Several sets of blueprints passed by, most of which were irrelevant, until finally the screen stopped flashing and rested on one set that was massive in scale. Taro stood from his seat and began to make his way around the desk, inspecting the designs until they were oriented properly and his jaw slowly lowered. "Im-impossible. It can't be done...no, it shouldn't be done. There are laws against this." Taro commented in an alarmed tone. Masahiro's eyes watched him carefully and shrugged."When was the last time someone followed the rules and created something like this, something that would put their names in history of all eternity. Don't tell me you wouldn't attempt it. I bet you can already see the flaws in the prints can't you?" he quipped.

It was true that Taro could already see where they went wrong, however he wouldn't give Masahiro the satisfaction. Instead, the CEO would speak again. "This is what I need you for. We'll pay you for your time, quite handsomely I might add. You'll have an entire lab to yourself to perfect it, and all our resources will be yours to use. What do you say?"

Taro looked at the designs for a good while, analyzing and eventually pointing to something that, in his mind, would be the one obstacle that might stop him. "Assuming you could create something this large, and it worked properly. How on earth are you going to power it? Nothing in the world is like this. If you make the slightest mistake ,it could end up destroying...well a lot for lack of a better term."

"I already have our best and brightest working on that as we speak. If you decide to sign on, we could go and meet her." Masahiro responded with a smile...

---

Hana was looking at her features in the mirror, a pleased expression on her face, while a very stressed looking handler stood behind her. "Ms. Mori, please, if we could just get back to work..."

"Just look at me! Aren't I pretty?" Hana giggled and pulled one of her lower eyelids down to make a funny face at herself. "Of course you are, now please, let's get back into the shop and work on what we agreed on today."

Unfortunately for the handler, Hana never listened to anyone that just wanted to work all day. There was a special kind of motivation she responded to, and only a few people knew that. With a sigh, the handler sat down in a chair and ran a hand through her hair. But then the door opened and a new aura made Hana turn around. Her eyes brightened...

"Are you giving this poor woman a hard time, Hana?" asked Haruka. She would get no answer as the tiny girl was practically running in for a hug. With an oof! Haruka smiled and pulled her close in an embrace and looked to the handler. A voiceless thank you was given from her to Haruka as she quickly exited and made her way to a break room. Hana wasn't the easiest to deal with. With that, Haruka would kneel down and poke her nose. "Hana, you gotta do what these people tell you.You agreed to help them, remember? I like your hair by the way." she said with a tossle of her locks before grabbing the little girl's hand and leading her back to the 'creation room'. Hana beamed in response to the comment of course.

"It's cute right! See I told her so..." she trailed, looking up at the sign of the room. As they entered, she pulled on Haruka's hand. "But it's so boring! They just make me write stuff all day, I never get to DO anything!" she whined, pouting and looking all cute like. Haruka just looked at her with a smile, already aware that they weren't treating her like the child she was.

"Show me what they have you doing and I promise we can do something fun!" Haruka said in a rather high pitched and excitable tone. It was one of the few ways she knew to convince Hana to go along with her. Still, Hana was reluctant. But with a smirk and an eye roll in thought she trotted toward the door and pulled Haruka inside.

Over to a desk they went, and Hana just pointed at all the papers. There were a few diagrams, and comments that seemed to be in the rhetoric that Hana would use. Haruka was about to ask where her specific notes were until she spotted the doodles all over the papers. A quick survey of the simple stuff on her notebook's open pages revealed it to be some kind of gravity jutsu."So they have you working with advanced elements already... incredible..." she thought, looking around room for objects to use. A couple chairs, the desk itself... It would make a mess. But Hana learned through trial and error, not theory.

"Okay Hana! Here's what we are gonna do. Forget all that writing and listen closely..."

---

The two men rounded a corner and came into the main concourse, speaking of highly technical matters as they slowly made their way over to a viewing window. But as they drew near a desk went flying across the view and it stopped them in their tracks. "It looks like the theory has become reality..." mumbled Masahiro to Taro as he began to walk toward the window once again.

Through the pane of glass Taro watched as the chairs, desk, and hundreds of loose papers seemed to be floating around the air suspended by wires. This was something he had never encountered before, he had only heard about it moments before in the conference room. In the middle of the room sat what looked like a singularity of sorts; all the objects were rotating around it, even Haruka. Even though Hana was smiling brightly and appeared to be in full control, Haruka looked as though her world was upside down, her face almost between pure joy and that moment before puking. Taro couldn't help but stare and smile himself, nearly transfixed by her very being and energy. Haruka easily appeared to be the most harmless and beautiful person he had ever seen...it was a shame that he didn't know the dark power within her that Masahiro still had plans to harness.

"Well you have convinced me sir. I can begin work once my living arrangements have been taken care of." he said, still not taking his eyes off of Haruka who seemed to be getting the hang of flying through the air.

"I'll send some agents to grab your things and give you a officers room here at the office." Masahiro countered with a good laugh. "Glad that we can have you with us."

As the two men turned to leave Haruka connected her gaze with that of Taro's and gave him a small smile, accompanied by a wave of farewell. It stopped the engineer for but a moment before he turned back to converse with Masahiro. "There is another project I might need your help with..."​

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[Morishige]

Lifting the mask, Taro took a deep breath of the fresh air. "You think they could come up with a mask that's less stuffy..." he said, pulling the welding mask from his head on placing it on the work table next to him. Looking down at the piece of hardware before him, he had truly never seen anything like it. What he normally would have labeled as exoskeleton was far from that. It was now something very similar to human skin, though it would never feel the same; also, whomever had took the time to cosmetically touch it up did a perfect job. But as one looked passed that layer, a thick series of fibrous thread that were supposed to act as muscles with proper puppeteering. However, according to Masahiro, there would be no puppeteer.

That is what Taro was doing. As a specialist on his own suit, he was outfitting for use from within. It was hard work with so much intricacy from the original creator, but in a few weeks, he had successfully opened up the core to fit a moderately-sized, drained chakra battery within. Hooking up the battery with the series of internal contraptions took some tinkering and loose fittings, but it would prove useful as a prototype. Most of the components would functions automatically. Such as the false body systems to simulate life. Despite the complexity of the project, Mr. Tomikan was sure it would work.

Moving over to the intercom, he pressed the button and spoke in a tired tone. "It's finished. I'm gonna head back to the lab and grab Hana."

There was a short silence, followed by "No need, she's already on her way."

---

Skipping down the hallway, Hana carried a backpack full of goodies. In the months she had been at the complex, both her and the employees learned how to work with each other. But by far, her favorite person was Taro. He treated her like an adult, something most of the people at Titan did not do. She didn't personally realize this, but Taro knew right away that the girl he had been assigned to work with had a mind that was potentially greater than his own. That meant that while she was immature and naive didn't mean she didn't have a brain which could comprehend concepts that most adults could. In fact, Hana could probably work with ideas that most 'grown-ups' couldn't. Hence, treating her like an adult.

So when she entered, they both smiled at the sight of each other. Taro because she was honestly quite pleasant to be around, and Hana just because she was tired of being stuck in that lab. "Taro-senpai!" squealed Hana as she trotted over to him. His hand reached out to tousle her hair."Hana-chan." He replied smiling. "Come on let's get this done, then we can go out and get some lunch." he suggested and then lead her over to the workbench. Twisting a knob, the table slowly lowered to a height comfortable for her to work on. "All done already? You sure work fast Senpai!"

Hana pulled her backpack off and set it on the ground, then unzipping it to remove something that appeared to be similar in material to the battery. The catalyst. While Masahiro had been rather tight lipped about it, Taro believed it's purpose was to allow a soul to be infused within the chamber. It also allowed the inhabitant to control the shell body; all the nodes connected to the catalyst, and the catalyst to the chamber.

Masahiro also made a very stern point that there needed to be a way to halt the use of the body in case something went wrong with testing. So within the catalyst sits a simple contraption, a psuedo-self destruct sequence that was activated remotely. If something went wrong, then a simple radio signal specific to each shell should more than one be made, could be sent out. The catalyst would disconnect the nodes that controlled the body, and because of the seal on the chamber, the manifestation would be trapped forever. It would be a true life sentence. Of course, all of this was theoretical. This manifestation that the boss spoke about had never been created before. And it was highly probable it wouldn't work in the first place. Besides, in the name of defense, Taro also installed sensory nodes on the catalyst and chamber so that once activated, if tampered with, would destroy the entire shell.

So with her small hands, Hana took the catalyst and put it in place, slowly twisting it into the slot appropriated. With steady hands, Taro then fastened it completed to the base of the chamber. And with that, the shell was complete. All that was left was to try and actual summon a 'soul' of sorts to be placed inside. "Well, guess that's that. Come on, let's go eat." he suggested moving toward the door. Hana smiled and reached up to grab his hand to be lead to whatever locale he intended to visit.​

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[Morishige]

Yoichi leaned against the wall of the laboratory, his fingers scratching at his goatee in thought. The scene was pretty typical. The technician, in this case Yoichi, was in a labcoat. He was surrounded by dozens of odd contraptions, most of which were in their testing phase. On one side of the lab was actual scientific looking equipment such as beakers, microscopes, test tubes, a Bunsen burner, and more. But on the other were two stretchers situated near the middle of that half of the room. On these stretchers were two life like puppets provided by the Storyteller, otherwise known as Hebi's puppet making company. Both of these individual pieces of machinery had been modified by Taro himself and prepared for a procedure that was basically all theory. It had only once been successfully performed by some very smart shinobi of the Hidden Cloud. And even after an interview with one of the creators of the chakra being, Deta, the information was still vague; most was useless. The man whose job it was to somehow perform this procedure, well, he deduced the creators of Deta had no idea what they were doing at it was a fluke. It was now up to him to pave the way to a greater form of warfare. That was how his boss, Masahiro put it. These creations would take the place of human's on the front lines so more deaths would be prevented. Of course Yoichi didn't believe him at all, but he didn't believe in anyone aside from himself.

A few minutes passed, and Yoichi stepped towards the lifeless shells on the stretchers. That's what those involved with the project had come to call these bodies. They were simply shells to house some improbable phenomena. Mr. Kitami didn't even understand why he had be told it was his job to do such a procedure. This was far more science that it was religion, or matters of the paranormal. But when the boss himself sends the orders, one doesn't refuse. So there he stood, waiting for the last batch of chakra within the company. On the table to his right sat several chakra storage devices provided by Taro. Inside each of them were the chakra of specific people that held traits that Masahiro wanted instilled within these shells. It was believed that the beings would take on similarities of the people whose chakra created them. But who really could understand such a concept. Who could really predict what these beings would be like, even if they even lived.

But with a creak of the hinges, the final chakra battery was brought in by regular technician of the lab. His face seemed rather pale. On top of the battery, was a piece of tape that read Gekido. "This is the last one, we are r-ready to begin." said the meek man. Yoichi looked looked at the six different batteries full of chakra. "Taro, Noboru, and Gekido for the male. And Hana, Hitomi, and Haruka for the female." he said looking back toward the naked shells. Moving toward them, he leaned over to admired the handy work, specifically the seal on the catalyst within the central chamber. As of that moment, they seemed prefectly human aside from that gaping hole in their bellies. That was going to be the tricky part. If all this should work, and the theories were correct, Yoichi wasn't sure if it was even possibly to move a body of chakra like that into the shell itself. But Yoichi wasn't one to shy away from a taboo challenge.

With his assistant's help, he took the male and placed him in a seal on the floor; the other man doing the same with the female. Carefully positioning the arms and legs so as not the disrupt the flow of his handiwork. After all, he was the best seal artist in the corporation. But as he finished he realized his partner was hesitating opening up the woman's legs."You've got to be... It's a puppet you idiot. Just cause it's life like doesn't make it real." grunted Yoichi, shifting over to do it for him. With the shells in a Vitruvian Man kind of position, Yoichi backed away and fetched the appropriate 'pots' of chakra and positioned them in their own seals outside of the one in which the bodies were positioned. Once that step was done, the man moved back to the shells and 'opened' up the catalysts so it would be ready for injection should all of this work.

Stepping back Yoichi looked down at the ground and took a deep breath. "Here we go." he sighed, began to recite incantations known only to him through the dark teachings he had learned throughout his life. Unlike shinobi, he learned to harness chakra in a different way, and consequently when he placed his hand onto the small seal between the shells. The black lines seem to come alive as the chakra slowly seeped out of his body to go activate the other dark markings. Slowly, Yoichi appeared more and more pale as the evil seals drained his life force away from him. Thankfully, once his own inefficient chakra reached the cells, they became self sufficient and generated the rest of what was needed from within. An eerie light emanated from the seals before they slowly began releasing what seemed to be a energy rich substance likened to steam.

As the room grew hazy with the bi-product, Yoichi continued his incantation to activate the final threshold stopping the final process. In a bright flash, followed by a shock wave, the entire lab was sent into an array and Yoichi was lifted from his feet only to be sent backward and crashing into instruments. With pain in his expression, he struggled to get up afterwards to see what happened to his work. But all that remained were tendrils of chakra slowly being pulled inside of the shells. Limping over for a closer look, Yoichi looked within their bodies and watched as the man made device shut itself. The core seemed to come to life, all nodes controlling the bodies firing at the same time. The systems turned on just from the passive generation of the chakra within itself. He fell to his knees as the pain in his back became too much to bare. Looking with a grimace to their faces, he watched as each of them opened their eyes to a new world. A new life...

---

As the shutters opened and light filled the lenses of his eyes, the nameless young man lay on the ground starring up at a man who seemed to be looking between him and something else. The sounds and vibrations of subtle mechanization reverberated through him; even the small buzzes of his eyes refocusing were apparent. But he did not notice. Instead his blue eyes were circling about trying to take in where he was, what had happened, trying to find meaning in this sudden world he found himself in. Slowly he began to gain feeling in the nodes and realized his body were not just these gifts that granted him vision. He began to fidget and rustle, trying to move what he could whenever he could.

"It actually worked..." said Yoichi quickly running back to an intercom, hurriedly presseing it to get his message out. "Their awake! Tell Taro! He needs to come check this out!" he exclaimed, turning back around. Putting a hand on his forehead, he had no idea what to do.

Meanwhile on the floor, the young man's quest for understanding taught him how to turn his head to look around himself. His vision eventually came to rest upon the woman next to him, who seemed to be laid out next to him in the same way. He could see his outstretched arm he had been attempting to move near her own. So he reached out; he strained the limits of his shell to try to reach her hand, which was only inches away...

Moments later Taro entered the practically destroyed lab and his eyes quickly begot the scene unfolding before them. The male, otherwise known as Project Adam, was reaching out for Project Eve. "Impossible." said Taro, in a breathless tone. He slowly approached the pair on the floor, hoping not to disturb this moment of discovery for themselves. It had been noted that should the project work it was Taro's job to test out the prototype to make sure all mechanical devices were functioning properly before attempting to do anything else. But like the assistant before hand, he was caught up in how human they seemed. The expressions were there on their faces, just as they would be on his own. He seemed to be frozen as he watched them interact in their first moments of consciousness, their first moments of birth...​

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[Tsuirakuya Shashu]

Cold.

Before she had even opened her eyes, the first sensation she experienced was the cold tile pressing up against her, smooth and hard, it's solidity giving her budding consciousness something to hang on to. Her body shifted and twitched slightly as her awareness expanded through the rest of her form, bringing new sensations as it did so.

Sound.

The low series of noises came from somewhere in front of her. She felt that they meant something, but she did not understand.

Movement.

The light caress of the still air as it was disturbed by something moving away from her. What was it? Was it big? Was it small? She had still not opened her eyes, and did not think to look.

Vibration.

The barely noticeable tremors caused by something impacting the ground, fading rapidly as whatever it was also moved away. Was it the same? Was it different? She sensed that there was something else she could be doing.

Thought.

Thoughts were new for her, just as everything was new. Had there been a time when it wasn't? Was there a before? Time as a concept was also new, she did not know. Her consciousness, not yet a minute old, was not yet capable of answering those questions. Who, what, when, where, why, and how were all foreign to her, such things would come later. For now, all the young woman could do was feel. Still she felt as if something was absent, a form of input yet undiscovered. What was missing?

Sound. Vibration. Movement.

Another sound, this time from her right, instinctively causing her eyes to open.

Sight.

That was it, what she had been missing. Lights greeted her as she stared at the otherwise featureless ceiling, illuminating the space that she was in. Again came the sound, almost insistently , signaling movement. Experimentally, she tried turning her head, and was rewarded with the sight of the young man next to her stretching his arm to the limits to reach her own. Looking at his hand, struggling so hard to reach hers, she felt something strange stir within her.

Lonely.

She had no words to put to her feeling, but it was there. The sight of his hand reaching out to her pulled at something inside her, and she felt herself desire to reach out to him in turn.

Comfort.

Slowly, haltingly, for movement was still foreign to her, she stretched her own hand out to his. There were no sparks, no sudden influx of new sensation when her fingers touched his. Instead a quiet rush of emotion filled her, as if in answer to a question she didn't know she needed to ask. Without thinking she moved her hand under his and held tight. She didn't know why, but she wanted to share what she had just felt, was still feeling, with him. She shifted her gaze to look at his face and saw her own reflected in his eyes. In that moment, despite all the strange new things around her, only one thought crossed her mind.

Not...alone.​

 

[Morishige]

The moment her fingers touched his, he grasped tightly for reasons he could not express. Linked in some invisible fashion, Adam felt an intense desire to never let go over her hand. He just starred at her synthetic face, admiring it, unaware of the two human being's watching this interaction. There was no embarrassment, for they knew not what embarrassment was. The pair had been ushered into the world by dark rituals and yet they could not be more pure. A shame that they were born under these circumstances however, because there was no doubt they would be used in inhumane ways.

That being said, Taro had finally snapped our of his frozen state and approached the pair. Clearing his throat, he offered a hand to each of them with a smile. "Please stand up, we should run some tests on your internal systems before continuing." he said. Adam only looked at him with no recognition of the spoken word, and then turned his head back to look at Eve. Taro sighed and realized this was going to be somewhat like raising a child; something he told himself he would never do. "Yoichi, pick up that exam table and then help me lift them onto it." he order and started hoisting Adam up off the ground by the armpits. As the table was put in place, Taro pulled him around only to be stopped by the grip he had on Eve's hand. "Grab her." he reiterated so Yoichi would hurry. Adam was getting heavy.

Together, the men lifted the pair of puppets into the air, spun them around, and sat them on the table. Their hands still clasped together. With some deft handiwork, and thankfulness that Adam still watched her, Taro opened up the stomach cavity completely and began to do a systems check. The chakra that seemed to be producing endlessly was reacting with the nodes properly. All the false systems appeared to be running normally, and aside from some electrical tape, he appeared to be in good shape. Then he moved to Eve to do the same. It wasn't that evasive...well, as least evasive as poking around your inside can be. And Adam didn't mind, but who knows; the chakra of women might have produced different results.

No matter her reactions or fussing should there be any, he would get the job done. Stepping back, he scratched his head. How was he going to get them to the training center if they couldn't understand him. Clapping his hands, Taro attempted to get their attention. Looking like a dork, he began making gestures and motions to signal them to get off the table on stand. Their 'inner ear' which was a series of balances should have been working to give them balance. He was going to teach them how to walk. Once that was done, the rest would come easy.

So without further ado, Taro began to help each of them once they stepped down; both by demonstrating and manually moving their body parts. It took some times but they began to understand and finally were able to duplicate walking in a straight line. "That'll have to do..." he grunted and then beckoned them to follow behind him. They were gonna make their first trek to the training center. Hopefully the employees there would be able to teach them how to speak on most basics of human interaction.

Meanwhile during this entire endeavor, Adam tried his hardest not to let go of Eve. What the man was having them do was confusing, but he comprehending his wishes pretty well for not having a medium of communication. It was good that he was slowing it down to show them what to do, and soon enough Adam was able to stand and take a step on his own. He often checked on Eve, making sure she was doing already despite his progress, and obvious sense of protectiveness present. But now they were on their way somewhere, still stumbling about in their naked form. People gave strange looks but went about their business.

Soon they would no longer be ignorant. As Hayata Shin had said, they were the future of Shinobi.

[Topic Left]​

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[Tsuirakuya Shashu]

Touch

To her, his grasp comprised much of her world. Their mutual desire for comfort, for companionship, had been their first interaction upon awakening in this strange place, their first connection in this world. Perhaps later there would be more, but for now she knew only him.

Who...

And thus her first true question was born. Who was this stranger that shared her fate? Who was he that she should awaken next to her in her first moments in the world? There was of course no way for her to know that he had, but something about him told her that he was just as bereft of knowledge as she. Something about his face...

<friendly request>

She quickly turned her head to see who was the source of these new sounds. She had been so absorbed in studying him that she had paid little attention to her other burgeoning senses. There was another nearby, someone new, and he was asking something of her. She could sense a sort of gentleness in his voice that told her he was not to be feared, but his request fell on deaf ears. After all, how does one ask something of one without speech?

What...

Another question was born of her confusion. She narrowed her brows as if to ask him the question that bloomed within her mind before looking back to him to see he fared better against this new form of stimuli, but his gaze showed that he too suffered from a lack of comprehension.

<command>

The other summoned another another, and grabbed hold of he whose hand she yet held. Neither felt any need or desire to part, and why should they? It was their connection, their bond, their first true expression of self.

<reiteration>

The sounds were still unfamiliar, but the intent was the same. The first other ordered the second once again, and the second lifted her on top of another cold, hard surface.

Why...

Perhaps the ultimate inquiry, though she did not have to wait long for answers. The first other looked inside her partner, examining something.

Why...?

Her curiosity got the better of her as the other continued to poke around, drawing her attention to his actions. She cocked her head to the side as he closed him up and moved on to her.

What? Why?

It was a completely new sensation that she experienced as the other opened her up, something different from the external sensations and the formless feelings altogether. This was internal, but felt solid, and it caused a fluttery shiver to run through her. She was...ticklish. If the other was surprised by her reaction, he did not show it, instead continuing on with his task.

Interesting....Why?

Rather than be satisfied with what she saw inside, her curiosity only grew stronger. Like a cat faced with an unknown object she repeatedly tried to reach her free hand inside to touch the glowing things, much to the annoyance of the other. He used his right hand to fend her off while he ran his checks with his left, his eyes darting about before he came to a satisfactory conclusion and closed her up, causing the same fluttering sensation as he ran his fingers over her side.

<Attention>

After the other closed her up, he stepped back and brought his hands together, creating a sound that drew both her and her partner's attentions. The other than proceeded to make strange motions, causing her to tilt her head the other way. It seemed the proper way to convey her lack of understanding. As he continued making the motions however, something clicked. She understood what he meant, what he wanted.

<Down, Stand>

How?

A much more mundane request. How was she supposed to do what he asked? How was she supposed to be over there, when she was over here? Of course, the other had more gestures to help explain, and even moved their bodies to show how it would be done. As he did, she could feel the processes that governed her movement, the pull and tension that dictated what direction her limbs went. With this knowledge she took her first steps, shaky more from her unfamiliarity with motor control than from a lack of balance.

Enjoyment, Wonder

She used him for support, and he used her for the same. They taught each other as much as the other did, learning from each other's fumbling attempts at independent movement. As she got the hang of the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other, a bubbly feeling grew inside her. A smile crept across her face and she looked back and forth from her feet to his face, as if showing off that yes, she could walk too!

<Adequate, Follow>

The other seemed to be content with their progress in that most basic of feats. He motioned for them to follow him, and as one the pair did so. There were many others on the way to their destination, but the two were mostly oblivious to them. They were far more interested in themselves and each other, after all. Every step increased their knowledge of the world, but they still looked to one another for guidance and assurance. It was a strange place and there was no way for them to know what was around the corner, but she wasn't worried. After all, they were...

Together.

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