A First Step of Many

Kait

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This had been a rough extraction, but Aranea was happy she got to be involved. It was a huge success in the end. 25 rescued children, who were now free from lives of slavery and abuse.

Now it was time to get everything all tidy and documented, and get the children oriented. Picking up the pieces, to help someone else do the truly hard work of gluing them back together.

The flight home hadn't yet finished, but Aranea took initiative. She found one of the so-called 'NEK0s' that she helped rescue - the one who she carried out and whose collar she removed - and she took her aside. This plane was relatively spacious, compared to a passenger jet. Aranea even had a place to sit across from the child and talk to her.

She still went into her semi-human form so she could sit with her seatbelt on. With a smile that reached all four of her eyes, she said: "Hi, dearie. Thanks for joining me over here. I'm Aranea. What's your name?" She would write that name down on a piece of paper attached to her clipboard, along with any other pertinent information.

"Do you have any questions for me about what's happening?"

It was hard to wear that smile right now, after the things she'd seen. But she thought it might help the kids feel better.

 

Lain

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Twitching, scratching at her neck, the fur on her ears and tail standing on end - this NEK0 in particular was quite riled up. She wasn't exactly frightened - that didn't quite describe it. Instead, she felt as if she was full of boundless nervous energy after everything that had just happened. She was rather surprised when she found herself being taken aside by the lady who had removed her collar, and wondered what exactly was in store for her.

"...Name?"

She was extremely confused to be asked for a name. No one had ever bothered to ask her such a question before - or even give her a name, for that matter. Lost as to how to answer, she eventually turned to the serial number imprinted on the inside of her wrist.

"I am... #136273," she recited.

Being asked if she had any question made her cat features twitch and wave in excitement - or was it nervous energy? It was always difficult to tell with this one. She did, in fact, have several questions, being very curious by nature, and wanted to know everything possible about this new situation. As such, she thought for a moment and then started at the beginning.

"Who... are you? All of you? What do you do? Are you our new owners? Are you sellers? Or are you... something else?"
 

Kait

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She had a number printed on her wrist, and that was her name. It made Aranea feel sick. She could have ended up like this. There were other children out there like this, right now.

Pen scratched against paper for a moment, then she set her clipboard aside. "No, no, we're definitely something else. I work for a place called Starlight Academy, which is on an island called Manta Carlos. It's our job to find kids, like you, who are in trouble and take them somewhere safe."

She had to go slow with this. There was a lot to explain, and it would transform this kid's world view.

"We don't think people should have owners. So we're taking you to a new home, where you won't be owned or sold by anyone."

She also had to figure something out about this naming issue. She wasn't going to call the kid 136273.
 
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Lain

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"Starlight... Academy..."

She had the vaguest of ideas of what an "academy" was - it was the sort of thing her now previous owner might have mentioned once or twice. However, she decided she may as well still ask, because it was indeed very vague. "What's an... academy? What do you do there?"

All of this was making the young NEK0's head spin. They didn't believe people should have owners? Wasn't that her purpose in life, to be owned? She still was feeling pangs of misery over having been let go by her previous owner, and was still planted in the believe that his treatment, and her servitude, were all she needed.

"What... will we do? If we're not going to be owned? Who will we be with? Will I still serve someone?"
 

Kait

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Aranea saw herself in this girl. A version of herself that wasn't saved as early on, who grew up being used and abused for much longer.

"An academy is a place where you learn. You can learn all kinds of things there, they could help you become a doctor or an engineer, or an artist, or a musician... or just about anything you want to be." It just occurred to her that she might have had an easier explanation. "It's a kind of school, actually. Have you ever heard of schools?"

Aranea took a moment to grab her clipboard and write a few notes on it.

"And we'll find someone for you to live with. You'll be treated like their child, not like their property."
 

Lain

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"School..." She indeed had a much clearer idea of what school was, and the idea awakened in her a deep sense of hunger for things she had never been able to know. If there was anything she knew she loved, it was learning - yet as a slave in someone else's household, the main thing she'd been taught was how to work.

"I'll get to... learn? Actually learn things?" It felt foreign to her even to say those words.

She also took a while to ponder the concept of what it would mean to be treated like someone's child. She knew somewhat what this would mean - there had occasionally been children at her previous owner's house, and she had observed the way they were treated by the people called their parents.

"You mean... I'll have family? With a mom and dad? What will they be like? What will they do?"
 

Kait

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Aranea happily confirmed for the girl that yes, she would get to learn things.

But as for her new family... "I don't know who your foster family will be. But I do know that they'll take good care of you." Certainly, it will be better than what this girl was used to. "When we get to the island, someone there will be able to tell you more about them than I can."

"But for now, I need to ask you a few questions, okay?" Pen and paper were at the ready now. "Has anyone ever given you a name other than your number? Like a nickname?"
 

Lain

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The NEK0 sat in thought for a moment as she dwelt upon what she'd just heard. A family... a family that would take care of her. It was new, it was almost scary, but it also didn't seem that terrible. She now couldn't wait to arrive at this island she was hearing about, and learn more about these new circumstances she was being given.

"A... name?" She had to think back for a moment and recall if anyone had ever called her by a real name, not a number or just "servant". "No... I don't think so. My master..."Here, she choked on her words for a moment, filled with misery at the remembrance of how she had been abandoned. "...My master never gave me a name. I was always just 'servant' to him."
 

Kait

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The girl's words felt like they were stabbing Aranea in the gut, or at least twisting the knife that had already been lodged in there by her serial code 'name.' The girl had clearly been physically abused - that eye looked especially bad, for example - and she had been treated like a sub-human.

"Well, I can't call you that. You won't be a servant anymore, and you deserve your own name. So, what would you like your name to be? You can give yourself whatever name you want." Aranea smiled, trying to emphasize with her tone of voice how this could be new and exciting.
 
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