Topic: Arrival and Acceptance

JhaiNein

Date: 2010-06-14 14:29 EST
Analysis confirmed.

I was aware of the controversy surrounding my shipment for I am always sentient.

Despite the combination of the sleep spell and the application of the powerkill switch, I remained consciously alert. Perhaps it is my humanity struggling against both magical and technological restraints. Whatever the reasoning I was not unconscious when my fate was decided, I was simply unable to interact with those who deemed themselves my Creators.

The Chrysalis Corporation was concerned with their profit margins.

I was a failure. A dismal smirch upon the otherwise perfect record of their newest Think Tank. Rather than scrap the expensive experiment they sold me to a prospective partner in a realm made difficult to access with any security of permanence. This way if I turned out to be a liability the chances of repercussions were minimalized.

I was programmed to protect the person who would release me even as they discussed the glitch in my protocols that allowed my human reasoning to override any such dictates. They spoke in grandiose terms about my appointment to the potential client, all the while keeping silent on one important detail: I had killed my previous owner.

My arrival through the Nexus was uneventful but the circumstances of my appointment were anything but.

My programming demanded that I serve the young woman, Fiora, who had freed me and as I felt the inner struggle commence I was surprised to discover she had no intentions of "keeping me."

Removing her from danger I considered her desires: Receptionist.

For now I would follow the dictates of my programming as I adjusted to this new realm and freedom.

"Hello. Welcome to the Plaza de Troyes. This is JhaiNein speaking, how may I direct your call?"

JhaiNein

Date: 2011-01-29 16:57 EST
I had come to appreciate my home here.

It was a realization that took much analysis: "home" was not something I thought I could have.

Fiora Shantalaine had become my mission.

She had given me purpose, given me a home, and had offered her unique brand of acceptance to be who I was and while I was not one to express sentiment I found myself cheered by the sound of her 'singing' from the shower in her office.

As I stepped within and noticed the trail of clothes toward the bathroom just off of her executive suite, I began to gather them up methodically.

Scooping them up I was startled to discover that they were covered in a sticky substance that my senses immediately sought to analyze..."Sugar Substrate."

She had been coated in .... whipped cream.

"I make those badgirls go good!" She was howling from the shower, her version of singing not necessarily an acceptable tonality for pleasure.

"Miss Shantalaine."

"Badgirls Go! Badgirls Go! Whoooa! She's got a way with the girls who somethin and he's got a way with the boys that makes stand some kind of a chance, too hot to dance!"

"Miss Shantalaine."

Her head poked out from the shower, suds spilling down the sleek otter's head, "JhaiNein?" Her eyes were tightly closed shut to keep the soap out and I could not help but note how easily it would be to end her life. She wouldn't even know what had struck her, so trusting.

"Miss Shantalaine. Your dress has arrived. Dr. Shilo would like to speak with you. The caterers are setting up. And the song is "GoodGirls go Bad.""

"Oh. Okay!" Brightly! "Tell Euriya I'll be right out!" She started up a new song with a hum that was offkey, "Walk like an Egyptian!"

"Of course." As I turned to leave she leaned back out to ask, "Why would anyone want to walk like the Eyptians? I mean Anubis is like the closest thing we've got, well there's also Lirssa's Dad, but they both kinda got this whole strut thing goin...oh it's cuz we strut! So why wouldn't it be Strut Like an Egyptian?"

"Very good questions, Miss Shantalaine. I'll look into the answers immediately."

As I put her sticky clothes in a bag to be sent to a nearby cleaners I found myself doing the unthinkable...

...I smiled.