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 Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 2:04 pm
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Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007 2:46 pm
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Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007 5:14 pm
I grew today at the lab. I was very nervous at first that the doctor was going to poke me with that metal rod, but it wasn't so bad. I took a nice nap, and I had the strangest dream. Mum said that I should write it down to remember it later, so I will. I was only asleep for a little while, but the dream seemed to go on forever. I wish it would have gone on for longer; it was fun at first.
In my dream, I was more grown-up than I am now. I was standing in the middle of this field sort of place, and it stretched on for ages all around me. There were lots of little hills and valleys, and they all were covered in tall grass that waved in the wind. The wind even smelled strange, but it was a good kind of strange. It smelled very fresh and very clean. I couldn't smell machines or smoke or food or people or animals. It was just clean.
I don't know how long I was standing there, and then all of a sudden there was something shoving against my back. I turned around, and there was a big horse standing there. It was a he, and he was a pretty chestnut color. He was wearing a fancy-looking bridle and saddle, and I got up on his back. Then he started to gallop, and we kept on galloping for ages and ages. All of a sudden, he stopped and reared up. I didn't know what he was looking at, and then all of a sudden, there was this tall man (I think it was a man) in a dark cloak with a funny mask on his face. He started speaking in some weird language, and it gave me the chills. I pulled out my sword and told him to go away, and he gave this really creepy laugh. I hopped off my horse and ran to go fight him, and then right as I was going to swing at him, I woke up.
I am happy to be grown now, though. Mum promised that I'd get a chance to have a horse, and I was reading through the newspaper when I spied a notice that caretakers are needed for horses at a rehabilitation center. I think I'll talk to Mum about that.
Eowyn
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Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 2:26 pm
I know that parents feel proud when their kids grow, but some days, I wish they'd stay small. Eowyn grew, and she is already becoming a lot more active. When she isn't swordfighting with Kayce, she is at the rehabilitation center down the road, caring for her new horse. I brought her there a few days ago to meet the horse (a retired show horse who was the victim of soring, an abominable practice), and Eowyn has slowly been working to get her back up to par. Needless to say, progress is slow. Most of the time, the horse stays as far away as she possibly can. I don't think Dancer will ever be the warsteed that Eowyn craves, but she will make a good companion nonetheless. And she will be a good horse for Eowyn to learn to ride alone on, when that day actually does come.
With my kids all growing up, I feel a bit... unnecessary, at times. Yana grew, and she is off at school during the day. Eowyn grew, and now she is constantly on the go. I feel like my presence just isn't necessary anymore. I know it's an idle fear, as they're all still so young, but I guess I'm afraid they'll all grow up and leave Aiodhan and I.
No, they'll stick around, or some of them will. I hope.
I'm getting hungry, so I think it's time to whip up an afternoon snack for everyone. Eowyn and Kayce just came in the back door, and they better not be tracking in much dirt!
~Amyla
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Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 12:34 pm
After the marginal success that we had in putting Yana in school, Aiodhan and I came to the decision that it was time to try Eowyn in one as well. Granted, Eowyn will probably never survive in a normal school. She is an outdoors, run around, rough-and-tumble kid, and sitting for six straight hours while having math, science, and history shoved down your throat would be enough to drive her up the wall. She would have a total breakdown (if robots can have total mental breakdowns) before she hit her teenage stage. So, we had to go with a different option.
I think she'll like this option. We found a military sort of academy geared for children aged roughly ten through thirteen, which is right where Eowyn fits in. The good news is that it's reminiscent of knight training from the medieval times, which is exactly what Eowyn enjoys: swordwork, horseback riding, tactical training. She will be doing reading and writing as well, much to her dislike, but I think she'll survive. It'll be a good experience for her. She'll still be living here at home, but she'll be at school from 7 AM to 3 PM every day. Then she'll walk from the school straight to the rehab center to take care of Dancer and then come home afterward. She'll be busy, but I think she'll like it. She starts tomorrow, and here is hoping it goes well.
~Amyla
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 3:25 pm
Schooltime Worries Her booted feet rhythmically slapping the pavement, Eowyn ran easily down the street toward home. She was late; she knew that. She also knew her mother would likely be worried about her, but considering that she had been spending her time in a decent fashion, she doubted her mother would horribly freak out.
Or at least she hoped so.
She got to the front door, not short on energy in the least. The door was unlocked, so the kybernetik let herself inside, kicking off her boots in the entryway and lining them up beside the many other pairs of shoes already there. It looked like nearly the entire family was home already.
That makes sense, since I'm late... Eowyn thought quietly as she hurried up the stairs to her own room to get rid of the back-breaking backpack. She had barely arrived back downstairs before she found herself in the m idst of another argument. She sighed. Arguments were common in this house.
"How c'me sheeeeee getsss t' gooh t' th' ccooool schooool?!" Yana was asking their mother, the young deaf girl trotting right alongside Amyla. "I haaaaate schoooool!"
Much as she was annoyed by Yana's odd speech patterns, Eowyn did have to feel a bit sorry for the girl. It wasn't Yana's fault she couldn't hear, and it certainly wasn't her fault that she went to a special school, designed for kids with similar problems. It also wasn't Eowyn's fault, though, which made the young kybernetik a bit upset. She didn't say that aloud, though. Why bother? Yana couldn't hear and hadn't seen her yet anyway to read her lips. Better to leave it be.
"Yana, you have to go. You know that. You have to learn," Amyla said carefully, being sure to use the accompanying signs in case the young girl had trouble reading her lips.
"Bu' sheeee gets t' beee ou'siiiiiide!" the deaf girl protested right back, looking very upset. "Sheeee duhhhs'n haffffvve meeeeeean kidssss!"
Eowyn snorted, though she quickly transformed her face to a neutral expression when her mother looked up and spied her at the bottom of the stairs. When Amyla's eyes narrowed and she gestured vaguely toward the kitchen, Eowyn took the hint. She slid down behind her mother and sister and walked toward the kitchen, listening as the argument continued out in the living room. She pulled an apple from the fridge and washed it, settling herself down on a kitchen chair to wait for the upcoming discussion.
It wasn't long in coming. Amyla, it sounded, won the argument and sent Yana off to do homework, appearing in the kitchen about five seconds after the deaf girl's protests stopped. "You're a bit later than usual, Eowyn. Spending a long time at the center?" her mother queried, raising an eyebrow at her robot child.
The blonde kybernetik nodded, taking another bite of her apple. "Yah. Long time with Dancer," she mumbled after she swallowed, not really willing to look her mother in the eye.
After having raised so many children, though, her mother saw right through the attitude. "What happened?" Amyla asked with a small sigh, sitting down on a chair and an arm on the table as she watched Eowyn eat.
Crud. Eowyn sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "I was telling Dancer about school. It's okay; I like it," she added quickly, seeing the cautious expression on her mother's face. "But I feel kind of weird. I'm the only robot there. Nobody makes fun of me, but they just give me looks."
Amyla nodded in understanding, offering up a sigh and a faint smile. "Eowyn, I think you're going to find that wherever you go. Robot children aren't exactly common sights in many schools," she pointed out, her voice sounding kind to Eowyn's ears, despite the harsh reality of her words. "There's no way to escape that."
"They don't have to stare," Eowyn muttered, glaring at her apple as if it was the perpetrator.
"No, they don't, but they will. That's what kids do. You do that whenever you see someone that looks strange," her mother pointed out, chuckling quietly at the face Eowyn made in response.
The robot girl shrugged. "It just makes me feel weird."
Her mother nodded again, resting her chin on her hands. "I know it does. I felt the same way, growing up as a full-blooded human in a place where humans aren't so common. I think you'll be surprised at the friends you make, though, so just give it a try."
Eowyn nodded, not really liking the idea but faced with no other options. Really, it could have been a lot worse. She could have ended up at a school like Yana's, where they stayed inside and worked with books most of the day. Yuuuuck.
"All right. Well, I'll leave you to your snack. Next time, try not to be so late. I was wondering," her mother said as she stood. She rested a hand on Eowyn's shoulder for a moment and then walked out.
Grateful that her mother hadn't attempted one of those dreadful displays of affection called hugs, Eowyn finished off her apple and got up to go look for Kayce. She had an itch to whack at something with a sword.
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Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 12:27 pm
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Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 10:25 am
Quiet Time Eowyn shifted a little on the treehouse floor, more out of mental restlessness than real discomfort. She was tired. After a full day of the military academy, combined with some extra sword practice with Kayce, who was getting stronger and faster by the day, the kybernetik found herself lacking in her usual amounts of energy. Maybe it was the onset of more homework. Maybe it was the extra physical activity, or maybe it was the fact that she had skipped breakfast this morning. Either way, her body was tired, but her mind was not. It was wandering all over the place, thinking of everything from warhorses to swordplay to family to...
...well, to what she was. She had been wondering about that for some time, wondering why she was the way she was. She was still slowly making her way through the Lord of the RIngs trilogy, her speed mostly lacking because she got distracted so frequently. She couldn't help it. When the narration blabbed on about how So-and-so was the son of Blah who defeated the orc Whatever in this great battle for the kingship of Wherever, or something along those lines, it was easy for her to get fed-up. It was just so long! And personally, she couldn't wait to get to the part that talked about Eowyn, the warrior princess of Rohan. She supposed that was who she, herself, was modeled after, that character.
After much pleading, her parents had allowed her to watch the video versions of the books. She had to admit that of what she had read of the book so far, she did prefer the book, despite its boring portions. She liked very much the portrayal of Eowyn in the movies but was quite surprised when she saw the portion of the movie about the Witch King. That was odd; he looked suspiciously like that funky man in black in her dream, except the voice was off and the movie didn't give her the creepy chills like her dream had. She had bounced a little and cheered at the charge of the Rohirrim, grinning as she watched multitudes of orcs get run over, slashed, stabbed, shot, or just generally pounded by the warriors. So, she was biased to prefer the wild horseriding, sword-wielding Rohirrim over the Gondorian tin men in their armor. She couldn't help it; it was in her programming!
She did wonder what else was in her programming, though. That dream had been very odd, albeit quite pleasurable for the part where she was riding the giant chestnut horse all over the plains. She was curious as to what other things the doctor had programmed into her. She wasn't like a living thing, with those things in their brain called neurons that made the connections of thoughts and memories. She wasn't like Kayce, a reborn immortal with some strange memories. No, whatever she had dreamt, whatever she was like, whatever she thought about... it was because of circuits and programming. It bothered her slightly, being 'programmed' to do what she was doing. But at the same time, it made things so much easier being robotic. From the sound of things, she wasn't going to have to go through that puberty thing that several of her other sibling were going through.
And knowing she she knew about living female anatomy, she was grateful. She didn't want to have things leaking uncontrollably out of orifices, thank you very much!
"Eowyn? Eowyn! If you're hiding out there, you'd better come in before Yana and Erin eat all the apple on you," her mother's voice drifted up to her from the back door, and Eowyn poked her head out of the treehouse to see Amyla standing on the back porch, hands on her hips, a faint smile on her face, and her belly bulging out in front of her. Oh, yes. The new baby. Eowyn wasn't sure whether to be thrilled or furious. More kids?! Like the household needed them!
"Coming, Mum!" the kybernetik called as she scooped her book up off the floor and tucked it beneath her arm. She had planned on reading again, but her thoughts had distracted her. They had been doing that a lot. She edged down the ladder and jogged tiredly toward the back door. After a day like today, she could use an energy boost. Quite literally.
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Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2007 7:23 pm
[Reserved for Dress Shopping ORP]
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