Log Title: Wiretap to the Rescue!
Characters: Artemis (Diana) , Wiretap (Heather), Deanna (Puppet of Artemis)
Location: Artemis' Quarters on Cobra Island
Date: 4-4-2010 (Easter Sunday Morning)
TP: None
Summary: Artemis is still trying to come to terms with having a daughter, and Deanna is still trying to come to terms with living above ground, with being totally bored, and with having a mother.
- LOG BEGINS
Artemis is sitting on the couch, trying not to pull her hair out, and almost crying, while in the bedroom, a certain little girl is crying into her arms, under the bed.
There comes a soft knock on the door.
 
Diana calls out, shakily, "C-Come in." She wipes at her eyes, trying to quickly cover up the evidence of her tears, but redness in her non-cybernetic eye, and the tear streaks will easily make the observant guess she has been.
Heather enters the place, looking worried and uncertain. "How you doing?" she asks as she sees Diana.
Artemis bites her lip, and knows better than trying to lie to Heather. She lets her guard down, and a tear falls down her cheek again, "I'm failing, Heather..."
From the bedroom, one last muffled cry can be heard, than silence. Deanna has better control, and some strangers scare her more than her own mother does...
"Tell me what I can do to help," Heather insists, wanting very much to assist Arty, if at all possible.
Artemis looks at Heather, and pats the spot next to her on the couch, and asks, "I assume you know about Deanna?" she asks.
If someone looked at the door to the bedroom, a pair of deep blue eyes about 2 and a half feet off the ground would be noticeable.
I've heard some, but fill me in on the latest," Heather prompts, glancing over toward Deanna's sad little face.
Artemis sighs, "You might know more than I do, sadly... I only know that Friday night, I was called into the War Room, where The Baroness and Major Bludd introduced me to her. They say she's mine.... My Daughter. DNA has confirmed it." She pauses, noticing where Heather is looking, and she tries to smile at Deanna, but the eyes disappear, as soon as she does, and Diana's shoulders start to shake, "But she is afraid of me..." She lifts her arms fractionally, "The Cybernetics... the fact that she has spent as long as she can remember under the Colombia Base, with only a Doctor John as a Caretaker... That Caretaker died Friday..." Diana closes her eyes, "That trauma, on top of me being a freak, her mother being some kind of half human thing is hard for her..."
"You're not a freak -- and she's upset because you're upset, I'm willing to bet," Heather says. "...What I'd like to know is...uh...what do you want to do with her? I mean, do you want to keep her? I'm not trying to be insensitive, but it's quite a situation to be backed into so suddenly."
Artemis says very softly, "I've always wanted a child, Heather... but this came on so sudden. I thought I'd have months to prepare... Than, when I went full Cyborg, and my Uterus was destroyed, I figured I lost my chance, and I had resigned myself to being childless." She sighs, "Now... I have a child, who only knows me from one of those 'Talking Arty Dolls', the Interview I did on Cobra TV, and whatever 'Doctor John' Told her. I know nothing about Doctor John, I don't know *why* she was under the Colombia Base, I don't know what they did to her down there....
"Okay, there's a lot of unknowns here," Heather admits. "But what's known for sure is that you'd like to keep her. Yes? She's confused, you're confused...but what you can do is leave the past back in the past where it belongs, and just start...y'know, talking to her and get to know her. She looks old enough to have something of a personality. Ask her what kind of ice cream she likes. What colors she likes. What kinds of toys are fun. Kid stuff."
Artemis says softly, "Heather... I don't know how to be a mother....I'm scared I'm going to screw it up."
"Don't be scared. Look, if you'd like to have some time to adjust, I can take her for a little while," Heather offers. "All she needs is a little stability in her life, and a lot of love. She'll turn out fine!"
Diana says softly, "If it is stability, wouldn't you taking her, undermine the stability factor?" she seems genuinely concerned.
"I hope not!" Heather chuckles. "But you see the point...the best possible thing for her is to stay here with you, and bond. I just offered in case you want to think things through a bit more."
Artemis shakes her head, "I want her to stay here, but, I want what is best for her, "I'm dangerous... these things make that way" She indicates her arms.
"You can control them! Can't you? Okay, how many times have you accidentally shot yourself since your mods were put in?" Heather asks, to make a point.
Artemis says softly, "Twice... Years ago." She chuckles, "But, I still don't always know my own strength. I've crushed eggs trying to make breakfast a few times in the past month."
Heather ponders. "...Maybe if you had a nanny here to just help out with the 'softer' tasks like baths and such, it could still work out."
Artemis nods, and shrugs, "Want a job?" she teases, than says, "I'm also considering the flesh coverings... I know Dee's seen Cyborgs before, she knew what I was efore I had to tell her, she's smarter than any 6 or 7 year old has a right to be... but I can tell it still bothers her."
"Have you spoken to her about it? Kids can be frightened of a lot of things they don't understand. All you'd have to do is show her what it is, tell her it's okay, and ask her if, um, if she has any questions about it." Heather adds, "...I hope this is kind of helpful, because I can't speak from experience."
Artemis shakes her head, "I'm afraid to talk to her..."
From the bedroom, a soft voice calls out, "Miss Diana... The Cybernetics don't scare me...."
Heather peers into the bedroom, then looks back at Diana in a 'See?' sort of expression before looking back toward where the little girl's sought refuge. "Dee? Oh dear, you know, that's my nickname too," Heather admits, blushing slightly. "Dee, I'm Miss Heather. We'd like to know what it is you find scary. Can you tell us?"
Deanna slips into the room, and says, "It's loud here... My old room was deep underground...." She looks around, and motions to the windows, "It's bright... Sunlight hurts..." She than shrugs, "And I'm bored. No books to read that I Haven't read... And the Cable? No Science Channels, no History Channels... I don't like cartoons."
Diana just stares at the child, not comprehending that the child, who is 6 or 7, at everyone’s guess, wouldn't like cartoons, what child of that age doesn't?
Heather smiles slightly, looking back at Diana. "...Well, there you have your answer. Easy as asking." Turning back to Dee, she says, "Bright lights will probably hurt for a while, we'll need to get some sunglasses for you. As for books? We can get you all kinds of books! And cable? ...Let me tell you, I, Miss Heather, am known here as the 'Cable Queen'. I can get you any channels you want."
Artemis shrugs, still confused. She's not used to children, and they do make her wonder why people procreate, at times.
Deanna smiles, "You splice cable signals? Oooh, Can you teach me?" She moves closer, standing next to Diana, but hides slightly behind Diana's arm, looking around Diana's arm at Heather. She really does seem to like Diana, in a distant sort of fashion. As if she is still coming to grips with the idea that her mother is a real person, not the talking Arty doll that she is clutching, absent-mindedly in her left hand.
"I sure can! ...Well, if your Mom says it's okay, of course." Heather gives Diana a wink, and grin.
Diana looks thoughtful, like trying to weigh the benefits of letting her daughter learn something she wants, with the idea of her doing something like that... "Maybe... Once you've had a bath, and eaten something other than MRE's. We actually have fresh food, grown on the Island." She looks at Heather, and says, "IT seems that her and her caretaker only ate special MRE's for a long time..."
Deanna just blinks, "Real food? But MRE's are specially formulated to be all the good, without the bad! That's what Doc John Said!"
Diana sighs, and is sure she is going to get tired of hearing that statement soon... she visible tenses up, but says nothing, biting her lip. She has tried so hard not to snap at the girl, not wanting to traumatize her.
"Well, they were underground, right? Kind of hard to get fresh food down there," Heather says. "Maybe introduce a tiny bit of actual food, week by week."
Artemis nods slightly, and than suddenly watches as Deanna skips off to the bedroom, and the sounds of a child bouncing on the bed can be heard. "I don't understand her... Crying one minute, bouncing the next... Is it normal?"
"It seems to be her way of adjusting. She's very interesting -- VERY bright. I think she'd do very well in a Cobra-run home school for the gifted," Heather suggests.
Artemis says softly, "She is smarter about some things than I am... Most actually." She picks up a crossword puzzle book, "I couldn't have finished any of these..." She hands it over, and the book is complete, in pen, with no scratch outs, "She did all of those, this morning."
"Wow, cool! ...Makes me wonder if this Dr. John did any genetic modifications to her. He probably didn't, but it's amazing how smart she is," Heather says.
Artemis nods, "Or if someone else did anything to her..." She sighs, "If anyone screwed with her, I'll kill them..."
"If anyone did, it was probably Dr. John, I mean who else was down there?" Heather says. "Anyhow, there's plenty of time to sort that out. I'll see if I can get my hands on some books, and get you guys all hooked up with a 'intelligent' cable package."
Artemis nods, "I have a built in Internet and Computer... I hate to ask, but I don't even know where to go to get her one, and she mentioned missing playing something called Facebook... and Wizard101?"
Heather laughs. "Sounds like a fun diversion, anything on Facebook usually is. I'll get a Techno-Viper to put together a station for her so she can have her own apart from yours."
Artemis nods, and 'types' something in the air, sending an e-mail to Heather, reminding her. Cybernetics... wonderful, but annoying things.
"Looks like I've got a lot to tend to. Give me a call if you need anything else, okay? I'll come right over." Heather nods to Arty, e-mail reminder noted.
Artemis says softly, "Heather, thank you. I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Hey, you're welcome. It's what I do for my friends. And honestly...I wouldn't worry too much about Dee, she's definitely going to turn out extraordinary."
Artemis hugs Heather gently, and says softly, "I just want her to be happy..."
"I know you do, because you're her mom," Heather whispers to her friend with a tender smile, returning the hug warmly. "We'll make it work out here on Cobra Island...with all of her very strange aunts and uncles."
Artemis chuckles, "I guess, in a way, it makes me glad that Over Kill is gone... He'd want to be Uncle Over Kill, and that would be bizarre..."
- LOG ENDS