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some-creep · 4 months ago

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Somehow STILL untitled sequel to Little Bird: Chapter 4

As soon as this gets a name I'll put it on ao3 promise. I might even expand / fix things to better flow together cuz I fr just make it up as I go

Ariane begins her career as Falke's personal Replika technician and fixes her eye in a completely nonsexual way.

A Replika technician she was not, but Ariane suspected Falke was too proud to ask for any kind of help from anyone else. Technicians were all Gestalts, something Falke did not trust, and she'd never demean herself enough to ask one of her subordinates for assistance. How could she explain this kind of damage anyway? Falke hadn't initially understood why her office had contained a spare ocular module when she'd taken over, but after the first meeting with her owners that had gone south, it soon became clear why her predecessor had started to hoard spare parts to self repair.

She used to wonder about the woman who came before her. What had been the final straw? Could she avoid making the same mistakes as her? But it didn't take long for her to abandon those concerns entirely. She'd join her eventually, so what was the point of worrying beyond that which her Replika brain forced her to do. At least she had Ariane to entertain her. Her skittish little pet. Falke rarely saw her as a Gestalt, though she didn't fit comfortably in the same box as her Replika staff either. She was a thing to control and to use as she saw fit. Stress relief. Entertainment. Comfort.

Falke didn't allow herself to dwell on that troublesome need she felt whenever Ariane wasn't around. It was easy in the beginning to send her off and forget about her for weeks at a time, but lately, she knew, she was becoming increasingly more accustomed to her visitations. And Ariane was getting much better at pretending she enjoyed them. Falke was perfectly logical and understood Ariane hated her and only did what she did because she had to, but the foolish part of her found that so very easy to ignore whenever Ariane held her. Kissed her. Fell asleep on her lap…

Falke had, for a while, thought herself incapable of feeling physical sensations outside of the default pressure readings critical for all Replika functions. She was aware of touch just enough to orient herself to the world around her, no more advanced than a light curtain halting a machine's operation because it was aware something was dangerously close to its point of operation. Ariane's hands were warm against her face; her breath against her neck was soft and gentle. She had long since been aware that her Replika staff engaged in inappropriate relationships with one another and even as she turned a blind eye to allow them to carry on whatever private business they may, it wasn't until recently that she could even comprehend why they might act that way at all.

And yet she couldn't help but fear this had made her weak and ineffective as a leader. After all, what kind of Commander was she to accept help from someone she was meant to control? To be made weak and vulnerable in front of another?

She sat on her bed, staring at her bedroom door as she waited for Ariane to return. After limping back to her office, she'd instructed Ariane where to find her spare eye and left the rest up to her. Falke had no idea what the true extent of the damage was, but if she could at least walk around with two visibly functioning eyes, that would be close enough as far as she was concerned, even if the replacement didn't actually allow her to see.

Ariane slipped back into her bedroom, cradling a small white box in her hands. She seemed hesitant to meet Falke's gaze though that was hardly anything new. Falke shifted and looked away from Ariane as the realization that this was really going to happen began to sink in. Ariane set the box on the edge of the bed before carefully removing her jacket.

“Let me know when you're ready, Commander.”

Falke flinched. “Ariane. Just…call me Falke. Just this once.”

Ariane paused before she began to nod slowly. Turning to look at her, she repeated, “Falke.”

It was ultimately a standard procedure that Falke could have, perhaps even should have, performed herself. The most efficient way to replace a broken ocular module would have been to remove the upper half of her faceplate to offer easier access to the components underneath. Had she been alone, Falke would have done just that. The truth was, she didn't want Ariane to see that much of her all at once. It made her a hypocrite, she knew, but Ariane didn't seem concerned with pointing it out.

She straddled Falke's lap before she ripped open the thin cardboard and dumped out the contents onto the bed. A Replika eye, a device to remove a Replika eye, and a thin sheet of instructions that prompted the reader to consult their FKLR unit’s manual should they have more specific questions.

“It, uh… It looks like a spoon,” Ariane observed, picking up the small metal device from the bed.

“You don't need to be so vulgar.” Falke agreed with her assessment. “There's no point in overengineering a tool with one purpose.”

Ariane hummed, tucking Falke's hair behind her ear to uncover her broken eye. “I guess that's true,” she said.

“Officer Yeong, please be careful.” Her voice did not sound like her own, and she wished she hadn't spoken at all.

“I will, Falke.”

“It'll be my first time having maintenance performed by anyone. Don't make me regret it.”

“Hey…hush. You're alright.” Ariane spoke softly, pushing her fingers through Falke's hair to scratch her head. “I won't hurt you.”

She decided to indulge the fantasy where that was true. Falke closed her eyes to relax herself, focusing on the sensation of Ariane's nails against her head. For the moment, she thought if she must be a pet, maybe being Ariane's wouldn't be so bad. Sure, she was a terrible, ill-equipped master, but it was far more appealing than her reality.

They stayed like this for a moment before Ariane gently cupped her face, tilting her head back. “Ready?” She asked, voice barely above a whisper. She figured they ought to get this over with before either of them started having second thoughts.

Falke nodded, slipping her hands up to Ariane's sides to brace herself. She did not speak, though she wished she could close her eyes again, or at least look away as cold metal slipped under her eyelid. The sensation wasn't pleasant. Falke swallowed a whimper, though her fingertips curling into Ariane's hips was likely enough of a giveaway.

“You're alright,” Ariane said again, twisting the thin metal around slowly to properly seat it against her eye. She needed it to pop out in one smooth motion and her quick glance at the provided diagram suggested this would be sufficient.

In that moment, Falke believed her. Relinquishing control felt good if it meant someone was actually going to take care of her. Maybe she was indulging in her fantasy a little too much to be thinking like that, but it wasn't as if Ariane would ever know what she was thinking.

Falke held her breath, sitting perfectly still as Ariane pulled her eye free from its socket. She whimpered as her artificial skin barely stretched far enough to allow the module to slip free, stopped only by the wiring that kept it plugged into her head. The release of pressure felt good, and before she realized it, she was hugging Ariane out of a sudden, almost instinctual, need for comfort. Her hair smelled nice… her small frame was familiar and safe…

“Falke? Are you okay? Can I finish what I was doing?” Ariane didn't fight the embrace, she knew better of course, but she did squirm just enough to get Falke's attention.

Flustered, she pulled back and nodded quickly. “You can't tell anyone about this.”

“I know, I know.” Ariane reached up to unplug the eyeball that hung limply against Falke's cheek. Hopefully, that was all that was broken, because she couldn't do anything more advanced than this. It might be worth learning, she thought, as she looked at the hole in Falke's head. A few loose wires vanished inside and she couldn't help but wonder what it would look like up close. Ariane sat up on her knees once more, holding open Falke's eyelid with her thumb. She was surprised when Falke did not resist, and so she chose to reward her with another head scratch with her free hand. She leaned closer, resting her forehead against Falke's as she impulsively began to trace her fingers around the edge of the eye socket before slipping her fingertip inside just to see if she felt at all like Elster. To her delight, Falke squirmed beneath her and once more grabbed her hips for support. How far could she push her luck? Falke wasn't stupid. It was obvious she’d given up on the repair aspect of their meeting for now as she hugged Falke around the neck.

“Well?”

“Well what?”

“You aren't telling me to stop.”

“Was I supposed to?” Falke didn't necessarily trust her that much, but the curious new sensation was quick to override any doubts she might have had.

Ariane kissed her forehead, enjoying their little role reversal all too much. “No.”

“We aren't doing this again…Officer Yeong.”

“I know, Falke.”

A bitter taste clung to every corner of Ariane's mouth as she lay under Falke's arm. In the heat of the moment, it had seemed like a good idea, but now she couldn't help but wonder if she was going to get sick. A horribly embarrassing thought, and one impossible to explain to Elster. She was relatively confident she hadn't swallowed anything unsavory, but just how toxic were Replika biocomponents? Elster had always been stern about Ariane keeping her mouth away from them, no matter how much she insisted Elster would like it. She thought it was just a case of Elster being too concerned with safety, but now she was fixated on whether or not she should have listened.

Falke was asleep behind her, face buried in her hair, rendered unusually clingy thanks to Ariane’s maintenance. At the very least, the replacement eye did seem to function, so her death wouldn't be for nothing. Even so, she would prefer to live, as unusual a thought as that was coming from her. That also meant trying to leave was out of the question. She doubted she'd be able to escape from her grasp anyway.

And so she lay there waiting, listening to the hum of Falke's internals. Far louder than Elster's even when she was asleep. Ariane couldn't help but entertain the thought that it was as if Replikas could purr. She liked to think she'd managed to make Falke that happy, if only for the day…a thought soon followed by guilt and shame.

She couldn't for even a moment claim this was for her own safety, or that Falke had commanded it of her. Ariane had offered to do the repair and she'd been the one to take things too far. Whatever cruel thing Falke decided to inflict on her in the future, she would deserve, and more. Maybe that would balance things out and she could convince herself this had all been a failed attempt to get Falke to stop abusing her. That way she would still deserve Elster.

Ariane froze as she felt Falke's hand shift to wrap around her throat.

“You're crying,” she observed, though she sounded half asleep.

She was, and she hadn't even noticed. How had Falke noticed? Did it matter?

“What's the matter, little bird?”

“Oh, no…it's…” Ariane rambled out the first lie that came to her mind, “I miss home. I didn't get to say goodbye to my mom. I haven't seen her in years.” While it wasn't why she was crying, it was still true that she hadn't had time to see her mother before being shipped off to Leng. Either way, Falke seemed satisfied with the answer.

“Perhaps I could schedule you a flight home in the future. As long as you promise to come back.”

“Can Elster come too?”

“Maybe I'll make you take me instead, hmm?” Falke chuckled, kissing the top of her head before releasing her hold. “I'll think about it.”

Ariane swallowed, reaching up to intertwine her fingers with Falke's. Now was as good a time as any to try and persuade her while her mood was still good. “What if Elster fixes your other eye? That way you don't need to order another spare and no one else has to find out about this?”

She thought on it for a moment before she nodded. “Fine. She'd better not screw it up.”

That was something they could both agree on. Ariane knew Elster was capable of making the repair, but she couldn't help but worry Falke might arbitrarily decide she'd done something incorrect.

“I can go ask her now if you…” she felt Falke tense and let her sentence trail off. “I'll stay right here until I'm dismissed. Just wanted to show, uh, initiative is all. For you.”

“That's what I thought.” She relaxed once more, snuggling closer to Ariane. “Just rest with me a while longer, then I'll let you go.”

Ariane exhaled slowly as she continued to hold Falke's hand. She tried not to think about how Elster would react to seeing them like this. At least she was clothed, for once. Perfectly innocent at a glance, albeit a bit weird. A lot weird given who Falke was. Cuddling probably wasn't included in the FKLR unit list of features. Then again, it wasn't in Elster's either. If Elster would join them, it would have solved a great many of Ariane's problems. Would a successful repair prove to Falke that Elster was worthy of joining them? She doubted it. Elster was too serious to enter into an affair with her boss anyway. She could always ask nicely. No, it wasn't worth the consequences. Just keep quiet and let things continue as they were. Exactly the way that everyone else did.

#signalis #ariane yeong #signalis falke #fklr #probably full of weird sentences and such cuz i wrote it so so so fast but it was better than constantly getting stuck like ch 2 and 3 #and 1.#ennnnjoy

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