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Post By Anime Jason Fri Sep 08, 2006 at 04:47:59 pm EDT |
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Dear Diary, a condensed historical account: "Some Assembly Required" | |
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Dear Diary - Some Assembly Required Yuki Shiro is a taken name. She doesn't even remember her real one anymore. Actually, she does remember her former first name, but only in dreams and fleeting glimpses before allowing it to vanish again. She doesn't want to remember, because that was someone she said goodbye to long ago. She took the name to leave behind everything she used to be - a fearful, weak doormat who couldn't even manage to save her own life. Yuki's goal, since her body became artificial, is to live her life the way she believes she should have. Aside from a few stray memories of childhood, Yuki's earliest reliable memory is of being doused in gasoline and set fire to in her own home. She still has many questions about how that came about - whether she had an abusive boyfriend she allowed to treat her that way, or whether it was a complete stranger who broke in, or a psychopathic business associate. The only thing she's sure of is that she could have saved herself if she'd been a little more brave. She remembered waking up in the hospital once, feeling her skin on fire though the fire had long been put out. Then nurses and doctors raced in as she screamed and screamed, and then she cursed herself for not being stronger. Her eyes closed as they injected something into her IV. When she woke up, she felt renewed. But as she fully awoke, she could sense that there was something wrong - her limbs weren't quite responding correctly. That's normal, she told herself, remembering the fire, it probably would take months of therapy to be normal again. She almost cried, but then she remembered...no more pain. Now was the time to be strong. Yuki was numb, mentally but not physically, when the doctor came in with a scientist she vaguely remembered seeing before. The scientist chewed on a bubble pipe and seemed excited as the doctor explained the operation they performed. Yuki felt almost like she should be horrified - but the man with the bubble pipe amused her so much she couldn't bring herself to be angry. Her whole body had been replaced with one giant computerized prosthetic. It functioned just like her original body only better. Its reflexes were controlled partly by her own brain and partly by a learning abstract computer, which in time she'd learn to access directly with her brain. Her skeleton was now titanium, and her skin and organs were all synthetic. In spite of that, Yuki adjusted quickly enough that she asked only one question after the doctor's explanation - when will she be able to walk again? The answer surprised her - immediately, albeit slowly at first until she got used to the new reaction time and the weight of her own body. Characterizing a theme that would permeate her new lease on life, and unlike the woman she used to be, Yuki did so, immediately. She slid out of the bed and stumbled a bit before taking a few steps around the room. Her only regret that day was not figuring out how to dance to show off. She managed to surprise the bubble pipe chewing scientist, Al B Harper by beating his best estimates for being released from the hospital, and learning to master her control systems. Her computer system was mastered a short time later, and she discovered she could use it to access data anywhere in the world if only she could connect to it. That was part of the first 'upgrade' Al gave her - he added a data port to the back of her neck along with an emergency recharge port in case her constantly recharging kinetic battery was low for some reason. Upon learning that her new career choice would be private detective, he also gave her an experimental electronic light-refracting energy camoflage device which allowed her to be nearly invisible for short periods before it drained its seperate battery of all power. Shortly after the upgrade she began really pushing the limits of her body, but never breaking them. She would jump out of building windows, into rivers, each time carefully measuring risk as she did. She wanted to have some fun, but she was by no means suicidal - she knew her designed limitations and used them to their limit but never quite pushed beyond that. She decided to join the Lair Legion partly due to an incident with one of their arch-enemies, during which she lost her business, livelihood, and reputation in one of Gothametropolis' largest battles. But really, she could have rebuilt all of that. She saw, though, once she had a chance to see the Lair Legion in action, that anything less for her would just be boring. -- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2006 by Jason Froikin, and may not be -- reprinted without permission. -- Yuki Shiro designed by Jason Froikin, based on designs by Masamune Shirow -- Liu Xi Xian and the Psychic Samurai are original design by Jason Froikin -- Lara Night is an original creation by Jason Froikin |
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