Chapter 13: New and Yet the Same.

[3rd person POV]

Carman and Ryuzu waited for Libre to approach. As he caught up with Carman he expressed his concerns for Carman's safety first, completely disregarding Ryuzu until he knew Carman was ok.

Once he saw that Carman had calmed down he asked, "Who is this young lady with you?"

"Livre, this is Ryuzu, Ryuzu this is Livre. Ryuzu is someone I met recently and has agreed to become an associate of mine in the future. I met her the day you left to visit your father."

"An associate of yours? Where did you meet? What are the details of your partnership. Ms. Ryuzu appears to come from an at least middle class family, why would she offer to partner with you?" Livre asked in confusion.

"The details are not something I feel comfortable discussing in the open like this. Could we head back to the workshop for some more privacy?" Asked Carman.

"If it is that important I don't see why not, seeing as our appointment to file a petition is pretty much over at this point."

The small group made their way to Livre's workshop.

"So, what exactly is this association between the two of you and what happened back there when you heard my plans to adopt you, I could see that the proposal troubled you, in fact, it was shocking to see that much raw emotion on your face." Asked Livre

"To start, I have a condition that made it so I have a really good memory, to the point that I can remember things from when I was about a year old. I can remember the faces of my birth parents... And how I was treated by my mother." Said Carman, subconsciously grasping Ryuzu's arm.

Livre's face went from startled from hearing about Carman's memory capabilities before darkening hearing the implication about how his mother had taken care of him.

Carman continued to explain how his birth mother had hated him for being a constant reminder of how a noble of the house she served had forced himself onto her, explaining how he knew what she meant by SA from reading books in the orphanage library used to teach older children how babies are made. He had to take breakes from time to time as his heart started to race and he could feel bile trying to force its way up his throat. When the panic got particularly bad Ryuzu pulled him to her once again, and patted him reassuringly.

Livre wanted desperately to be able to reassure Carman hearing the boy's hunched form and darkened expression. He knew that these sorts of things sometimes happened in noble households and it had disgusted him at a certain level. Now he just felt a deep sadness seeing how these actions had lead to the breakdown of a usually calm and curious boy he had grown to care for.

He wasn't sure what to say to appease or try and reassure the boy in front of him but he slowly made his way closer to Carman, not wanting to spook the boy again.

Eventually, when Carman had stopped talking, Livre closed the short gap between them, knelt on one knee and pulled Carman into a hug.

"I'm not sure what to say kid, it's messed up you have the ability to remember all that, and worse that you are able to understand the implications of those horrid words your egg donor said to you. But know this, this doesn't change a thing between us, I could care less about how you were brought into this world. You are not responsible for the sins of your parents, nor should you ever feel guilty for existing. I care for you because of who you are, this workshop used to be full days of lonely monotonous work, you brought life back into it like a stream of fresh water clearing a stagnant pool. Working with and teaching you reminded me why I love this work, and renewed my perspective on my dream of opening a toyshop and using my skills to bring smiles to children's faces."

"I've cared for you longer than you displayed your talent in the field of clockwork engineering. Your curiosity in the subject and determination strongly reminded me of when I was your age. You don't have to call me dad or even see me as a parental figure, we can continue being mentor and apprentice as we were before, I don't want anyone to be able to take advantage of you for being an orphan. I also didnt want to continue wondering every night wether you had a safe place to sleep and enough to eat."

Livre tried his best to convey his emotions and intentions to Carman who had gotten still in his arms. Livre patted the boy on his head, lightly tousling his hair. After a bit, Carman relaxed and tentatively wrapped his arms back around Livre. They sat there, Livre not even minding as his kneeling leg went numb, for a good amount of time until they'll pulled away and sat down on the floor.

Carman looked more relaxed than he did before, but his his neutral face still showed signs of exhaustion.

"I'm still on edge about the whole adoption thing. Could I have some time to consider things before I give you a definite answer?" Asked Carman.

"Of course, I didn't expect a quick answer from you anyway. You are way to methodical and cautious in everything you do for me to expect otherwise." Livre answered

"Ok, good" said Carman. "As for your question regarding Ryuzu, how should I explain it..."

"Mr Carman, please allow me to take the explanation from here." Ryuzu interjected.

"Mr Livre, my name is Ryuzu, also known as Initial Y series Unit 1, I am a construct built on the principles of clock smithing. A practice similar to the one you call clockwork engineering. If I were to explain what I am in terms you are familiar with I could say that I am a highly sophisticated version of the constructs you refer to as Gardemeks, however that does not even scratch the surface of my capabilities."

As Livre listened to Ryuzu's explation he could not help but tilt his head in confusion.

"It appears that I was transported to the location that Monsieur Carman had been living in using unknown means as he said that the unit containing me just mysteriously appeared in front of him. At that time, I was in a damaged condition I had been stuck in for just over two centuries according to my calculations. Somehow, after reading the notes left behind by several of the so called experts who had done their best to repair me he managed to do what they couldn't and realign one of the gears in my power core, but not until after he perfectly installed an improvement to my visual processors which he constructed by cross referencing the concepts of clock smithing and clockwork engineering. A miraculous feat that he acredits to you teachings. After booting up from the repairs I offered my loyalty and servitude to him, however he did not like the idea of having me be his servant and insisted that I consider ourselves as equals."

Ryuzu continued to discuss the details of her partnership with Carman to Livre who was getting more and more surprised the further they discussed, and was dumbfounded when Carman and Ryuzu showed him her internal components, the billions of interlocking gears boggling his mind.

"I see why you wanted to discuss this topic in private. If a noble heard about her, they go through great lengths to get their hands on her because of the novelty of owning a sentient meka servent. They might even hire a team to disassemble and reverse engineer her to make a business of selling automata based off of her." Said Livre once he had recovered from the shock. "So what's next? We're going to have to revisit the courthouse to file the patent on your handheld fidget device, but that is going to have to wait until tomorrow at least as there are many people visiting the office this week to file and pay taxes."

Carman responded "well I was thinking....

-To be continued