Private Family Bonding: Vera/Thel/Bloodscrawl Family

[Vera Mina]

Wearing: Bloodscrawl Matriarch Raiments

Armed with: Herself


Objective: Educate Thel Hahn on the Family History.

Aboard the Atrisian Pathfinder .



In the privacy of locked quarters, Vera Mina, Matriarch of House Bloodscrawl, underwent further software upgrades.

In the unique position of having converted to a Force Spawn with pre-existing cybernetic components, Vera was still slowly adjusting to her now inherently schizophrenic nature. Thinking outside the box, Vera had installed firewalls in them, ones designed to make sure she stuck to the ideals of her House, so she wouldn't be tempted to back slide into savagery. That time of her life was over and done with. She had a family now.

She was the guardian of a teenage boy. Mother to a synthetic daughter, and expecting her own first born biological son in a matter of months. She was happily married.

The time for taking risks unless necessary was over.

She had started this project almost immediately after being married. The firewalls had been derived from very small, fragmented parts of Moya's own personality coding that Vera had stored away years back when Laertia had still been an ally. An accident in storage had degraded the information, so she had been forced to reconstruct the best surviving piece of coding to a degree it was usable again. The rest of the data was an unsalvageable mess. It would serve as the guide for her to act as a better mother going forward, especially since she would be addressing the gargantuan task of raising an infant. She has not done poorly with Sera so far, but Sera was an android... Android minds work different. More logic based, be it internal or situational. That would not do if she wanted to be a good mother to not one, but two different organics.

Arianna, permanently merged with her, had only been too happy to contribute her own efforts. She wanted it to work just as much, even if she was hiding in Vera's cells 90 percent of the time.

As Vera relaxed in the upgrade throne she spotted a Woman she had not seen before.

"Hello, Vera..." The Hallucination said. "I'm Vivian. I'm the basis for Arianna's newfound conscience..."

"So you were the one in control of that face before we merged..." Vera noted.

Vivian nodded. "It's difficult for me to not be her while speaking to you. It's just that, with us merged, with me serving as the basis of Arianna's conscience, it only makes sense that I integrate aspects of myself into your own conscience, especially given how you seem to be actively seeking safeguards against corruption...which is actually a really good sign in of itself. It shows you're serious about reforming."

"A not-unfair assessment..." Vera responded. "I actually just got done integrating fragments of Moya's coding into my parameters for Maternal Instincts, so that I might improve my ability to be...better...towards my children. I am all too happy to accept additional coding from you."

The Hallucination raised an eyebrow. "Really? Just like that? No... questions?"

"I love my husband, even if I am a monster, I love my husband..." Vera replied. "I want to be a better Mother than my own was. Statistical analysis shows the only reliable method of achieving the desired outcome is to make significant alterations to my 'moral compass'. There will be no repeat of the deadly, uncontrolled studies on morality that Nine Lives initiated in Clan Li-Ves within House Bloodscrawl."

A photo of Percival Io , taken from afar by Arianna when he was young and newly activated, was in a small frame nearby.

"Plus I felt your pain in our shared body when we learned Percival was killed. I..."

Vera stopped, glancing at the Photo.

"I wanted to love him. Wanted to connect with him. I...did not know how. I cannot make the same mistake with Thel and my own baby that I did with Percival. So, in my view...every little shred of more than token empathy helps..."

Vivian nodded. "So be it..."

Vivian vanished, and Vera's face bubbled violently between hers and Vivian's before it settled back on hers.

Vera's mouth fell open as a flood of understanding shot through her. She started hyperventilating, grabbing the arm of the throne as she comprehended the ideology of House Bloodscrawl much better than before...and felt her emotions far more strongly than previously. Her face twitched as she glitched momentarily, not prepared for having obtained a fully functional sense of right and wrong.

Including a sense of guilt over decades old crimes.

But I was BUILT to be that vicious and savage and treacherous...is it still my fault? she wondered.

No use trying to make sense of that question now. Vera put the worst memories on lockdown in her database, deciding to leave that question up in the air for the sake of her family.

As far as she was concerned, the Vera who had done those things didn't exist any longer, she rationalized desperately. The Android had upgraded itself out of being an Android by integrating with something that had even more crimes under its belt than she herself did. She viewed herself in some ways as a new being. All she could do was try to be the best Matriarch to House Bloodscrawl possible. To be the best Mother possible.

And right now she could think of no better way to do that then by spending time with Thel...

But first, as her Maternal Algorithm went through stress testing, Vera decided to give Thel a gift from the heart. She grabbed a few sheaths of valuable fabrics, and went to an expensive fabrication unit she had purchased. She began to work the fabrics with the machinery, half of her face turning into Arianna's while she worked.

She was becoming more impressed with Thel. In joining, he was setting out to prove himself an asset, with ambitious wheeling and dealing on New Cov in particular. Right now , she only wanted him to be a happy member of her household, because all the programming upgrades had deepened her desire to understand and comprehend his pain. None of the deadly, deadly killers on that vessel, herself/Arianna/Vivian included, wanted Thel to experience even a tenth of the insanity he had no doubt seen in House Io. They wanted him to have as normal a family life as possible amongst them...

(Cutaway of J. Jonah Jameson laughing uncontrollably)

Vera ended up making a few sets of clothes for him. Her own design, of spider silk, deliberately crafted to allow him to stealthily modify into armor if he wished. each had been a labor of affection on her/Arianna's part, who was still deeply despondent over Percival's death. Some of the suits she crafted were darker than others. She folded and gift wrapped them after the hours of work, checked herself in the mirror to make certain she still looked immaculate, and then headed out of her and her husband's quarters with her wrapped gifts.

Aboard the Star Galleon that served as the home of House Leadership...she was currently shopping for stealth renovations...

"Vera!" a voice called out as she exited her private quarters on the starship, currently in orbit above Fondor.

Vera turned and spotted Meleena Bloodscrawl who had received a mystery dress recently and was trying it out.

"What do you think?" Meleena asked enthusiastically.

"Krayt Dragon Leather. Nice." Vera complimented sincerely. "So tell me, Meleena, how is he adjusting?"

"Great, actually. He really threw himself into the work...he's a good kid, from what I've seen. Bit of a rebel, but, considering where he grew up... that's to be expected."

Percival pulled double duty on the morality department. He must have... Arianna mused in the darkness of Vera's skull. And the fact that The Deluge didn't really undermine him... Rebecca must have loved them both very, very much...

"Where do you think we should take him once we're on Fondor?" Meleena wondered.

"I thought we would go to see his favorite film in super large projectors at this Theater I commissioned to be built...after that, we'll let him decide...

They both headed to the hanger and spotted Sera Mina , never NOT dressed to impress . Nathan was currently busy on an unsettling day out, so he would be delayed. He had called in telepathically, telling her of the emergency. She was not worried. From what Nathan had told her, the Bloodscrawls had been notoriously paranoid, keeping their names off most of their 'property'. A paranoia Nathan maintained for his own Family's safety.

"Sera, you look wonderful!" Vera complimented, to which she nodded back graciously.

"Do we even know what he likes?" Sera asked, having knitted him a scarf.

"I know what kind of music he likes." Meleena said, holding up a few gift wrapped holodiscs.

"I purchased an entire database of celebrated pop culture classics from the past forty odd years to play there in High Definition Hologram. If one of his favorites isn't there, there is one that is bound to catch his interest, and we still have the rest of the day to fall back on..." Vera replied.

The Fortress World of the Alliance beckoned. The three waited, each happy to see Thel Hahn