Scrubbed.
It was, she had to admit to herself, a fairly violent word. But more importantly, and key to its intent, it was a clean word. Scrubbed clean, pure. That was the Dolls’ latent state while in the House. They were scrubbed.
Which meant no unpleasantness. No anger, no shame, no sadness, no lust. None of the baser impulses or responses should even be possible within the House.
And yet, there was Victor in the shower, responding in a very unpredictable way. Or rather, a predictable way for a man showering in the presence of women…a very natural response indeed, for anyone at all who wasn’t a Doll. Who wasn’t scrubbed.
Damn, thought Adelle when she was informed, a deep and sudden very personal discomfort insinuating itself into her blood and snaking around inside her body. This was not just Victor but Roger, her Roger, and this could mean bad things, changes, the possibility of impending loss. This could mean the Attic, and she could not lose him to the Attic….
And then there was Dr. Saunders’ theory, and that…was even nice in a way. Claire believed that it was the "Miss Lonelyheart" engagement that had left this mark on him, the repeated imprinting of Roger that had caused these changes in Victor, and if that were true, if only…then that would mean so much to Adelle…if Victor were starting to manifest Roger in his Dollhouse existence, might that not mean that Roger was more real? That something in Victor wanted to be Roger? Clearly that was impossible…nothing more than a dangerous fantasy not to be entertained for a moment…but it was nice. To think she’d had this effect on him, she’d been the cause.
But Claire and Topher hadn’t left it at that. They could have scrubbed him on the spot and gone about their days, but they’d dug deeper, and now she knew something that pained her to know, to the point she wished (and not for the first time since learning of this technology) she could be scrubbed, just to unknow this thing.
It wasn’t her. Not at all. She hadn’t corrupted Victor’s latent state by introducing a passion that bled over into his Doll persona by way of Roger. This was something far more dangerous and unforeseen. This was nature, pure biological response, simple lust that resisted the cage of the House or the suppression of the scrubbing. He wanted someone, and that someone was not Adelle. And now that she knew that…now that she had seen him truly feel for another…the lie of Roger was that much harder to immerse herself in. This had to end. | |  Leave a review or comment on my story by clicking "Start Thread" below. | |
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