Authors Note: Alright JJ, so I guess I start here to create the very foundation for you idea. By the way, bear with me this chapter. It might not be that eventful, but it will definitely be necessary for later on.
Disclaimer: Same as in chapter one. In fact, is going to be the same for every chapter.
P.S: Right, I forgot to mention this but, I am adjusting everyone's age a bit. (I like them all better when they are younger). So, 2D is 29, Noodle is 19 (soon to be 20), Russel 31, Murdoc 40. Its not a big change, but just so you know.
Chapter 2- The Gardener of Thoughts
Cyborg entered the lift, and pushed the button at the very top of the lift's panel, which would take her to the highest floor on Plastic Beach Mansion, besides the roof's balcony. But even before the lift's door was closed, she was already reviewing in her mind what 2D had said earlier.
For her it was odd, to say the least, to hear those words from anybody. She was told since she can remember what that her purpose was to serve Murdoc, in fact it had even been written for her that "Murdoc = Her Creator = God". She had been taught and programmed to follow his every order unconditionally and to the letter, that her only purpose was to follow his every command regardless of what that command might be, and that she was no more than his creation, and therefore his property, his thing, and thus she was more or less just a tool that did as it was told with out questioning the reason or motive of whatever her orders might be.
Furthermore, she had been also taught and programmed to be more like Murdoc in some aspects, like in her disregard for others pain, or her ability to exploit others weaknesses with little to no guilt. Of course, Murdoc was still superior to her in the aspects of bad attitude, habits, and especially evil tendencies, but nonetheless he had done his best to teach her and upload knowledge into her brain about everything from biology and chemistry, to music and basic cooking, to combat and basic knowledge of feelings and emotions. And of course he had uploaded into her brain some more carnal and mature actions and movements, just in case he should ever have a strong and sudden urge and she was the only thing handy around.
However, even he preferred not to corrupt something so alike to Noodle, whom to him was so much like a niece or perhaps even like the illegitimate daughter he never had. If he had even as tried to corrupt her, it would only add to his large burden of guilt he already carried, which consisted of all of what he had already done to her over the years. If he even corrupted her image in his mind, the burden would only double the burden of his already guilty consciousness. But she had never shown much interest on practicing or involving herself in those more carnal actions with him, so there wasn't a problem as far as he or Cyborg were concerned.
At any rate, given that she her growth had been accelerated to reach the age of sixteen within less than three years, she had had relatively low interaction levels of interaction with any human, even with Murdoc, which of course came with several drawbacks, such as a lack of experiences to draw conclusions from, lack of knowledge of human interaction, and, despite of Murdoc's efforts to upload the information in her brain, incomplete knowledge of even basic emotions. What else could be expected from forcing her to grow sixteen years worth of time in the almost three years of her actual existence?
As a result of this factors, she not only found it odd what 2D had said to her, but also intriguing to her, and as a result she found herself dwelling further into the words and new point of view presented to her by the blue haired singer.
She had not recollection in her memory of ever been told she wasn't evil, in fact she often got told the opposite, that she was almost as evil as her creator, so she had taken that to be the truth, and had already unconsciously labeled herself as evil. And what was even more unusual for her was the fact that he had actually referred to the possibility of her having a soul.
Nobody had ever, ever, suggested that possibility before, not even Murdoc. She had never actually wondered if she had a soul or not. Perhaps this was because she had been so busy learning all the information that Murdoc fed her, or perhaps it was the fact that she was always busy attending to him or carrying out his commands, but now that she thought about the question began to make itself more and more intriguing.
On the one hand, she had always been told she was a tool, a thing of Murdoc's. If that was true, then it would make sense that she didn't have a soul since things didn't have souls. She would have about as much soul as a common iron nail then.
On the other hand, she is a Biological Cyborg, and therefore she is half human, and should have some humanity and soul. And the singer did imply it was possible that she did have a soul, and that dullard didn't have any reasons to lie to her as far as she knew.
DING!
At this point her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the lift door's chime, which was followed by a full stop of the lift and the door sliding neatly open. She stepped out of the lift and shook her head in an attempt to shake those thoughts off her mind, which much to her surprise didn't work.
She approached the couch and sat down on its high quality leather, she glanced in her mind at her internal watch. 2:13:25 PM. She still had 26 minutes and 35 seconds to wait for the practice to officially begin. She decided to process the question further to pass the time.
23 minutes and 23seconds later
She had been giving the question in her turns and turns, pondering it from many different angles, but she still was stuck in the same place she was when she began. By this point Cyborg was actually beginning to get annoyed with the question, she was so used to processing and solving difficult mathematical equations within a few seconds, a couple of minutes at most, but never had she spent even a third of the length of time she had spent on this question, making her quite frustrated.
After a few more seconds she decided it would be best to consult the two experts on souls that she had handy, namely Murdoc (the Satanist) and 2D (the soul searcher). If anyone could help her it would be those two.
She stood up and took a couple of steps towards the only set of large double doors in the room, which lead towards recording studio. She entered the recording studio with still a couple of minutes to spare. She found Murdoc, arguing with someone over the phone, and caught only the end of the conversation.
"…and yew betta' get it right you BLEEDING SOD! Or else yew will find out why no one messes wiff ME!" Murdoc said with viciousness, before hanging up the phone with a slam that made the table shake a bit.
He grunted with satisfaction and turned to find an expressionless Cyborg facing him from across the Recording studio. He acknowledged her with a grunt and turned to get one of his precious bass guitars.
"Master Murdoc?" Cyborg Noodle asked neutrally, earning her a grunt from Murdoc as he turned to face her with his bass guitar. "I have a question, and I was hoping you could clarify for me then answer."
He arched an eyebrow at this; after all it wasn't often that Cyborg had a question about anything other than his orders. And she had received no orders today, which meant she had been thinking, and quite honestly, he wasn't sure how much she could think on her own.
"Well, whot is it then?" He asked with curiosity.
"Master Murdoc, do I have a soul?" She asked with a slightly curiosity in her voice.
Murdoc froze for a second, caught off guard by the question. He composed himself quickly and gave Cyborg a questioning look before he began to speak.
"Well, whot do yew think eh? How the bloody hell am I supposed ta know, eh? Yew could just maybe have one, but ta be 'onest with yah I haven't seen much proof of it. I'm no bleeding soul searcha', I know were souls go, and that but I 'ave no clue how to search for one. If I did don't cha think I would 'ave found Noodle? Now if tha's all, get rid of those thoughts for now and get ready for practice. The Dullard should be here any minute now." Murdoc concluded.
Cyborg was slightly disappointed at the answer, it was neither long nor explanatory, so it hadn't gotten her far. However, she still saved the brief conversation in her memory, in case it could be of us later on. With that she began to ready for practice, and seconds later 2D walked in the room and the long practice session began.
They concluded band practice after a good three hours, and before departing Murdoc allowed 2D to go out for a walk on beach, and told Cyborg to make diner in three hours.
"If yah try to escape the whale will go afta' yew." Were Murdoc's last words to 2D before he pompously walked off to take a nap, his usual hard tequila bottle already in his hand.
2D grinned like a kid that had just been given a puppy for Christmas and dashed outside without a word. Cyborg, on the other hand just went to her charging station and charged herself up for about an hour, before she decided to go in search of her second sours of information: 2D
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Some of the trees on Plastic Beach were real, others were just plastic, but either way 2D thought it made Plastic Beach feel a bit more welcoming. 2D had walked around for a while, and now he was on the end of the island opposite to the entrance, where there was less junk and debris and more small rocks and even some sand on some secret places along the beach.
2D walked up to one of the new trees of Plastic Beach and observed it for a moment. It was a big plastic oak tree, with lots of hooks, nooks, holds, and branches but they were far apart in some cases, but even so, it would be easy to climb for someone of his height.
He tried to recall why Murdoc had gotten a few more trees for Plastic Beach, so he closed his eyes and contorted his face with concentration. After a good ten minutes he remembered why: Murdoc had added a just few more trees to Plastic Beach since their last pirate attack to provide the residents of Plastic Beach with some extra cover, just in case of an other massive attack like the last one. The last attack was so large that even 2D was forced to take part in the defense of Plastic Beach.
He shuddered slightly at the memory. He didn't enjoy been shot at, especially by un-dead supernatural trigger-happy barbaric pirates which cruised the oceans in a ghost ship, in this case known as the Glitter Freeze. And he especially disliked it when those same pirates brought with them their friends the Pirate Jets, which where almost the same as the Glitter Freeze Pirates, only that they had WWI and WWII airplanes to shoot people with instead of guns and cannons.
2D actually preferred the zombies of KONG studios to these guys. They might smell just as bad, but they didn't use guns, or cannons, or fighter jets, or creepy old ghost ships. Oh how he missed KONG, the zombies, the videogames, the graveyard…How he missed her. He winced and forced his mind to cut himself off there, and finally shook the memory off.
Even though he still believed that she was alive, it still hurt that he hadn't been able to see since she was 16. She should be turning twenty soon. 2D thought to himself sadly. He had missed three of her birthdays already, and the sadness deepened when he thought that she had missed what could have been some of the best years of her young life.
Again he shook off the thoughts, but not before making a mental note to pray extra hard for her for the days following up to her birthday, and began to climb the massive plastic oak tree.
He climbed the tree easily, albeit clumsily, but he had no trouble lifting himself up the branches. It didn't take him long to reach a height of maybe ten meters or so from the ground, at which point he found a very large and comfortable looking set of tree branches which faced the ocean right above him.
Eagerly he climbed around the tree until he was near the set of thick branches. The whole sides of the branches seemed to be covered by a four feet tall mass of branches, which to him seemed very intriguing for some reason, unknown even to him. He touched the cool surface of the fake tree, and pulled himself up an other branch so that he was right besides the odd looking mass of branches, his head looking over the edge of the mass of leaves. 2D was instantly surprised by what he found.
Murdoc had obviously not checked the top of the tree, since if he had, he would have noticed that what actually seemed like a thick set of branches and leaves that protruded from the trunk of the tree from the bellow was actually more like a big, flat, level, and almost rectangular, floor on the top, easily wide enough so that 2D could lay across it, and at least ten feet in length.
He looked up, wondering why Murdoc hadn't seen this defect from the Mansion, only to quickly find out the reason. The platform was covered from view by a large mass of finer branches and leaves of much higher quality than the ones that were in the larger middle section of the tree. And the platform was also well covered from the sides.
So, 2D thought. Unless you either climb the tree, or you know this place is here, or you can track a person who is up here with exact precision you would never find this place. His mind was silent for a minute as he pulled himself over the thick mass of leaves that surrounded all of the edge of the platform, which were attached to just a lump of plastic.
Yep, Murdoc definitely got scammed. 2D thought with amusement in his head, as he finally pulled himself into the platform completely. Then something clicked in his brain that made him smile like a little boy on Christmas morning. Nobody knew about this place but him! It could be his secret, his hiding spot!
He stood up and looked around the platform, and discovered that it was actually an ideal hiding spot for spying at things or for shooting at things without ever been detected. He looked around the platform proudly, and decided that it would only be appropriate to name his base. He dug out from his pocket his old trusty flick knife and carved in the trunk of the tree "2D's Oak Base: The Gull's Nest".
Satisfied with his work, he sighed and laid down and looked at the beach bellow him. This beach looked so peaceful. So perfect in its deception. He would almost hate to leave it right now.
Then another thought slipped into his mind. How many other secrete spots were there here in Plastic Beach still undiscovered? How many potential hiding spots from Murdoc, Pirates, and even that bloody Whale were there? The thought made him giddy with excitement at the thought of discovering new secrete locations. It would at least give him something to do during his time of freedom.
He hurriedly rushed down the tree and began his scan of the island. The Gull's Nest was exactly to the north of Plastic Beach, so he headed to the west, towards the pier and Big Rick's Music Shack. He attentively searched in his way there, spending a half an hour with out any success, when he spotted a weird shadow in the face of the pink cliff that supported the Plastic Beach Mansion and at the same time was part of the Mansion.
He was about to move towards it, when he heard Cyborg calling him.
"Hey Dullard!" She shouted after him. He turned around to find Cyborg in her usual semi-military uniform heading towards him, her beloved riffle hung on her back.
He stopped completely, for a moment afraid that she had discovered of his secrete hiding spot, or what he was doing, or worse, that he might have broken some rule unknown to him and would be sent to Murdoc for punishment, better known as torture.
He was frozen on the spot while Cyborg Noodle had walked up to him. When she reached him, she looked at him briefly from head to toe, seemingly in a pensive mood. Then, after she seemed to come to a conclusion, she began speaking.
"Hey Dulla-, I mean, 2D," She quickly corrected her self. Better not insult the person to whom she was about to ask for advice. "I was wondering if you could help me out with something."
2D just stood there, frozen for a minute due to his surprise, his thoughts racing. Wait, what? Did she just NOT call me a Dullard? And she is asking ME for help? He shook those thoughts off mentally and finally regained control of his body.
He fidgeted with his hand for a moment, trying to figure out what to do. After a few more seconds of arguing with himself in his brain, he succumbed to his curiosity and answered the patiently waiting Cyborg.
"Ah, me? Yew want me ta' help yah?" He asked with caution, and received a short confirmation nod from Cyborg. He fidgeted with his fingers again for a moment and then answered.
"Well, I suppose if yew want me ta help, then I guess I can. Wha' do yew need help wiff?" He asked.
This time it Cyborg who hesitated for a moment and 2D who waited for the reply. Even though she knew that there was little to no risk with trusting 2D since he was too good a person to intentionally hurt anybody, she still hesitated to talk to anyone except Murdoc, her creator, about such a delicate and personal matter.
She quickly regained her composure reassuring herself that this was necessary and began. "Eh, 2D, what do you know about souls?"
He blinked at this. This was certainly not what he had expected, especially from Cyborg of all things.
"Well, what do yew mean?" He asked with curiosity.
"Well, lets see. Lets start with, what have you done through out your life that is, you know soul related, like religion?" she asked, trying to pave the way to her actual question while gaining some sort of indicator towards his knowledge on the subject.
"Oh well, that one is easy." He answered with a smile. "Well, I was a Protestant, then I became Jewish, then Buddhist, and now I'm a Christian, a Roman Catholic Christian to be exact. I studied all of 'em 'cause I fink its important ta' understand yor' religion, and I think I'm gonna stick with this one. You know, it's the one that I find works the best against Murdoc and all that bloody crap that follows him around, plus I fink it fits meh the best."
She nodded at this. It made sense, and it also meant that he had been doing quite a bit of research and stuff on this soul thing. That's good, he may actually know something then.
"Alright, that's good. Now here is what I really need help with." She began, looking at him seriously in the eyes, "I want to know if I have a soul."
2D just stared at her for a moment, but this time his mind went into over drive. She wants to know if she has a soul? From were in the name of bleeding hell's bells did that come from? What does she want to hear? What do I say? Would she shoot me if I don't tell her what she wants to hear? Why does she want to know? Why is she asking me this? Oh bugger it all! After a few more seconds he managed to calm his mind down enough to think clearly, he decided he might as well tell her what he knew and what he thought. What else could he do?
He looked at her, and realized that she was, very unexpectedly, looking at him with wondering eyes, and even though the rest of her face was as expressionless as stone, he could tell that in those eyes there was something that seemed to be reaching out, but he wasn't sure what it was. He searched her eyes more and it seemed like a dim spark. But one thing was for sure, and that was that it was a sort of spark that wasn't the electronic spark that could be produced by a machine.
He searched her eyes of jade for a couple of more seconds, during which time she was so still that she might as well have been a rock. She never knew why she did that then, why she looked at him unblinkingly, frozen as if in a trance by his eyes, as he searched into her own eyes. And she would forever remember this moment as the moment she began to feel.
As he looked into her eyes, she felt something that was unknown to her. It wasn't physical pain, which she could feel, but to a lesser degree than that of the average human, but it wasn't what she supposed was known as hate or anger. No, it feels more like… She searched her memories and data, trying to find the right words and definitions that would fit the words. …It feels like… excitement? And… and something else, but to a lesser degree… fear? Her mind gasped in surprise. She was in awe and shock at these new feelings, which would have caused her to freeze, if she wasn't already frozen in place.
He finally, after what felt like an eternity and brief moment simultaneously to Cyborg, closed his eyes and sat down in the sat cross-legged. There was something in those eyes. Those eyes that are so much like Noodles, but different none the less. Cyborg, unsure of what to do, copied 2D sitting in front of him.
He sighed and opened his eyes and looked at her. "Look, Cyborg, here is tha' fing. I am no God, I am no Jesus or Buddha even, so I cant really tell yew for sure that yew have a soul right on the spot." Her face fell slightly in disappointment.
"But…" She immediately looked at him again, straight into his eyes.
"But… Here is 'ow I see it. Yew are a literally a cyborg made from my little luv' and very high tech machines right? So, yew are half human right? So don't it make sense tha' yew at least have half a chance of having a soul?"
She thought a bout it for a moment, and nodded slowly.
"Well, people are a lot more stubborn than yew would fink, so I would say tha' yew have more than half a chance. But, the fing is tha' I fink yew are…caged so to speak. Like you have never notice or considered your soul. Also, do yew fink you have a soul? 'cause, part of having a soul is the belief that you have one, it helps support your soul, it makes it stronger. Faith, Love, Passion, and Belief are a few of the things that make yewr' soul stronger yah know? So I fink that yew do have a soul, yew just don't know how to express it."
She just stared at him for a moment with a blank look on her face, which made him feel really awkward for a minute. Thinking that he hadn't expressed himself well, he was about to try to re-explain his thoughts when Cyborg began to nod slowly.
If she had had to describe her feelings at the moment, she would have probably said it was similar to feeling overwhelmed and at the same time excited. Her mind was working furiously to save the whole conversation with 2D for further reference, and at the same time she was soaking in the words that 2D had offered her.
She now stood up slowly and nodded again, but this time resolutely, at 2D as he started to stand up like her. -Amazing.- She mused. -2D was actually more useful and knowledgeable than Master Murdoc for once.- She dusted her short shorts and directed herself to 2D.
"2D?" She said.
"Mm-hm?" He responded as he dusted his own pants and shirt.
"Thanks for…. Helping me." She said somewhat awkwardly.
"No problem. I'm used to it. Yew'd be surprised at 'ow much I had ta' do it for Noodle and even sometimes Russel. In fact even Murdoc has done it once or twice I fink… Its like I'm a spiritual guide or a stress unloader or somefink. Or maybe its more like a I can listen and give suggestions? I dunno, I try not ta' think about it, since the last time when Russel commented on it. I think he called me a gardener of thoughts or somefink at one point. Anyways, we discussed it so much tha' it gave meh a headache. 'onestly, Russ can use some pretty big words yew know? He knows an awful lot more than just drumming." He said, already unconsciously starting to veer off topic.
She was at first surprised by this newly acquired information, but after a moment she reflected upon it and realised it made sense. He was unlikely to over think things, he wasn't quick to judge, he was supportive, he was what people called 'kind hearted', he offered whatever help he could, and he would listen. What else could you ask from a person that you want to seek for talking to about a problem?
She nodded again, turned to leave. But she stopped for a minute to telling that dinner would be in an hour and a half.
"Alright, thanks Cyborg." He said stretching himself out.
Cyborg walked away then, heading back towards the Plastic Beach Mansion, thinking along the way about 2D's words.
-It's hard to figure out that 2D. He isn't very bright some times, I thought all his real skills are tinkering with mechanical bits and pieces for his instruments, singing, and writing music. But I guess I am adding pondering about the universe and listening and helping out to the list. So is he a genius or is he stupid or just plain very odd?... I think Russel got it right when he called him a "Gardener of Thoughts". He can certainly has a way with words and ideas. He can make you think so easily, make you believe or despair... God, what a dangerous talent he has.- She chuckled slightly at that thought. It was very weird thinking seriously of 2D as 'dangerous'.- Yes, Russel got it right. Gardener of thoughts indeed.-
And with that, she postponed her thoughts on the matter for the time been, and began to think what she should make for dinner as she entered the Mansion's main entrance.
Alright then! Huzza! I finally finished ze chapteg! I sincerily thank the 3 people that have reviewed me so far, you guys are amazing.
Sorry for the uneventful chapter, but I need to lay a foundation for upcoming chapters, otherwise everyone would get lost.
So, yeah, Hoped you enjoyed it. Though I don't like it all that much. Let me know what you guys think. Please review, again, ideas are welcomed.