Life after Iris's activation was, well, interesting. The female Reploid had no knowledge of anything. She couldn't operate a computer, or even a toaster. The task of teaching her how the world worked would have fallen on Justin's shoulder, if he were free to. Work kept him away from home most days. So, it was Alex's job to teach Iris.
It was during one of those lessons that the house nearly burned down to the ground.
"Today were going to learn how to make soup!" Alex announced to her pupil with a grin on her face.
"Soup?" Iris blinked in return, and tilted her head to the side ever so slightly. Her blue green eyes glinted with both confusion and curiosity. "But, I'm a Reploid. I don't need to eat."
"True, but that doesn't mean you can't learn how to cook a few things. Come on, it's not that hard." Alex's grin never faltered. "All you have to do is open up the can, put the stuff in a pan, and heat it up." She said with an encouraging voice, and made her way to the cabinet.
It was in these moments that Iris had to wonder how Alex managed to stay so energetic. She was well aware of the girl's condition. By all means, she should spend most of the day bed ridden and resting, yet here she was up and about. Of course, when ever Iris voiced her concerns Alex just brushed them off while saying something like 'You worry too much'. Whether the green eyed girl was a fighter, or just plain stubborn was still something she had to decide on.
"Ah-a! There you are!" Alex fished out a can of soup, and held it out to Iris. "We'll make this one."
Iris took the can, and studied the item. The bold print on the font read 'Broccoli Cheese Soup', while the back had a label listing the ingredients. Words like 'calories' or 'carbohydrates' held no meaning to the Reploid. "What do these mean?" She asked while she held out the can, and pointed to the label.
"Beats me." Alex gave a shrug. "Nobody pays attention to those things anyways."
"Really? Don't people find it important to know what they put in their bodies?" Iris asked, astonished.
"Nope! It's not like they put rat poison in it or something." Alex said with a small giggle. Iris, however, looked like she paled a little. The burnet now looked over the ingredients a second time to check for any such poisons. At this, Alex blinked. "Hey, relax. It was just a joke." Sometimes Iris tended to take things far too seriously. It was a cute trait, but at the same time it could be a little frustrating. Alex thought it had something to do with how little she really knew about the world, or maybe it was just personality.
"Oh…" Iris blinked as her checks turned a light shade of pink from embarrassment. Sometimes the Reploid really was just too cute.
"Anyways, back to cooking." Alex grinned again, and once again the two were back on topic. The task was such a simple one. First, they opened the can, and emptied the contents into the pan. Next, the needed milk to thin it out. Iris was the one fill the can, but she spilled some of the milk. Alex mopped it up with a rag while the other girl poured the milk into the pan, and mixed the ingredients together. Soon the burner was on, and the soup was cooking.
"It should only take a few minutes to cook, but there isn't much more we need to do to make it. So, we can do something else while we wait."
"Like what?"
"Not sure. Is there anything you want to do?"
"Well… I did find this photo earlier, but I don't know what it is."
"Say no more!" Without a warning, Alex tugged Iris out of the room to see what this mysterious photo was.
However, she neglected to notice how dangerously close the rag she had used earlier was to the lit burner.
"Here it is." Iris held up the photo. "What is it?"
The image wasn't a photo at all. In fact, it was an advertisement. A Wood rollercoaster and a carousel were featured along with stands with various games. Young children with balloons and their parents wore a happy face. They all seemed to be quite joyful. There were words written at the top, or rather there had once been words written on the top. The ink had faded away, but Alex didn't need to read the words to know what the place was. "It's an amusement park."
"What's an amusement park?"
"It's a place where people go have fun."
"Oh. Have you ever been to one?"
"No. Dad says I can't." Alex said with a light shake of her head. A frustrated frown had replaced the usual grin.
Iris understood why Justin was so cautious when it came to his daughter's well being, but at the same time she could see how difficult it must be for Alex to be denied the freedom healthy children enjoyed. She herself was cooped up in this house, but rather than for health reasons, it was due to her lack of knowledge of the world. If she were to leave the Heap residence right now, she would no doubly be taken advantage of by less than kind denizens. Yet she found herself so very curious about the world around her. She wanted to explore, but she had to stay inside. This was only temporary, but for the human girl, it was life long.
"…Hey Iris, when I get better, we should go to one." She gestured to the add.
Iris blinked at the girl. While she didn't know the exact details of the blood disease, she had already guessed there was little to no chance that there was a cure. Still, there was a glint of hope in Alex's eyes. She wanted to get well so badly. Maybe she would someday. "Alright."
"Not good enough. You have to pinky swear." Alex now held up her hand to the confused Reploid.
"Pinky swear?"
"It's an unbreakable promise. If you pinky swear, then you can't back out."
Iris pondered this for a moment, then smiled. "I swear." She held out her hand in a similar manner, wrapped her pinky finger around the other girl's, and shook.
Alex's grin had returned. "We should probably go check up on th-" She stopped mid sentence. "Hey, do you smell that?"
"Mhm, but what is it?"
Alex took in a few more sniffs of air. "Funny, it almost smells like…" She trailed off as her face paled. She suddenly remembered the rag she had used to clean up the milk spill. She had left it quite close to the burner without even thinking. "Oh crap."
"What is it?" Iris asked with a now concerned voice. Alex didn't bother to answer, but instead bolted into a now smoke filled kitchen. "Alex? Wait!" Iris followed after her.
By the time the two had reached the kitchen, the rag had already been consumed by fire. The flames already spread to the counter, and were dangerously close to reaching the wall. If the wall caught fire, it would only be a matter of time before the whole kitchen caught ablaze, and possibly the rest of the house.
Oh crap indeed.
"What should we do?" Iris asked Alex with wide eyes. She was sure this wasn't supposed to be apart of the lesson.
"We need water, and lots of it!"
Iris didn't need to be told twice. She grabbed the closest cup, filled it with water from the sink, and threw it on the flames. Alex followed suit. The two threw water on the fire for what seemed to take ages. Finally, the flames began to die until all that was left was a hideous burn mark and the stench of smoke. Alex only stared at it.
"Dad is going to kill me." She muttered.
"What?" Iris looked to the girl with shock in her eyes. Sure, this did warrant discipline, but kill? That was far too extreme. Normally, Alex would have told Iris that she hadn't meant it literally, but she didn't have the chance.
"I'm home! Alex, Iris?" Justin said shortly after he opened the front door. If there was a chance for the two to cover up the accident, it went down the tube the moment he arrived home. "Wait, is that smoke?" They couldn't even do anything about the smell.
It didn't take him long to reach the kitchen. There he found the two girls, and a large burn mark on the counter. "What happened?" He questioned in a stern voice.
Alex felt her throat become dry. He was furious. "Well… I was trying to teach Iris how to cook, but I left I a rag close by the bur-"
"It's not just her fault!" Iris suddenly interjected. "If I hadn't spilled the milk, she wouldn't have needed the wash cloth in the first place! So please don't kill Alex!" The burnet girl pleaded.
Her outburst only earned stares of shock and confusion from the two humans.
"What? I'm not going to kill her!"
"You're not?" Iris blinked.
"Of course I'm not! What gave you that idea?"
"Alex said you were going to kill her when you got home."
"I didn't mean it literally."
"Oh." Despite the mistake, Iris felt relived. She didn't want the other girl to die at the hands of her father.
"But, I'm still going to punish both of you." Justin said with his arms crossed.
The punishment wasn't too bad. At least, that's what Iris thought. Justin said they had to clean up the mess all on their own. He wanted it to look as though the incident had never happened. That meant they had to clean up all of the ashes, and repaint the counter. A punishment that suited the crime.
The two now worked to get the ashes off the counter and into the trash can. The ashes proved to be stubborn stuff. It got all over their clothes and fingers. Alex had a streak of black that ran down her nose from where she had scratched it, and Iris had a mark from her unsuccessful attempt at brushing her bangs out of her face.
"By the way, thanks." Alex said out of the blue.
"For what?"
"For standing up for me."
"But, he wouldn't have hurt you anyways."
"I know. It's the principle that counts. You put you're head on the chopping block for my sake when you didn't have to. I owe you big time. If you didn't speak up, I'd probably have to clean this by myself."
Iris smiled. "Don't worry about it. That's what friends are for."
Friends. Alex smiled at that word. She never had the chance to make a friend before.
"I know."