Veronica Lore

[--- Lore #3 ---]

Veronica walked aimlessly through the halls. It wasn't very bright outside, Veronica could tell, but the white walls of the lab were almost blinding. The white splotches on her face and arms seemed to glow in the brightness.

Veronica continued to wander through the building, eyes blank. Their inattentive sauntering resulted with him bumping into someone.

"Ah- Apologies!" Veronica cries, jumping backward.

The person Veronica had bumped into was a scientist, and Veronica could feel herself becoming afraid. Would the worker set off the electric collar? Send Veronica back to their cage?

But the worker just stood up and dusted himself off. "Sorry 'bout that.. did you just refer to yourself in the third person?" Veronica nods. "Oookayyy. So I'm going to have a shot at this- is your name Veronica?" Veronica nods again. This was so strange.

A worker being civil to them? A worker teasing them? In a friendly way? That was just weird, and Veronica didn't like it.

"Cool name! My name's Pearl." The stick figure held out a hand. Veronica shook it quickly and went to back up pretty quickly.

"Pearl?" Veronica echoes. "Veronica thinks it's nice to meet Pearl!" Pearl laughs.

"Nice to meet you too." he says. Pearl points to Veronica's collar. "Is that.. a fashion choice?" he asks hopefully.

"No, the workers use it to electrocute Veronica and some of the other experiments." Veronica answers.

"Experiment? You look alive to me." says Pearl, observing Veronica from head to toe.

"The workers call it artificial life." says Veronica. "Some of the experiments here are really alive stick figures, but Veronica is not." Pearl glances around.

"You said the workers electrocute you?" asks Pearl. Veronica nods. "That sounds a bit.. hostile." Pearl murmurs.

"Veronica thinks it's just harmful. Veronica used to know one experiment.. they were Veronica's friend, but they finally had enough of the electrocutions and..." Veronica trailed off.

"And.. what? I don't think I'm going to like what comes after that 'and', but I'm kind of intrigued." murmurs Pearl.

Veronica gestured to a small corner, splattered with a bit of red. "The workers wouldn't bother to clean it up.. It made Veronica cry for hours, what happened."

Pearl looked to the corner, and his eyes widened. "O-oh.."

"Is.. that really how bad it is here?" asked Pearl after a couple moments of silence. Veronica nodded. She turned around and walked away, leaving Pearl questioning why he took this job in the first place.