cowt 8 settimana 6 leda bis: more human than human (varys, cersei, pg13)

[janie_tangerine]

“Miss Lannister,” Varys says, nodding slightly at the woman coming inside his office, “welcome to Targaryen Corp., we are glad to have you.”

 

“Thank you,” she replies, quite condescendingly, but then again Varys had expected nothing less from the heiress to the biggest fortune in the entire colonial system. She sits in front of his desk, her perfectly braided golden hair framing her beautiful face and cold green eyes - not that he’s impressed, Varys never was one to find anyone attractive, but she’s objectively a sight, he supposes.  and Varys sits after taking from a drawer a blank form. He knows what she’s here for, after all.

 

“I hope you had a pleasant journey.”

 

“Absolutely,” she says, courteously but somehow impatiently. Varys decides she’s not here for small talk and so, since he can read his clients and that’s how he got high enough at this company that he handles custom replicant orders, he figures he’ll go straight to the point.

 

“Very well. You are here for a custom-made piece. We shall be glad to provide it for you.”

 

“I understood that your technology covers for any specific I wish to place in my order?”

 

“Of course. The only thing we sadly cannot provide is the ability to reproduce, but -”

 

“That will not be necessary,” she cuts him short.

 

“Then we most likely won’t refuse anything. Do you wish for a male or female model?”

 

“Mr. … Varys, am I right?”

 

“Indeed.”

 

“Mr. Varys, I think this would go faster if I just told you straight what I want.”

 

“Very well. Do go ahead.”

 

“You see, I had a twin brother.”

 

“Had? Sorry to hear it.”

 

“He sadly passed away when we were very young,” she says. “We were six. And I have found myself missing him more and more, lately. After all, he was part of me.”

 

“I see,” Varys nods. “Part of you?”

“We were born together and we looked alike, of course he was. He was me, just - not a woman.”

 

“I understand. So, your custom order would be - a replicant in the image of your brother? I suppose at your current age?”

 

“Yes,” she says, pleased.

 

Varys shrugs slightly and looks down at the form, pen in hand. “So - green eyes and blonde hair - if you wish for it to be the same, you will have to leave us a sample before we implant it.”

 

“Of course.”

 

“As tall as you?”

 

“He always was slightly taller than me,” she says. “However much you think would be likely, but not over six foot two.”

 

“Not over six foot two. Squared face, I suppose, straight nose - well, when you leave us the hair, our engineer will take a picture of you and will adapt your features accordingly.”

 

“That sounds fair.”

 

“Any other physical preferences?”

 

“No.”

 

“Very well. That would be for the physical part of it.” He turns over the form to the second page. “Personality. How would you like him to be?”

 

She laughs. “Mr. Varys, he was my other half. He was the man I would have been had I been born one. I think the answer is self-evident, isn’t it?”

 

Yes, Varys thinks, but not the way you think. She hands him a folder - he opens it and sees that it holds a personality evaluation test that he’s fairly sure she hasn’t even read, or hasn’t understood, because the stats are honestly terrifying, and there’s a note from a doctor saying that he’s fairly positive that she has narcissistic personality disorder and a list of other amenities that… well, if he was to put them into a replicant who should live with her, would end up with - not her death, because of course all new models especially the custom orders have a failsafe that prevents them from harming humans, but she would end up shipping him back.

 

Never mind that he has a feeling that if she wants the kind of model he thinks she wants, it would be a complete bloody disaster if he was given her same personality.

 

“Mrs. Lannister, as you know all of our replicants come in a basic model. I imagine you do not want a combat model, so will it be -”

 

“A pleasure model, Mr. Varys.”

 

“I see,” Varys says neutrally, thinking I knew that. Good thing he’s not paid to judge his clients’s tastes. “I should warn you, pleasure models come with a B level intelligence usually, but if you wish for it to be upgraded to an A -”

 

“A B will suffice.”

 

This woman is really a psychopath, Varys thinks, and he crosses Pleasure and standard on the form. Then he moves on to the personality section and he crosses submissive, empathetic, self-depreciative, low self-esteem, easily manipulable, follower personality, eager to please, and spends a moment to feel sorry for the poor skin job that will end up being her order. Good thing that Cersei Lannister won’t ever have a copy of that form and she won’t know he crossed all the opposite traits from her personality.

 

He wouldn’t want to be this one skinjob, he decides.

 

“As far as the memory implants go, you will have to discuss with our engineer, but I assume you would want him to share the ones you have in common with your deceased brother, just from his side?”

 

“Can it be done?”

 

“Of course.” He produces a fresh form from the drawer. “This is permission for us to use your memories and your DNA for this specific item. Of course, there’s a disclosure agreement for which we will never share them with anyone else and we will destroy that information as soon as we know you are satisfied with your purchase. If you would please sign?”

 

“Oh, absolutely.” She signs. Varys copies her personal information - date of birth and place of birth - on the personal information side of the form.

 

“How about the name?”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“How do you want him to be named? Like your brother?”

 

“Of course. Jaime.”

 

“Jaime it is,” Varys confirms, and writes down the name on the form.

 

Jaime Lannister, I wouldn’t want to be you, he thinks all over again.

 

“Very well then. You already paid in full, I see, so everything should be in order. It will take about a month to have him ready, we will contact you as soon as we are done. Oh, I was forgetting, these are the new Nexus-9 models - they have a potentially very long lifespan. Unless you want to have it set to a specific length -”

 

“Actually,” she asks, “could you give him a potentially very long lifespan that I can end if I so wish?”

 

“Of course. We shall put a manual switch that only you can end. Have I understood right?”

 

“Perfectly.” She smiles, two rows of perfectly kept pearly white teeth. Varys doesn’t usually ever feel creeped out by clients, even if he has handled very weird requests in his life, but this one client is honestly making him feel uneasy and he’ll rest better when she’s left his office. “A pleasure doing business with you and your company, Mr. Varys.”

 

“I could say the same, Miss Lannister,” he lies, standing up and shaking her hand. “We hope our product will be to your satisfaction.”

 

“I don’t doubt it,” she says. “Should I head downstairs for the… DNA procedure and the likes?”

 

“I already sent a request to engineering - just ride down with the elevator you took to get here and get off at the fifth floor, someone will be there to meet you. Have a lovely day.”

 

“Likewise, Mr. Varys,” she says, nodding, still smiling and maybe gloating a bit, and a moment later she’s left with her bright red dress and golden hair.

 

Varys seals the form and sends it straight to engineering, feeling awfully glad that this is where his job ends and he will never have to deal with this again unless the order is faulty.

 

But of course it won’t be (sadly for the poor bastard, Varys thinks).

 

 

After all, Targaryen Corp.’s motto isn’t more human than human for nothing.