Editing City Series:Volume5a Chapter3 (section)

===Rosetta’s Journal: Today’s Entry #1===

I have a lot to write today so I decided to go ahead and write about what just happened while Lady Beretta has gone to her university

When I made an Ajouter to check on the number of plates while cleaning up after breakfast I heard the bell ring at the front door

I made another Ajouter assuming it was the food delivery but I found Lady Beretta standing there

She had a two wheeled machine known as a ''bicyclette'' next to her and she greeted me cheerfully so I have determined she is not a bad person

I asked her why she was there

She said she had wondered how we had been doing and so stopped by on the way to university

She held a large bag in her hand and I immediately let her inside and called for the master

He responded after I pulled on the string for the bell at the bottom of the stairs three times

He had probably been asleep because he had been up late the previous night writing those letters he never sends

Until I could write my journal entries in the first floor study he had written letters there which he only put in the cabinet

But once I became fully conscious I think he moved to the second floor to write them

Lately he has also been writing letters he does send out because he will sometimes leave the house with a sealed envelope

I do not know which he was writing last night because I am not allowed on the second floor

I got sidetracked

The master looked like he wanted to say something when he met Lady Beretta but then he cleared his throat

He was acting weird but the weirdness ended there

After the two of them exchanged a few words they went to the basement storeroom to see the large machine with limbs much like mine

I finished washing all the plates and was making the occasional Ajouter when Lady Beretta called for me

I expect this will be hard to describe so I will simply write out what was said

Rosetta this mansion is too large and I am lost so if you can hear me can you tell me where I am

Our extended vowel sounds as we yelled to each other would probably be better represented by misspelling the words with repeated vowels so I will do that from now on

Please Signe your surroundiiiings

There is a weird deer head growing from the wall and it looks like a hallwaaaay

It sounds like you are in front of the first floor study so I will be there right awaaaay

No waaaait If you are coming bring a sharp knife with yoooou

I selected the easiest to use knife in the kitchen and went to rescue Lady Beretta

My Signe had her standing in front of the first floor study but my Ajouter showed her sitting as she waited for me

As soon as I arrived she grabbed my hand and took me to the basement storeroom while saying they were going to make a contract in blood

The master was waiting for us in the basement storeroom below the courtyard and he had a piece of parchment spread out on a work bench

He took the knife from me and quickly cut his own index finger

The red substance I had seen on that February night flowed from his finger and the master used that red to write on the parchment

After writing some sloppy circles and letters he passed the knife to Lady Beretta who also cut her finger and wrote on the parchment

They exchanged some words in a language I do not know and then the master ordered me to place the parchment on my right hand

I did so

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After about five seconds Lady Beretta mentioned that nothing was happening

The master told me to change to another false arm

I was wearing the waterproof brass one but he told me to use the more human one made of ceramic

I did not know what purpose that held because the brass one seemed to work best with my body and the ceramic one seemed to work the worst

Nevertheless I did not question his order so I pulled it out of the first floor storeroom

Lady Beretta seemed to have followed me and she walked into the storeroom

I had just removed my top and was undoing the bolting for my shoulder so we had the following exchange

I am changing but do you need something

Sorry That old man did not explain properly but we need a third party for that contract ceremony and it will only work if your false arm is modeled after a human one Sorry again

Why are you apologizing

I disliked not telling you what this was about and treating you like a machine

But I am a machine

Yes yes All Belle de Marionnettes say that at first How old are you

It has been 35 years since I was made and 15 years since I become conscious

That means you have lived that long and yet have only become this human Rosetta

After she said that Lady Beretta touched my body

My head and most of my torso had become identical to a human through the Coppelia Effect and I felt her fingers stroking my belly as she said the following

You are just like the Belle de Marionnettes I knew in America When you are made to serve as maids your sight hearing and speech are the first things you gain through the Coppelia Effect The sense of taste comes next and that means you have the same internal organ system as a human which give you a metabolism

What does that mean

No matter what you might think you are alive Rosetta You are not a machine

Lady Beretta smiled after that but I had no idea what she was talking about and wondered why someone I barely knew would be determining my characteristics as a Belle de Marionnette

I also wondered why she was giving me that smile that was far from unpleasant

I am a machine

Even if I can become closer to human through the Coppelia Effect I cannot become fully human

Some part of my body will probably wear out before then and I will break

I can become closer to human through the Coppelia Effect but I do not understand why I must become human

All I need to do to live with the master is to cook food and to clean and write my journal entries and to sleep

I do not need any functions beyond those four

Lady Beretta waited for me to finish attaching my arm and then we returned to the storeroom together

In the storeroom I placed the parchment on my hand and said what the master told me to say

I swore not to let anyone else know this secret

When I said that the dried dark red substance burned a mark into the parchment

I had never seen anything like it before

Then Lady Beretta took the parchment and had the following exchange with the master

Now we can both deal with this Lourd de Marionnette without any reservations If you break your promise I will take all of your luck Got that

So that means I can research this Lourd de Marionnette until you have sucked all my luck away

You accepted this pretty easily old man Who are you

I must keep that a secret due to a promise I made with a woman who once rejected me

Well there is no helping that then

Do not act so understanding Oh and you can put your other arm back on now Rosetta

No do not Old man you cannot have her do that You need to work harder to have her evolve into a human Or are you a metalphile

Do not be silly And I am free to do what I want with my own Belle de Marionnette

Is that so Then take a look at Rosetta

Lady Beretta and the master looked at me but I had no idea why she had said that

As I stood there she continued the conversation

Rosetta is no longer your doll old man You told her to put her other arm back on but she has not

The master grumbled and I realized I had obeyed Lady Beretta when she told me to stop instead of obeying the master

I still do not know why that is

But Lady Beretta slapped my shoulder and spoke with a smile

That is how it should be Rosetta Your father would have wanted it this way but you have just forgotten that

How can you be so sure

Maybe it is the blood flowing in my veins The blood of a Lourd de Écrivain and a Belle de Marionnette technician

Her smile changed when she said that

It was an odd smile that had all the elements of a smile but did not feel like one

She then completely ignored the master to speak to me some more

Quit sitting around here and head out with me Rosetta This metalphile old man is obsessed with the Lourd de Marionnette so you can leave him be for a while

Why did you even come to my mansion

What does it matter I have made sure the Lourd de Marionnette is safe and fulfilled my responsibility to the others so now I just have to socialize with the person I met here Personally I cannot believe you will not let such a cute girl out into the city of Paris

Some of what had happened caught in my heart

Namely the father that Lady Beretta had mentioned and the fact that I had obeyed her instruction to stop over the command from the master

I have heard my father died before I gained consciousness

A warm sensation remains in my memories but I do not know if my father wanted me to become human

No one has ever told me to become human and I have never wished to become human

I am a machine

So why am I sitting here waiting for Lady Beretta to return from her university

This is not the feeling of waiting for a guest I must serve as part of my ''ménage'' duties

It feels more like waiting to see what kind of ingredients the food delivery person brings by

I do not understand

The only things I do understand are that Lady Beretta knows a lot that I do not and that I understand her even less than I understand myself

That is likely because she exists outside of what I understand but I have not been told to reject things just because I do not understand them so I will not reject her even if I do not understand her

So I am now waiting for her to return from her university

Continually making Ajouter while I wait is one of my jobs