Seele und Herz (Soul and Heart)

[demonicbagel]

When I went to bed last night, an idea suddenly came into my head. You'll recognize the general gist of the setting, of course. It is called Seele und Herz, which I think is German for Soul and Heart (feel free to help me out and correct it if you know the actual German words - assuming these aren't correct). Name is subject to change. I am as yet unsure if having multiple romantic routes would work in this story, but if I ever get around to expanding on it, I'll see if I can't manage.

Taking place in an alternate universe, this story is about 15 years in the future. Man-made beings composed of a mix of mechanical and biological components exist. These "Seele" or "Souls" exist for myriad purposes. Also, when a human purchases one, they are given the option to change the Seele's appearance once for free (any future changes would be expensive). As a result, many Seele are used as physical companions, as well as romantic interests - depending on the person. Of course, if an owner uses a Seele for physical pleasure, they probably don't much care about the Seele's emotional development or personality.

This story focuses on a single Seele. This female Seele wakes up after being dormant for ten years and finds herself in what looks like a storage room that hasn't been used in years. She doesn't know who she is, or where she is. She doesn't even realize she's a Seele until she is unable to stand and looks to find that she is missing both of her legs. It doesn't hurt, which is strange.

Deciding to crawl for help, the Seele makes her way slowly to the door of the storage and struggles to open in, but manages to do so after moving some stuff to make a raised platform she could lift herself onto with her arms. She manages to open the door, but loses balance and tumbles out of it. It is revealed that she is currently in the yard of a small abandoned house. The grass around her is dead and brown. The house itself is in shambles and falling apart from years of neglect. This place scares her, and she tries to leave, but has a hard time since it is raining, so the ground is slippery....

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A young man is walking home from college. It is raining, so he has an umbrella, and walks with a someone quick pace. Eventually, he turns onto the street with THAT house. It's always kind of spooked him. Abandoned. Broken. Dusty. Despite that, he would swear he could hear noises coming from within it every once in a while. Noises like you would hear in a room full of computers. He didn't like passing it, but the route he took home was the quickest.

On this particular day, the young man runs into something that interrupts the comfortable repetition of his walking-home-routine. He can hear a faint voice crying for help. It's coming from somewhere around the abandoned house. He's shocked that people passing by are ignoring the voice, but he can't do so despite his telling himself to. He goes to investigate. It's a girl... or rather... half a girl. And at that, it looks like she's one of those... Sheilas? Seals? No... Seeles! That's it! This girl is missing her legs and definitely looked like she needed help. She had stopped calling for help and resigned herself to the dirt by the time the young man made it to her. She was soaking wet and muddy. He was surprised that she was still alive in such a condition.

He holds out his umbrella, keeping it over her so the rain doesn't continue to pound into her. Surprised at this, the Seele looks up, and finds the young man looking at her with a sympathetic smile.

The man sees that she is a very beautiful girl, despite what looked like scars that were scattered about her face. -So even Seeles can get scars- he thinks to himself.

"You look like you need some help."

The Seele nods slowly, uncertain of this man's intentions, but she takes his offered hand and is caught by surprise as he pulls her up into his arms gently.

"Here. Hold this," he says as he hands her the umbrella so that he can hold her more easily. The Seele takes it and does as asked. He takes her home without saying a word, and she doesn't stop looking at his face the entire way. Who is he? Why is he helping her? He's so close, but she can't feel his warmth.

-----

"Who are you? Who is your owner? What happened to you?"

"I don't know."

The young man is the son of a very skilled Seele technician, and therefore, he was able to get his father to help him repair the Seele girl's legs. Upon internal inspection however.....

"It looks like her memory is corrupted, and her sensation module is burnt out. She's not likely to remember who she is or where she came from, but I can ask some of my co-workers for a spare module if I can."

The young man's father turns to him after they've finished. "Are you going to take her in for changes at all?"

The young man shakes his head slowly, and smiles at the girl. "I do not believe that is necessary."

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This story depicts the relationship between a human and a Seele and associated happenings and situations. Psychology also plays a big part. What truly makes us human? Is it the lack of synthetic memory or physicality? Or does humanity go deeper than this? Can Seeles be considered human, or will they always remain property? Certainly, there are two sides to this story, and both will be explored.

I apologize if it reads all over the place right now. It was just a quick write up.

As always, I simply wanted to share this idea and I am not looking for criticism.