[FIN] A Beginning

[Gwennythe]

Tambrey was smiling as she entered her key into the lab doors and made her way to the door to the little room where the project that she and Rory had been working on and monitoring for weeks was housed.
Project. That was a word she was going to have to stop using soon.
Instead, she would have to find a name for the Ponyta that was so, so close to being born.

Already they'd seen the little pokémon taking shape and spent time monitoring the cellular matrix and adjusting the various hormones and chemicals that the computer's (old but apparently reliable enough after all) analyzers had told them were too low or too high.
Hours of 'spare time' had gone into ensuring they could reach this stage; Final growth, medical checks and stabilization to the outside world.

In later models to what they were permitted, she understood that a lot of the work they'd had to do was quite automated and things they'd spent hours on took far less time, but she was glad that they'd had to work so hard for this.

Tambrey suspected that Rory would either already be here, or be near literally right behind her and was looking forward, very much, to spending time with him. Even if, at the same time, those very feelings that made her look forward so much also rather drummed up a lot of nerves.

She paused at the glass as she reached the room and tried to steal a glance inside, to see if he was there, before she entered.  

[LexThetaSigma]

Her suspicions would be right; the male Rocket was already there and cloaked in the lab coat he typically only wore when he was on shift. He very rarely wore it while he was checking on the project, but with the chemicals they had been using recently he had figured it better to wear it than ruin the clothes he had.

He was looking at the monitors and taking notes when he heard the familiar sound of the door opening. He had gotten so used to hearing it now, and around this time, that he knew exactly who it was without even looking around the incubator of sorts to see who it was.

He continued to make note of what he was reading on the monitors as he tried to ignore the feeling of his heart beating a bit faster, having started to race the second he heard the door open. They had to have a clear head when dealing with the new Ponyta; it wouldn't do him any good to let his heart rule right now.  

[Gwennythe]

Ooh, he was here already.
At least that meant he wasn't about to creep up behind her.
Her smile grew a little more.
"Hey." She moved over to the monitors alongside him, closing the distance and trying to ignore that fact as a motive for it- she wanted, of course, to check the data, as he was doing.
"All normal?" Just two words, asking for information she could already see- she really wanted to say so much more all the time and yet everytime she found herself limiting herself awkwardly.

The screen ran green text, informing them of different statuses, hormone levels, heartbeat and other biological information.
At the bottom right of the screen, an icon slightly resembling a treble cleff from written music accompanied the project designation.
A timer was counting down next to the symbol, showing little time left before the pokémon in the chamber was ready to emerge.
She was a recognisable shape now, though the growth matrix left her fur colour hard to determine beyond it certainly seeming 'darker' than a regular Ponyta's white.  

[LexThetaSigma]

"Hey," unconsciously, the corner of his mouth turned up into a smile as she came over close to him. Why was he always smiling around her? It was like there was something about her that refuses to let him do anything else.

"All normal," he nodded and let her see the clipboard he had in his hand that held his notes. "She's getting a lot stronger."

He was confident that their creation would be a girl even though they couldn't properly tell too much just yet do to the growth matrix; he refused to call it anything but 'she' now that the pokemon had taken proper shape.

He made a quick note of the time as it continued to tick down before looking over at her with a small grin. "So are you ready?"  

[Gwennythe]

A smile back was very encouraging.
"Um. I think so. I mean. As ready as I can be. Y' know? It's like... I really really can't wait and yet I'm nervous about... uh, stuff."
It was a little more candid than she'd been planning on even if some of the stuff she was nervous of remained secret and unsaid.

Her eyes moved from the screen to Rory and back again as the computer beeped out another analysis.

"I've been thinking about names." She admitted, after a moment.  

[LexThetaSigma]

"What's got you so nervous?" He asked curiously as he raised an eyebrow, "Baby Ponytas aren't too....well they can be a handful, but trust me, it's worth it. Besides don't you have at least one that you've raised from a baby?"

He set his clipboard aside and stood there watching their creation in the tank. He remembered the awe he used to feel when his parents would find a new egg but it was nothing like he felt now. He could actually see what was happening and watch it grow.

"What were you thinking of for names?"  

[Gwennythe]

"Um, Pygi; my Pidgeot..." Tambrey confirmed with a short nod. "But she wasn't, y'know, a clone or anything. I mean- we actually made this one. She's something new and... totally from our efforts and Pinkie's DNA and stuff... I've... never had a fire type either. It's a whole lot of new things."
She left out a source of nerves (and happiness), focusing on their science- on what she thought would make more sense to him for her to be nervous about.

A finger tapped at the little icon on the screen as she moved on, with a small shrug, to explaining her thoughts on names.

"Well, uh, when it asked me for a project designation symbol I, uh, kind of panicked and pressed a whole bunch of numbers at once and it brought up this..." She tapped it again. "It's something left over from a project focused on making Ponyta and Rapidash, I think, but I, uh," she was slightly embarrassed "really liked it.so I chose that and, uh, it looks kind of like one those... thingies... in music, y' know? So, um, I've been playing classical music down here sometimes because of it... and I also looked up some of the words about music." Enough rambling, she cursed herself mentally. "Anyway; what d'ya think about the name 'Octavia'?"  

[LexThetaSigma]

Well that made sense; he didn't think about that. "It's definitely different; amazing really," Her first fire type? He thought back to the pokemon he knew of in her party and nodded slightly, mostly to himself. "Having a newborn fire type is..interesting. You'll want to make sure not to put anything you love that's flammable too close to her...Trust me," he shuddered slightly at the memories. "And probably keep her from Treestar for a bit."

"Though I'm sure you'll be great with her."

When she mentioned the project destination symbols, he looked down at the screen when she tapped it. A project to make Ponyta and Rapidashs But why the markings? He shook the thought off for now and focused on her explanation.

He looked down at the symbol as he listened to her explanation of why she chose it and what she had been thinking about for a name. He looked inside the tank and briefly thought he saw the same symbol she had picked on the pokemon. But that wasn't possible, right?

"I think it's great."  

[Gwennythe]

"Really?" She asked, hesitatingly, slightly anxious "It's not too cheesy 'r anything?" Secretly, Tambrey was pleased with the initial response though- she liked the name, even if it was just born from a random symbol and the music she'd chosen to play to the growing clone.

"Oh. Erm. Right." She hadn't thought of that- keeping Octavia and Treestar apart at first would be a very good idea. A grass type and a young fire type...
She had so much to learn about fire types still, she was sure.
"You... know fire types though, so... I mean, I know you've done a huge amount for me already, but I can, maybe please, rely on you for help with raising her? And advice and stuff?" As much as she'd probably actually need such things, it was also a rather flimsy excuse for spending more time together. "Plus, y' know, we both made her and she's actually from Pinkie's DNA so... They're kind o', sort of family, right?"

She hadn't seen, and didn't know about, the symbol she'd chose actually being upon the pokémon in the tank.  

[LexThetaSigma]

Rory laughed when she asked him if the name was too cheesy, "You're asking the man who's first and, for the longest time, only pokemon was named 'Pinkie Pie' if the name is too cheesy?" He shook his head as he chuckled again,"It's perfectly fine," he reassured her.

Rory's grin softened when she asked if she could rely on him for help. In a way he was glad she had; he would get to help raise the pokemon they had created. "Of course," he replied, "always."

The comment about Pinkie and Octavia being family made him chuckle slightly; she was right after all, in a way Pinkie would be her mother. "Yeah, I guess they are."

"Does that make us sort of family then?" Where had that question come from?  

[Gwennythe]

She tried hard not to laugh at that, but still let out a little 'snrt'. He had a point, she supposed.
Tambrey shook her head and grinned.
"I like that name; it suits her and she's... well, pink. Sensible name."
Even it wasn't a 'sensible' name, it was true, at least, that she liked it. Quite a bit.

His reply to her question left her with a pleased, warm smile; it was very reassuring and also more than she'd hoped of hearing despite being only three words. That one important word was there.
'Always'.

And then... his question.
It was a difficult one to answer, she though, and yet words were leaving her mouth anyway.
"Well... We're certainly not brother and sister." What did that mean? Why had she chosen that? So much scope left open.  

[LexThetaSigma]

He grinned when he heard the little 'snrt' noise. "Sensible if the trainer is a five year old girl," he laughed, "not a thirteen year old boy. But thank you."

He turned away from her slightly to take a look at the monitors again, missing the warm smile she sent his way.

Her response to his question brought another small laugh out of him. "Definitely not brother and sister," Thankfully they weren't; it would make whatever he was feeling when he was around her even more awkward. He turned back to her and brush a stray lock of hair from her face. "If we aren't siblings, what does that make us?"  

[Gwennythe]

"Uh... Hm." Directly asked, it was a much more difficult thing to answer without complete and utter awkwardness.

"Well... Like y' said, Pinkie's kind of the mother and so I guess in a way, it's kind of like you're Pinkie's da- Oh Arceus!" Tambrey pulled a face, mild mock horror mixed with some amusement and sprinkled through with a subtle cringe, as she suddenly realised; "The route I'm goin' down makes me a 'step-mother' and us 'grandparents'..."  

[LexThetaSigma]

Rory backed off and chuckled slightly as he looked at the monitors again to see if there was any changes in the last few minutes.

"Well I don't know about you, Grandma, but I'm still too young to be a grandpa," he winked over at her to let her know he was only joking.  

[Gwennythe]

Aside from the countdown, different biological readings were changing. Heart rate seemed to be increasing slightly, hormone levels in some flux as slight stresses were incurred from the process initiated to release the Ponyta from the tank.

It would now, according to timer, and supported by the readings, be just a few minutes before Octavia was pushed from her tank.
Accordingly, the timer had even began to beep softly as it counted down.

Tambrey sent a mock scowling-frown Rory's way, though couldn't keep it up for smiling even as she retorted; "I'm still not that much older than you- y're still a grandpa if I'm a grandma." She didn't-quite-cough to cover the implication made, ignoring the flushing of her cheeks that was probably occurring, turning her attention to the screens again too.
"Has it slowed down? I'm sure it was counting down faster before." Of course, it hadn't.