Work Text:
From the lab reports of Otto Apocalypse, 2022 ca
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Week 1
Project New Gen has officially begun. I had gathered the necessary equipment during the last few months, and now it’s ready to start.
…I haven’t told Valeriy yet. I don’t like keeping things secret from him, but I have to make sure this project will work before telling him, or I risk disappointment or worse, hurt.
Week 2
The tests are going in a truly excellent way. Although I haven’t been able to create a specimen that will survive and live yet, the experiments so far make me hope it won’t take much longer.
Week 3
Specimen 138 has exceeded all my expectations, and is growing steadily and rapidly. I haven’t been able to determine its gender via DNA exams, but that can wait.
I had to fend another questions attack from Valeriy today, regarding all the time I spend hidden in the lab. I told him it’s a big surprise for our anniversary, which to be fair is the truth, he just doesn’t know big it is.
Week 4
Specimen 138 is growing. I can almost see vague humanoid features growing in the pos. All exams are favourable, but it’s still too early to reveal my surprise.
Week 5
No news on specimen 138, conditions are stable and that is a good sign. Another specimen, number 288, is developing as well. Batch #200-#300 contains a different mix of our genes, I can already see the difference in the exams.
Week 7
Specimen 138 has matured in the last two weeks, at this rate he will take only eight or nine more weeks to be able to sustain life outside the pod. Whether he will be able to develop an identity, a sense of self like my beloved Theresa did, this I do not know.
Specimen 288 has also left the critical part and is steadily growing as well. It is official: specimen 138 has a little sister.
If everything goes in the right way, I, Otto Apocalypse, and my husband Valeriy will have one or two children.
Week 8
It happened. Valeriy snuck in and discovered the project. I explained my reasons to him, and it made me happy he was so understanding.
Week 9
Nothing much has happened this week, on medical level. On a personal level, I caught Valeriy sneaking in with a chair and a fairytale book, sitting between the two pods and reading out loud. The two specimens aren’t fully formed yet, their look is as if someone tried to crudely make a humanoid shape with a piece of mean and an axe. And yet, I see him already so attached. It makes me incredibly happy, for some reason, but also scared. What if something goes wrong?
Week 10
Alarm flared in the middle of the night. Specimen 138 grew unstable, but I managed to stabilize him. I had to add Honkai radiations to the pod to stabilise the merging of the cells and correctly activate the MANTIS mutation that’s part of Valeriy’s side of DNA.
Valeriy woke up too but didn’t enter the lab, waiting for me, knowing he’d only be a distraction at that time. I think I’ll treat him to a fancy dinner tomorrow, even only to distract him.
Week 11
Specimen 138 has started growing a cat tail, and the cranium is adjusting to accommodate cat ears. I tried to eliminate that part of the genes, to allow him a normal life, but it seems that the mutation is stronger than I thought, reason why I had to properly activate it or I would’ve risked his life.
Later this week specimen 288 flared the same alarm, this time I was already in the lab and could intervene immediately. I used the same approach of her brother and the cells stabilised. I assume 288 will grow cat ears and tail as well.
Valeriy told me it’s better this way, that it’s better for them to develop it while in a pod rather than risking for the mutation to kick in later on. I never asked for this kind of details of his mutation, but I know it had been painful and risky, to the point he was the only survivor.
Week 12
Specimen 288, as I predicted, started to grow cat ears and tail. Specimen 138 now resembles a proper human child, although it’s too soon to try and awaken him.
Both are stable.
Valeriy keeps coming here and read to them. I surprised myself listening to his voice and smiling.
I love him.
Week 13
Nothing of relevance happened.
Week 14
Only two more weeks for specimen 138 to be ready for extraction. I hope I didn’t tempt fate too much, but I hinted at Valeriy that he could start looking for possible names. I love how his eyes lighted up.
Specimen 138 has also grown hair. He will be blond, like me. I wonder how his eyes will be.
Week 15
Next week we will extract specimen 138 from the pod. I admit my heart beats faster when I think about it.
The biggest news is that while the overall development of specimen 288 is behind her brother, her life adaptability is growing faster, meaning we might be able to extract her approximately at the same time. This will likely result in her looking younger than her brother, but I think it is acceptable.
I haven’t received any names suggestions yet.
Week 16
Extraction begun without difficulty. Life force is steady and strong, and now Valeriy is lovingly taking care of him as he sleeps on the bed.
The name chosen for specimen 138 is Johann. Johann Apocalypse. His eyes have Valeriy’s green hue.
In a few hours we will extract his sister as well.
The extraction of specimen 288 went without problems as well. Her name is Luce Apocalypse.
Her eyes are light green like mine.
Week 18
After two weeks of non-stop nurturing and teaching, I can definitely put my worries to rest. Both kids – I won’t refer to them as specimens anymore – seem to have very distinct personalities.
Johann even asked to be referred as they and not he, and I’m happy to oblige, while Luce is happy as she. This is a clear sign of both of them having their own individuality.
Week 26
Tastes and identities have been even more defined in the past weeks. They both had to grow a very quick childhood and adolescence as they look in their late teens. Luckily puberty has been a quicker and more painless affair than I anticipated, lacking the usual “rebel phase”. Both look responsible young adults without being gloomy. They also seem both very interested in the arts, though of different kinds: Johann likes to paint and sculpt, and is approaching photography, Luce instead is very fascinated by videogames and had asked me to teach her how to make one.
I feel so proud.
I don’t think this log will be useful anymore, as both have long grown out of the experiment phase and into the human phase. I will spend time with my children.
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2025
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Somehow this wouldn’t feel complete and ready to archive without a conclusion from observations later on.
Three years have passed and our children Johann and Luce are faring extraordinarily well.
Johann is a photographer of good enough success, and paints in his free time. Their tastes are refined and they travels all over the world for their job.
Luce got into videogame programming extremely fast, she’s a quick learner. She moved to Japan, as she developed an obsession for that country very early on. She’s into the fashion style called decora, where one dresses with colourful clothes filled of accessories. Sometimes I send her a handmade one, and she seems to appreciate it.
Both of them wear holographic devices that hide their ears and tails to the world, although Luce often manages to sneak her cat features in her elaborate outfits, making them pass as very technologically advanced accessories. I know there are Valkyries with animal features at Schicksal now, but I wouldn’t have wanted for my kids to embrace that life. Obviously, if they had chosen it, I would have supported them no matter what. Luckily despite their fascination with that world, their interests brought them elsewhere. Though Luce told me multiple times she will create a videogame on Valkyries of her own, something so amazing it will surpass every Kallen Fantasy I ever make.
When she told me that the first time, I realised how they both represent the future. My future. Our future.
My beloved Valeriy is as proud as me of our children. They come visit us very often, and we video call almost every week. We are thinking of moving to Japan to be close to Luce, and Johann said they’re thinking of taking a break from photography to get back into sculpture, since they had dropped it in favour of the camera.
Despite the lack of a proper childhood, or maybe due to it, both retain a certain childlike wonder for the world, which never fails to make me happy.
Sometimes I wish I could introduce them all to Theresa. She is my family too, but I understand that she doesn’t want anything to do with me anymore, and I can’t blame her. The fact that she also thinks I’m dead does not help. I still check on her anyway, and as far as I know she and the other St. Freyia girls are doing great, so I’m not worried. It pains me to not be able to see my whole family together, but I can ignore it as long as everyone is happy.
The irony of situation, as I was about to close this document Johann called, confirming our plans to move to Japan. Soon I will have my family around me.
I truly am a lucky man.
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