Replicated

Summary:

In the not so distant future, human cloning has not only been perfected, but it has been legalized in the United States. However, those clones are not legally considered individuals with rights. The original donor of their DNA has full legal control over what a clone is used for by the company that makes them. If you're an every day person, you can donate your DNA to a large corporation to be cloned for a nice price...however, in order to gain full access to that money, you must sign a waiver revoking all of your rights over the use of your DNA, essentially allowing the company to do whatever they want with your DNA and to your clones.

Enter Thomas, who on his 21st birthday receives a letter in the mail from RepliCorp, informing him that surprise! His parents sold his DNA when he was a  baby, and now if he wants to claim that cash, he must sign the rights waiver. Unwilling to do so until he learns more about what exactly is being done with his DNA, he schedules a visit to find some answers...and that's where our story begins. 

Content Warnings (for the au as a whole): Dehumanization, human experimentation, medical abuse, emotional abuse, isolation, heaps of trauma of all sorts for the characters, it’s a Hurt Comfort au that’s heavy on the Hurt to start with.

Chrono Link: Read the whole AU from the beginning (link only works in browsers)

Discovery Arc

Lore Dump 1

Visitation Arc

Kai, what do you think would change in your organization if someone gave you the opportunity to directly interact with their clones?

(I’m answering this one first because the other will fit better with more characters in the scene 😉)

Larry is now open for questions!

Image transcription below cut.

So there are clones that aren't in RepliCorp's facilities, because RepliCorp is not the only company that makes/uses clones, BUT there are at this time no clones that do not live in some facility somewhere. And that's not just a "oh people think that's the case but there are some they don't know about" thing, this is Me the Author saying that No Clone Ever has lived a life that's not monitored/facilitated in some way. From the beginning, human cloning was closely monitored and studied, so no clone has ever been set loose OR escaped.

Now, in terms of cover ups? Remember the three rules about what you cannot make a clone for? 1. You cannot clone an army, 2. You cannot clone a workforce, and 3. You cannot clone yourself or someone else for the purpose of sex?

Well, since we're a small group we kind of all do a bit of everything, but Larry is the one who officially founded the nonprofit, so he gets to be the boss on like, paper. He and Dot are married and handle the more business-y side of things, and Dot in particular is a wizard organizer, so she keeps all the admin stuff sorted out.

Then there's Dr. Picani, who's sort of the co-founder? He and Larry got the idea to start the organization together, and he's the one who knows the most about the science and psychology of clones, which is a big help. He's our biggest asset in terms of educating the public about why clones deserve human rights, besides, you know, basic fucking decency.

Then you've got me and Elliott. I handle the social media and digital side of things, and Elliott is our secret weapon when it comes to scheduling demonstrations and stuff. They've got a...source, let's say, and are able to let us know when and where the most effective protest opportunities present themselves.

"Oh, I don't know," Virgil sighs, rolling his eyes. "Just that we're living in the literal end times and I'm stuck in a 500 square foot room that I can never leave and there's nothing for me to do about it except fucking....fucking trigonometry problems like that's gonna do anything, yeah, no, I'm great, no stressors here WHAT-so-ever, everything's fucking amazing!"

"Virgil, please perform a grounding technique. You are distressing yourself."

(side note, I am so thrilled to get to meet the rest of the cartoon therapy crew! 😊)