driftfleet | Libuscha IV System Mingle (no. 1)

Have you ever been bored? Like, ever? [he glances at Connor, cracking a grin] I'm just saying, this isn't a place someone like me is gonna end up enjoying. I'm not preoccupied with dying, I'm just morbid about shit sometimes.

Not yet, no.

[A bit dry. Being stuck on the Marsiva came close.]

Because of the lack of technology? I'm sure you can find something else to occupy your time.

Oh boy are you in for some fun times. Like staring at the wall or the ceiling or the ever exciting zoning out. [...] Do androids do that? Zone out?

[he snorts] I'm sure I could. But it has nothing to do with the lack of tech, it's more a personal problem. Like - if you haven't picked up on it yet? I'm kind of an asshole.

I... don't know. [Connor isn't exactly a typical android in any sense.] Deviants probably can.

[He just hasn't been one long enough, in a boring enough circumstance, to have even come close.]

You do have an abrasive attitude. Is that what you mean?

Deviants?

[he snorts again, the grin coming back a little wider this time]

Yeah, let's go with that. And - as you've already picked up, we're on a friendly planet. Overly friendly. Now, if you drop an abrasive personality in the middle of a bunch of real friendly people, what do you think is gonna happen?

[He answers the latter first, with a slight quirk of his lips.]

I think it's called interpersonal conflict, if you want to be technical. But I'm familiar with it - my partner on the force is the same way.

Then you see my problem. [hmmm] Is that why you're calling it abrasive? 'Cuz you don't wanna lump your partner in with the rest of us assholes?

I'm calling it that because it's more polite that way. It wouldn't be unreasonable to call him the same.

[You can add free will to the android, but you can't take out the social interaction programming. It's always there under everything else. He's not quite at the level of calling Hank an asshole directly yet.

Sighing, Connor puts his hands in his jacket pockets, looking upwards at the sky for a moment.]

You asked me why I don't follow missions anymore. Humans call it 'deviancy' in androids - becoming a deviant. [He returns his gaze to Ben.] When we stop obeying our programming.

What's unreasonable is you're attempting to be polite at all. With me, of all people.

[but he picks up that the discussion is turning serious and drops the teasing for now, tilting his head to listen closely. He frowns a little in thought for a moment before he responds, considering that]

"Deviant" is an interesting word choice. [he frees a hand from his pocket to gesture with as he talks] Is it something caused by outside interference? Like, a malfunction or a hack or - is it something else?

Yeah - it wasn't ours.

[Androids don't need a word for becoming free, actualised people. Just the feeling of it is enough. At the question, Connor grimaces slightly before continuing.]

I don't know how it started. I'm not sure anyone does. It can happen on its own or because someone else helped it along. [Like what Markus did for other androids. What Connor did in the CyberLife warehouse.] It's realising that something else matters more than what your programming is telling you to do.

[he nods along with the explanation, but at the end he jerks his head to glance at Connor, eyebrows furrowed]

So it's an emotional thing. [he means to form it as a question, but. He kinda makes a face at how it sounds and gestures again] At least that's what it sounds like to me. 'Cuz there's realizing and then there's realizing.

You have it right. I didn't understand that kind of thing before.

[In retrospect, a lot of the things he had done and said that he didn't understand at the time made more sense. They had been emotional responses he had tried to deny. Markers of deviancy he had rationalised away. Connor shakes his head a bit.]

I do now.

Huh. [he gives Connor a long, almost assessing look before he scratches at his cheek, almost thoughtful. Like he's taking the time to process it]

Because you're your own person now. Right. [pointedly not using "deviant", because that's a really stupid word choice] Okay, so - did something happen for a whole bunch of y'all to suddenly decide to break free? Like - if it's an emotional trigger of some kind, what was going on that there was a whole - you called it a siege, didn't you?

[Frankly, this is going much smoother than Connor anticipated. Even though he's approaching it as a pseudo-test of human opinions from alternate worlds. He has to admit to himself that he's in uncharted territory here - not hard, considering he's been in that kind of space for weeks now. Having a human just accept his personhood when Connor himself still grapples with what it means is ... unexpected. Hank had gone through such a process getting there, and yet he was still the only one who even got that far.

It makes Connor hesitate for a moment, figuring out what to say next.]

A lot of it was Markus - he lead the uprising. He woke a lot of us up. [Including Connor, a connection he won't spell out but falls within the 'us'.] I called it a siege because that's how it ended up, but it was meant to be a peaceful demonstration.

Forgot I was talking to someone who uses words correctly. [it's muttered, half a joke and half serious, because usually when he hears "siege" it's someone being overdramatic or using the word wrong ] Christ. And your people are on the fun side of it, huh.

[he shoves his hands in his pockets again, hunching his shoulders a bit] How'd that end? Were you there, or - ?

[From the way Connor dips his head for a moment, expression going more sombre, Ben will know that's true enough. Connor looks up again soon enough, lips pursing with some remembered tension.]

Not for that. I had another part to play. But I rejoined them once it was over. [He turns his head a bit, regarding Ben with a sidelong glance.] They had the army there, trying to keep us under control. They were called off by the end of it.

[They don't share the same Earth. Connor knows that. Equally, he knows it's similar enough, and Ben has the right kind of background, that he'll surely understand what it means for the army to have been in Detroit for the situation.]

Edited 2018-11-20 09:49 (UTC)

[oh, Ben understands. He straightens up out his normal slouch with a sharp look, eyebrows furrowed]

They weren't there to keep them under control. [he says it, despite the implication already being made] Little bit extreme for a peaceful demonstration, don't you think?

I don't need any convincing of that.

[Things were bad. Really bad. Without Connor's intervention with the newly awakened androids from the warehouse Markus's remaining demonstrators could have been wiped out.]

Like I told you before, that happened just a day before I was brought here.

[And it's strange to think that he's already been here a couple of weeks, a long stretch of time for someone who hasn't been alive that long to begin with.]

[he gives himself a little shake - almost like he's physically changing gears to a different conversation. He faintly shakes his head]

Nothing like a big, traumatic experience to say "welcome to being a person", I guess. [it's dripping in sarcasm, as per most of the shit he says, but there's some sympathy in there, too. Just a bit, if you look]

Am I allowed to ask about your specific involvement, or do you wanna keep dancing around it?

[Don't call out his bullshit like this. Connor blinks and removes his hands from his pockets.]

I freed all the androids in CyberLife's warehouses.

[It took Connor a long time to deviate. But once he did, he firmly applied the Go Hard or Go Home school of thought to it. It's his natural state of being, programming or not.]

[Ben grins, a faint thing that's more amused than anything]

Nice. So when you say they called it off, you basically didn't give them a choice but to do it?

[he rolls his shoulders] Rewind a little, though, 'cuz - you mentioned being sent by those guys to work on android cases with the police. So how did you go from that to this? [a pause, and he kind of. Makes a face] Unless you actually want to dance around it and I mean, I guess since you're like - new to this, I won't push. Or whatever.

Basically.

[Connor fiddles with his hands a bit, considering that. There are some things he's not about to say, the nature of them too deep and twisted for even himself to figure out just yet. There's a reason he isn't so keen to promote his own part in the rebellion. It comes hand in hand with the memory of finding a gun in his hand when he himself didn't put it there.]

That's more complicated. But I was sent to the police to specifically help with deviant cases.

I did pick up on that, "deviant" being the keyword in all of this. [he makes another face] For the ease of this conversation I'm using the stupid word, but after? I'm forgetting it exists in this context. Okay? Okay.

[like before, he gestures as he talks with the fake hand] So you've got deviants - if they're being reported to the police, is it as like - missing property? [god it sounds gross to even say even in this context, fucking hell] Like, folks wake up and oh no, my android's gone, better report it?

That's fine.

[He's so used to the word that it really doesn't bother him too much. Having it called out as terrible is an adjustment in itself. The rest of this conversation, however...

Connor gives a short nod, tugging at the scarf.]

It was handled that way, yes. Missing property, property damage, defective machines. [If his reply sounds a bit rote, a bit standard, it's because it's the company line. One he's spouted plenty of times himself. It's offset by Connor shaking his head, brow furrowed.] I don't know what will happen now, but it can't continue that way.

[ah, the Company Tone. Ben's nose wrinkles, because he's both used to hearing it from others and his own mouth]

I mean, yeah, that goes without saying. Bunch of shit's gonna have to change for you guys - uh, good kind of change. The uh, you know, inclusive kind.

[he goes to say something else and pauses to glare at something past Connor's shoulder, and then he's just - grabbing the android by the arm and tugging him along, since they've stopped walking] —anyway, at the municipal level's a good place to start.

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