driftfleet | Libuscha IV System Mingle (no. 1)

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.

[--well then. Connor's startled by the movement, though he lets Ben drag him off down the path. Turning his head back for a moment he sweeps the area with a scan. Nothing seems out of the ordinary beyond the other people out on the street, though one of them is looking straight at him. And brightens when he does.

He returns his attention to Ben and his weird determination.]

That's probably something Markus will look into-- is something wrong?

[oh Connor, they already had the "he's an asshole" conversation. Ben grumbles something under his breath and squints down the street, like he's trying to see what the stores are selling or what the signs in front say]

The locals are circling again. [grumble grumble] Do you not realize you're being stared at?

Of course I do, it's been happening since I got here.

[Adaptation is his speciality.]

You're trying to avoid that?

[he snorts, keeping his eyes ahead on the stores still]

Yup. [he huffs out a noise] It's fine if they go after you, but if they turn on me I'm gonna cause a scene and I don't wanna get kicked off a planet.

[Matter of factly:]

Then you should probably bear in mind that it looks like you're strong-arming me against my will to go to another location.

[Connor is utterly unbothered by Ben's behaviour, but his purpose as a detective sure is flagging how the physicality of all this appears.]

[Ben glances over and down, eyebrows furrowed - oh, right. He lets go, almost like he forgot he did it in the first place]

Anyone ever tell you you're a smartass?

[He rearranges his scarf, since it's covering up his tie and he can't straighten that.]

Not specifically, no.

So I'm the first? I feel special now. [he shoves his hands in his pockets] Also? I doubt I could actually strong-arm you. Just putting that out there.

I wouldn't have let it get that far.

[There would have been a very brief altercation, Ben's legs getting kicked out from under him then being thrown bodily by the arm into a wall. That would have been the most effective option of several, without the use of firearms. Connor keeps walking, checking out the same store signs Ben was looking at earlier.]

You've answered this partly before, but what do you spend your credits on? Other than technological supplies.

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