gotosleep_idiot | September & October Test Drive

"If I wanted to destroy you, then where you live doesn't matter," Connor said and there's another ping on his phone. A city map. "This place is not that large. And going beyond the edge results in unmaking which is far worse than anything I can do."

....oh. It could also be about the environment, he supposed. "Its in the East, on the beach. And currently, I'm the one who keeps a child from burning the place down. Keeping a child safe was the highest priority in my programming at the time."

He tugs on the ends of his sleeves. More fidgetting even as he keeps his face blank. "The place has tools and its a safe place in emergencies so it would be the best place to be to assist in such times." Its convenient. It fulfills high level priorities for him.

~~He doesn't want to leave Hector and Miguel.~~

But nothing would be higher than his primary mission. "Its an optimal pkace for me to be, but constant observation will give me the most answers. If you insist on an inconvenient place, then I will deal with it how I must." He says it calmly. His LED flickers red.

Markus brought up his phone and took a look at the map that popped up on there. That was helpful, so thank you Connor, Markus will take a moment to check it out, just to see where things were, and what the whole area actually looks like. It's nothing like Detroit, with it's neighborhoods and such, but it was still big.

After a moment, Markus lets his hand and the phone fall back down, putting it back into his pocket as he tilts his head slightly when looking at Connor. Again, there was distress, the LED red, and he's wondering this time what it means. It was truly that big of a deal, where Markus stayed? Or was it more a big deal where Connor stayed? Markus was just barely a betting man, and he would count on the latter.

"You make some good points to stay there. Before I give my answer, I have one more question." Markus smiled pleasantly. "Can the beach house support a piano?"

There is a very long pause. Fir an android. So like three seconds.

"We have a piano," he said. "We have a large assortment of instruments. The child wants to be a musician," he said by way of explanation. What he doesn't say is Connor is the one who got all those instruments in the first place for a club he formed to encourage Miguel.

Because that is totally part of his priority to keep a human child safe. "There's a new music appreciation club that is supposed to meet regularly there. There's actually a fair amount of space, and most of the previous tenants went home. Connie is the only original one and she usually stays with people elsewhere. She entrusted us to care for the place." He has a key and everything.

Edited 2018-10-19 21:01 (UTC)

Three seconds is pretty long, especially for Connor, so Markus once again pays attention to it. It's actually pretty easy for Markus to reads the words not put into the sentences. Like how the child wants to be a musician, and Connor is the one helping with that. Like how Connor is there to make sure the child doesn't burn the place down, but also to take care of the child.

Why Connor is so concerned about Markus hurting a child. All of this just makes Markus happy.

"So that must mean I get my own bed." Says with a smile, both joking and not. It's nice that there will be somewhere for him to be; he doesn't need a bed, but it's nice to know there might be one if he wants one. "In addition to the piano." Because of course he's going to claim a piano. Of course.

"Let's go. I want to see where we're going to live. And of course I want to join the club." Markus walked towards Connor, acting like he might pat him on the back before not doing it, and then walking past him. Since this was now a done deal and all, apparently, Markus is just going to head in that direction he saw on the map.

Connor is in denial he's adopted a child. And a skeleton. There might be a small part of Connor that looks forward to Markus meeting Hector because that is just some straight up what the fuck no matter how few emotions you have.

"If you insist," he said. Even Connor doesn't have a bed. Because he hasn't claimed a room because he doesn't think he should. "Connie doesn't want her room or the basement altered, but she's given free reign of the rest. I've packed away most of the persobal items in the rooms already in preparation of a repurposed use." Mostly because he needs things to do and it was a project.

"Miguel will most likely ask you to play if you're programmed how," he said. "He didn't grow up with a lot of musical encouragement, its good to humor him."

Connor tenses at the impending touch, unsure how much the RK200 had earlier versions of some of his own programs. Like memory probes and the like. But there's no contact and Connor turns to start leading the way. "It was an open invitation. As long as no one in the club protests, then merely being there counts as joining." Because he had no idea what he was doing so that's how it worked out.

Markus is going to definitely have a few problems when he meets a walking, talking skeleton. An alive skeleton. There's plenty of equal right stuff he has going for him, but skeletons are dead and you're not supposed to talk to a skeleton. That's just common sense.

Though he's surprised that Connor didn't tell him no about the bed, citing that it needed to be given to someone who was 'living' or something. Was that progress? It was certainly something.

"I was programmed to play. Carl..." The name slipped out, and he wished he could take it back, but he might as well go with it. "Carl liked to listen to live music. The arts are something to be encouraged, I'll see what I can do about helping with that." Any kind of arts, music, painting, Carl had instilled in him a love of it all. Everyone should be able to freely do them.

He had memory probes, of course, and it's one of the reasons why he decided not to touch him. The other being... could he turn him deviant with a touch? And did he really want to? He hadn't back in Detroit, but that didn't mean he couldn't, he thinks as he follows Connor once again.

"You have another person in your club, then." Markus shrugged. "You're the last person I would have expected to adopt a child, a home, a club, and an... animal." He smirked a little. Sure sounded like a lot of deviancy going on there, Connor.

If there were more people in the Beach House, that very argument may have happened. However, Miguel mostly stays in the lighthouse, Hector does what Hector does, and Connor has yet to figure out he can claim a room. As is, at least the house is being used.

He noticed that stutter. It takes a moment to figure out why. "I'm aware of Carl Manfred. If he had been in better health, I would have gone to question him about you," Connor said. As is, stress was highly discouraged. Though now that he said it, there's...a thought.

What if it had been Hank?

"He's well enough to be allowed home, but not well enough for an intense questioning. At least on our end. I can't speak for the FBI, but it doesn't seem like anyone else has thought to run your serial number through the system yet." And he hasn't offered it. The FBI would most likely shove him out and make his mission harder given the chance, so he was keeping what cards he could. "It would make sense to give an artist and artistic android. And Kamski would probably think the difference was interesting." There might have been just a slight bit of extra coldness talking about Kamski. He does not have a high opinion of the man.

Connor scowled at the accusation. "Most of it just happened," he said. Which was honestly true. "I met Miguel when he had set the kitchen on fire. With lack of a guardian and uncertain of where I could bring him to be safe with the lack of governmental institutions here, the most logical course of action was to watch him myself. Since he never asked me to leave, there was no problem in doing so." Because he never asked to stay. He just stuck around because Miguel didn't tell him to beat it. "Then when I met Connie, she assumed it was a formal arrangement and then gave me a key and gave me permission to alter the place as need be."

"As for Samurai and Fiona, that was a storm. The guides should have a section on those. A storm made me think I was from a world they're native to, a string of new android officers," Connor said. He was basically Officer Jenny. "And most people in that world had Pokemon to aid in their jobs. Samurai as a police dog and Fiona," and he pulls out a red and white ball and opens it.

And there's a Feebas in his arms. "Helps with watery dangers."

Fiona, despite being a fish, actually smiles and waves a fin at Markus. "She's a very hardy fish. Apparently fish Pokemon are all right out of water for the most part, as long as they don't dry out completely. After the storm, they were still around. They're smart enough to be hurt by rejection and since I had no reason to do so, I....don't."

He has no excuse for the club so he's just going to artfully dodge around that with the fish distraction.

While he was listening, and there was a part of his system that absorbed and remembered all that he heard, Markus was still stuck on one part of what Connor had said. He snapped out of his reverie just a little bit to see the fish with surprise. You just didn't expect fish to come out of little plastic balls, especially fish that big. And ones that smile and wave at you, and Markus just looks at it with disbelief.

Because seriously, what the fuck. Was that even really a fish? It didn't look like any kind of fish that was in his data bank. It looked like some kind of monster animal, not really a fish, and it brought him out of the creeping feeling that was beginning to fall over him at what Connor had said before.

Just barely. Markus stopped walking, feeling himself withdraw into himself. Connor had to no reason to lie about Carl, he thought, because while it would throw him off balance, it didn't actually do anything to help with his mission. And the way that he was talking about Carl, it was like everything was fine. Normal. That things hadn't gone the way that they had, and Carl was....

Alive. "You're mistaken, Connor." Markus said softly, unable to keep the sadness out of his voice. "Carl's dead. He's not well enough to be questioned, because he's dead. He died the same night I was shot. I was there when it happened." His friend-- his father died in his arms, and as much as Markus would love to live in the world where that wasn't true, it was.

((OOC: I actually need to ask what do with interactive canons now, so gonna do that.))

Fiona is indeed a weird ass, giant fish that sometimes lives in a tiny ball. Who really does seem more than content to just be carried by Connor.

Connor stopped when Markus did, looking back with confusion. That was....suddenly a lot more stress and withdrawal. He didn't expect that so suddenly. At least, not until Markus spoke and Connor frowned. "What?" He said. "But...I read the report. His son was taken to the hospital after an altercation with you and Carl was hospitalized due to the stress on his body."

Edited 2018-10-20 21:33 (UTC)

[ooc: It's funny, I'm writing this app and I got to this part in the history and am like, damn, there are a hell of a lot of choices in the game, I wonder what other people chose!]

Markus shook his head. "I never touched Leo. He kept hitting me, and Carl, he--" He cut himself off, replaying that moment in his mind. Carl in his chair, telling Markus not to do anything, to let it happen. How unfair that all was, how he shouldn't have had to just stand there and take it, it wasn't fair, it wasn't fair.

"His heart must not have been able to take the stress." His face had that feeling it had before he wanted to cry, and he shook his head again, as if he could get rid of that feeling just by moving it. "I watched him die. There was no time to do anything else. I don't know what you read, but that's wrong."

It didn't make sense for there to be a wrong report, though. And if Connor was confused, then Markus was just as confused by it all.

((OOC: There really are. And we have a couple of options from it being slightly different parallel universes to possibly making it a Flaw for game plots or just figuring out what choices need to lie up depending how much we want to mess with the boys.))

Connor watched Markus as he spoke. Taking in his expression, his body language, all of it. And...and it's weird. He's never had a real talk with a deviant, not with one that wasn't running mostly on fight or flight. And now it's more apparent now than it had been then.

It was all very...human. Not quite right, but it definitely wasn't android. Somewhere in between and it's...he's not sure...he doesn't...

And seeing the despair on his face makes his chest feel tight. What if it had been Hank? What if it had been Miguel? Traitorous thoughts that tried to tell him he felt pain, like he did for that storm for a person who didn't exist. He didn't feel empathy, he didn't-

He had taken a step forward, a hand reaching out before he stops himself, letting his hand drop. No, he has to figure out why there's a discrepancy, they're androids, they can't just forget-

Fiona, however, has no time for this. There is a sad person there and Fiona does not stand by that and wiggles and flails out of Connor's arm. And....well, Markus, you have a fish more or less jumping over to you, what do?

[ooc: Sounds good to me, there's a lot work with in this case! I'm almost finished my app, finally, the history took a bit, but this is just so much fun!]

The fish jumped out of Connor's arms, and it feels like instinct to just... pick it up. And suddenly he has a fish in his arms, a large, giant, monster like fish, and he isn't sure what to do with it. Does it need to be petted, does it need water? He knows that Connor said they don't need as much water as a regular fish usually does, but it's still weird.

Weird but also kind of nice. Markus knows there have been studies about animals helping people with physical and emotional problems, and it's kind of funny. This fish knows that Markus is going through a hard time, is having a feeling like sadness, and it doesn't matter if he's human or not. He is feeling what he's feeling.

"Thank you, Fiona." Markus said softly, looking down at the fish in his arms, then looking at Connor.

((OOC: We'll figure out what sounds like the most fun then once all the apps and such are accepted.))

Fiona may be a fish, but she is the most try hard of fishes. She doesn't fully understand the whole around her creation and Connor being different, but she understands he's going through a lot of confusion and he Cares. And if he won't act on that care, then she's going to because she also Cares.

And since Connor is being a dumb trainer, she's going to do her best to give Markus a fishy hug, fin patting his chest and nuzzling her head against his chest.

Connor is surprised at Fiona's actions a moment. Then he lets out a small huff, the smallest hint of a smile tugging at his lips because he knows how Fiona is. Even if their history is fake, her personality remained the same and he knew how seriously she took comforting people. And as smart as Pokemon are, he can't really explain the differences between androids and human to them.

He looks up to see Markus staring and the smile vanishes. "She's good at that. If the information I retained from the storm is correct, Feebas were often treated coldly for their haggard appearance. Fiona seemed to have decided she'd just put out more love and kindness to make up for it," he said, turning and starting to walk again, expecting Markus to follow. "Pokemon are quite intelligent. More prone to instincts, but able to understand complex ideas."

"I don't know why the report is different from what you remember. It's....it's probably one of the metaphysical concepts at play and that..." He waves a hand helplessly. It's hard to process. Maybe even more so for him since he hasn't broken the programming that limits him.

Edited 2018-10-20 22:49 (UTC)

[ooc: I like that plan, sounds good to me.]

A fish was giving him a hug. Even though ending up in a strange world that wasn't his own was the weirdest thing to happen today, having a fish give him a hug was a very, very close second. And seeing Connor give a smile like that, well, that was definitely fourth or fifth on the list.

He didn't expect to see that, and so wasn't surprised when it went away just as quickly. Markus looked back down at Fiona, because he really hadn't meant to stare, but it was so surprising, he just had to keep watching it till it disappeared.

"She's been a help so far." Markus started following him again, carrying Fiona in his arms. If Pokemon were as intelligent as Connor said they were, then hopefully she understood how grateful Markus was for her caring about him like this.

"You think that there's something different going, that's not with you having read the report wrong, or someone misfiled something in the system?" Not that Markus thought either of those were viable, but it made more sense then him not knowing that his father died. Something else was at play, maybe. It didn't make any sense to him, though.

Carl was dead. He'd had to learn to accept it, and he still had a hard time doing that, but he was learning.

"She's a good helper," Connor said, voice neutral. Fiona, however, preens a bit, looking pleased at the praise. She will just keep being a good fish, offering nuzzles and gentle taps with her fin. She's kind of limited in the physical comfort thing, but she tries. She's just glad it is helping, humans can be hard. Or...machine people?

She really doesn't get the difference. A machine Pokemon was still a Pokemon.

"Carl Manfred is famous and rich. Even if they were careless enough to not take down your model and serial number, that would point more to them not caring about a broken android. Not reporting Carl as someone whose died and say his son was simply hospitalized would be such a huge error, I'm surprised they still manage to keep a job," Connor said. "And your file was distinct. I only realized it was you after I saw your serial number during the speech. You were just a suspected prototype in the file and there wasn't even a reference photo."

Connor looked over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow. "You know chances of me actually remembering wrong are astronomically low, let alone something that was actually peculiar."

Of course, the same could be said of Markus. Even if he was damaged, that would be quite the corruption for how together he seems. "Do you remember the incident vividly? You were reported as destroyed."

Markus and Fiona were of the same mind, even if Markus didn't know it. But she got it, and if a fish could understand how there really was no difference, then why couldn't everyone else? Fiona might be the smartest being in the place.

And talented. And one of the better people in the world, though Markus knew that was all bias on his part, and he accepted it as much. It wasn't fair what he'd told him to do, to not fight back, but he understood now why Carl had said it.

Markus shrugged. "Chances might be low, but there's always still a chance." He shifted Fiona in his arms a little bit, not because she was uncomfortable for him, but in case she was uncomfortable for her. "Of course I remember it. I remember everything about what happened."

It was like it was burned into his memory. He could replay it phrase by phrase, blow by blow. "I was destroyed. Something... happened, and I woke up in the junkyard, having to put myself back together. But I remember the altercation with Leo clearly. And Carl..." How he looked as he died in his arms, how his father looked...

"I remember everything. There are no lapses in my memory."

To be fair, Fiona was of the mind of most of the population of Nautilus. Most people who got Connor's 'he's not a person speech' usually realized he was in some kind of denial of transitional phase. Markus would find quite a lot of support in Nautilus.

It's part of why Connor knows killing him would be a Bad Idea.

"I could recite the report word by word, but that is-" Connor snapped his mouth shut. Because he had been about to say callous. But Markus is a machine and he shouldn't be worried about being callous at a machine. The machine doesn't have emotions to really be upset.

....either way, he doesn't complete what he had been about to say.

Connor glanced back again. "You're an RK," he said. "An early model, but one nonetheless. Even if you were eventually a gift for a domestic setting, it wouldn't be unbelievable that some of my features were tested on you. Such as being able to operate under more physical duress than most models. Longer time without a thirium pump, damage to extremities, things along those lines."

Or, you know, will power, but where's the logic in that?

When he cuts himself off, Markus looked at him curiously. Not that he wanted to hear the report word by word, but... actually, that might not have been a terrible thing. No, wait, it would be terrible. Or maybe not. Or maybe Markus didn't know what it would be, because he didn't know if hearing about Carl more would be more painful or if it would be something he'd want to hear.

Maybe it was good that Connor had cut himself off from finishing whatever he'd been able to say, because Markus isn't sure he wanted to hear it. Still, the fact that Connor stopped was worth noting. Because it was something.

"I was definitely under physical duress." Markus commented, eyes catching onto Connor's. "I woke up missing my legs, and my regular was broken." He shifted Fiona so he could hold two fingers up to his eyes.

"And it must be obvious that one of these eyes wasn't originally mine." Markus put his hand back down, holding onto the fish with both hands. "I would have expected to be dead, but I woke back up and managed to find spare parts. It wasn't easy." Shrugging, because that was that. It wasn't easy, but he did what he had to do.

Fiona looked up at Markus and then actually kind of makes a cooing noise. A repeat of feefeefee. For a rough looking fish, she's actually got a fairly soft voice. Clearly he's in need of more comfort and her trainer is still stupid.

And really, it's the little things that give Connor away. He keeps slamming into those red walls and he doesn't even know it. Things keep slipping through the cracks, things he won't acknowledge, but are definitely not an impulse someone would program into an android.

"I had noticed the eye," he said. "It made sense with everything else. Destroyed by police, but standing and giving speeches days later. The junk yard would have a lot of spare parts. And no, it wouldn't be easy. Operational and running optimally are very different things. I could barely move without my thirium pump everytime we tested that," he said.

"Though by your logic, weren't you essentially raiding corpses?" He won't be an asshole about Carl, but he's curious about ~~his~~its reaction to that.

The fish is making cooing sounds at him now, what the hell kind of world is this? Markus didn't know what to do about the sounds, the noises coming from the fish, so he gives her a gentle little pat. A 'it's okay, I'm okay' kind of pat, because he's okay. He really is, for right now.

Well. He was okay. And then Connor brings up him raiding corpses and something dark, angry, and absolutely, one hundred percent guilty crosses his face. Because it was like that, even if he tried hard as hell not to think about it.

Tried not to think that that's what he'd been doing, because if he thought of them as just machines, then that was wrong. But-- it-- if he still had his LED, it would be spinning red for a moment before settling down into yellow.

"I guess I was." Glances sharply at Connor. "You don't need to be crass about it, though. I did what I had to do to survive, so I wouldn't die. Just like I stole so that others wouldn't have to do what I did to stay alive."

Fiona is just doing her best. And gapes at Connor too for his comment because she's smart enough to understand the accusation even if she doesn't get why it was made.

Connor watches, his own expression neutral. That certainly reads as a sore spot. Like Markus really is horrified about it. And. Guilty? Like he also feels bad he has too.

"I'm just curious how you react to do something that would be, in concept, extremely horrifying. Taking the body parts of the dead and pu-" He started.

He started because suddenly Fiona was out of Markus' hands and tackled right into Connor with a surprising amount of force for a fish that is out of water. Enough that Connor is completely taken off his feet and hits the ground with a grunt. "Fee! Fee fee feebas! Fee!"

There is now a pissed off fish yelling with it's name at Connor after tackling him to the ground.

Welcome to Nautilus, Markus.

For all that Markus is practicing a nonviolent attitude towards things-- towards people, because the revolution won't survive if it's just one violent altercation after another, he's still a person. Still has feelings, still has wants and needs. Android wants and needs, but android feelings still matter.

Still, he wanted to punch the ever living shit out of Connor in that moment. Just knock him down to the ground, get him away from him, Markus didn't so much want to hurt him as he wanted him to shut up.

He was completely taken off guard when Fiona did that for him. He just stood there, dumbstruck for a moment at what he was watching. A giant fish tackling an android to the ground, yelling some words at it.

What the hell was he supposed to do right now? Markus took a step forward. "Uh... Fiona, it's okay, you don't..." Or maybe he should just let Fiona go right ahead, because you know what, Connor kind of deserved it.

Connor absolutely deserved it.

He looks just as caught off guard as Markus because he honestly didn't expect this from Fiona until suddenly there was a tackling fish smacking his chest with her fins. Connor blinks up at the sky, recounting what just happened.

One, Pokemon really are very strong even when the fore they generate makes no damn sense. Two, he knows Fiona is a very caring fish who wants to help people and make them happy. Three, yeah, he probably should have expected this because she's a very spirited fish.

He ponders recalling her to the ball. He looks down at her and she glares at him. "FEE!"

"....I suppose it's pointless trying to explain that there was a point of me asking those questions?" He asked and she just smacked him again with her fin. "I thought as much," he said and sighed, sitting up, picking her up in his arms. "All right, I'll stop," he said.

She smacked her head on his chest. "Bas!"

Connor looked down at her, frowning. Then glaring. She glares back. There's a good ten seconds staring contest.

Connor sighed again, looked up at Markus. "I'm sorry," he said flatly and climbed to his feet.

Edited 2018-10-21 01:58 (UTC)

Again, all Markus could do was watch this happen, because there wasn't much else he could do. Fiona was the smartest damn thing in the area right now, in his opinion. Smarter them him and Connor, that was for sure, because she knew what was going on. Even if she was a fish.

But. But. She was smacking Connor with her fins and Markus had to try not to smile at it, because it really was a hilarious sight. He felt like his emotions were cycling too rapidly right now, going from the anger and shock, to this amusement, but everything was up and down, topsy-turvy.

Life was just a little too crazy these days to make much logical, rational sense of it. As Connor got up from the ground, before Markus could offer him a hand to help get back up, all he did was raise an eyebrow at him.

"You know you're not supposed to apologize unless you truly mean it." Can't help but be a little snarky back to him about it. From anger, guilt, shame, to amusement and disbelief, being snarky sounded about right.

Fiona got her shit together. No questions about her purpose or existence and if androids were alive. They are and sometimes her trainer is an ass. She just doesn't get why. Probably whatever always has him stressed.

"And I'd need to feel emotions to truly mean it, so that'll have to do," he said. And he's....kind of neutral. But also maybe sulky after being scolded by his fish. He never likes a scolding. He should be perfect and caoable! Not gettibg lectures. Certainly not from a bleeding heart of a fish.

Fiona sighs and looks at Markus helplessly. Her trainer is so dumb sometimes!

Truly a uniter of people

Such a good broken alive guy. Also Markus is not sorry for screwing around with Connor a little bit.

He really shouldn't be, more people should screw with Connor. Its good for him.

It's kiiiiiiiinda fun.

Seems legit, really. Troll him to deviancy.

It's all fun and games until the knock knock jokes come out.

Good luck with the knock knock jokes, he still struggles with puns

He'll try to break him in slowly

I totally flipped what Markus did by not acting WHOOPS, but that's what TDM is for

That's okay! TDM can get all the mistakes, s'cool, s'cool.

TDMs are good like that.

They're great for this kind of thing, like voice testing, and I'm loving it.

Its so fun and Markus is amazing :D

I'm loving everything about his and Connor's interaction, it's so great xD

Me too. The Game robbed us of that fun emotional turmoil and I'm here for it

Yes it did, there needed to be more and I was not pleased

That is the beauty of RPland, give these characters the emotional journey they deserve

Thank god for RPland, the land of just what's needed

It really is. And sorry, Markus, Connor can be kind of a dick

Oh MAN, Connor, oh god, what a dick

Confused puppy still has wicked teeth.

It's saying something when a fish knows you're in the wrong.

Fish has high empathy and knows her trainer needs a smack

Markus and Fiona BFF now, she's a true bro

Fiona is here to be a bro and encourage Connor's emotional journey so she can be a pretty snake