gotosleep_idiot | September & October Test Drive

"I'll have to make sure to take notes." Just a phrase. Mental notes, he didn't actually need a pen and paper, obviously, but he'll remember it all. That part of himself wasn't damaged, thankfully. There was no memory loss to be dealt with, and he was happy and thankful for that.

"You could learn how to fly by bending?" That was surprising, and Markus got up from where he was seated, pushing himself up and brushing himself off. His clothes weren't the cleanest, but that didn't mean he needed to add dirt to it all.

He looked at Connor holding the jacket out, and he reached out to take it, being extra careful not to touch him as he took the jacket back. Instead of putting it back on, seeing as it was now wet, he looked down at it, examining it for a moment.

"All bending requires is a force of will, right? Like... wishing the jacket was dry, and then it becomes dry." That's how he was understanding it, anyway.

"As far as I understand it, given time and practice, everything is possible with bending. Some take to it better than others, and some experience difficulties. Such as Miguel is can create fairly solid objects if he doesn't think too much, but becomes incapable when he tries because of self doubt," Connor said, pulling on his jacket after Markus took his.

"So yes. That's how it works. Wishing and believing,," Connor said and whistled to get Fiona's attention. "We'll stay by the river a while, don't lose us," he said and she answered with a happy splash.

"You really care about that child." Markus decided not to put on the wet jacket, seeing as, well, it was a little wet still, and why bother? So for now he'll just carry it. It doesn't have any special markings on it, nothing like that, so it's easier for him to not have to worry about it.

Looking at Fiona, he smiled gently. Connor really cared about her, too, if they were going to stay by the river, rather then have her get out. In fact, Connor seemed to care about a lot of things, people, animals, here.

Looking around, Markus decided to start walking in the direction that they had been going in to start with. "Are you able to bend?"

"There is no reason to not give him proper guidance and stability while watching after his physical health," Connor said. Which really is a staple for his arguments. There's no reason not to. No real reason to do so, but no real reason not to. It's not against his programming, and it's not like he's doing anything, just being idle.

It helps maintain his own self delusions that he actually cares a whole lot even as he tells himself he doesn't.

Connor walks along the river bank, headed towards the beach again. His mind drifts to the shotgun, the rush of something when he had done it. The cigarettes he could say he was human at the time, influenced by chaos and Nautilus and of course he could then. But the shotgun...he had been an android then.

"No," Connor said. And he finds himself curious if Markus could if he knew how it was supposed to work, but he doesn't ask.

"I know." Connor was right in that, there was no reason not to. "You just remind me of someone. She was caring for a human child, too, and I asked her why." Because it reminded him of Kara, who he was glad had gotten out of Jericho before it exploded. Still, the care she gave for that girl... something about it would always stick in his mind.

Instead of following, he walked alongside him. He might not know exactly where they're going, but he had a good enough guess at it. Eventually they would get to the beach, now that they were close to water.

Frowning at the answer, Markus looked down at the jacket in his hand. If you could just wish it to be so, why couldn't Connor? And if he couldn't, did that mean that Markus couldn't? He wasn't sure, and he held his jacket up with one hand. The other hand came up as well, and he snapped his fingers in the jacket's direction.

Nothing happened. "Is there a word I'm supposed to say, a phrase or something? Maybe I need a wand?"

"An android?" Connor asked. He was silent a moment. "And what reason did she give?" Because that meant she was a deviant, right? It was just learning more information about deviants and not like he genuinely wanted to know.

Connor watched from the corner of his eye and he was. Disappointed? Reaffirmed? If Markus couldn't bend then he definitely couldn't and the shotgun was just some weird fluke or maybe Miguel or maybe just random chaos. If Markus couldn't bend then he could ever point at him and show everyone androids just couldn't and to stop expecting him too.

And yet...

"No," Connor said and paused. Then he pulled out his tablet, LED flickering yellow as he connected and he held it up for Markus to see. The screen flickers to show something from Connor's point of view. He's standing in a dark hallway of what appears to be a hospital with a young girl with a sword. Connor is showing her a screen with gun blueprints she's studying intently with a whisper of 'perfect' and after a few moments before bending up two guns to hand to him.

"She wasn't used to bending guns so I showed her blueprints. The guns operated as they should have, though Connie has also been here for a while. She's the one who uses air to fly," he said.

Markus was silent for a moment as well before speaking up again. What she said was simple, but it stuck with him, and it felt important. "She said that the girl needed her, and she needed the girl. It was as simple as that."

Leaning forward, he watched the video with a frown. Okay, so there was a lot to take in there. Connie, the girl, he would remember her now. And she was giving Connor guns; must be a reason for that, he'd have to remember to ask about it later.

But he understood a little bit better now. Markus looked away, then down at the jacket again. He could do this. He could do this bending thing, he knew he could.

Closing his eyes, he focused all he could on getting his jacket to be dry. Something simple, to get all the water away, if he could just will it, like he knew he could...

And then the jacket was dry, and he's staring at it in surprise. "I think I'm beginning to understand."

"I see," Connor said. It was...oddly similar. To what Miguel said when they declared them partners. Connor kept the place from burning down and he'd teach Connor music, but it's what the thought was. They'd be there for each other.

Connor pocketed the tablet after Markus examined the video, cutting off the connection. He figured it was a good example. Connie was making something she never made before, but was able to do so. Thanks to practice, but still, the unfamiliar would be harder than the familiar.

Especially since they were basically running through a horror movie at the time.

And then Markus was focusing and suddenly the jacket was dry. Connor stopped, staring at the jacket, LED cycling to yellow and red because oh. Oh, it wasn't inability. It was something else. It wasn't stress, it wasn't about a mission, it was just drying a jacket and Markus did it and-

"Shit," Connor muttered and started walking, a bit faster than before, but he's pulling out that coin again.

He did it. He couldn't believe he did it, but he did it. The jacket was dry, and Markus, he had made it dry. Just by thinking, just by willing it to be dry, there it was. Dry and just like it was before.

Holy shit, he couldn't believe he had just done it. And there Connor was freaking out again, and Markus knew that this was just going to be a cycle with them. The other doing something to freak the other out in some way.

Markus sped up as well, to keep pace with Connor, because he can't let him get away. He can't let that happen.

"If I can do it, so can you." It was said loud enough to be heard, but not much louder then that. He just wanted him to know that it is possible for them, because it's not like Markus is that special. He doesn't think of himself as special.

He just is how he is. "It... wasn't that hard, actually." Like that would help any.

That coin was moving between fingers, the LED doing a whole light show as Connor walks with a blank face, but a very determined stride. At least keeping enough presence of mind to stick near the river, only changing course when they hit one branching off and following that.

Fiona is keeping pace, hopping out of the water sometimes to look at the ntwo.

And when Markus speaks, Connor just frowns, looking away. Because it meant there was potential there. It was a physical, real thing. It was evidence of actual will. An android with actual will and there's no one or nothing else to even blame for it.

There is a brief thought that some people are going to be insufferable about this because if Markus can bend, so can Connor.

But that's the thing. If Markus can bend, why can't Connor, and then what does that mean and-

He....doesn't actually respond. He's kind of lost in his own thoughts.

When Connor didn't answer, or say anything, Markus just let it go. Much like he let a lot of things go. He was going to offer to dry off Connor's jacket, too, since it had to still be a little damp, but he didn't want to touch him.

He exchanges a glance with Fiona, because he's worried about him, too. And then there it is, once again, the slight guilt. Because didn't he cause this? Wasn't it a little bit his fault, that he was making Connor feel like this?

Maybe he shouldn't have tried to actually bend. But no, no, it was okay to bend. That's what they were brought here to do, to bend, and ascend or whatever that part was. He was just doing something that felt right.

After a little bit of walking together, with Connor playing with his coin, and Markus checking out the guide on bending some more on his phone, he finally spoke up again.

"I think this could be a helpful tool to use. Especially to help, say, a child."

At least now he's starting to see the sands of the beach. Just. Get back. And. He doesn't. Pack? He can pack. Do things. Domestic things that are really only meant for like undercover work or a way to not be idle and now it's what he does all the time because he has no choice.

No. Pack up rooms. Find a better place for all the instruments. Maybe hide the shotgun because above the kitchen cupboards work in an emergency and keeps it away from Miguel's reach, but maybe not so good with a deviant in his home.

A deviant. A deviant who can bend. An android who can bend and he has bended before, but he shouldn't he shouldn't he shouldn't-

Maybe he can bend for the sake of his mission, Miguel had said and he thought maybe that was true, but was terrified if it wasn't, but he couldn't freak out at Miguel, but Markus was another story.

"No!" Connor snapped, catching the coin in one hand and turned to point a finger in Markus' face. "No. No, Miguel can say things like that because he's twelve. You...you don't-" And there's anger there, but also something desperate and lost and so frustrated. "Don't." He said and turned to keep walking and pretend he didn't just have an outburst that was decidedly more emotional than he should be displaying.

Startled, Markus stopped walking when Connor snapped at him, just standing there, surprise and concern on his face. He didn't expect that. He didn't know what he expected, but he didn't expect that, and it showed.

But now he wasn't sure what to do. Wasn't even sure what to say, and he wanted to say something, but he didn't want to be snapped at again. Not that he couldn't take it; he could, definitely.

It made Connor freak out. Why couldn't he see that what he was doing was just so human it could almost be a little scary.

"Okay." Markus said, putting both hands up in the air in a gesture that clearly said 'I'll back off, okay'. Except of course, as he started walking again, keeping up with Connor, he wasn't going to just back off.

No. Couldn't do that. "I'm sorry for--" He cut himself off. He wasn't actually sorry for anything, not really. Not sincerely.

"It's okay, Connor." Markus said softly after another moment. "Are you sure you still want me to stay with you? I'm not going to stop pushing you. I can understand if you don't want to deal with the stress from all that."

There was a reason that Connor changed so quickly, despite all the work he put into finding Jericho and Markus. Sure, one of them was the stress of knowing just how many androids would die if Markus was taken down then. But his programming was already starting to fall apart at the seams.

Right now, without the threat of so many lives, he's still able to scramble at the thread and try to pull it all back together again.

"My mission takes all priority. This is the only way I can accomplish it," Connor said. "Meetings just mean you can put on whatever facade you can manage or maintain lies or any number of ways where I don't learn what I need to."

And it's not like he hasn't been in a near constant state of stress since coming here for a number of reasons.

"And I can deal with stress. I have programming to deal with it if I reach critical levels."

Round and round and round they go. Markus could see that this was going to be something that they would be doing a lot. Making some progress, and then back tracking, and then making some more progress, and then more back tracking. Two steps forward, one step back.

Luckily, they seemed to have a lot of time to be able to do this little dance. Markus could be patient. And there was a lot of things to do in this place, from what he was seeing. He wouldn't be getting bored any time soon.

"Then I'll stay." Markus said, though he had to admit to himself (not to Connor, definitely not to him) that he was a little hurt. A stupid hurt; did he really think that he was putting on a facade? Lying he could understand being wary of, but Markus wasn't pretending to be anyone other then who he was.

"I was thinking more along being thrown into a river kind of stress." Not that his slight guilt over that happening would stop him from doing things that might have that outcome for Connor. The pushing part, he just wouldn't stop it.

Connor wasn't sure what to make of deviant personalities. An act, a patchwork of things they emulated, just based on the emotion that turned them? Hard to say. He wasn't sure what to make of it.

~~Or maybe it was real.~~

"Its just an inconvenience," Connor said. Certainly not annoying or frustrating or anything like that. Just inconvenient.

"Just don't let the house burn down if you interrupt my cooking," he said. Because clearly an investigative bot needs to be cooking. "Miguel doesn't do well with the stove."

"Right. Inconvenient. Not that you hate the river or anything. Just inconvenient." He was able to resist rolling his eyes at that, because it wasn't just inconvenient. Markus knew that much, but he wouldn't push that one. There was a time and place to push, it was a delicate balance. Not everything needed to be pushed.

"I know how to use the stove." Markus chuckled at that, who did Connor think he was talking to? "Between the two of us, I'm sure the place won't burn down." He pauses.

"Is that a normal function for you to have? Cooking? I know why I know how to do that, but you're not a caretaker. Back home, at least."

"I could hate the river. Not do. It seems a thing I would hate if I had the emotions for it," Connor said. Because that was clearly very different concepts.

He's a mess.

"Its not a main function, no. I have very basics of those subroutines. They're primarily for when I need to go incogito, though it can also be used for when I'd be idle for some time otherwise," he said. "I only have fifty recipes and I can't do anything heavy duty with cleaning."

"Right, could, not do. If there was a difference between those." And the ability to resist rolling his eyes was lost with that one, as he rolled his eyes and shook his head.

He is a mess. But one who can do some basic cleaning, and that's something. More then Markus expected.

"It's good that I showed up then, before you ran out of recipes." Said with a little bit of amusement. He had more then two hundred recipes on file, and cleaning? Unfortunately, he knew all about cleaning. He was there to take care of Carl, and that included in all things. His model might not have originally been for caretaking, but he was damn good at it.

Not that he wanted to volunteer for the cleaning part. He was allowed to not want to clean anymore.

"Yes," Connor said. Because clearly there was. And hey, at least now they've reached sand. "Come here, Fiona. We're taking the direct path, I'll drop you off when we're back home," he called, holding out his arms.

Fiona obediently listened, hoping out of the water and into his arms as he turned and headed for the more direct route to the beach house.

"Miguel knows I'm limited. He doesn't seem to mind," Connor said, maybe a bit defensively. Maybe. He looks at Markus with a thoughtful, guarded look. "How many recipes do you have?" He asked.

May be best he doesn't volunteer. Because obviously he should allow the more experienced one to do the work if they wanted. He just....well, he liked being useful.

Edited 2018-10-27 02:59 (UTC)

And the weirdness was back as Markus watched Fiona listen to her owner's voice, hop out of the water and back into his arms. He supposed having her hop around the sand wasn't the best bet (maybe? He wasn't one hundred percent sure on that, either), but still.

Fish weren't technically supposed to do that. So, just a little more weirdness on that one, because he hadn't told himself how strange everything was in the last ten minutes.

But Markus sees that look and sets his into something neutral. Non-threatening. All the while berating himself on the inside because how had he spoken so easily on something when it was clearly important? He didn't want to do something that might take away something Connor enjoyed doing.

"If he doesn't mind, then I don't think I'm needed to do anything." Markus smiled pleasantly. "You seem to have it under control. I'm sure I'll be busy acquainting myself with this place, that will take up most of my time."

Technically Fiona could just flop around on the sand. Its just not a particularly fun way to go about moving. A ride along with Connor was far more preferable.

And really, its not like Markus could know better. Connor isn't meant to be a full time cook. But the biggest problem he's had here is a feeling of idle uselessness. He's supposed to be doing things, accomplishing missions or helping with the prototype testing. Not just....existing.

At least cooking meant he was doing something daily and helping Miguel. Miguel was happy for it and Connor felt...needed.

"This place does have a tendency to throw a lot at you. The chaos storm hit shortly after I arrived and there was a lot going on then," Connor said, still looking uncertain, but tension was melting from his shoulders.

Edited 2018-10-28 02:43 (UTC)

Taking care of Miguel is part of his current mission. And Markus knows that, because Connor told him that. Not just with words, but with the words around words, whatever shows him that taking care of Miguel and all that entails is important to him.

Markus should have known better then to say anything that would take that away in some way. He wanted Connor to feel needed. To feel useful. Markus could find his own ways of doing that.

Hell, he might just have to start writing out recipes he knows and putting them somewhere Connor can see them, so that he has them to make now.

"I'm hoping to arrive during a time without a storm, then. If to make things a little easier to process." Markus watched the tension melt and hid a smile. "Which chaos storm was that? The guide says there's been a lot."

Things would be a lot easier if Connor would just admit what he wanted. There was a contentment in taking care of Miguel. Of helping and making lives a little easier without it having to involve him deciding to shoot something. He's had the same feeling with Hank, wanting to push him to try and be a little better about taking care of himself.

But it was hard to admit it, words still ringing in his mind. I'm sure you're doing what you were made for, fighting the oppressive monsters that is cooking and cleaning. Said by Connie, repeated by the phantom of Amanda. He knew he shouldn't devote so much time to it, but...he didn't have the will to stop.

"We did just have one so I think you're safe. There's at least time between," Connor said. "And it was a chaos storm. Which is different from reality storm. A reality storm is more common and I've only been through one and it seems to have been more random than normal? A chaos storm happens when we drift too close to the chaos below and everything goes out of control. Bending's stronger and running on a hair trigger. We have to physically pull the city up with chains all around the place and then bending was off for about a week."

"I guess you didn't miss the bending too much for that week." Markus quipped, unable to stop himself from making some kind of remark. Sometimes he was just too human for his own good.

"Chains, though? That's... definitely strange." That was really fucking weird, but he wouldn't say it like that. Chains around the city though? He was really not going to understand what this place was about, he felt, though he wished there was something he could make sense of.

But no. It was filled with chains, and giant fish, and Connor, who was the strangest person he would probably have to deal with. He could meet a three legged crab person, and Connor might still take the cake.

"Is that it?" Markus asked, pointing ahead at what he assumed was the beach house.

It's a palette cleanser of Amanda's conditioning. Also the house is from Steven universe if familiar

thedevianthunter - 2018-10-29 02:19 (UTC) - Expand

September & October Test Drive

GUILT JUST MEANS YOU'RE ALIVE MUAHAHA

WELL HE ISN'T ADMITTING TO GUILT YET

ONE DAY MY DENIAL FRIEND. ONE DAY.

ONE DAY THEY CAN DROWN IN THEIR GUILT TOGETHER

IT WILL BE A GLORIOUSLY DEPRESSING DAY

AT LEAST THEY CAN BEND THE ABILITY TO DRINK?

OH BOY THAT IS GOING TO BE SO MUCH FUN

GREAT USE OF BENDING

ONLY THE BEST FOR THE GUILT BOYS

GOOD DECISIONS. Also that is probably going to be a cycle omg.

Like I said, only the best dsjhgfdkjs oh god

Both just freaking each other out in turns

Back and forth until someone spontaneously combusts!

....man, they could just combust, couldn't they

They could, and then there'd really be a problem.

Make everyone freak out and set fires

Whoops? Whoops.

Re: Whoops? Whoops.

Here's Markus signing up for housewife duties nooooooo

Double housewife for the kid and skeleton vagabond

All the food and cleaning \o/ Though Markus doesn't want Connor to feel bad

Connor just ultimate mother hen and wants to take care of people

Awww Connor. Markus says go for it, he supports this fully

It's good for Connor. A lot less moral debate.

But wait, don't we want some debate? Hmmmmm

It's a palette cleanser of Amanda's conditioning. Also the house is from Steven universe if familiar