Professional Sacrifice

@believedinjericho   |  [  x  ]

   Green eyes shift downward to gaze at the offered arm curiously. They dart back to his face, tilting her head ever so slightly in mild confusion before her arm wraps delicately around his. Such a strange thing to offer her of all people. She knows what he is. An android. A deviant, and yet, he doesn’t seem to be afraid of her.

   A clever mask, perhaps? A way of hiding in plain sight? Maybe he just recognizes her in general. Some androids do. The ones she had a hand in making recognize her in a way that’s almost slightly unnerving. Vivian doesn’t know if it’s her face or just a feeling they get, but she recognizes the flicker of familiarity in their eyes. One that, usually, shouldn’t be there at all. Normally she just smiles and continues along her way.

“Thank you,” she murmured quietly to him, falling into step beside him. Her strides are shorter and a tad slower than his due to the height difference, but she does her best.

He didn’t know her. Neither did he recognize her. Perhaps was it his programming. Perhaps was it his natural empathy. But she was sad and he was there and she didn’t seem the sort to try and torture an android. And if she tried, Simon could defend himself. As she accepted his arm, he smiled a little bit, slowing down when he noticed his legs were taking him faster than hers were taking her.

“ Do you want to speak about whatever clouds your mood? ”

It was an offer she didn’t have to accept. He knew how not speaking about things could be the defense mechanism. The best armor. Himself preferred to keep the reasons of his melancholy secretive. He was a private man, after all.

“cannot.” she shakes her head. “i’ve got no problem with androids developing little quirks. personality. interesting ways the coding is interpreted. but we were straddling a dangerous line before markus’s protests.” she’s not going into complex economic theory with him. the only good thing to have come from this was the purge of androids from the workforce. if humanity could get back to its feet… “i have responsibilities to my company, my stock holders, and the american government. not to androids.” thea pauses, truly considering the android for a long moment. “perhaps in different circumstances i could afford to be open, but i can’t. and i will never be able to forget that under every word and expression is a line of code written by someone that i pay.”

“ it must be comforting. to be able to hide behind coding, money and fabrication. while i hardly consider myself a child of cyberlife, i have seen cases of children created and left behind because parents refused to hold responsibilities over them for a mistakes they made. ” children being beaten. children being yelled at. simon’s gaze fades away to something sadder, almost haunted before he shakes his head. “ a poor allegory, i’m afraid, but the sentiment remains. ”

“i don’t have time to be lonely.” she thinks it should be endearing, how real the pl-600′s concern sounds. but she knows better even when it doesn’t. “though perhaps you’re right. maybe i wouldn’t be capable of anything if i had no memory. but that is where the comparison is fundamentally flawed and you know that. even without memory, an android has a purpose. it’s where they are better than most of humanity. it’s why i cannot allow deviancy to exist.”

i probably said that once already, but i had not as many followers as i have now, but while simon is canonically in love with markus and will remain so; any markus roleplayer is under no obligation to SHIP with me a ROMANTICALLY based relationship. while i will not erase his feelings, our muses can be FRIENDS and simon will be content with that. there’s no forcing ships in this house and if you don’t think our writing would mesh for a romance, friendship is as precious as anything else <3

The androids words were taken in with gradual thought to each of them, and as his gaze flicked back, a pronounced brow arched, clearing the shadows over one of those tired eyes. When the revolution had concluded, and the initial evacuations had finished, many law enforcement petitioned to join the effort of helping rebuild. Many of them saw. Many of them came to realize… Things weren’t all that they thought.  Allen and his men had arrived to help a new relocation effort in the area, bringing the androids through, changing over those… camps as a form of refugee area to import components and blood for repairs. And now… He was standing back and watching as his men were guided to start actually performing their tasks, and his eyes rolled shut long enough for him to pull in a deep inhale. “I’ll let you in on a little secret.” Looking back, his eyes took those features in a moment longer. Euphemia had told him all about these revolutionaries in spurred excitement – she was even there with him now, being the representative of sorts for their side in order to seamlessly work with the other androids. To ease tensions. He still wasn’t sure what to think of them. “I’m wary of asshole humans too.” Clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth, his gaze turned back out. He was already hankering for a cigarette. “Look at that, another thing I have in common with you — lot.” One hand pushed back through his hair,  before he turned towards Simon in full, other hand offered. “Captain Victor D. Allen, I lead the special weapons and tactics unit of the DPD , so we’ve got a little more power but less people. We’re here to help, so hopefully my android– Er… Euphemia. Hopefully she can keep tensions quiet so we can get you guys somewhere a little more decent.” The church that they all had returned to was in shambles after all. Like a family of rats in a shoe box.  “And you’re…? They gave us names but no pictures, I’m assuming you’re one of the leaders, right? Pretty sure I’ve seen you at the head of those groups a few times.”

he tilted his head. proof of interest at the man’s words. polite interest, as it were, but considering the climat, the situation, could anyone blame him. it wasn’t even the humans, in general, it was just this fierce sentiment of protection he felt for the remaining survivors of jericho. it made him wary. not for himself, but for them. maybe he didn’t need to be. but two years and more of it couldn’t just fade at the first sign of a helping hand.

he let out a soft chuckle despite himself.

“ are you now? ”

a very light layer of humor as his eyes scanned around them, checking in on every androids he could see from there. it was going well. they would need time, of course, to adjust and rebuild, but... they weren’t fighting anymore.

he blinked and turned back to the swat captain.

a nod and he took the offered hand. grip tensed, but firm.

“ a pleasure, captain. ” he caught himself, a subtle curve to his lips. “ sort of. ” his wariness probably wasn’t very well hidden. it hadn’t been a conscious lie, but rather politeness.

gave us names but no pictures.

somehow it didn’t calm him. and he knew they were just there to help. he could read a crowd. it was just... still fresh. and too many loss for something as pacifist as they conducted.

“ yes. i’m simon. ”

leaders, hm? probably. maybe. in a way. he let go of the other’s hand.

“ and we’re grateful. don’t get me wrong, captain. wariness from our part doesn’t mean we cannot see the efforts. ” and many others were more comfortable than him too. “ we’re grateful for the few number as well. some of ours are still rather... shaken. ” the wounded most of all. 

he looked to where he could see the man’s android ( now companion? it was still strange, even for an android to find the correct vocabulary now ).

“well i don’t. i’m not leaving you idiots to your own devices.” she can find what she wants to do, what she wants to be, without leaving them. “we’re family, like it or not. no getting rid of me now.”

“jericho is a safe haven for androids with nowhere else to go. we don’t turn others away. i’m josh.”

“where… where else would i go, simon? there’s nowhere i’d rather be.”