kara

She sat on a low wall, hands pressed tight against the cold brick. It had been so warm before. Alice on the brink of sleep, with her parents paying more attention to the kids’ film she’d been so desperate to watch than she was. They’d been considering turning in for the night themselves when Kara got the warning that someone was about to shatter that peace. She’d lacked the time - or the capacity - to process the full magnitude of it until now. Now the evacuating and the counting were done. She could have collapsed with relief when the tallies finally came back. All accounted for. Nobody died today. Things - buildings - could be replaced, but their people couldn’t be. The logistics were fixable. Everyone would have a safe roof over their heads, once they’d been checked up. Kara didn’t need checking up. She was fine. She had work to do. This place was her responsibility. She’d all-but-ordered Luther to go lie down before he damaged himself through high stress, and, no matter how many times Alice’s biocomponents came back okay to her eyes, she wanted her to see a professional. Just in case.  The company she wants is theirs, but there isn’t the capacity to handle so many friends and family. She was setting an example. Sitting out here. Kara never wanted to be a leader. If she was forced to hold the mantle, though? So be it. The company she’d been offered served her well to start doing that. Fingers tapped pointedly, against the bricks beside her. “I - thank you. It could’ve been so much worse if...” Her voice trails off, to be replaced by the method of communication Rose called ‘android-telepathy’. Some people didn’t necessarily like it, she knew. There was little other option to communicate what she wanted to while upholding the human-friendly image of the concerned mother expressing her gratitude to the detective.  “Worst-case scenario, we just discovered a network of anti-android guys who know how to make bombs, and they know the cops are onto them now. How’s Mexico this time of year?”  In all seriousness, they weren’t going anywhere. At least people knew how to repair them here. It was that which made something click in her mind - like a shifting padlock. “Connor, we have to interview everyone. This could be an inside job. I once met an android that seemed like a deviant showing me a safe place, but was actually programmed to lead deviants into a human’s trap.”

“Patches!” Alice supplies, almost instantly, and it doesn’t surprise Kara. She’d always been good at coming up with names. Her daughter’s capacity for forgiveness doesn’t surprise her either. She’d always had more humanity than a lot of humans. Getting upset whenever Kara had to take a tough choice to keep them all alive. Wanting her to give the bus tickets back to the lady with the baby. It does fill her with awe, though. That this little girl approached someone who was designed to hunt her down. Extended that hand of peace. Who’s Kara to stop her? She was right about things more often than not. They had just lived in a world where being right and being alive were mutually exclusive. Things weren’t as bad as they had been. Not good, but not deadly either. Alice was wise, too. The real bad people don’t help the animals. She must have remembered Zlatko’s caged polar bear and developed her own ideas around it. Bad people harm animals, so people who help animals are good. Or at least not completely terrible. It was just such a kid-like thing to do, and so clever at the same time. People looked at Kara and saw a glorified nanny, perhaps, who got all her knowledge pre-programmed. They’d still be wrong, of course, but even that kind of person couldn’t look at Alice and deny her inherent creativity and imagination. Just like other kids.  She crouched down beside her daughter, to reach out to the cat too. Does she trust Connor? No. But she trusts Alice’s judgement completely. “Alice, you can’t have a cat and rescue all the birds.” Her tone was light, gently chastising. There wasn’t a vast amount stopping them having a cat. Besides work and school schedules, but that was a discussion for her and Luther. Alice’s tone was equally light, but a good touch more jovial. “Uh, mom? Cats and birds can totally live in peace and harmony.” Despite herself, she couldn’t help laughing. “Alice!” She had no idea where Alice had developed that kind of humour - maybe from Rose’s son. She was such a funny little girl, too.

tagging: if you want to do it you can say I sent you :D​

Her community existed in a never-ending cry for help. It was like a drop in the ocean, really, but...every piece of fabric she worked on was another person who wouldn’t have to steal clothes, put their daughter in an abandoned house, huddle together for warmth. She could do this all day and all night if she needed to. The remark she made had been a dark joke, more than anything else. One of the others went I’m so done - and she’d thought, oh, if only it was up to us.  One day, she was going to sit down and cross-stitch a slogan she saw on a placard once. Existing is Resisting, surrounded by a whole load of incongruously delicate flowers. That day’s not today, though, as someone’s decided they need to physically stay her hand. A very brave someone, considering her proximity to sewing needles and willingness to use them.  Kara’s gaze flickered upward, away from her work. It was Connor, because of course it was, and she offered a gentle laugh. “You know what I mean, and I know you know what I mean.” Fine. She’d bite. She leant back in her seat, the front legs ever-so-slightly lifting off the ground in the exact kind of way she’d have told children off for, once upon a time. “You know how to sew? ‘Cause I’ve got glowing teaching reviews.” Well, he did say everyone.

Thank you, anonymous citizen! I’m on holiday just now, but will be back shortly! ❤️ I’m having a good time, but I do miss having time to write. A long haul flight should help with that…unless someone reclines their seat back on me again!

She knew of Simon, but couldn’t say she knew him well. It was good someone was looking out for Ralph, at least. As much as he seemed to dislike the place, New Jericho was probably the best place for him to be in a world like this.  Kara couldn’t exactly argue with that, not really. It was the erratic behaviour that kept her just-slightly on edge. It wasn’t his fault, but she imagined that other androids who were dealing with their own trauma found it difficult to be sympathetic.  She used to be a teacher. She always tried to be sympathetic, because you never knew what was going on in someone’s life. She was no saint, that much was for sure, but she tried. Which was more than some people did. “It’s okay to be scared. The world is scary, sometimes. There’s people who are looking out for you, though. Simon seems like a nice man, right? They’re our people, at New Jericho.” Kara nodded, once. Decisive. “I’m bringing these things back there. You can come too, if you want. I won’t let anyone make you afraid.” She was good at warding off trouble. Someone once told her she had ‘resting bitch face’, and she decided to take it as a compliment.