N O V A

He wasn’t usually able to go around the city without sneaking out of the station but this time was different. The captain had ordered something from a store couple of blocks away from the station and usually he would go get it himself but he had been stuck in a meeting all morning so instead, he asked Elliott to get it for him. He knew it should piss him off being ordered around like that, since it’s not part of his job but not today. The sun was shining and he was allowed to walk down the street without worrying about anything. That is until he notices the damn sign. “ Wait, what? ” He turned to properly look at the woman. “ I can’t go inside either, but I need to get my order. ” His brows furrowed together in an annoyance. “ D’you know what? Screw this, we need to get our order, right? So we should, we should go inside and get it “

    shock flitted over her features, the LED on her temple flickering yellow at the other’s outburst before settling back to blue. she understood his distress and irritation from an objective standpoint, but had not expected it from another android. she simply shook her head and pulled a small smile to her lips. “it’s not permitted, and while i can’t speak for yours i know that my order is not so necessary that i need to break their policy. do you know what was in the order you were sent for? we could find another store that sells what you need.”

“They have.” Ever since the big breaking news of attacking androids, shops cracked down. Anti android signs were everywhere. Androids weren’t hardly allowed in anywhere. Except where they were permitted. “Seven is a good age,” The android nearly has her. Growing up the way she did was encouraging, inspiring but also very lonely. Nannies threw her birthday parties and only the worthy kids were allowed to come as per what her parents requested during their absence. It strikes a sentimental chord. “What kind of gift?”

    “a sketchpad to prevent more doodling on her schoolwork, a doll she’s asked for thirty-seven times in the last two months, and i believe her father ordered something else for her as he won’t be able to attend.” not that the android or the girl had expected him to attend - he hadn’t for the last three years, there was little reason to believe he would now. still, dolly always seemed happy with simply having her friends over. “do you have much experience with children?”

samara had actually been looking for a job, one that wouldn’t raise any flags. running low on cash was starting to become a problem, with the nightly fees back at the motel. plus the occasional cheap groceries she bought in order to seem most human. “lets find a store without a banning of androids, they might see their mistake if business goes poorly.” she feels a need to connect with the other android, show them that they too could be free. but not wanting to cause any alert, samara cocked her head. “what sort of store do you need?”

“huh?” nelly had almost the small blonde woman as she walked by. her headphones blasting music in her ear blocked out most sound but she pulled them down enough to catch what the other had said. “an android policy?” the brunette turned to look at the store and the annoying large sign now in the window. “wow that’s ugly as shit. how much do you think he paid for that dumb thing? just making him look stupid” nelly couldn’t understand overreacting like this. sure a few deviants hurt people but humans hurt people every day and he wasn’t banning them from their store. “sure, i’ll get your stuff. what’s the order?”

Chloe was in the middle of a very important phone call. Business inquiries that needed urgent attention. Stiletto heels click along the sidewalk as she catches up on errands. “By Thursday, no later. It’s important we get those stock in. You heard me, Jas.” Dial tone. Chloe had become a queen of hanging up on people before their goodbyes were said. Walking along, she’s stopped by another blonde, only an android. “Anti android store you’re trying to get into?” As if there weren’t plenty of those around. “I don’t pay much attention to which stores are android friendly so it depends. What is it?” 

   “if you ever want my attention again, all you need to do is ask. much, much easier than kite hunting,” ajax humored the girl, imitating a warm smile. he observed dolly’s emotional levels by picking apart expression details, recognizing an increase in joy for a human. he had chosen the correct response. it almost made him … joyful too? the android watched as dolly danced off with her retrieved kite, calculations blurring into something far more complex than numbers and coding. “of course,” ajax replied to nova, eyes shifting to her instead, “it’s what i’m crafted for.” and yet. “were you anyone else’s caretaker android, before you were dolly’s?”

   “are you sure you aren’t flying this kite into trees on purpose?” ajax joked with the young girl, reaching up to easily pluck the colorful item from its recent crash site. another walk through the park - a shortcut to the city on days his owner decided to scour the area for android parts to purchase under the table. for awhile now he had come across dolly and her android, nova. recently, given the slight glitch in his programming, it had become a source of comfort for him amidst the turmoil of his wrongdoing. or his owner’s. though a part of ajax felt responsible. “what do you do when i’m not here to pull it down? you make nova climb the tree?” he smiled briefly towards nova, an acknowledgement while he spoke of her, before returning his gaze to the girl. a thought damned him: what would they think of him, if they knew what he did? ajax handed over the kite. he wasn’t allowed to think of that. he wasn’t supposed to. 

@nv408​

DETROIT: BECOME HUMAN SENTENCE STARTERS (PART TWO)

“I like dogs.”

“I’m going to leave. Though I’m certainly going to miss our bromance.”

“You’re so disgusting!”

“Why’d they make you look so goofy, and give you that weird voice?”

“If you think we’re gonna be buddies, you’re as stupid as you look.”

“I don’t really listen to music, as such, but I’d like to.”

“I always accomplish my mission.”

“Fascinating. CyberLife’s last chance to save humanity…is itself a deviant.”

“Will we be together forever?”

“She needs me, and I need her. It’s as simple as that.”

“You watch your back, all right?”

“Never seen an android like you before. What model are you?”

“I did what I had to to advance the investigation, and I’d do it again if I had to!”

“You’re a lowlife! You don’t feel a thing, do you?”

“Empathy is a human emotion.”

“Why? Why did you kill her? She had nothing to do with any of this.”

“I didn’t mean to kill him. I just wanted to stay alive, and get back to the one I love.”

“I trusted you, and you lied to me!”

“I hope that one day you pay for what you did to me.”

“Nothing else matters to you but your goddamn investigation, huh?”

“They’re machines, and machines don’t feel anything.”

“What is going to happen to me?”

“I never thought I’d say this to an android, but thank you.”

“Do all androids ask so many personal questions, or is it just you?”

“Some things I just can’t forget. Whatever I do they’re always there, eating away at me.”

“That’s probably difficult for you to understand, huh? Nothing very rational about it.”

“That shouldn’t have happened. I wasn’t programmed to fail.”

“Oh, well, you fucked up. Welcome to the club.”

“If you go there, they will kill you.”

“Statistically speaking, there’s always a chance for unlikely events to take place.”

“Am I a living being? Or just a machine?”

“I’ve been ordered to take you alive, but I won’t hesitate to shoot if you give me no choice.”

“You’re nothing to them. You’re just a tool they use to do their dirty work. But you’re more than that.”

“I used to be just like you. I thought nothing mattered but the mission, but then one day I understood.”

the human child had yet to cease crying, so kai did what she thought was best to do — look for its human. sighing quietly, she got back on her feet and held the little human’s hand in hers, making sure to keep her hold tight, but not enough to hurt her. just enough to keep the child with her. “describe your mom to me,” she said, putting on a smile to put the child’s feelings at ease. “what’s the color of her hair? her eyes? how tall is she?” and this went on and on until there came a point when kai was carrying the child in her arms as they made their final turn around the park, slowly approaching the bench where the child was left to wait for its mom. “is that her?” she asked dolly — she, later on, learned to be the child’s name — as they sighted a woman with long, blonde hair. “is that your mom nova?”

    the squealed “momma!” that escaped from the girl as she wriggled down and away from kai caused the blonde’s head to snap towards them, relief flooding her and settling the led indicator on her temple back to blue from the flickering yellow and red it had been moments before. she held dolly to her when the girl collided with her, eyes flicking between her child human and the woman she had been with. “thank you for returning her, dolly usually doesn’t run off like that.”

kai was a cop before anything else. kai was programmed to react to unexpected (and seemingly threatening) stimuli, so when something hit her … bum and she felt two, thin objects wrap around her thighs, she turned in place and squared up, ready to defend herself from a possible physical threat — only to blink in confusion when she saw nothing but a little child looking up at her with wide, equally confused eyes. “hello?” she asked, doing her best impression of a confused robot. “my name’s kai. who are you?” 

and like most androids, kai had expected the little child to answer her because, well, kai was sure she hadn’t appeared to be that … threatening, even after the whole ready-to-fight stance thing, but she’d been proven wrong as soon as the child’s face crumpled and tears began trailing down her cheeks. the act disappeared, and kai immediately fell down to her knees to hold the child and comfort her. “hey, it’s okay. don’t cry. where’s your hum– um, your mom?”

@nv408​

    dolly had been instructed to wait by the same bench nova always left her at when the android went to get her a treat while they were in the park - so long as she was there nova could typically spot her in the crowd. and in her defense she had waited by the bench for several minutes, right up until she’d spotted a blonde woman in the crowd and decided she’d waited long enough. now, crying in the arms of an unfamiliar woman, she wished she had stayed in place. between the hiccups she managed to get out a half-broken “mom... nova went for ice cream” and point off in the general direction nova had gone. she was definitely going to be in trouble. ____     meanwhile, nova had paid for the treat for the girl and returned to where she’d left her, only to find dolly gone. the wave of panic that swept through her was something she likely shouldn’t have felt - more maternal and less... machine. still she managed to keep a relatively calm facade, surveying the crowd in hopes of spotting the small blonde nearby.