sweethymns | ʜᴜᴍᴀɴ ᴀғᴛᴇʀ ᴀʟʟ

[CUE SPUTTERING and Ai almost chokes on her tea.]

How am I supposed to answer that!?

[???]

'Good taste'?

[Good tastes in android building?]

Yeah! Like, if you were just... I dunno... Built a little...!

[She creates an upside-down triangle by making her elbows touch and hands pointed upwards.]

Cause right now you're just a bean--...

[Ai's eyes glow for a split second and a pillow from the living sofa flies over Connor's head in an arc and then into a straight line into Lien's face, who yelps.]

Stop harassing the android!

[Congrats Connor, you're seeing the regular comedy routine between the twins.]

[The pillow surprises him, arcing just over his head to land squarely in Lien's face. It's a little startling, and Connor blinks -- but this must be how siblings act around each other all the time.

Regardless, he puts two and two together. They were talking about his appearance.]

Ah- if that was a compliment, Lien, then thank you. My friend once called my face "goofy", though, so opinions must differ.

[He doesn't seem to care if she still is recovering from the pillow attack.]

Connor, I'm so sorry... When she's actually doing work, she isn't so...!

[Lien just huffily puts down the pillow and stuffs her mouth with toast.]

We'll get down to business once we're done eating.

[Connor smiles, looking amused.]

You don't have to apologize for her. I can see she just likes to speak her mind.

[To say the least.]

Take your time eating.

[He'll just sit and wait.]

[The quaint if off-kilter breakfast is finished and Ai leads them all to the living room. Lien takes off her glasses and cracks her fingers, not taking a seat like Ai Thao is.]

Okay. So how this works is that, well, I basically touch you. Hand to hand really. It doesn't really matter where unless I'm searching for a very specific something.

[She turns to face Connor, hands on her hips.]

I'll be frozen while I read your database and most likely be uttering a lot of nonsense. That's just me vocalizing the stuff I see. Sound simple enough?

[He takes a seat, listening, craning his head up slightly to look at her. Connor straightens in his seat, attentive. ]

Simple enough, yes. Will you need help finding the right memory?

It kind of helps if you do a recall yourself. So that it can be the most recent memory for me to see instead of me digging through the last 12 hours or so of you sleeping.

I'm not too worried about anything else since you're forthright by design. Hope I don't throw up though.

[Sincerely:]

I really hope you don't. This is the only good shirt I have now.

[He reaches out with his hand, offering. Ready for her to begin.]

Ready when you are.

Ha.

[Lien grasps his hand, but nothing happens yet.]

Got a few more shirts like that for you buddy, wait and see.

[Silence fills the air. Her eyelids close. And just as immediately they open back up and her eyes have become luminous on its surface. Her grip on Connor's hand becomes like a vice, unwilling to let go.

And as Lien said, she begins to utter a stream of conscious, words and sentences in no particular order, all based on what she sees in Connor's mind.]

Make: RK800, CyberLife, investigation, pump regulator functional, auditory functional, 10 no 12 hours ago—

[She's looking for that exact moment, the second he stepped into the other side. That's the only way she or any of them will begin to comprehend how any of this happened.]

[His mind, just like a human’s, is a vast network of connections and electrical impulses. But everything that makes up Connor’s brain is complex and firing so very quickly; information passing through at a flash, so much of it, again and again and again, and all he’s doing currently is sitting there, letting her delve into what makes up his mind, his memories.

It’s vast. Like a bottomless pool, and one could drown in it if they weren’t careful. Lines of code, calculations, numbers and words and things that are inherently defined as clockwork, machine-like. But there’s something else there — his consciousness, memories, emotions. Like flotsam coming up in the sea, large glittering things that stand out in the electrical web and processes of Connor’s brain.

scan rain cyberlife hank ra9 ra9 ra9 snow crunching underfoot the feeling of a gun in his hand life i am alive machines freewill desperation fear humor happiness androids deviants kill her and you’ll i’ll tell you what i want to know software fluctuation destabilization error which side are you on are we on the right side jericho police hidden hiding evidence the color of blue blood staining his lips his tongue samples pigeons chasing through the stalks in the sunlight sumo and cole and a bullet through the head of a face that looks like him

(—his consciousness is like a gentle hand guiding her along to where she needs to go. This is his mind, and none of it hurts him like they promised it wouldn’t, he can wade through this endless sea of himself without drowning. He finds the memory she wants, and it plays.

”Sumo! Where are you going?” Connor’s voice rings out, and from his perspective he sees a large dog walking ahead of him. The dog ruffs a little, panting slowly, and they both walk atop long blades of grass. The weather is getting warm again, the green of the land peeking through dead things in the park.

Hank’s dog was pulling ahead, excited about something or other, large tail swaying lazily. Connor keeps up, curious, and unwilling to lose him, hurrying his step. Through the path, under a line of well-manicured trees casting a shade over his form. Sumo stops, sitting down next to an unoccupied bench. The end of his leash drags behind him, and Connor reaches down to pick it up.

“You shouldn’t pull like that,” he says, plainly. Sumo lets out a long whine and Connor cinches his brow, wondering why the usually laid-back creature seems to be concerned about something. “What is it?” he asks, looking around; but seeing nothing, Connor sits on the old bench with the loop of Sumo’s leash still in his hand.

And then the world stops in a flash. Everything goes dark, and Connor feels like his body is being pulled in every direction at once. The leash slips from his hand — or at least, he thinks it does — or maybe it was never there once he sat. It’s a rush, a fall into a void, the sound of the universe creaking to admit him within. He feels something tearing at his heart (no he doesn’t have a heart, just parts and plastic and strangely colored blood), his chest sears with not-pain, and suddenly he’s on the ground.

It isn’t the grass of the park. It’s the cold concrete of a dirty alleyway, his vision sideways with his face planted against the ground. Liquid pools at his chest, staining clothes blue. He tries to pull himself up, and it floods down his front, his chest, too much of it lost — the countdown timer appears in his vision. Warning: internal critical failure eminent.

He tries to stand. Presses a hand to his chest, tries to walk, but braces himself against the alleyway. What was happening, he needed help, was he going to die—

Connor brings her back, out of the memory. Back into the torrential flow of connection. From here, she’ll have to get herself out.)

amanda rk800 everything is blue all the sleeping ones lined up ready to awaken and he feels fingers clench around a wrist chains prison freedom your people what choice will you make man or machine snow escape speeches and droves of plastic marching down the street burgers alcohol a friend on the ground androids who claim to love and feel and care a hole in the heart and what does he do now with so much freedom]

[Ai Thao is standing next to her sister, ready to intervene or release her if possible. Lien stops vocalizing, transitioning into a silence. And then Lien coughs once. And then twice. She heaves and doubles over her grip loosening and she's on her hands and knees trying to regain her breath, but coughing up again. She manages to gasp out—]

—Done! I'm done, that was— Damn, that was no tablet hard drive.

[Ai is there to pick her up and put her on the sofa, laying on her back. When they see her face, a little bit of blood drips down from the corner of her mouth and some from her nose. Her shoulders are shuddering and She lets out a dramatic, but stuttering breath.]

Ahhhhh. So you really WERE scared... God.

[And just like that, the connection is severed.

Connor had closed his eyes, and now he opens them, to find Lien doubled over and obviously not in very kind shape. He frowns with concern, watching as Ai helps her to the couch.

He stands, moving near, casting a worried look at Ai before saying to Lien:]

Are you all right? You're bleeding.

[Was it too much for her? Or did this happen all the time? Either way, she seems so pale.

He makes no mention about being scared. He wasn't lying about that.]

[Ai is already kneeling by Lien's side, hands glowing and passing over her sister's face and her chest.]

It's fine. She'll be okay.

[Lien lets out a whining sound and something along the lines of, "I want piiizzzaaa," but Ai pays her no mind.]

Just give her some space and she'll be able to breathe easier.

[Connor appears reluctant to step away, but he knows there's nothing he can really do for Lien at the moment. And so he steps back, giving the both of them space, though the frown is still etched across his face.

He can assume from the way Ai's acting that this has happened before. But best to verify that by asking.]

Is it always like this?

Mm? Oh no, not all the time. [Lien seems to talk more easily as Ai's healing takes effect. She was given a tissue so she's wiping off the nosebleed.]

It IS tiring though. You just happen to have something pretty traumatic happen to you, so it isn't your fault that it reflected back on me. It's the nature of the beast. Or the touch. Whatever.

Also, I want that dog.

[Ai blinks in confusion at Lien because wtf]

[He nods, understanding with the ease of someone who might relate in a strange way. But still, while Ai looks confused at the remark, Connor replies easily enough. No confusion on his part; it was his own memory, after all.]

Well, you'll have to take that up with the dog's owner.

[Since she's looking a little better with Ai's healing, he allows himself a smile. His words sound fond.]

His name is Sumo. He's a good dog.

[Lien continues to lay on her back, hands placed across her chest and Ai goes to the kitchen for a tall glass of ice-cold water. She keeps talking to Connor, grinning.]

I'm glad that the android filled future of another world still has an appreciation for man's best friend.

Do you like dogs Connor? Hope he wasn't left alone after you appeared here.

[He nods, smiling.]

I do like dogs. Though Sumo usually isn't the kind to dart off or wander around all that much; I'm sure my friend Hank will have found him. He was nearby.

[Though Sumo had been acting strange before he was brought to this world. Did he know?]

...So, did viewing my memories help you in any way?

Yeah. Yeah, it did.

[Another puff of breath and Lien holds her hands up to her mouth, staring up at the ceiling.]

Maybe it won't be so complicated as I thought. Just gotta go back to that alleyway you were found in. See if there's anything we can poke at. Like, you showed me that you were sitting on a park bench and then... Poof. [A shrug.]

Guess that was your open door. Who'da thunk huh?

A bench? Not what I would've thought.

[His mind churns with questions, and he clasps his hands behind his back.]

And so if we find this door, then is it easy to pry back open? There's also the issue of the injuries that I sustained, and how to circumvent that.

It's just a hunch, but hear me out.

[Pushing herself back up, she tucks her legs so she's sitting with them crossed while facing Connor.]

It's an unstable door. What kind of energy it runs out, who the hell knows, but it's what makes a bridge to this timeline and hopefully to yours. If we stabilize it with our own energy source a la Younger Sister...!

[And she gestures to Ai Thao who returns with a glass of water and being confused again. Older sister does that. A lot.]

It'll either close up on its own or at the very least it won't send you back with a damaged blood pump.

Edited 2018-06-09 05:56 (UTC)

I see.

[He gets the gist of it, and he turns his head to look at Ai who's just walked in, appearing confused.]

Ai, are you able to stabilize doors that lead from one dimension to another with your powers? [If so, that's fairly impressive, he thinks. For the first time, he wonders just how powerful she actually is.] ...It sounds like that might be the plan for us going forward.

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