ʜᴜᴍᴀɴ ᴀғᴛᴇʀ ᴀʟʟ

[formidable]

Androids, psychics, magic, investigations, and finding out how to human. ➢ Cool Mood Music No. 1 ➤ Cool Mood Music No. 2

Comments

[psychometer]

[The second he confesses, there's a good 30-second pause with the sound of running water between the two of them. Lien turns off the water, wrings the towel and goes back to put the towel on Ai's forehead.

And THEN she looks at Connor with disbelief.]

BUT WHY?

[determinare]

[To him, this loop of logic is pretty straightforward?! Again, humans and mouths.... weird.]

To take her... temperature?

[But now he sounds unsure, THANKS FOR THAT.]

[psychometer]

Connor.

[Hands are taking his shoulders.]

Buddy.

[She looks at him seriously.]

I've seen what those fingers touched. The thought of you putting those in her mouth is gonna make me break out into sickness too.

[determinare]

[He raises his head ever so slightly, chin tilting up as he looks at her.]

I washed my hands, Lien. I'm not that thoughtless.

[A beat.]

And it was a finger. Not multiple.

[psychometer]

That doesn't make it better, oh my god.

[determinare]

I apologized for being... invasive, so you don't need to worry about that. But I still don't understand why it was such an issue at the time.

[And now it's being brought up again!]

[psychometer]

[She opens her mouth to speak, but Ai is stirring in her sleep, so Lien tugs at Connor's sleeve and motions for him to go to the kitchen with her.]

C'mon, we're gonna wake her up at this rate. Besides, I wanna catch up since she got you all to herself the last few times you visited.

[determinare]

[ ...

Connor exhales, and nods. He'll be quiet until they're out in the hallway, and even then his voice remains hushed. At least until they reach the living room.]

You missed the pizza. But you probably already know about that by now.

[psychometer]

Guh! You're right. And she probably ate it all, dammit!

[The differences between Ai and Lien are so stark, so it's funny seeing the former's identical face swearing and animatedly starting on the pile of dishes that need to be cleaned.]

Oh well. Just bring one next time and write my name on it. She won't be as inclined to eat it.

[determinare]

I'll be sure to do so the next time I visit.

[Now he moves next to her, curious.]

Do you need help? I can dry the dishes and put them away.

[psychometer]

Hm? Oh, sure. Kitchen towels are on the oven handle.

[The sink gets nice and soapy and she starts soaking some old dishware.]

... Anyway. The finger thing.

[determinare]

[After he's grabbed the towels, he'll dry the clean dishes whenever one is ready for him. His gestures are even and rhythmic, done with ease.]

...I know I should've asked first.

[psychometer]

Look, I'll just get straight to it.

[She shakes soap soaked fork at him as she gives an explanation.]

Putting fingers in someone's mouth is considered sexual. It's a sex thing. Although with you two, it probably looked really goddamned goofy.

1/2

[determinare]

[The plate slips out of the towel, landing on its edge and starts rolling off the counter.]

Damn it-

[Connor's reflexes are at least quick enough to catch it before it lands on the ground and shatters. He then turns his head to look at Lien.]

[determinare]

It's what? [No wonder Ai reacted how she did. That makes sense now, and it's all so... strangely...

He doesn't even have words for it. Embarrassing? Disconcerting? But she forgave him, so obviously he didn't cross too big of a line-- maybe.]

That isn't... That is to say, that was not at all my intention.

[Hell.]

[psychometer]

Ah ha.

[She hands him the clean fork.]

Your capacity for natural reactions is pretty good. Kudos.

[determinare]

[oh my god]

That isn't the point.

[He continues to dry the dish. Several times.]

I think I should apologize to her again. I didn't know. How was I supposed to know? Humans have a strange relationship with what goes in their mouths. Ai probably believes me to be some kind of...

[A pause.]

Deviant. In the other way.

[psychometer]

Listen. If she was mad at you, you would have been thrown against the wall. I'm pretty sure Ai realizes you didn't know any better after you did that.

[She motions with the fork again, TAKE IT]

I mean, you're an android that's effectively a police investigator. You might be AWARE of that behavior, but it stands to reason that you wouldn't realize that what you do as part of analyzation, might be misconstrued as something else entirely.

[determinare]

[Slowly sets the dry plate aside and tAKES THE FORK, FINE]

That's true, and yet I still need to apologize. For my relatively careless behavior.

[Drying the fork.]

She should have said something to me. All she mentioned was that it was "invasive".

[psychometer]

Listen... Connor. If you've been spending all this time with her whenever you visit, you should realize by now that she's a little...

[Lien pauses.]

Shy? I'd say innocent or clueless, but I'd be underestimating her. She's just not as blunt as I am.

[determinare]

Even so, she can be honest with me. I would prefer to not... "put my foot in my mouth", as the saying goes.

[But he can't argue with the fact that Ai's shy. He noticed that the first day they met.]

She's been opening up, though. In my opinion, of course; you would know better than I.

[psychometer]

Hm. I'd say so. She keeps letting you inside and that's probably more successful than with any guy that she does know.

Which isn't very many. She's not great with them.

[Connor is new and different and also non-threatening in a way other men aren't, human or otherwise.]

You're not malicious. Hell of an investigating unit, but you don't mean harm and she can sense that.

And you seem to like her QUITE a bit... [Her tone of voice is inquisitive yes.]

[determinare]

I’m sure it’s a matter of how she considers me — not like a “man” that would usually intimidate her. Maybe not even male. Simply an android.

[That might be an incorrect assumption but it’s his best guess.

Though he has to return her look with a quizzical one.]

If I didn’t like her, I wouldn’t be visiting her.

[He’s thinking of the wrong kind of “like”.]

[psychometer]

I dunno. Androids are made to blur the line and while she knows it's there, maybe that isn't the point.

[When he asserts his last statement, Lien looks up at Connor with an equally quizzical look.]

... You were made to track down androids that strayed from their programming before you did that yourself. And from what I was able to gather from your data... Mind... [She changes the wording because what she saw was so much more complex beneath the raw numbers and stats that Connor sees the world in sometimes.]

... They made a swerve because they weren't bound to the programmed loyalty they once had to humans.

What I'm saying is it's... Odd? It's odd how you're bonding with her. Maybe I wasn't expecting an android to show interest in humans.

[determinare]

Is it? Do you think I should only show interest in other androids?

[That’s a rhetorical question, of course.]

Ai doesn’t seem to care that I’m... different than her. She’s well-aware of it, but she’s treated me as a friend regardless.

If she doesn’t see that divide, then why should I? Besides, my best friend is a human.