open rp post ➲ picture prompt meme

[jessihoney]

the shamelessly stolen picture prompt meme

I — Choose one of my characters and ask for them in your header/comment
II — Leave me pictures orrr just throw me a comment and I'll find the pictures
III — We'll RP stuff based on them together!!!

Link to an image: <a href=IMAGEURL>TEXT</a>

Embed an image in your reply: <img src=IMAGEURL>

You can control width and height of your pictures: <img src=IMAGEURL width=500> OR <img src=IMAGEURL height=INSERT>

Comments

[androidrk800]

Oh.

[Connor doesn't exactly wince, but he comes close. He was made to be aware of social cues and fit seamlessly into a team and that feels like a misstep. Gene doesn't sound devastated saying it or anything, but there's something in his voice. The turn of the conversation back to him is welcome enough, even if it sends him back thinking about corruption and deviancy.]

Sure.

[He hesitates for a moment but eventually starts to try and explain:] It's not anything you've said. There's... been an increasing number of cases related to androids going rogue at home. It's called deviancy. The deviants are often violent to their owners and other humans around them. We don't know what causes it. But they display emotional malfunctions.

[illbetheresir]

[Being reminded that Connor has an owner where he comes from is always unsettling, as is the reminder that Connor doesn’t actually experience emotions the way a human does. He seems so human, with a personality and what seems like genuine empathy. Even after knowing him for a while, it’s still hard to think of him as anything but a person.

Still, he definitely understands feeling unsettled when you’re overwhelmed by things out of your control.]

I get it, [He finally says, voice gentle, hopefully reassuring.] It’s scary, feelin’ like you don’ have any control and don’t know what’s gonna happen. But I bet it’s jus’ this place. Doesn’t mean you’re gonna go crazy.

[androidrk800]

I hope not. We don't have the facilities here to reboot me properly if I do.

[He says it a little wryly, almost like a joke, but of course it's not a joke at all.]

[illbetheresir]

[It's at least enough to get a small, twitchy smile out of Gene. It's over and gone in a flash, but maybe that's better than nothing.]

There anything that helps 'em, once they've gone deviant? [Is there something he can do to help you is mostly what he's curious about. This definitely feels like one of those things that gets worse before it gets better.]

[androidrk800]

[Unfortunately, there's not a really hopeful answer he can give here. He sits back in his chair, shifting his feet a fraction on the floor, shaking his head.]

We don't know what causes it. Deviants that we've caught so far have been taken apart to search for malfunctioning biocomponents or errors in programming, but nothing has been identified yet.

[A tiny frown creases his brows.]

A lot of them have been damaged or destroyed in the process of capturing them. Deviants are prone to self-destruct. And there was one - it struck its head against the cell's window until it destroyed itself.

[illbetheresir]

Jesus. [It slips out without thinking, and he carefully tries to school his expression into something that's not horrified just thinking about it. That's not going to happen to Connor.

(This is why he's not supposed to make friends. Watching Connor destroy himself sounds about as bad as watching guys get obliterated by mortar fire, and a heavy tension settles on his shoulders.)

He takes a breath, settles for something calming, the same voice he uses when he's telling a scared replacement that the shrapnel he's pulling out of their arm isn't that bad, that they're going to be okay.]

Well, whatever it is ain't gonna be permanent. Just gotta keep calm until this is all over.

[androidrk800]

[Gene's reaction is strangely reassuring - his first instinctual reaction, that is. That horror is somehow kinder than just the disgust or pity of the other police officers in the DPD and it makes him feel a little better.

(He'd felt his own kind of muted horror watching Carlos Ortiz's android bash its head open against the glass, the blue thirium dripping down the window, as much as he probably should have only felt irritation at the destruction of a deviant that could have been tested by Cyberlife.)

Connor looks at Gene and nods, grateful for the comfort. It's strange to be treated as human, but he's used to Gene's need to help others by now and at the moment he welcomes it.]

Tell me, if you see me start acting erratically again, okay? Stop me if you can.

[illbetheresir]

Sure thing. [It's an easy promise to make, even if there's still lingering anxiety at the idea of watching the android lose himself. Gene has no real idea of what to do if Connor starts acting strangely again besides talk to him and try to redirect him to something else, but he's not so low that he's going to resign them both and everyone else here to going crazy.]

[androidrk800]

Thanks, Gene.

[He's quiet for a while, watching the flames. As long as Gene doesn't go chasing his hallucinations out into the snow and he doesn't fall into a paranoid diagnostics loop, maybe they can help each other through this unscathed. He trusts Gene to help him and he knows he'll try to keep the medic from doing anything irrational, so maybe it'll be all right.]

How much longer do you think it will be before the Barge comes back to collect us again?

[illbetheresir]

[Gene pulls a face, considering, his frustration with the Admiral flaring up at the reminder that they were here as the result of bad driving or some sick sense of humor.]

Been here three days, maybe two or three more? [Based on his best guess anyway. He's never heard of a port lasting much more than a week.]

At least we got food, and we ain't out in the snow.

[Seeing the specters of dead guys would be worse out there. The cold is a bad enough reminder of Bastogne on its own.]

[androidrk800]

That matches up with the historical data I've seen about ports. It's not so long to hold it together.

[Connor nods his agreement. He doesn't bother to remind Gene he doesn't need to eat and the cold likely wouldn't be strong enough or have the time to affect him. There's no point, because Gene needs those things, as do most of the rest of the Barge.]

Even if there's something in the hotel causing our problems, it's better we're inside than out.

[illbetheresir]

Guess you'd probably be used to snow even if you weren't a robot, [Gene points out, almost kidding, considering he's from Detroit and all.] Think I've seen about enough of it for a while.

[And that was before they'd been dumped on the literal doorstep to this place with nothing but winter coats and a well stocked kitchen.]

Not gonna complain too much if the next port we go's somewhere warm.