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enkisstories · 5 years ago

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Just like them (part 10)

This was one of my favorite sequences in the old picture story, so naturally I had to use it in the written fic, too. Enjoy!

Afternoon of Thursday, November 18, 2038

The sound of the doorbell was a jingle Daniel didn’t recognize. Him being an android, he could have looked it up online in no time at all. Him being a deviant, however, meant that Daniel would simply ask about it when the opportunity arose.

From inside the telltale sound of a door unlocking remotely as well as what might pass as a greeting arose:

“Come in! Door’s open now!”

Tentatively Daniel turned the door knob, then took the first few steps into the apartment, where he was greeted by a cacophony of animal noises. One species of animal, precisely, and their sounds weren’t aimed at the guest either, but self-contained:

“Meow!! Meow? Meeeeeeeeeeeow!”

The android quickly closed the door behind him. He was now standing in a floor between two doors. To the right another door seemed to lead into the bathroom. One wall sported the expected array of clothes hooks, knickknack-shelves and decaying paste-it notes, but the opposite one was lined with dis-and then re-assembled parts of cat-condos that formed an adventure park for felines. To the floor’s far end to the left a curtain covered a doorway. At the moment that curtain’s brim was of utmost interest to a tiny kitten. The animal was all but lost inside the fabric. Unable to see its family, it produced regular, high-pitched control calls. To the deviant they sounded both cute and enervating, in fact, the little thing didn’t sound that much different from Connor…

Daniel carefully scanned his surroundings before taking another step into the apartment. He spotted two more young kittens and an older one. That last one was a dirty shade of black and his somewhat longer fur suggested that this or that pedigree cat numbered among his ancestors. The black adolescent moved between the little ones like a dreadnought. It seemed to substitute for the others’ parent, because it was both answering their control-calls and in turn sending some of his own.

Pad, pad… Meow? … Pad, pad, sudden jump, Meow!!! Hiss! … Ming? Ming-Ming?- Määhh!

“Oh my god, what’s that?” Daniel exclaimed. “A Crazy Cat Lady Starter Kit?”

“Hehe!”

From behind the curtain the apartment’s inhabitant appeared, a wide smile on his face. Daniel hadn’t known that this particular human was even able to smile, instead of grinning, sneering or winking, preferably with both eyes closed. Gavin Reed at home was looking so utterly… relaxed, that it was hard to believe.

The human plucked the stuck kitten - it turned out to be a standard brown tabby - from the curtain and placed it at about waist-height onto the climbing range. Then he held out one finger towards another kitten, a little tricolor, testing whether that one maybe wanted a quick petting? Turned out it didn’t, but further probing brought to light that the Calico wasn’t averse to the idea, just neutral towards it, so Gavin went over it’s fur twice and then stopped. Daniel’s jaw dropped at the sight, because it was more consideration for another living being’s feelings then he had ever seen Reed display.

To say anything at all, the android produced a weak “Are they all yours?”.

“Nah, just one of them. But the little buggers take their time to decide which one that’ll be.”

“They do – what? I didn’t know cats came in trial packs!” Daniel exclaimed.

“Heh, that’s one way to put it! The upstairs neighbors left six kittens behind when they moved. Five of those I managed to find homes for, then took in three more that got abandoned when their owners fled the city… they’re always rotating in and out, even before the evacuation order.”

Turning away from the android, Gavin allowed an orange tabby to taste-test the sleeve of his sweater. The kitten proceeded to roll over and plug all four of its paws into the man’s forearm with abandon. Gently Gavin moved his arm away from the cat-condo – the kitten remained stuck to it like a sloth to a jungle tree. With a proud grin the detective presented his “catch” to Daniel.

“Here, look at that! As if glued on! Isn’t it the cutest?”

Truth be told, Daniel could imagine a whole lot of more pleasant things than getting the skin on your arm slowly turned into stripes and he didn’t even have a real skin. But he kept his silence, afraid to carelessly destroy something precious again.

“The calico is Salazar”, Gavin introduced his collection, “but it turned out “he” is really a Sally. The dark grey one is Argus, the tabby is Minerva and the one in prison clothes is Stopthat, I mean Godric.”

His eyes closed, Godric took a hearty bite of Gavin’s sweater…

“So you want to keep only one, check”, Daniel spoke up again. “But you certainly must have a favorite?”

“That’s not how cats work!” Gavin protested against this outlandish idea. “They aren’t t-shirts that you pick by color preference. A cat either lays claim on you or it doesn’t.”

Daniel shook his head. “Strange”, he admitted. “Caroline always said a cat was bound to the place where it lives, not to a particular person. Not loyal like dogs. That’s why I was never interested in cats.”

“I didn’t expect you to understand!“

And there the normal Gavin Reed was again, the standoffish one, the self-proposed center of the world, the know-it-all-can-do-everything, the only being whose feelings mattered. In a way the returned persona was less intimidating, because by now Daniel had gotten used to it. Asshole Reed offered familiar territory, whereas the whole cat-mysticism Daniel wasn’t sure what to think about.

With a nod Gavin ushered Daniel into the room opposite the apartment door. It turned out to be a live-in kitchen. The dining table was unused, or rather not used for it’s original purpose to comfortably let six persons eat. Stuff was piled onto the surface and the chairs: empty feeding bowls, a half-opened parcel, document folders with bookmarks sticking out, a small model or toy helicopter, a tablet connected to a cable that was running across the room… There was a smaller table next to a loveseat in the corner and, predictably, an expensive coffee machine with a grinder dominated the kitchen counters next to the seating arrangement. Above the monstrous thing shelves holding more coffee-related equipment than Daniel recognized lined the wall. Most of the stuff the android had seen so far in this flat had been of high quality and, although in general disarray, kept clean. The detective seemed to make the best of his pay cheque, not bothering to set aside much for an uncertain future. When not confronted with an android or Lt. Anderson, this man, Daniel now realized, lived to the fullest. The Connors were threatening this eternal-present bliss, they had made Gavin painfully aware of his irresponsible spending habits as well as the fact that he was approaching the age of forty.

Right to the entrance a terrarium was housing a kingdom of mice. “And here’s the mice I promised”, Gavin said, accompanied by a casual wave with the arm Godric wasn’t attached to. The kitten had gotten bored of playing sloth anyway and was now attempting to climb up all the way to Gavin’s shoulder. “Skim off as many as you like. They breed like… actually breeding is all they ever do. They’re like landbound guppys!”

“You like cats”, Daniel started. “Don’t tell me you keep the mice for…!”

Gavin grabbed Godric, who had come dangerously close to taking a nap in his sweater’s hood, and put him onto the kitchen floor.

“That’s absolutely correct”, the man said. “I won’t tell you. But I will share a trick for getting along better with people with you, tinman: Never ask questions you do not want answered!”

“Damn you, why, detective!” Daniel hissed.

Yes, why exactly? Why do I bother removing obstacles in front of somebody else, and an android, no less?

Of all the shortcomings of Gavin Reed, one thing he was not: unable to express his feelings. To the contrary, the world in general and the DPD specifically could have done with less of those. If he was angry or desiring something, the man always let the source of those notions know it. And if Gavin was interested in a guy, chances were he’d walk up to him and declare “You’re mine now” in only slightly more sophisticated words. No beating around the bush, no making excuses.

But this case was different. Being interested in an android? That just couldn’t be. Even casually hanging out with one had always been unimaginable. Because, after all, like the coffee grinder, an android was just a mobile attachment to another appliance, not something you chatted with over your brew! But here he was, helping Daniel to new pets and casually chatting him up like one did a co-worker or apartment neighbor.

Irritated by all the strange, conflicting notions Gavin snapped at the PL600:

“Because I don’t like losing something I’ve already invested into. Unlike Connor or Markus you’re still functioning as intended, despite having caught deviance. I appreciate that in a household device.”

Gavin took a step closer to the android. He looked up into his grey eyes with the blueish tint. Gavin’s own were grey, too, but the tint was green.

Why am thinking of its eye color all of a sudden? Why did I even NOTICE it? Ah, right - noticing details is just part of my job, nothing strange or worrisome!

“Hear that, Cyberlife?” Gavin barked. “I KNOW there’s nothing listening behind this mask! It’s just a simulation to make us grow attached to your products, and to fucking grow dependent on them! But there is nothing to talk to in there, except maybe customer service, so take this as a product review!”

“No, I meant why are you feeding the poor mice to… Hey, stop that!”

Going “kekekekekeke” Godric was climbing up Daniel’s leg.

“Yes, that’s him”, Gavin commented dryly.

“Aptly named”, Daniel laughed. He steadied the kitten during its ascend and eventually enfolded it with both hands when it had reached chest height.

“You want a mouse, huh? Or don’t you rather want cuddles?”

“Prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr”, Godric went.

“See? You wanted cuddles. You just didn’t know. Little killer, you!”

Daniel smiled. All of a sudden cats had become easy! They were not the unfathomable anti-dogs the Phillips family had painted them, not, they were just creatures following their own set of rules. Once you figured out those rules, the little furballs were astonishingly endearing. Suddenly Daniel’s legs gave way. The android realized too late that planning to visit an Android Zone for checkup didn’t equal to actually doing it. After the phantom-headaches had subsided, he’d staved off the idea over and over. But how could he have known beforehand that a kitten would use him as a play tower in here?

Daniel tried to reach a kitchen chair, but it was too late already. He went down rather undignifiedly and stared into the ceiling lamp - as well as into Gavin Reed’s shocked expression.

“WTF, you cannot just die in my flat! They’ll think I did it!”

“I’ll make sure to write It wasn’t Gavin on the wall in blue blood. Wh… what’s that crawling into my shirt?! Stop that!”

“Yeah, of course. Who else?”

“What are you calling him when you want him to literally stop with something?”

“Usually I scream something along the lines of “Ouch” and he gets the picture from the volume. But basically you wait till he grows too large for most of his shenanigans.”

“Okay”, Daniel moaned. “Good advice. I guess I’ll just keep lying here until one of you has matured enough to talk to.”

Any other android would have been dead after daring to give the detective cheek like that. Less alive than usual, Gavin corrected himself. As for Daniel, he was right now discovering a third option between unconditional family bliss and searing hatred in relating to humans: Disbelieving fascination. And also kittens.

Five minutes later…

“Are you done rolling on my floor now?”

Lying on his back and holding up the kitten with both hands, gently rocking him, Daniel replied:

“Are we done rolling on the detective’s dirty floor, Godric? Aaaaare we done rolling on the big bad cop’s floor?”

“My foot’s right next to your skull, you know.”

“But you won’t kick as long as I’m holding Godric.”

“Spoken like a true kidnapper.”

“I don’t see Godric care.“

The cat indeed didn’t care whether this man who was providing the cuddles was saint or villain, human or android, rich or poor. All it wanted was… Shred Daniel’s colorful headband, actually. The android had purchased one right after the encounter at the playground, so fulfill his parole condition of wearing a LED while still keeping the humiliating thing out of everyone’s sight. Upon command or when meeting his social worker, he could just lift the headband.

Daniel rose into sitting position, still playing with the kitten.

“Say, how much space would he need when he’s fully grown?”

“What?! Give him back at once! You aren’t satisfied before you’ve taken everything from us, are you?”

Daniel looked down, staring at the sudden kitten-shaped hole in his life. But wasn’t that what he was always getting? Whether it was a challenge or a living being, loss either way. His life, his family, Emma and Little Connor… he was growing apart from the Rasoya… Neil had been a one-time encounter… All Daniel had left was his strange acquaintance with Gavin, who was ranting at him:

“I told you about cats choosing their owner and now you’re trying to simulate that! But it’s not real! Just a goddamn chat program mimicking life!”

“You know what? You’re sort of right.” The android rose and straightened. “I overreacted.”

To the sight of Godric toddling towards the feed dispenser, where Sally and Minerva were already taking turns getting out pellets, Daniel mused out loud that he bonded to animals way too easily.

“…but then they die on you or worse, you have to put them to the gun because they become aggressive towards you. And with each one you lose, a part of yourself dies, too. So the sensible thing to do would be to avoid animals. But when you don’t have any around at all, you don’t really live. There’s no winning this game…”

“You had to put down your rat? Must have sucked.”

“It did! I wish I could unmake it somehow… Although I wouldn’t go as far as to call John a rat.”

“Wait, what, John? John Phillips? But you were talking about animals!”

“Yes, exactly. - Uh, on second thought forget what I said and hand me a paper bag! Your mice are getting out of hand and I’ve got an empty rodent cage to fill.”

They didn’t like to hear it, but Gavin’s people were indeed animals. Just like Daniel’s were machines. But each group had developed deviants within their ranks. Of the apes, it had had occurred in several species, of which only one was still present in 2038. Among the androids deviance happened all across the range of models with none being more disposed towards it than others.

And there they were, the not-quite-animals and the not-quite-machines, beings that were still heavily driven by their instincts or coding, but who had acquired the ability to go beyond and even downright against it. There was a word for them, although the beast-people were still denying it to the machine-people.

The word was “humans”.

(to be continued)

#dbh daniel #dbh gavin #dbh #detroit become human #danielgavinnewstory #sims4danielgavin

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enkisstories · 5 years ago

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Tina: “Haha, you’re right, Gavin! This is hilarious! - Do it again!”

Daniel: “You better go back to keeping your trap shut 24/7, Chen! And on topic, I think everyone would benefit much better from seeing some android-to-human violence for a comparison!”

Despite having threatened Tina just now, Daniel turned around lightning-quick to have a go at Gavin instead. Taken by surprise, the human found himself in a headlock...

#sims4 dbh parttwo #sims4 detroit become human #simblr #sims 4 #sims4 #ts4 #sims4danielgavin

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enkisstories · 5 years ago

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- A Detroit Become human drabble with Daniel - - The years 2034 - 2037 are pretty universal, 2038 + 2039 specific for my AU -

Christmas 2034

You have lost your New Car smell, but otherwise are in top condition. Broken in, adjusted to the Phillips household’s individual needs and at peak performance. But when you say “household”, what you really mean is “family”, because you do not get to stay within the apartment much. You get taken to places by your humans, shown off to co-workers, friends and of course the extended family. Caroline is so happy and John is so proud of their new PL600 mobile, autonomous household assistant device. You run their household, but even moreso you make them smile.

Christmas 2035

You still remember all the fuss the Phillips couple made over you last year, so this year you make sure to spend much time with little Emma in order to not let her become jealous again. But they seem to have understood that themselves, because there’s a lot less showing off this year and more time for just the four of you. Christmas 2036

Emma grows and… matures, for lack of a better word. Still a child, but more considerate about the world around her as well as people’s feelings. At the age of eight she discovers the joy of giving, not just receiving. The girl has prepared presents for her mom, for her dad and for you: Glittery paintings composed of strass stones to hang at the wall for the adults. But for you, who doesn’t have a room of yourself, Emma made a pendant from colorful, baked-together plastic pearls. You can wear it on a string around your neck.

For the first time in your existence you own something.

Christmas 2037

You are wearing a new android armband, an old shirt of John’s, a vest and a tie. All of this to hide the fact that you are a PL600. Out of the uniform, part of the family, you think. That feels great! Caroline even suggested you should dye your hair brown and curl it up. Okay, gift-giving is nice and good, but this is going too far! John agrees: no hairstyle experiments! But then he tells you to “just don’t let anybody see you”.

This is confusing. After serving dinner you retreat from the living room, as instructed. This has never happened before. It also contradicts the “a real part of the family now”. In Caroline’s hobby room you try a few of her yoga poses to regain your focus, but it doesn’t help much.

Christmas 2038

You are staring at the little Christmas tree in the DPD’s cafeteria. It has been placed here and lovingly decorated by those who care about this holiday. For the first time in your life you don’t. It’s not that you did NOT care, not like a Christmas hater. It’s more that you’ve went numb inside, machine-like. How ironic that only after deviating you have become much more of a household appliance than when you were still a machine. But it is the only solace you have from the toxic mixture of guilt and anger that would otherwise rule you. And then there is the phantom pain. You feel no actual physical pain, but the regularly popping up error notifications of your amateurishly re-attached limbs are not pleasant at all. But you bite the pain/not-pain back while go about your janitorial work. You’ve been granted this second chance at life and although you’re not doing much in the way of actually living, to what little you have left you cling.

At one of the cafeteria tables Lt. Anderson clutches a bottle. The other person present is, much to your surprise, Detective Reed. Turned out him doing “everything” for a promotion also includes putting in real work, like volunteering for the holiday shift. Lately you’ve also come to notice a fear of not being good enough, of getting replaced and left behind in the detective, a notion that you know only too well. Reed himself doesn’t seem to realize it, that lucky, confident, selfish, cute bastard!

“Go home already, Sir!” you tell the lieutenant weakly, for maybe the third or fourth time today. But Anderson doesn’t want to. What he wants is leave this earth altogether. However…

“Can’t go. Can’t leave. Not now. Must live… for Connor.”

Connor. The hero who has subdued the evil android revolution. The revolution that has totally gone over your head. For you this is still about the Phillips family’s betrayal. And Connor’s. The only good deed that blasted thing has ever done was to die and instill the will to live in Lt. Anderson who is, that much you cannot deny even if you wanted to, a good person. You know you’re unfair, but for what it’s worth, fully realizing that Connor won’t return is one of the few instances when you feel actually good.

You’re sitting there, the three of you, each of you lost in your own little world: Anderson is holding fast to his bottle without drinking from it. Reed gazes into a digital textbook as if it was his salvation. And you caress the smashed remains of an ornament made of plastic pearls. If asked about it, you’d tell the truck that ran you over after falling off that roof finished the trinket, too, when in truth you crushed it with your own hands the evening of the betrayal…

Reed nudges you. “Hey, tincan, what do you think we gave you access to the DPD’s network for? Play phone games? - Stream something for us! Something lively!”

Moments later the cafeteria fills with “Jingle Bells”. You hardly listen to the sound you produce, but you see Reed’s face distort strangely, then hear him snort and finally break into laughter:

“That’s… will you LOOK at this, Anderson! This is priceless! Android stereo!”

You wonder what’s so funny about music coming out of your ears without your lips moving… except for the fact that music is coming out of your ears while your lips aren’t moving, of course. Part of you wants to laugh with Reed at the absurdity of the sight. Another part wants to smash his stupid face against the nearest wall. But all you do is sit straight with an unmoved expression. A stationary android stereo indeed.

“Now the ground is white!” the detective merrily blares along with the music. “Go it while you're young!”

And now the lieutenant starts shaking. At first you think he’s done for for real now, but then you realize that the man is laughing.

“And now you’re the external amplifier to our new android stereo, Reed!” Anderson cackles.

“Take the girls tonight!” your speakers go, accompanied by two human singers now. “And sing this sleighing song!”

So you can still make the goddam apes smile. Huh! You hadn’t realized that this feat still meant something to you…

Christmas 2039

You’re manning the reception in your spiffy new uniform when the door opens. In come a certain detective and a truant. Wow, hero, you think. Knowing what dangerous criminal you apprehended, Detroit sure can sleep soundly tonight…

Juggling a fucking novel worth of cops having called in sick today in your head, at first you barely pay attention to what Reed is babbling. But then a few key words manage to jolt you out of the files and back into meatspace:

“…ma, this is police technician Dean. Dean, say “Hello” to Emma Phillips, whose dad ran away with the stunningly good looking family android!”

Wait a moment, you think, Emma WHO, whose WHO did WHAT with WHOM? And what was part about “stunningly good looking”?

“Oh my god”, you sputter, before catching yourself: “I mean: Hi.”

A convoluted explanation follows and then Emma approaches you, arms outstretched, ready to receive a therapeutic hug from a totally unrelated PL600 named “Dean”. But suddenly she backs away from you, no less afraid of you than she was in the night of the betrayal. And THEN, you realize it not without pride, you look no longer into a little girl’s face, but into a mirror. Emma is angry and in her anger she looks uncannily like you. The child of Caroline, no doubt, but also the child of two fathers.

Eventually the two of you find yourself sitting on a bench, under strict surveillance of the cute, antisocial detective. What game exactly Reed is playing here you have no idea.

“I didn’t expect to be afraid again, officer!” Emma complains without looking at you. “I miss Daniel, I really do, I’m not imagining that! But now I think that if he came back, I’d probably run away screaming. Still, what happened wasn’t even his fault. And neither was it father’s. No one’s to blame, or everyone. I… I’m not making sense at all, huh?”

“Maybe to those involved”, you agree, choosing each of your words carefully. You need to remember exactly what Emma has shared with Reed about the incident and not accidently display your full knowledge of the events. Pretend to be nothing more than an amiable plastic police auxiliary..

“Give it time”, you tell the girl. “And don’t say you’re unfair! A wound like yours takes time to heal. You know what? You sitting here and chatting with another PL600 after being hurt by one is already a huge success!”

It’s not a reconciliation. But it is more, much more than you could have hoped for before today.

(Note: The full 2039 scene appeared in my simfic “Fairytale of Detroit”: https://enkisstories.tumblr.com/tagged/emmaparkscene/chrono

Gavin wears a standard police uniform in the screenshots because he, Hank and Connor have temporarily gotten demoted to beat cops in that story. Yes, Connor is still alive, the characters just didn’t know that in 2038.)

#dbhtextpost #dbh textpost #dbh daniel #detroit become human #dbh #sims4danielgavin #sims4 dbh partthree

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enkisstories · 5 years ago

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Well adjusted

- A DBH fanfic in my usual AU-

(Fall 2039, Last year’s revolution failed, Machine!Connor escaped destruction, deviated and is now pretending to be an RK900 at the DPD where Daniel works as a janitor. Between chapters 2 and 3 Daniel had suddenly moved up to police technician without me explaining how that happened. This fic remedies that.)

- Sims version coming later finished and turned out much better -

Tina Chen entered the cafeteria for a last-minute bagel and coffee before her shift. Having hoped to find it empty, the officer backed out again when she saw at least three co-workers sitting and chatting inside. She hadn’t come far when she heard the familiar voice of Detective Reed: “Come back here, Tina, and see something cool!”

Tina turned around again, expecting to see something that was funny in an inappropriate way. She was not prepared for Gavin closing in on the precinct’s android janitor, grabbing it and stomping his foot down hard on the device’s toes. The abused PL600 twitched, but instead of pulling its damaged foot off the ground it raised both its hands to the forehead and held it. On second glance Tina thought the thing was looking as if it was suffering from migraines.

“I was wrong!” Gavin cheered. “Androids DO feel pain! Only not where they got hit!”

That last part amused the man to no end and he could not stop laughing.

Meanwhile the janitor (everyone called it “Sardines” only, because it didn’t seem to have a given name) processed a multitude of error reports. Unlike human brains that made them feel the pain in the bodypart where it originated, a digital one gathered all the notifications in the same place, resulting in a severe headache for the android in question. Sardines had had to deal with constant headaches for weeks after his severed limbs had gotten re-attached. Connor claimed that “feeling” pain this way was a side-effect of deviance. He, too, found that he had trouble reading his own files clearly. In the RK’s case it wasn’t error reports getting replaced by physical pain, but him losing control over his major selling point, the crimescene re- and preconstruction app. More and more that program felt like a tool rather than an integral part of himself to Connor.

“Damn… damn you, detective!” Sardines hissed, all the while dismissing several prompts to forward the reports to CyberLife.

“I admit that is funny”, Tina agreed. “Do it again!”

Sardines glared at the officer, wishing Connor on both her and Reed.

“I think I’d rather show you a direct comparison to human pain!” he snapped.

The next thing Tina saw was Sardines pulling Gavin closer to himself. Taken by surprise the man found himself in a headlock, however, Sardines’ amateurishly repaired arms could not hold his victim tight enough. Gavin slipped away, grinned – and got tripped by the shaft of Sardines’ scrubber. The android raised the stick again, preparing to deliver a painful blow.

When Captain Fowler passed by the cafeteria next, accompanied by the new RK900, a full blown fistfight between the detective and the janitor had ensued. Each was getting cheered at by a small crowd of officers as well as a random handcuffed suspect whom officer Wilson had secured to the cupboard. The android’s supporters were the more numerous, Jeffrey noticed. Pretty much only Tina and the diehard android haters like Dave Allen preferred Reed over the kind PL600.

Gavin and Sardines were rolling on the floor now. Officers had to jump aside quickly, lest they’d get hit, too. Bob Lewis used the opportunity to kick Gavin, who was to believe it had been Sardines…

“Stop that! Will you… fucking… stop that, toaster?!”

“Wasn’t me! Now shut up and keep dying!”

“Don’t lie to me while I’m trying to beat you up!”

“I’m not lying! Not me!”

The captain savored the sight for a few second. “Why can’t you be integrated so well”, he then addressed Connor.

“That was sarcasm, Sir…?”

The RK didn’t receive an answer. Connor strongly suspected that it would have been “No” in this workplace, where putting each other to the gunpoint during arguments was considered proper conduct. But then you went and beat up one little detective and suddenly you were the office villain… that wasn’t fair! On the upside, the android who had beaten up Gavin Reed had been the RK800 prototype, whereas Connor was posing as his own successor. So at least this wasn’t on Connor’s cap anymore.

While Connor was pondering the unfairness of life in general and his own specifically, Tina explained the situation to Captain Fowler. The man seemed impressed by what he heard.

“Androids experiencing an equivalent of pain? That’s a gamechanger in police work!”

He turned to Sardines: “I want you to prepare a presentation on this. Take especially care to line out the differences, if any, in how it works for deviants compared to non-glitched androids!”

“Will… do… Sir…” the PL600 stammered.

“And wash your hands when you’re done with the detective”, Connor added. “You don’t know where it’s been.”

“Oh… right.” Only now Sardines realized that he was still grabbing Gavin. He let go of him and got up.

“Say, Reed, this keeps happening to you, huh? Getting trashed by our androids?” Dave gleefully commented while the human got up, too. Preferring Reed over Sardines didn’t mean that he’d liked either of them much, after all…

He knows, Daniel, the DPD’s canned sardine, thought. Fowler knows… or suspects… that I’m a deviant. Maybe even exactly which one. Or... what if he thinks I’m Simon?! I need to be careful!

But maybe Captain Fowler cared only about a smoothly running police department? In this case being useful instead of careful was the safer bet.

“I’ll start immediately on the lecture”, Daniel promised.

“But that was MY discovery!” Gavin protested between wiping his bloodied nose. “It should count for my promotion credit!”

As “Sardines” left the cafeteria, Connor stepped next to Gavin.

“Weren’t you the one who was afraid my predecessor would put him out of job, Mr. Reed?” he asked. “Don’t worry anymore! An RK android isn’t even needed for that. Looks like a common, outdated PL600 can achieve that feat.”

Gavin stared at the android. And then he stared some more. Eventually he uttered: “You’re right, tincan!”

Androids taking people’s jobs… but androids had to get programmed by humans in the first place. Adding one and one together that meant the future was in android training! Passing on experience, breaking the toasters in, teaching them the peculiarities of their workplace… Was that really so different from showing cadets the ropes? Whatever. It seemed to be the best path to get ahead and and thus Gavin Reed did something he’d never have thought possible: He ran after the PL600, shouting “Wait for me!”

Daniel turned around sharply.

“Why are you trailing after me? We aren’t fucking dating!”

“Ha! You’re one strange device. If your humans do not want you, you kill them, but if they want you, you yell at them.”

“I strongly contest that you are “my” human, detective.”

To almost everyone at the DPD, however, Sardines was exactly that: Gavin’s generous donation to the station, to avoid having to chip in for coffee or snacks ever again. Only Anderson and Connor were aware of the truth and they had their own reasons to keep it to themselves: Hank because he genuinely wanted to aid the deviants (and if he managed to re-socialize Daniel, there was nothing he wouldn’t be able to achieve), and Connor because if he exposed Daniel as a deviant, the PL600 in turn would expose him.

Daniel’s cover story came with the upside of officially being privately owned, not part of the DPD’s inventory. It came with the downside of being privately owned by Gavin Reed. The same Gavin Reed who now offered: “I’ll help you with the presentation!”

“Oh, right”, Daniel sighed. “The extra work you saddled me with. As if triple shifts day in and day out weren’t bad enough already.”

“Aw” Gavin went, “does the poor deviant have to work for a change?” He took a step closer and hissed: “Just say the word and you can join your kin at camp five instead!”

“I’m telling you that I don’t need help to set the presentation up!”

To Daniel’s surprise the detective nodded at this.

“Righto”, Gavin said. “But there’s subtleties in cop dynamics that you aren’t aware of. You need help to excel.”

“You’re scary when you’re making sense for once.”

Gavin reached up and slapped the android on its shoulder.

“Come on, let’s put their shiny new Connor to shame together! It’s the next best thing to getting revenge on the old one.”

Next to Hank Anderson Daniel was the only one in on the RK’s secret, he therefore knew it wasn’t just the “next best” thing. It was the real deal!

Daniel smiled. “I could warm up to that, detective.”

Connor watched the duo occupy an empty desk. He heard them discuss their project, then chat and eventually laugh at a joke one of them had made. His outwards expression didn’t change in any way, but secretly the android was crying blue murder:

First I catch deviance, then the two most annoying things in my life are teaming up. Figures.

#dbhtextpost #dbh textpost #dbh #sims4danielgavin

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