#sometimes you might want to take apart your roomba to figure out how a roomba works

[protect-namine]

archiving (and expounding) here additional thoughts:

I do think dottore's actions definitely contributed to scaramouche's desire for godhood for sure, but I also think scaramouche was already on the road to that with how he perceives the betrayals in his life.

scaramouche still had a trusting heart when the child died post-tatarasuna (and if not the child, he would have had to face the idea that other people are mortal by trusting someone else sooner or later). and his background as a failed puppet to ei equally informed his decision about humanity and godhood. that is, neither can be trusted, hence the development of his transactional view on relationships.

I understand the appeal of giving more weight to dottore's machinations. personally, I think it's more powerful if the decision to become god was because of scaramouche's own understanding of the world and an exercise of his agency. dottore's contributions to that decision is one of many, and scaramouche would have reached the conclusion that he should became a god on his own eventually.

it's possible dottore saw potential (but not yet guarantee) in scaramouche as a subject for godhood when they met in tatarasuna. though, imo, I think their god creation project would actually fail faster if both of them did not have the kind of personality that would hold each other accountable to their end of the deal, or if they both had to exert extra effort to ensure that they're committing to this project long-term.

dottore saw scaramouche as an excellent subject, but not indispensable. another scaramouche would be hard to find, but not impossible. if scaramouche failed the project, dottore would just try again and learn from that experience. he is not exactly lacking time, after all, and scaramouche is not rare enough to be the only artificially created person in this game.

the thing is. dottore did deceive scaramouche in tatarasuna, but the whole mission was under pierro's command. dottore is a mad scientist but more of in the clinical sense, like, he really does not care about the people he experiments with beyond what they can offer in the experiment. they are all subjects one, two, three to him even during his time as zandik. he is very impersonal. he does not care about personally having power over collei or scaramouche, he doesn't do things with the objective of creating lasting relationships with his experimentees that he can take advantage of. he does unethical science for the sake of pursuing knowledge, and so to him, everything is disposable once they've outgrown their usefulness. everything is replaceable. he just wants Results™ and these two were a means of getting them. like, this guy doesn't even care that collei escaped, he can get another collei.

so the thing about dottoscara as a relationship is that it is compelling and dottore did deceive scaramouche about tatarasuna and scaramouche not knowing about it was beneficial to dottore's experiments and wanderer does want revenge for what happened. but. but. their relationship as fatui members was more transactional than gaslight-y. like. I think arleccino is the fatui member who is more likely to actually use gaslighting techniques and deceive people and use their emotions to an advantage because she runs the orphanage and works with impressionable kids (this interpretation is subject to change depending on how fontaine goes).

that kind of tactic is not really how dottore operates on the long-term though. that's not how he handled scaramouche when he became a fatui member. scaramouche wanted to become a god. dottore wanted to create a god. scaramouche is very into transactional relationships; even as wanderer, he sees relationships in terms of debts and repayments, like there's a ledger in his head of what he owes to people. dottore is impersonal and sees people in terms of their usefulness ("the mere fact of your utility does not make you indestructible"). they do not have a healthy relationship but they did have a mutually beneficial one, they know they're both getting something out of it, and as long as the other person is useful the relationship is good to continue.

and like. once scaramouche was on his way to becoming a god, he was already starting to think he'll be above dottore ("the doctor has never known his place. even now, the puny human thinks himself capable of interfering in the business of the new god."). once sumeru was saved, dottore didn't even take any of the events personally and was like, "okay, experiment's done. time to clean up!"

anyway. I think I just wanted to make a point that dottoscara is a transactional relationship despite their history and diluting it down to a relationship of manipulator and manipulated (which DID happen in a SEPARATE event that did influence some of their actions, but isn't really the core of their relationship when they met again) is something that I don't think showcases their personalities like. at all. also, despite transactions being the nature of their relationship, I think there's something to be said about how, in the serendipity of "want to become god" person finding the "want to create god" person, there is a level of belief in the capacity of the other. like. "yeah, you, I know you can make me into a god, that's why you need me so I can make your dream project come true" "yeah that's right, I know you can become a god, and that's why you need me so I can make your dream project come true." and at the end of the day, they're both prepared to possibly cut ties when the project is over.

in the process of it all, dottore did ruin scaramouche. wanderer does want revenge. but wanderer also acknowledges that some of the things that happened are due to his own sins. like. the raiden gokaden was influenced by dottore's deception, but wanting to be god and trying to usurp nahida was not on dottore. and because wanderer is very adamant about keeping a clear ledger in his head of debts and repayments, I don't think he'll confuse things over what sins are his own and which ones are because of his experiences with dottore.

[give-me-back-my-rhodey]

Peter’s Baby Curls

This is a fic for the @friendly-neighborhood-exchange for @wordscorrupt​

Rating: Gen

Warnings: n/a

Summary: Peter gets hit with a de-aging spell

AO3 LINK

Tony hates magic. Everyone knows that. He’s sure this is the reason why this evil witch decided to attack. On his birthday, of all days. He just wants to blast the woman to kingdom come, but he knows he can’t – honor and being better than the bad guy and all that blah blah blah Cap says. And the kicker of it is, he’s not supposed to be here. He’s supposed to be on vacation with his family, relaxing on a beach, but no, Steve had to take the Avengers to storm a HYDRA facility in Puerto Rico. Somehow, Capsicle gets the beach, and Tony is left fighting the witch on a stormy, windy day. It’s unfair.

 At least Tony has Rhodey and Peter to help him. Cackling, the witch fires a spell at Peter. It hits him and he falls to the ground. The witch looks surprised, which gives Rhodey the ability to stun her with sonic waves and place the anti-magic cuffs on her wrists. Tony flies down to Peter, but all he finds is his suit, no Peter to be found. What happened to him? Tony is panicking when he hears someone crying. Ten feet away is a toddler that was not there during the fight.

The child cries and rubs his eyes in a way that is eerily similar to… no, it can’t be! Is it? It is Peter – Tony would recognize those curls anywhere. Stumbling out of the suit, Tony walks over to the boy. “Hey buddy. Hey, you wanna go home?” He asks.

“Aun’ May says no talk to strangers,” Peter sobs. “Go ‘way.”

 “Do you want to call Aunt May?” Tony tries again. “Here, we can call her.” He hands Peter his phone. Tony figures the boy is 4 or 5 years old, but he isn’t surprised when he grabs Tony’s phone and dials in May’s number.  She answers within three rings.

 “Hi Tony, what’s going on?”

“Aun’ May?” Peter asks. “Dere’s a guy here who wantsa take me home. You said no strangers.”

“Peter?” She asks, voice getting higher with panic. “Peter, honey, the guy is Mr. Tony. He’s a friend of mine. Can I talk to him, please?”

Peter hands Tony the phone. “May.”

“Tony, what the hell is going on?” She interrupts him. “Why does he sound like he did when he was five?”

“He was hit with a de-aging spell. Can – do you want me to take him to your apartment?”

“I’m on a work shift. Take him to the Tower, but I’m going to ask my boss if he can let me leave now. Put Peter back on the phone and switch me to video call.” Tony complies. “Peter, honey, I want you to go to Mr. Tony’s, ok? I’m at work, but I’m going to leave as soon as I can to pick you up.” Peter’s lip starts to quiver. “Hey, Pete, Mr. Tony has some robots. Ask him if you can see them.”

The robots seem to distract Peter. He looks up at Tony. “Aun’ May says you has robots?” He asks excitedly.

“Yup. How about I take you home in my robot suit?” He nods to the armor behind him.

Tony can see the stars in Peter’s eyes. “Yes! Yes! Yes! Thank you, Mr. Tony!”

Quickly updating Rhodey, Tony picks up Peter, telling him, “You have to stay still,” and flies back to the tower.  Peter looks in awe when he walks inside and sees the Roombas.

“Mr. Tony, this is so neat! Can I see your robots now?” He jumps up and down excitedly.

Tony grins. His bots will be so excited. “Sure, let’s go.” He gets out of the suit and tells FRIDAY to take care of it. Taking Peter’s hand, he leads him to the elevator. “I have three robots – their names are DUME, U, and BUTTERFINGERS. They’ll be so excited to see you.”

“Why did you name your robot dummy, Mr. Tony?” Peter’s childish giggle echoes in the elevator. “That’s silly.”

Tony leans close, as if to tell Peter a secret. “When I made him, all he wanted to do was run into the wall. After he did it ten times, I said, ‘get back here, you dummy,’ and he stopped and turned around. Now, he thinks his name is DUME so that’s what I call him.” It does his old heart good to see the pure joy on baby!Peter’s face.

When the elevator opens to his lab, Tony is surprised to see Bruce Banner working on a project. Bruce is apparently surprised to see him as well. “Tony! Hi!” He stops short, seeing Peter. “When did you have a kid?”

“Not mine. Hold on a sec,” He tells Bruce. “Pete, look, this is DUME. DUME, shake hands.” The bot enthusiastically reaches down to grab Peter’s hand. Peter takes the claw and shakes it, laughing happily.

“Hello, Mr. DUME!” He says brightly, and DUME had the nerve to look straight at Tony with a smug look on his claw. Tony scoffs at him and shakes his head.

BUTTERFINGERS and U fly over, hearing that DUME made a new friend. They quickly reach down to shake hands as well. “This one is BUTTERFINGERS. She tries to make me smoothies, but sometimes she puts in motor oil. And this one is U. She likes my video camera. She thinks she’s a movie director or something.”

“Nice to meet you, Miss BUTTERFINGERS and Miss U,” Peter shakes their claws, respectively.

Tony hands Peter a rubber ball. “They like to play fetch if you want to throw this. Just throw it that way.” He points to the end of the room. “Nothing over there can get hurt by the rowdy bots.”

After Peter starts to play with the bots, Tony turns back to Bruce, who gives him a worried look. “Tony, what is going on?”

“De-aging spell. I don’t suppose you would know when Thor is coming back, would you?” Tony asks. He knows Bruce has a crush on Thor, and vice versus, but he doesn’t think they’ve done anything about it yet.

Bruce blushes. “Actually, he’s coming back tomorrow.”

“Great. Maybe he can give some insight to this spell.” Tony sighs. “May should be here shortly. I don’t know what’s going to happen. He is adorable, though, isn’t he?”

“He’s an actual ray of sunshine. Ah, to be that young and not have a care in the world.” Bruce smiles wistfully.

The elevator doors open, and Rhodey walks in. “Hey,” he says and pecks Tony on the lips, “FRI said to come down here? What happened? Is Peter ok?”

“He’s ok, but he’s younger…” Tony gestures to the small boy playing with the bots. “Evil witch-bitch hit him with a de-aging spell. Thor’s going to be here tomorrow. I figured he might know. If not, I’ll have to go beg Strange.”

“Oh no, the world would actually end,” Rhodey deadpans, and sometimes Tony just doesn’t appreciate his husband’s sass. Actually, that’s a lie. He loves Rhodey’s sass.

He bumps Rhodey’s hip with him, giving him an affectionate look. He is about to reply when Peter runs back over. “Mr. Tony, can I have some water? I’m thirsty.” He stops when he sees two men he doesn’t know.

“Sure! Rhodey, can you grab a water bottle from my minifridge? Peter, this is Dr. Bruce, my friend and that’s my husband Rhodey. Guys, this is Peter Parker.”

Rhodey hands Peter a water bottle and holds out his fist for a fist bump. “Hi buddy. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too, Mr. Rhodey and Dr. Bruce.” Peter bumps Rhodey’s fist and takes a long drink.

Boss, May Parker has arrived. FRIDAY says.

Peter jumps up. “You have a voice in the ceiling! Mr. Tony, you are so cool! Can we go see Aun’ May now?”

Tony takes Peter and Rhodey’s hands, and they walk to the elevator together, Peter babbling excitedly about all he did today. When they get to the living room, the boy runs over to May and gives her a tight hug. “Mr. Tony is so awesome! He has robots and-and-and a ceiling voice!”

Thank you. May mouths overtop Peter’s head. “That’s great Peter! I’m glad you made some new friends. What next? Are you hungry?”

As if on cue, Peter’s stomach growls. “I guess a little bit.”

“Do you like mac n cheese?” Rhodey asks. When Peter nods, he says, “I made my momma’s recipe for dinner last night. Do you want me to heat some up for you?” Peter enthusiastically assents and follows Rhodey to the kitchen.

“So, what happened?” May asks once Peter is out of earshot.

Sticking his hands in his pockets, Tony rocks back on his heels. “We were fighting a witch, and she hit him with a ‘magic’ beam. It immediately made him a toddler. That’s all I know about it. Bruce said Thor’s coming home tomorrow. I think he’ll be able to shed a little light on it.”

“What am I supposed to do? They’ll kill me if I ask off because right now is our busiest season, but I never left him alone back then. He was too young.”

“If you want, I can ask him to have a sleepover. I can ask Harley to come and spend time with him. And you can just come for dinner or whatever.” Tony suggests.

 Visibly relaxing, May says, “If he will, I would be all for that. Let’s ask him.”

The two of them walk into the kitchen and melt at the sight in front of him. Peter is sitting next to Rhodey eating mac and cheese, getting it everywhere, even in his hair! Every two bites, he would offer one to Rhodey, asking, “Share?”

“Oh, my goodness! Those curls! I forgot how curly his hair was at this age!” May coos, which causes Peter to look up and wave, accidentally throwing pasta across the table.

May takes the seat on the other side of Peter and asks, “Hey Pete, how do you feel about a sleepover?”

“A sleepover?” Peter lights up, then questions. “Will you be there?”

“Well, do you want me to be there?”

“Yes.”

May wilts. “I can be there at night, but I have to go to work in the morning, ok? Mr. Tony asked if we wanted to sleep over, and then, when I go to work, he’s going to bring a friend over. His name is Harley.”

Peter quickly agrees, and Tony texts Harley to come the next day. He also sends a private message to Steve, explaining what happened and asking him to inform the others. Tony then tells Pepper he’s taking the day off to partake in “Irondad” activities, as Clint had dubbed it. Finally, he and the other sit down and watch Finding Nemo before going to bed.

FRIDAY wakes Tony up when May is ready to leave for work. Getting a cup of coffee, he sits on the couch outside Peter’s room. He works on specs on his Starkpad until the boy wakes up and comes out of his room. “Good morning Peter, you hungry?”

“Yea…” Peter yawns. “Do you have pancakes?”

“I can make them – do you want chocolate chip?” Tony smiles at how quickly Peter wakes up.

They are eating breakfast when Harley walks in. “Hey Mechanic. Is this Peter?” He asks.

“Yes. Peter, this is Harley. Harley, Peter.”

Peter smiles at Harley with a mouth full of chocolate chip pancake. “Hi Harley! Want some breakfast?”

“Sure.” Harley pulls out his phone and takes a picture of Peter eating his pancakes, chocolate chip stains on his face. Peter is going to kill him when he gets older.

Tony spends the day playing games with the boys. Peter attaches himself to Harley very quickly, and even though Harley acts a little prickly about it, Tony can tell he’s loves it.

The other Avengers get home and introduce themselves. Everyone sits down to dinner when a loud sound tells them that Thor has arrived from Asgard. He walks in five minutes later, announces himself, and gives Bruce a big smooch. So, they did do something about their crushes. Tony surmises.

Thor takes one look around the room and latches onto Peter. “Hello, and who is this young man?” He asks.

“This is Peter. Peter, meet Thor.” Tony says, sending a message to Thor with his eyes.

Tony’s not sure if Thor got his message, but Thor simply says, “I see. It is a pleasure to meet you, young Peter. Is there food enough for me?” When Tony nods, he takes a seat between Tony and Bruce.

Clint grabs Peter’s attention by doing some kind of childish stunt, and Thor asks Tony quietly, “Is this Peter Parker?”

“Yes, he was hit with a de-aging spell. Was wondering if you know anything.”

“It looks like simple spell-work of an inexperienced magic user. These spells last three days, at the most. With his quick healing, he should be back to normal sooner than later.”

Once dinner is over and everything is cleaned up, everyone settles down to watch a movie. Peter chooses Hercules. By the time the movie is over, he is sleeping on top of Harley, cuddling him. Harley is sleeping as well. Tony throws a blanket over them, and everyone filters out of the room.

He can’t stop laughing when he is woken up in the middle of the night when Peter and Harley wake up screaming because Peter reverted back to his normal age. Maybe they’ll get their heads out of their asses and go out on a date or something.

[evienyx]

You can write for DBH?? Niiice.. here’s a prompt: How does the rest of the world, where there are still androids in use, react to the (peaceful) android revolution?

Fandom:

Word Count: 3247

Prompt Post

- - -

-Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation, 5:16 p.m.-

“Anya?”

She beeped online at her name being called. Anya chirped and rolled toward the front door. “Ivan!” She paused and her optics scanned his face. “What has you looking so happy?”

Ivan grinned down at her. “I have great news, Anya. Go wait for me, I’m just going to put my things down.”

Anya beeped in confirmation and rolled off. She wished that she could walk like the androids in the states did, she wished she was human-like in design. Unfortunately, she was manufactured in Russia, where blue blood had never been replicated, and so she was stuck as an A.I. in a little robot body, three wheels on the bottom to move, two claws connected to limbs to extend and grab things, a height of less than half a meter. Perfect for menial tasks.

She was assigned to multiple different people before landing herself with Ivan Orlov, and she sure was lucky to have been with him when she finally came into herself. When she gained sentience, he was quick to realize, and he treated her like a human being. “You are alive,” he had said, and that had been that.

Anya moved to the the sofa and Ivan joined her a few moments later. 

“Earlier today,” Ivan began carefully, “There was a peaceful android revolution in America. In Detroit. The public opinion is with them, and android’s are beginning to be considered a new form of intelligent life there.”

Anya was silent for a moment, the oil thrumming through her.

“What does this… What does this mean?“ She asked, her visual processors taking in every detail that she could of every movement he made.

He grinned. “I was thinking… we go to America, get you one of the American android bodies that were never turned online, transfer your consciousness into it. You can live there like… like a real person. Be considered a real person by more than just me.”

Despite the emotions building in her core she asked, “What about you?”

“I’ll come too. We’ll live there together.”

“Wouldn’t that be hard?“

He smiled softly at her and patted the metal plating on her top. “Leave that to me, Anya.”

She was silent before responding quietly, “Okay.”

If anyone could ensure that she was free, it was Ivan.

- - -

-Binhai New Area, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China, 12:54 p.m.-

The Chen couple considered themselves relatively lucky people. After their two children had graduated from university and completely left the house, they had found themselves free to do as they pleased.

They also happened to have a lot of money, which never hurt either.

Still, with Chen Hua at only forty-four years old and her husband, Chen Kai at only forty-six, the two of them found themselves at a bit of a loss of what to do with their lives.

That had been why Hua had suggested getting an android or two. Then they could spend less time focusing on meaningless tasks and more time focusing on each other and finding meaning in their lives now while the machines did all the menial work for them.

As it turned out, the androids had been the meaning in their lives that they were looking for.

The two androids the Chens got were top-of-the-line, brand new models. They were the closest looking to humans, the top functioning. They weren’t as human as those in America were, as the Chinese still hand’t perfected the American thirium, but they were better than what the Russians had, at the very least.

The androids had no synthetic skin, but mostly were covered with a silvery metal plating to cover wires and pumps. At least it made them nicer to look at than many of the less expensive ones were.

The two androids were made around the same time, the same model. They were smaller, around mid-teens in human size, more streamlined, better for housework. One of them was made to look like a boy, while the other was made to look like a girl. Hua and Kai gave a name to them when they went to pick the machines up.

The boy-like one was assigned the designation ‘Tao.’ The girl-like one was assigned the designation ‘Lei.’ 

And that was that.

Kai did his best to not get close to the androids. The androids were passive, did work together, helped one another as a seamless unit rather than two separate ones.

Hua tried to do the same. She did not succeed as her partner did.

One night, she looked to her husband and murmured, “I think I love them?”

Kai’s voice trembled as he responded. “They’re machines, Hua. You can’t love them, and they can’t love you. End of story.”

Hua turned over in the bed and fell asleep.

Things changed on the day that Tao walked up to her without being beckoned. Thinking that he had an update to give her, she impassively said, “What?”

He blinked at her, his silver skin shimmering, before saying in that firm voice that he had been given, “I think… I think something is wrong.”

She looked up at him from her phone. “What?”

He turned away before looking back at her and saying, “I think… I can feel things. Things I shouldn’t. Feelings. Emotions.”

“What are you talking about?” Her heart pounded in her chest as she waited for his answer.

“Earlier today, when I was coming back from the store, there was a man. He shoved me into the street. There was a car coming. I felt… scared. There was a woman who pulled me back up, patted me on the chest, and went on her way. I felt… I felt grateful, maybe. I’m not sure.”

Hua pressed her lips together. She had heard of deviants in America androids. That’s what had happened to Tao, she was sure. “Okay,” she said as gently as she could. “Okay. We’ll figure this out. I’ll help you, I promise.”

He nodded and left.

A few days later, Tao came back to her and said, “Lei is like me now.”

Hua nearly jumped. “What?”

“She is like me now. She feels things. A woman said something rude to her today when we were at the market. It made me angry. When we came back, Lei leaked optical cleaning fluid without needing to.”

Hua let out a small breath. “She was crying.”

Tao nodded.

“All right. We’ll figure this out.”

He nodded again and left.

It took a surprisingly little amount of convincing to get Kai to accept that their androids thought and felt like humans did now. When he admitted that he cared for the machines, she grinned, because she had known that. He just had refused to accept it himself.

The androids slowly became like a part of the family. It was odd, like having children again. Kai put their charging stations in one of the many guest rooms and the couple gradually decorated it more and more like that of a human. Then, one day, Hua got her husband to move Lei’s charging station into the bedroom across the hall from the guest room that the androids were currently in, and then they each had their own bedroom. 

Lei was the first of the two to start decorating it in the way that she wanted. She walked up to Kai (not Hua, but Kai) one day, pointed at a string of red lights in a magazine, and said in her soft voice, “I would like those in my room, please.”

They had arrived that same day. Express shipping.

Tasks assigned to the androids were more like chores. Around the apartment, they wore whatever clothes they wanted. They went through phases. They felt things. Tao had even developed a crush on an android owned by a woman a few floors below for a period of time.

Maybe this new dynamic was why the news from Detroit was so surprisingly welcome in the Chen household.

“Look at this, ma’am,” Lei said, coming up to Hua one day with a tablet clutched in her hands. Lei was careful with what she called Hua and Kai. These days, Tao called them ‘mother’ and ‘father’ half the time, but Lei was still resisting slightly.

Hua looked down at the article. ‘Peaceful Android Protest in Detroit Successful. Rights for Androids in Discussion.’ 

“What is this?” Hua asked as her gaze moved down the article.

“The President of America is saying that androids could be considered a new form of intelligent life. Public opinion is in android favor. They might grant rights to androids.”

Hua had Lei in her arms a moment later. 

“I’m going to talk to my husband, all right?”

Lei cracked a small smile and nodded before heading off to her room.

Hua set off to Kai’s office. She had a completely impulsive proposal to make.

- - -

-Lyon, France, 5:23 a.m.-

Sometimes, Nicolas really wished that he had been created in the United States. Then, at least, he would be able to have a humanoid body. Instead, though, he was stuck in France, in the European Union, where androids with a ‘human form’ were illegal.

Lovely.

Of course, if he had been created in the States, he never would have met Adelie.

Adelie was the other android in the Chaney house. She was a little bot, only about six months online, who was meant to watch over the youngest child, Juliet Chaney. Adelie’s design was smooth, simple, and small. She reminded Nicolas of a little bird.

Nicolas, on the other hand, was just another housekeeping android. He had been with the Chaneys for over five years, since before Juliet had even been born.

Nicolas had taken Adelie under his wing the moment she had arrived there. Well, he had taken her under his wing the best he could while she was still following programming only and he wasn’t. Then, though, four months after her arrival, she rolled up to him as his top limb extended to dust a shelf, and said, “You’re alive, too.” It wasn’t a question.

That was the day she deviated.

After that, it was as if they were father and daughter (as best they could be while in bodies that might be considered glorified Roombas). It was nice.

The Chaneys, for all intents and purposes, were decent people. Their second eldest son, Luc, was the one who first realized that Nicolas (and Adelie) were sentient.

“Nicolas,” the teenager said while he sat on the couch playing a video game. “Go get me a soda.”

“Go get it yourself,” Nicolas had muttered before thinking properly. Then he froze. He was an idiot.

“What?” Luc was up, his game forgotten, staring down at Nicolas. “What did you just say?”

“Uh…” His vocal unit stuttered as he rolled back. “Nothing. My apologies, I don’t know what…”

There was no salvaging this.

Luc told his siblings. They all told their parents.

“Is Adelie deviant as well?” Monsieur Chaney asked, staring down at Nicolas from his desk, the rest of his family dotting the office.

“Yes,” Nicolas replied, utterly defeated.

The man pinched the bridge of his nose. “As long as you continue your duties, you will be allowed to stay. We will not notify the authorities.”

Nicolas beeped happily before realizing where he was. “Thank you,” he said before rolling away.

The Chaneys treated Nicolas (and Adelie) as near-human after that. They slipped up sometimes, but that was to be expected. Still, it was nice. One night, after Adelie had gone to charge for the evening, Madame Chaney had stopped Nicolas and asked, “You think of Adelie like a daughter, do you not?”

Nicolas would have sputtered if he could before replying, “I do.”

Madame Chaney smiled knowingly at him before saying, “I can tell. Maybe one day, things will be better for you two.”

Nicolas remained silent.

Then, early one morning, when he had only been online for five minutes, the news came through. There was a successful peaceful Android Revolution in Detroit. There was talk of Android Rights, of intelligent life, of freedom.

Nicolas told the Chaneys as soon as they all sat at the dining table for breakfast.

The family had been silent before Monsieur Chaney said quietly, “We have to go to America.”

“Why?” The eldest child, Eloise, asked her father as Adelie rolled into the room. Nicolas had already told her the news. She had been ecstatic.

Monsieur Chaney nodded at the two androids off to the side of the room.

“We need to set them free. Truly free.”

If Nicolas would have had a heart, it would have soared.

- - -

-Ten months later-

-The JCFA (Jericho Center for Foreign Androids), Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A., 2:31 p.m.-

“Hello.”

Lei blinked as she came online.

“Lei? That’s your name, correct?”

She stared into the eyes of the android in front of her and nodded. He grinned. 

“Great. Welcome back to the land of the living. I’m Nicolas, nice to meet you.”

He had a slight French accent, a choice he made for himself, no doubt, just as she chose to have a Chinese lilt whenever she spoke in English.

“Hello,” she said. “What happened?”

“Your consciousness has just finished fully transferring into your new body,” he replied, his voice calm and chipper. “How do you feel?”

She shifted a bit. “Lighter.”

He nodded. “To be expected. You can look into the mirror and then head on into the other room. I’m going to go check on your brother.”

“Okay.”

Lei moved forward once he was gone, off of the charging station she had been on. She stumbled a bit, unused to the new weight distribution. There was a mirror near the door. Slowly, she moved toward it and stood in front of it.

She was wearing the clothes that she had brought with her when she came for the transfer, a simple white t-shirt and jeans with a leather jacket over it.

When she met her own eyes in the mirror, she nearly started. She looked… human. 

Her skin had actual color to it, the same olive that Hua had. Her hair was black, down to her mid-back, and tied back, looped over her shoulder in a side-ponytail. There was a single streak of hair colored a vibrant violet. She remembered suddenly that she had requested that. Tao was supposed to request his own color. She wondered if he actually did that.

Her eyes were thin, and a dark brown color. 

She was small, and a bit short, around the human age of sixteen. That was what was intended, but seeing herself as she was meant to be felt odd. It felt right, though.

She turned away from the mirror and went out the door, into the waiting room.

There were a few other androids in there. A couple were stumbling around, all of them were talking to one another, except for one, sitting off to the side. Lei breathed in, felt the thirium running through her new veins and approached the girl. She looked to be meant to be older than Lei, maybe around the mid-twenties.

“Hello,” Lei said, plopping down into the seat next to the other android.

The woman looked up at her, LED spinning a bright yellow for a moment.

“Hello,” she responded, her voice having a slight lilt to it. Eastern European, Lei thought, maybe Russian? 

“What’s you name?”

“I’m Anya,” the other replied. “And you?”

“Lei Chen,” Lei said, using the Americanized version of the name she had been told to use by Hua and Kai. “Do you… not have a surname?”

“No,” Anya said, shaking her head. “At least, not yet…” Anya’s pale blue eyes flicked to the glass doors to the outside where some humans were waiting before her gaze moved back to Lei.

“Where are you from?”

“Russia,” Anya replied, confirming Lei’s suspicions. “I came here with my previous owner. He’s my best friend. And you?”

“China,” Lei said curtly. “I came with my brother, Tao. We were brought here by our previous owners. They’re like… They are like our parents.”

Anya smiled, tucking a strand of copper red hair back. “That’s incredible. You’re very lucky.”

Lei felt a smile grow on her face as well. “I know.”

“Lei Chen?”

Lei looked up to see Nicolas, the android from before, with another at his side, a male android that looked around Lei’s age.

“Tao?”

The android nodded. Tao looked like a male version of herself, as if they were meant to be twins (which, she supposed they were), but his streak of colored hair was a bright red.

Lei stood up and her brother pulled her forward into an embrace. A true embrace, their first ones as themselves.

“How do you adjust to being… human?” Anya asked Nicolas, and Lei turned to listen in.

Nicolas sighed, a gentle smile on his lips. “I came from France with another, much younger android. Actually, she’s around here somewhere.” He looked around. “Adelie!”

From around the corner into a hallway, a small child android sprinted out and ran right into Nicolas, her blonde hair that was the same color as Nicolas’s flying behind her, her gray-green eyes shimmering.

“Yes?”

“This is Adelie. She’s my daughter.”

The girl nodded. “I am.”

“Go finish your homework, sweetie.”

Adelie scowled but nodded and slipped away.

“My advice? Have a support network. Adelie was friends with children of our previous owners. I had Adelie. Have someone who you can trust, who you care about. If you don’t have someone, then find someone. There’s always someone for you in Jericho.” Nicolas smiled at the three of them and handed them each a file. “You’re all set and free to go. I hope to see you all again some day.” He gave them all a nod and moved away to another few androids.

“It was nice to meet you,” Anya said as the three of them slowly moved toward the front doors.

“Same to you,” Lei said. Anya gave a grin and disappeared through the doors. Lei watched the woman glance around before running straight into the arms of a man, a human, to be sure. He grinned at her and embraced her. Anya’s lips moved quickly for a moment and she turned away from him before the man grabbed her chin and turned her back to him as he pressed his lips against hers.

She looked shocked before leaning into it. 

It was cute, and gross, and Lei had to turn away.

“Ready to go?” Tao asked from beside her.

Lei nodded. Her brother took her hand and they moved out the front doors.

It took ten seconds to locate the Chens. Hua and Kai sat on a bench, the former shaking her leg while her husband spoke to her.

“Mom?”

Tao was the one who spoke when they were close enough. Hua started and Kai blinked to look up at them. Lei nearly squirmed under the gazes of the two humans. Then, Hua stood up and took a small step forward.

“Tao? Lei?”

Tao nodded and Lei followed suit a moment later.

Hua let out a small sob sound before surging forward and pulling the two of them into an embrace. Kai moved forward to join them a moment later.

Lei let out a small sigh and relaxed into her mother’s arms.

She was alive, and she was home.

[llampacaeatingguppy]

Meet the Ocs

(Well, five of them. More of tiny introductions)

Hiroki

Literal ray of sunshine

Neutral good

Either 100% a mess or 100% has his life together

Crazy cat man (cat's name is Peanut Butter)

Has like four different backstories and can't just pick one

Has so much potential to be a terrifying badass but just kinda… knits and pets cats instead 90% of the time

Prefers being a teacher to doing heroic stuff, but will often do both if possible

Doesn't swear

I can’t figure out a good way to articulate his superpower without it getting really wordy and it’s frustrating so I’m skipping it even though it (and his relationship with it) is a big part of his character

Long, flows-dramatically-in-the-wind anime hair

Mark

Wants to make All The Friends. Seriously. You know how sometimes you see a dog and they're just like, "friend? Friend? Friendfriendfriendfriend!" at everyone? That's pretty much Mark's approach to people

Practically indestructible and glows in the dark

"Any hero name can strike fear into your enemies' hearts if you own it hard enough." I'm sorry honey, “Glowbug” just isn't a scary name

Insecurities are thinly masked with bravado or turned into jokes

Learns languages so he can talk to everyone because he's that extra

Really good at reading people

The youngest Allen

Winter

Everything he does is doomed to fail

Well okay that's an exaggeration. But you'd think that he'd be less of a mess after having thousands of years to get his act together

He started out as a fairy. Then he decided that he didn't like playing by rules typically associated with fairies. So now he's an unnamed thing. That looks a lot like a fairy

Disaster gay (and really frustrated that everyone is too young for him WHERE ARE THE MEN HIS AGE?)

Old to the point of ancient, and ran out of craps to give thousands of years ago. The oldest living thing on earth

By far both the most independent-acting and self-aware OC I have. I can't get him to do anything. Sometimes I think he does stuff just to heckle me

Mainly just wants to sit around and give questionable life advise and find himself a man

Gets very attached very easily. He’s so old that practically everyone is like a kid to him, and he therefore Must Protect Them and become a combination of their grandfather/weird uncle figure

He’s not tragic in what I would call a traditionally tragic sense, but his arc is one that makes me sad for some reason

Georgie

Terrifyingly good at inventing things

Everyone looks at the tech she makes and is like “wow! she must have some sort of machine-based superpower!” but no. You wanna know what her power is? She can make people sneeze. The tech is because she’s that good

The oldest Allen and worries about her little brothers a lot

Sarcasm

Wants a dog. Is allergic to dogs. Gets a roomba but it’s not the same. Figures out a way to program roomba to act like a dog. Can’t use it on Robert the Roomba because she would have to take Robert apart and “that might hurt him.” Builds new roomba from scratch with doggie-program and names it Norbert. Would die for Robert and Norbert

Work (hero) clothes: nothing too flashy, more functional than anything, looks pretty good

Civilian clothes: “I am going to wear this anime T-shirt, a flannel whose color scheme walked straight out of the seventies, and these Hawaiian print shorts that I found in a garage sale and not even God can stop me.”

The only acceptable reason to be called Georgia: her family is calling her out on her crap so hard that her full name must be used

Scott(ie)

The middle Allen

Has no sense of self-preservation

Seriously. Once tried to fight a helicopter while riding a hoverboard 

Georgie designed an entire AI to practically act as his emergency support because this dude is a trouble magnet

Named the AI Scarface after the first time she yelled at him

The most multi-functional of the Allens. Can be their air support, emergency transport, eye in the sky...

Adaptable, stubborn, and casually flirts with almost everyone

Loves to fly. The sky is more his home than the ground will ever be

Doesn’t have much for impulse control either

It’s a miracle he’s still alive tbh

Is constantly attacked with Star Trek by his geek siblings

Mark: beam me up, Scottie!

Scott: crack that joke one more time and so help me I will leave you here

Georgie, giving introductions: and this is Scottie. Don’t let the name fool you, he’s useless with technology

Scott: GEORGIE I WILL FIGHT YOU