Arrival Part 2 [Network Video]

[lickstheevidence]

[Now that Connor's been here for a minute and met a few people, he decides to try his device again.]

My name is Connor. I'm a recent arrival. I've met some of you already, but to those of you I haven't- hello.

[Short and to the point.]

Comments

Voice

[buildingitsir]

_{[He feels like he recognizes that face, but he's not sure. So he uses the text feature to communicate for now.]}

hey. i'm york

where'd they pull you from then?

[lickstheevidence]

[Connor is still stubbornly using the video feature.]

Detroit. Early November 12th, 2038. Hello, York.

[buildingitsir]

<sub>[No fucking way. He's been here over a year and now people from his world are really trickling in. York doesn't know how to feel about this.

He keeps it to voice only.]</sub>

Huh. You are literally three days ahead in my timeline. November 9, 2038, 11.00PM in Detroit before I was brought here.

_{[Then a text for Connor to respond to.]}

01100001 01101110 01100100 01110010 01101111 01101001 01100100 00111111

[lickstheevidence]

[Nope, still video, as his eyebrows rise incrementally before he settles into a frown.]

What were you doing when you were brought here?

[And a text in reply:]

01011001 01100101 01110011 00101100 00100000 01001001 00100000 01100001 01101101 00101110 00100000 01011001 01101111 01110101 00100111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01100001 00100000 01000011 01111001 01100010 01100101 01110010 01101100 01101001 01100110 01100101 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 01110010 01101111 01101001 01100100 00101110

[It reads, Yes, I am. You're not a Cyberlife android.]

[buildingitsir]

<sub>[Shit.

Shit.

Suddenly York feels like he revealed his hand too quickly.]</sub>

existing as androids do

also what makes you say that about what kind of android i am?

[lickstheevidence]

[Connor has a database of every Cyberlife model ever created, barring Markus, who was created by Kamski, not the company.]

Of course. Deviant on the Jericho by then, correct?

[Connor shakes his head. Still on video, York.]

You don't have a voice that corresponds to any Cyberlife model in my database.

[buildingitsir]

Just who the fuck are you? Also custom model, so I'm not in Cyberlife's main database of cookie-cutter bullshit so of course I'm not in your file system.

<sub>[He's glad he's only on voice, so this Connor guy doesn't see the gold glow of LED under his shirt. There was a Connor from his world, whispered about amongst the androids and York had a simulated sinking feeling that this was the same android.

The Deviant hunter, they called him. York wasn't interested in being hunted here.]</sub>

[lickstheevidence]

As I told everyone, my name is Connor.

What model are you? Were you built for someone in particular?

[Whatever would give you that idea, York? Is it because his uniform identifies him as an RK800? Does that even mean anything to York?]

[buildingitsir]

<sub>[Shit. Shit shit shit shiiiiiit.

Custom model, so I don't have an identifier. Nosy bastard, aren't you?

[Everything was pointing at this being the actual deviant hunter, so of course he was going to be nosy. He looks and sounds like the infamous deviant hunter anyways. That's really unfortunate.]

Custom models usually do get built for someone specific and I don't have permission to reveal my owner as per their security selections. What model are you, since you wanna ask about me, lets hear about you.</sub>

[Video]

[plate_builder]

[Sorry Connor, you've really got to deal with a video of a cat talking to you. This is totally normal.]

'Allo Connor. Ah'm Mini. Ya gonna tell us a wee bit more about yahself?

[Sorry, he's just a little cat with a scottish accent that is really playing it up at the moment.]

[lickstheevidence]

[He's met Pikachu already; maybe this won't be so strange.

Nope, still strange.]

You're a cat. And you're talking. Do all manner of creatures here talk?

[The accent really is the cream on top of the milk, so to speak.]

[plate_builder]

Ah'm less of a kitteh than Quintet is. But nae true that all creatures talk. Ah'm hardly quite fully a real cat.

[lickstheevidence]

Oh? Then what are you more of, if you're less of a cat?

[plate_builder]

Ah'm sort of a magical construct tha is a wee bit machine, wee bit doll, all cat.

[lickstheevidence]

That almost sounds like a golem, except for the cat part. And the machine part. I don't think I've ever met someone like you. Cyberlife made cybernetic animals, but they were completely machines.

[plate_builder]

Oh ah'm nae a Golem! Ah dunnae have any guns and ah'm surely not that tall. They dunnae have nice fur like me either.

Ah'm a far better thing than those robots.

Magic goes a good distance ta making meh what ah am.

[lickstheevidence]

I'm a robot, you know. I was more talking about the golems in Jewish folklore, though. The ones made from clay and prayers and some magic. I'm sure your fur is very nice.

Who made you? Is it okay to ask that?

Video

[quintet]

Hello, Connor.

[Talking cats are something of a theme, here]

Sounds like York is sorting you out, right? It's almost more androids than cats, these days. How're you settling in?

[lickstheevidence]

[So it would seem.]

Hello, second talking cat. Is this going to be a thing?

[He's not trying to be rude, he's mainly startled by the talking cats, plural.]

I guess he is? ...I'm not sure. I feel like I'm having to constantly look over my shoulder and I never know what's coming next.

[Karma, maybe, for his deeds in Detroit.]

[quintet]

All cats can talk. It's a thing.

[This is said in a resigned sort of a spirit. It's always the same damn greeting.]

Well, the Agrii did bring you here, so... That's not totally unwarranted. I'm Quintet, by the way.

[lickstheevidence]

Is it now? What about dogs? Do they talk too?

[Sorry for being common like that, Quintet, but you're a talking cat! It's understandable that people will react that way, isn't it?]

Nice to meet you, Quintet. Yeah, I guess I shouldn't be surprised about it. How long have you been here?

[quintet]

Oh geez. Seasons.

—And, yeah. Dogs can talk. Pretty much everything can talk. We're all people, like you.

[lickstheevidence]

It's only recently that I've been considered a person, but I'll keep that in mind about talking anim- people. I've never heard my partner's dog talk.

I take it seasons is a long time?

[quintet]

Well, sure. I'm— well, more or less twenty-five seasons old? Not exactly middle-age, but pretty old.

[How does that work out in the Hominid calendar everyone seems to rely on? She could never make it make sense in her head. How many days in a week? Three sleeps is four— no two... ugh, nevermind.]

He probably doesn't speak the common language. Most of us learn one of the base lingua and common together, but if your dog friend lives in the Hominid Society, then he isn't part of our own Society, and... They'd probably just know Canid. I'm pretty good at Canid, my best friend was a dog, once upon a time...

But you know, you don't speak common either. There's something about this place that makes everything translate. It's freaky.

[lickstheevidence]

If seasons work like they do where I'm from that means you're around six years old, more or less. That works out, if the average lifespan of a typical feline is, say, what? Thirteen years or so?

[So she's been here for what must seem like a long while in her way of reckoning time. She's probably not wrong.]

I speak English by default, but I can speak a variety of other languages as well, including some coding languages. Can Sumo- my dog friend -understand me when I speak to him? Or if he were to somehow be brought here, would I understand him?