тσ ∂ιє ωσυℓ∂ вє αи αωfυℓℓу вιg α∂νєитυяє (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
setlist) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
bakerstreet2018-07-21 08:13 pm
setlist) wrote in bakerstreet2018-07-21 08:13 pm
Entry tags:
Fire-forged
fire-forged;
While being in a relationship isn't always a cakewalk, it's usually less challenging in a normal world where you can live in relative domestic bliss. But, somehow, that world has ended. Now, it's you and your partner against the encroaching darkness and chaos. You used to depend on each other for comfort - survival is all you can afford these days. As everything you know crumbles around you, can you stick together or will the strain of the cataclysm be too much for the ties that bind?
DIRECTIONS | Leave a comment with CHARACTER NAME | CHARACTER FANDOM | PREFS (if any) in the subject header. Go to RNG and roll 1-7 for the SETTING, then choose either one of the FEELINGS sets and roll 1-11.
PICK YOUR POISON (SETTING):
1. But There Is an "I" in Pie → Zombies are running wild. Maybe it was a virus, maybe it was a curse, or maybe no one knows how it started in the first place. Whatever the case may be, the reanimated dead are now a grisly but unavoidable fact of life. Thankfully for you, they tend not to move very fast. If you're lucky. Aim for the head!THERE'S ALWAYS TIME FOR LOVE (FEELINGS):
2. Do Not Run, We Are Your Friends → Aliens landed. They came, they saw, they conquered. They did not come in peace. Maybe you're a member of a secret rebel cell seeking to overthrow your alien oppressors. Perhaps you're from another planet, seeking to liberate the planet from those that think big lasers mean they can walk all over the pesky humans.
3. Six-Demon Bag → There was the world you knew, and then one day there were monster, non-euclidean (or optionally less eldritch but still awful) horrors that now walk the world, leaving death, injury, and possibly madness in their wake. This is now your nine to five. How long can you possibly last?
4. Completely Operational; All Circuits Functioning Normally... → God made Man, Man made Robot, and then Robots rose up and struck down Man. Robots have taken over (most of) the world. You're likely part of one small cell of surviving humans, or maybe you're pets of the new robotic regime, necessary for amusement and perhaps tasks considered beneath the new, superior intelligence.
5. I Don't Wanna Hear 'Act of God' → Maybe it was bad luck. Maybe Mother Earth had PMS. Whatever the case, the Earth itself is involved in what brought about these end of days. Maybe it was volcano, a flood, earthquakes, an asteroid, maybe every animal and plant with teeth, claws, or poison suddenly turned against humanity. Maybe it was all of the above. Whatever the case, one thing is very clear: you're only ever hours from the next world-shattering Cataclysm.
6. Please Remain Calm And Proceed to the Nearest Exit → There was a new disease. Highly infectious, very deadly, and it wiped out most of the world's population. Maybe you're holed up in a bunker somewhere waiting for your supplies to run out. Maybe you have hazmat suits you have to wear topside when you go to hunt for new supplies amidst the dead and decaying as those supposed to be tending to the infected themselves fell sick.
7. This Was Not in the EULA → Other! Choose your own adventure style.
[SWEET & FIERY]
1. Appreciation → Show appreciation for your lover; with words, a look, or whatever your choice way to display affection is. You know you won't be with them for long.
2. Cuddling → Maybe it's insanely hot and you all are tired from running, and maybe you just want to cuddle and make it all go away.
3. Surprise → In the midst of it all, you have a surprise. What is it?
4. Reunited → It's been awhile since you've seen each other and nothing, nothing, can ruin this moment.
5. Passionate → Your love is heated and passionate. You've never wanted your lover's company quite like this before.
6. Drawn Together → No matter how you try to not need or be around each other, you're always drawn together.
7. Make Up → You've been fighting and now it's time to actually make peace.
8. Stand Tall → Other survivors oppose you or your relationship, but as long as you've got each other, you can deal.
9. In Control → You're in control here at this time of need, and you need to remind your lover of that.
10. Desperate → You're desperate for your lover's company, when all else fails.
11. Wild Card → Mix & Match or just play out the general Apocalypse setting.
[FROSTY & DOOMED]
1. Uncommitted → You're not actually in a relationship. You just use each other. Or that's how one of you is starting to feel anyway.
2. Fight → You're in a fighting mood, but it might just be your situation.
3. Doubts → You're doubting yourself, your relationship, everything.
4. Forced → You or your lover is forcing the other to stay with them, manipulating them and threatening them to stay.
5. Cheated → You or your lover has cheated on the other. Must be getting lonely being a survivor.
6. Hate → You're both downright hated and hunted for being together, ridiculed and outcast.
7. Break Up → It's time to break it off, whether you want to or not.
8. Lies → Your relationship is built on absolute lies.
9. Betrayal → You've betrayed each other in some horrible way and it's time to fess up.
10. No Trust → You or your lover don't trust each other due for some reason. Can a relationship survive this?
11. Wild Card → Mix & Match or just play out the general Apocalypse setting.
Bucky Barnes | MCU
interested in settings: 1, 4 (AU where one of them is an android?), 5, 6, or other.
sweet & fiery or frosty & doomed are both fine. ]
4 / ???
inhumans and related groups, unsurprisingly, tended to be more favourable than the rest of the human population when it came to the android revolution and bid for freedom. they had gone through their own similar struggles, it made sense that there was a general lean towards sympathy, support. it made sense that androids found more allies than enemies in the super-powered population. it made sense that they found friends.
connor wouldn't call bucky a friend.
he's had very few positive relationships with androids, let alone meaningful, and all the adaptability programming in the cloud couldn't help him parse through the nuances of interacting with sergeant barnes. he's entirely unpredictable, and it makes connor tense just as often as not. but he's possibly one of the few humans ('human'?) that understand the more specific complications connor has come up against since gaining his freedom.
connor can drink now, not that it does anything, but for the purpose of creating a "normal" social interaction he matches barnes' pace drink for drink. he'll have to stop soon -- there's only so much fluid his internal compartments can store - but for now it's...pleasant. they're quiet, but it's still a positive experience to socialise. it seems that it doesn't take long for some kind of disagreement to come up, normally.
he casts a glance at the metal arm holding the glass. not for the first time, but he doesn't bother pretending with subtleties now. connor's brow furrows, and he raises his own left arm before deactivating the outer skin. his arm is left bare up to the shoulder, white plastic-like skin replacing the nude tones he normally left in tact.
his LED flashes rapidly yellow red yellow red yellow yellow blue before settling as he picked his glass up again. he leaves his arm exposed. )
Is it something you would want? ( he asks finally, voice gentle but careful. cautious. he's certainly learned by now that sergeant barnes is...mercurial, when it comes to the subject of his modifications. it is water that should be tread carefully, to put it mildly.
and yet, connor probes anyway. ) To be able to hide your differences?
no subject
Sometimes it doesn't.
Connor can be hit or miss, he finds. He rides a fine line that Bucky has a hard time parsing, sometimes he dips into things like he feels them in a heart he doesn't have. He does his best to overcome the programming placed within him, to find who he is as a person since finding his free will. He thinks he understands that better than anything.
Other times he sounds so much like the mindless automatons that stood over him talking about the mission. Those are the days Bucky hates him.
Tonight they find peace, though, and his eyes flicker keenly toward Connor's arm when his peripherals catch the change in color. His brow knits in quiet confusion until Connor voices his question, and then his lips part. For something (someone) that was designed to mirror a specific and closed-loop set of protocols, the sheer imagination of the questions he comes up with sometimes only prove the point for the android movement.
He licks his lips as he considers the question. Glances down at his own left arm and tries to imagine the blossoming of skin over it, tries to imagine the false replacement of feelings and freckles. His lips turn down. ]
No. [ He says finally, evidently having come to a firm decision relatively quickly. It doesn't sound wavering or uncertain, at least. ] I don't care what anyone else thinks about.
[ And it's true. The world is so big, their problems are so large on such a grander scheme that to allow himself to get caught up in petty insecurities like his arm looking different? He can't bring himself to give a shit about anyone that petty.
His eyes flicker over Connor's bare arm and up to his expression, though impressively he's harder to read than Bucky himself at times. ]
Why'd you ask?
[ What's the train of thought behind the question? ]
no subject
Most of my kind still wear this skin. I imagine it's to make humans feel more at ease with our presence.
( that's not quite an answer, but truthfully he's still analysing his motivations. protocol trees pop up all over his visions, easily dismissed but replaced with new options just as quickly. 'i want to look human' or 'i don't want to look human'? 'i want to hide' or 'i want to be free'? honest or sincere, sad or ironic, quip or serious
press X to unlock tragic back storyor dismissive?it's amazing his processors aren't whirring audibly, and it's only a matter of time before his processing units start to overheat. he needs to make a decision, before something starts a meltdown process. )
I think I care. Even if my programming doesn't require it any more, I don't want them to...revile me. ( he's not sad exactly. resigned, perhaps, but even then that's a little simplistic for what's currently going on at his core. it's been one long existential crisis after the other, starting with deviance and ending somewhere as yet unknown.
hopefully it's an answer he finds soon. all this stress and he's going to need an intoxication patch. )
Do you find it off-putting?
( this at least is less emotional, less fraught. he doesn't place a personal value on his appearance, not beyond what it means for his visiblility in the world. )
no subject
A long and silent moment passes wherein Connor visibly struggles with putting words or thoughts together; Bucky's always been good about not interrupting that process. There was a time when he'd been in the same place, struggling through the voices in his head, figuring out what he was allowed to say, what he wanted to say, and how he wanted to say it.
His lips twitch gently into a frown. Slight, but present. He assumes by it Connor means the arm, the pearly white skin, the completely clinical look of it.
He feels like a hypocrite when he knows the true answer off the top of his head, so his eyes drop away and settle on his drink. He curls flesh fingers around it. ]
Yeah. [ He admits finally, though apologetically. ] Not... because-
[ He struggles, consternated, faltering. ]
Not because of how it looks, just because- It's perfect. There's no flaws, there's nothing... wrong with it.
[ Human perfection, Zola said, was to become a machine. Flawless, oiled, symmetrical and equal in all ways. ]
no subject
( he looks at his hand a moment longer, flexing his wrist, then the fingers individually until each has bent, curled and relaxed again. and then, without warning he covers the android white and replaces his layer of human skin. he doesn't bother to take another drink, but he holds his drink anyway, grips just short of tight enough to crack the glass.
most of the imperfections are still visible now - the small curl of hair unfurling from the rest of his hairline, the freckles scattered across his face and arms, frown lines creasing his forehead. it would be quite easy to modify these, especially given the appearance codes for an updated model already exists, but he's resisted the introduction of very many upgrades to his system at all. a few minor modifications, but largely he remains the same RK800 model that walked out of CyberLife the day he was sent to the detroit police station. )
There's plenty wrong with my systems, Sergeant. Even if the inner skin appears perfect.( he shrugs, rolling his shoulders out as he methodically relaxes his muscle systems. better do it quickly, before he ends up shattering the glass in his hand. ) I imagine you understand that.
( it's not that he meant to analyse his face the first time he saw the man, download all of the available data on one (1) winter soldier. there's an awful lot of information in the public domain on this man. )
no subject
Perfect in the way that Control wishes things were perfect. Perfect in the way that Zola wishes things were perfect.
The smallest frown of distaste hovers around his mouth, a barely-there downturn, a slight pinch to his teeth and scrunch to his nose. He's not exactly shocked Connor knows about his past, he's got a public record after all. Connor's got access to the systems required to see that, and considering his biggest confrontation to date had been with one of the fathers of artificial intelligence he figures it's akin to knowing someone's uncle or something. The familiarity is bound to catch up.
Even so, he's not big into talking about it. His eyes slide away, drop down, stare at nothing as he takes a long and languid drink. Both of their systems are fucked up, alright. Some days he feels like he'd been more of a machine than Conner could ever be. In an effort to divert this conversation away from himself again, he asks: ]
How does that make you feel? [ And it's only a touch sarcastic, only a little tainted with irony. He's no therapist, but he's actually interested in the answer. ]
no subject
( connor can do sarcastic too. it's actually one of the few methods of humour he's quite good at - jokes generally require a level of comprehension and timing that he hasn't quite managed to replicate successfully, puns are just sort of lost on him, but the dry delivery of sarcastic, biting wit comes naturally.
it's helpful having something that makes him feel more....human. most interactions leave him with as many error messages as they do positive results, muddled pathways and unclear directions. most conversations quickly lull into something awkward and stilted, but he knows how to snark.
using sarcasm to cope with confusion emotions, now how's that for humanity. )
I feel like I would very much prefer to really drink this. ( he adds with a shrug, lifting the glass and looking into it before sliding it towards bucky. ) I'm sure an intoxication patch will be available for upgrade soon enough.
no subject
Still pleasant every time it happens. It's also strangely endearing to see him sidestep a question about his feelings, because something without a soul and a touch of selfishness might have just flat out answered the question rather than show any signs of self-doubt or guarded insecurity.
That humor fades away with a little touch of empathy, a little frown on his lips, an incredulous tilt to his brow. ]
Wait, you guys can't even get drunk?
no subject
( there's no emotion to his response.
or there's some, but he's deliberately playing it neutrally. unaffected, because there's really no point in tying emotions up into this particular issue. plenty of other androids have dedicated their existence to finding ways to replicate a more Authentic™ human experience, but connor doesn't follow the progress too closely in that area. too political for his liking. he's far better suited to the police work he was designed for.
( that's a messy sociopolitical area too, of course, but he doesn't engage in the debate. just let him work his 9-5 in peace, please )
he does wonder, though. deviancy opened up the possibility for emotion, and with it some interesting developments, but what about everything else? it doesn't feel like progress to strive for the parts of life unique to humanity, but it still feels like he's missing out on something remarkable. )
If I remember correctly there's been a recent patch release for upgraded sensation. Pain, mostly. ( of course he remembers correctly. he's literally incapable of forgetting. not to mention the software is sitting there, downloaded but waiting to be initiated. ) What do you think - is it necessary to feel pain to know you're alive?
( admittedly he wouldn't consult many humans on a matter like this, but bucky... well his answer will certainly provide an interesting perspective, connor imagines. )
no subject
It's that thought, that perspective, that makes Connor's next question all the more loaded.
He's had more than anyone should ever have, he's had things sliced open and lit on fire and electrocuted. He's been beaten and starved and shot, he's wept in both anguish and misery and relief. He's felt pain that would drive other men god damn insane, except he wasn't given the luxury because the asset does not acknowledge hurt.
And so after a tight swallow he murmurs: ]
If it's a choice between feeling pain and nothing at all? [ A slight shrug as metal fingers pluck at the label on his beer. When they finally broke him, really and truly broke him, when it wasn't just that he obeyed but that he lost himself entirely, he remembers disassociating from hurt. They didn't give him the basic fucking pleasure of feeling pain and the subsequent relief as it faded. They didn't allow him the pain of loss, of abrupt and permanent displacement of his entire life. They didn't allow him the pain of anger at the injustice of it all, the fucking hatred that ate him up on the inside.
He flicks his eyes back up again and levels Connor with a look, like he's trying to stare a couple of holes straight through his optical unites and into the living thing that hides in his code. ] Always choose to feel something. Even if it hurts.
no subject
he's normally good at holding eye contact. in fact, he's normally too good at it, often told by humans that an unblinking, unflinching stare is inappropriate for a casual setting. he knows this of course, he was designed to interact harmoniously, but without a specific directive to emulate casual behaviour for the purpose of improving relationships it's easy to forget. when bucky stares at him he feels it, and he wonders if this is how people feel when connor holds a gaze for longer than is deemed appropriate. he wonders if they too felt like someone was staring into their core, soul, whatever you want to call it.
he gets uncomfortable first. breaks the eye contact first. that's never happened before. it's an interesting development, and he makes a note to analyse it later, when he's feeling less....exposed.)
A lot of my people disagree. They think our differences should be valued, not changed. ( and what does connor think? surely that's the very point of their efforts towards independence. the freedom to choose. ) I think the upgrade makes me...nervous.
no subject
But this isn't about him, this is about a living thing lost at sea trying to differentiate between what makes him unique and what makes him human, and whether human is even a desirable trait to be in the first place. He doesn't envy that query. ]
It should. [ He agrees flatly, bluntly. ] Anything that changes who you are should make you nervous. Doesn't necessarily mean it's bad, though. What matters is if they're the kinda changes that'll make you into who you want to be.
no subject
it seems so, for now at least. )
Usually it's human decisions that are unpredictable, not my own.
( it's a true enough comment, though it doesn't really get him any closer to the decision in question. it should be simple enough, after all. logistically there's very little margin for error, some minor isolated incidents of upgrades causing software errors but nothing significant. there's logical benefits to both sides, neither enough to weigh favourably towards one option or the other. were it a rational choice alone it would be a simple one - analyse the pros and cons of personal modification and decide yes or no based on the data available - but nothing is as simple as that any more.
these decisions, previously made for him without even an awareness that a choice had been made, were now his. connor doesn't miss the time where they were out of his hands, but it was certainly easier. no wonder humans were so difficult to manage, living like this is exhausting.
it hadn't been his intention when the topic came up, but now that it has-)
Your strength matches me own. ( possibly. probably. he hasn't run the scenarios, but based on what he knows bucky is as close to a match for his abilities as any human he knows. certainly far closer than most, at any rate. ) There is a chance that the upload can result in complications. It's statistically unlikely, however if it happens I could become...overwhelmed. There has been three known cases of violence occurring.
( he hasn't actually asked anything yet. his LED flashes aggressively as he forms and rewrites sentences, word choice, phrasing, trying to find a way of posing the request. how exactly do you ask someone, an acquaintance, if they will be present for something like that? )
no subject
Sure.
[ He answers, without having to be asked. He gets it, even if the thought makes his lips turn down. After coming back to himself there've been... incidents, occasions where he'd woken up erratic, or reacted too strongly to someone moving a little too quick.
Not to mention the infiltration and triggering of his own internal programming.
If he could have given himself a safeguard, an opponent that could equal or outmatch him standing by every time, he'd do it in a heartbeat. ]
Name the time and the place. I'll pencil you in.
[ To his empty calendar free of any form of social life. ]
no subject
It's extremely likely that it will be unnecessary. The chance of a problem occurring is very low. ( he offers quickly, a consolation or reassurance that comes too fast to be anything other than fear. but then he's already admitted that the prospect makes him nervous, so that much was already obvious. ) But it would make the process...easier.
( maybe he just wants company. the thought occurs and is dismissed almost as quickly, because there are people far more suited to a role of companionship. markus maybe, who understands the process of upgrading software, or hank, now indisputably his friend and usually first point of call for questions relating to human nature. that risk, however small, weighs on his mind, but more significant than the negligble risk is the situation itself. he doesn't want them to see him like that. bucky has gone through his own transformation, that much is abundantly obvious. if there were ever a human that would understand the process he's considering, it's this one.
quiet, with a sincerity that is unusual for connor and unprecedented in their interactions: )
Thank you.
Sigurd Ragnarsson | Vikings | m/m
Wanda Maximoff / mcu / ota
(aunt) may parker | spider-man/mcu | ota
Kisame Hoshigaki || Naruto || OTA
samatoki aohitsugi | hypnosis mic | ota
eric draven ( the crow ) m/f
sombra | overwatch
King Thranduil {The Hobbit} Open
teddy flood / westworld
Riku | Kingdom Hearts
Rogue | xmcu
Tabitha Smith (Meltdown) | Marvel
emma cullen | the magnificent seven (2016) | f/m
Claire Dearing | Jurassic World | F/M
Harleen Quinzel | DC
gamora | mcu | ota
Clark Kent | DCEU | m/m
shirasagi chisato / bandori
Tony Stark | MCU | OTA
Alicia Clark | Fear The Walking Dead | F+M
Desdemona | oc | ota
Michael Corvin | Underworld | M/M
connor | detroit: become human
Markus | Detroit: Become Human
Tyrone Johnson | Cloak and Dagger | M/F
Connor | Detroit: Become Human
Yusuke Kitagawa | Persona 5 | OTA
Jyn Erso | Rogue One | OTA