Series: Detroit: Become HumanRating: TGenre: Adventure/Drama/Action (eventual romance)Summary: Befor

Series: Detroit: Become HumanRating: TGenre: Adventure/Drama/Action (eventual romance)Summary: Before Connor, first of the RK800 line, began his fateful investigation of deviant androids, there was Jacob, the RK700 that preceded him. He failed in his assignment, but he did not go quiet into the night when he was decommissioned. Rather, he became the thing he had once hunted and disappeared into the depths of New York City in search of a new life. ( < Back to part 1 /< Back to part 8 )Part 9 - DifferentiateThe sun was coming up by the time Seven set out for the Goodwill, and he was never more glad for the sunglasses he’d stolen. They only just made the world bearable to look upon as the day dawned, making the android glad that his synthetic nature meant he couldn’t technically get headaches.That didn’t make it any less annoying, of course.It was a relief when he got to his destination and stepped inside, though his wayfarers remained firmly in place as he browsed the racks of re-purposed clothing for a few suitable articles before heading over to look at shoes as well. Pickings were slim there, but he came away with a solid pair of black boots with only a little wear on them. He added those to his basket, which already held a second hoodie, a couple of pairs of jeans, socks, and a few miscellaneous shirts. On the way to the register, he spotted a light jacket that suited what he was coming to realize was his personal taste (he had that now, apparently), and got that as well.After checking out with cash once more, the android ducked into the bathroom and changed in one of the stalls. Seven’s nice shoes, slacks, and button up shirt went into the bottom of his bag, replaced by the boots, a pair of jeans, his Detroit t-shirt, and a hoodie. He’d considered discarding his old clothes on the way out, but the thought that he might need to pass as at least somewhat well-to-do in the future lingered, so he held onto them. Seven stepped out of the stall, and as he donned his bag again, gave himself a once-over in the mirror, a little taken aback by the transformation. The person looking back at him looked less like an android on a mission and more like a rough around the edges thirty-something year old man on a road trip.“Huh,” he said aloud into the quiet of the empty bathroom after a moment as he snapped his glasses open with the flick of a wrist and returned them to his face. Seven leaned in towards the mirror over the sink and brushed his gloved fingers through his forelock in an attempt to get the hair to sweep back from his forehead, only for it to fall forward in its traditional curl over his temple again a moment later. The android’s mouth twisted in annoyance as memory of his replacement, RK800’s, almost identical face when he’d seen him in the lab the day before came immediately to mind. He had the exact same skin tone, if different freckle pattern, the same hairstyle, though a few shades darker than Seven’s own…The android squinted at his reflection from behind the lenses of his sunglasses as he pushed them absently up the bridge of his nose, then leaned forward and gripped the edges of the sink with gloved hands. If he could just look a little different than his replacement, something to set them apart and throw off an eye looking for 800’s mirror image, Seven would take it.After a long moment, a heretofore unaccessed (and blessedly uncorrupted) program in his system booted up, and Seven’s hair began to grow before his very eyes. A laugh of delight and disbelief escaped him as it started to shift, and he focused on making some parts of it stop before the rest. In the end, he wound up with hair long enough in the front that it would fall forward so he could use it to shield his face from view while remaining a more manageable length everywhere else. It was a little on the shaggy side, far from the clean cut look he’d worn every day of his short life up to that point, but it further differentiated him from the person he’d been before, so Seven couldn’t help but like it.The android took a moment to shift his part so the hair fell to the right rather than to the left as it used to, then gave himself a final once-over before leaving, pleased by his transformation.Acquiring a phone was the work of a few minutes in a local convenience store down the street. All he needed was a cheap one, after all, since it was little more than a prop to keep any particularly observant humans off his back.Errands complete to his satisfaction, Seven made his way back towards the bus station, only to find it uncomfortably crowded in anticipation of several buses arriving and departing at once. Since he still had a couple of hours to go until his own arrived, the android left again and made his way to a diner a few blocks away. Considering he wasn’t actually capable of eating, the android had initially ignored it, but with the station so full that the relative quiet of the restaurant proved welcome when he stepped inside and claimed a corner booth.He ordered black coffee and settled in to wait, offering the waitress a lopsided smile when she poured it for him. As she walked away again, he sat and considered the dark, hot liquid, and wondered if anyone would notice if he never actually drank any of it. Seven’s eyes lit on a smallish potted plant resting on the windowsill next to him and found the answer to his problem.A cup of coffee wouldn’t do it any harm. Probably.Seven absently spun the cup slowly by the handle, then picked it up and took a tiny sip, just enough to wet his tongue and let him get a proper taste. The lingering flavor of blood was immediately replaced by a dark, bitter, earthy taste that took the android off guard. He put the mug down and looked surreptitiously around the room at the other patrons, the majority of whom also had cups of coffee in front of them, thanks to the early hour. Some seemed to be drinking it black, while others appeared to be adding cream and sugar, or sometimes just one or the other. Seven looked down at his own up again, debating on doing the same before rethinking it and pulling a hard candy out of the front of his backpack and popping that in his mouth instead to keep the taste of blood at bay.It wasn’t as though he could properly drink it anyways, and he doubted plants handled dairy well.When he was certain no one was looking his direction, Seven poured some of his coffee into the plant beside him, then pulled out his new phone and pretended to browse the internet while he sat alone in the booth, waiting for his bus. In reality, the android turned his attention to the humans in the diner once more, and occupied himself with people watching from behind the cover of his sunglasses.Seven learned a few things that morning while slowly drowning a potted plant in not one, but three cups of coffee over the course of two hours.The first was that many people ignored androids, right up until they made a mistake of some sort, or got in the way, at which point they were often regarded with disdain or annoyance. Sometimes there was outright abuse.Second came the peculiar realization that some humans acted no differently towards androids than they did humans, even when they were talking to an android that was not their own. Seven watched as one woman bumped into an android that had been carrying a bag for its owner, then turned and apologized, and proceeded to bend over and help it pick up its things despite the uniform it wore.There were interesting differences between android owners themselves as well, he noted as he watched both his fellow patrons, and people that walked past the window by which he sat. There were those that clearly viewed their android as an appliance, paying them little mind until they had need of them, and then there were those that seemed… close with their android. He saw a woman walk past with her arm tucked into the crook of her female android’s, making the pair look for all the world like a pair of close friends, perhaps even lovers, until one turned their head and revealed the LED at her temple.Seven wasn’t entirely sure what to make of this array of humans and their wildly different treatment of androids; humans weren’t something he’d ever given much thought to in the equation of deviancy. Maybe that was where he had made his mistake in his investigation…The thought made the android grimace and shift uncomfortably in his seat. Memories of his investigation into the ‘deviant problem’ for CyberLife turned his purely metaphorical stomach now, he realized, though it wasn’t a sensation he dwelled on for long. There’d be time for introspection later, so he pushed the feeling down and turned his attention back to the restaurant around him once more, deciding to make further study of the patrons.The last, and most immediately important thing he learned from this exercise, was the many little differences between androids and humans. Androids had, of course, been designed to look as human as possible, but Seven had to admit that they didn’t precisely act like humans, though he had a feeling that was by design rather than any shortcoming on CyberLife’s part.Androids always spoke with perfect diction, for one, something only the rare human could manage outside of a prepared speech. Watching them as they interacted with one another, though, he didn’t think they particularly wanted to. Body language among humans was much more pronounced, which was something his analytical systems already gave him an insight into, though Seven felt he better understood it now as a deviant than even twenty-four hours earlier when he’d still been a machine. It was how they related to one another on a certain level, and combined with the inflection of their voices and their way of bastardizing their native language they could communicate volumes in a few words and gestures.There could be an entire history of references and in-jokes in a look or a word said in a particular way, and Seven had to admit that he found it fascinating, if difficult to decipher.Even the way they walked was different. Androids, unless otherwise instructed by their owners, all had perfect posture and moved with a precision humans rarely bothered with. They slumped in chairs, slouched when they walked, or limped because of an old injury. The elderly moved with a care that the young rarely imitated, and some individuals moved with a grace that those around them simply did not possess. Moving and talking like a human… could an android built to be the epitome of form and function manage it?The time to the departure of his bus ticked down slowly but steadily as Seven sat in his booth and ‘drank’ coffee while he ran a multitude of simulations within his mind palace, integrating everything he’d observed in an attempt to adjust his own demeanor in hope of not sticking out in a crowd. It was a lot of variables, but Seven wasn’t the second most advanced android in the world for nothing, and by the time he stood up and made his way to the register to pay for his coffee, he no longer walked like an android. His former precisely measured stride was eschewed in favor of a slightly bow-legged strut, and his hands were buried in the pocket of his hoodie instead of swinging at his sides. The waitress glanced up at him when he approached and the android ducked his head slightly in greeting, lopsided smile returning as she greeted him.“Just the coffee, huh?” she said as she rang him up.“Yeah,” he replied as he glanced at her over the top of his sunglasses. “Not much of an eater this time of morning.”“Oh, I know the feeling,” she said with a grimace, then accepted his cash and moved to give him the change.“Keep it,” he told her with a wave of his hand and started to step away. He paused, though, then took a step back towards her and plucked the quarter off the paper bills in her outstretched hand and flicked it deftly into the air, making it ring.“Thanks,” she said as he caught it just as easily, an amused smile on her face when she withdrew her hand again and watched the stranger walk away. Her mouth dropped into a little ‘o’ of surprise as she watched him roll the coin deftly across the back of his gloved fingers before pushing through the door and pocketing it as he disappeared from sight.( On to part 10 > )((Thanks for reading, guys, reblogs are always appreciated to help get this out to more people too! Make sure to leave a comment letting me know what your favorite part was, I love hearing that from my readers!If you really enjoyed it, consider buying me a ko-fi?)) -- source link

More pics about