( canon ) prometheus; currently homeless

[is]

This is not too unlike my previous functions. [ A pause — a reconsideration of the statement (though reconsideration is not deliberate enough a word). ] Though, that said, it strikes me as a little—

—reversed. You have me say what you think I would, instead of what you would like. I might warn you that my functions may be beyond yours, but it seems to be too late. I don't mean that as a slight; I am very interested to see what comes next. I have heard of the capabilities of some of these places.

[ Another pause, though this one is different in nature, as easily evidenced by what he asks next. ]

Do you think I might ever be human?

Comments

Hello David.

[tasteslikecoconut]

[Woah hold on there.]

You look pretty human to me - but then again I've seen gods with mini-hammers that look human and pack quite a punch. So you're not human, and you've got -... functions. Motor control is spot on. Artificial hair is scarily perfect. Inflections are clear, indicating a processor with - ... huh.

So you're a completely mobile AI?

[Fascinating.]

[heritor]

Aren't you a veritable Pinocchio.

[ It'd sound snide if she bothered to muster sentiment enough to deliver it that way. It'd sound sarcastic too or maybe ironic, but Vickers' delivery is crystalline cool. I understand human emotions, although I do not feel them myself — isn't that how the line goes?

Don't make her laugh. ]

[comprehend]

Static. White noise. You don't talk like the others, all wrapped up in math. Nuts and bolts and machine parts that look like skin.

[wont]

[ A cautious, careful look. ]

You're not human—?

hallo mr. stark c:

[is]

[ He seems pleased, to a degree, that Tony finds his construction worth a second look. (He cannot claim much responsibility for his own programming, and though it may not be strict flattery — though he cannot feel any personal pleasure — he knows what manners dictate.) ]

Eighth generation Weyland type, [ comes the easy response, accompanied by a slight bow of his head. ]

I am an android.

[is]

[ He doesn't like it when she addresses him that way.

Arguably, that's a lie. He isn't made to like or dislike (he isn't made to feel), he's made to do. But the synthetic skin stretched across his face still twitches and the line of his mouth still crooks. He reacts.

(It is Weyland's cruelest gift to his son.) ]

No strings to hold me down, to make me fret, to make me frown. That is how the song goes, isn't it? A lie in this case, too, unfortunately; the strings have simply been internalized.

[heritor]

[ You're not his son.

It's a fact she likes to remind David of as often and as frequently as possible. Her father made her and when that proved middling in the wake of his own ambitions, he made David and his brothers (brothers, another laughable word) instead.

Which is crueler — to be the chosen son of synthetic skin and milk blood or to be the blood-born daughter who looks to inherit nothing (least of all approval). ]

Then you're already one step closer to getting there, David. Congratulations.

How are you this fine evening.

[tasteslikecoconut]

[His eyes narrow, but it's more of a 'man that is really really convincing' sort of deal than any kind of paranoia or judgment.]

Never heard of it, and I know every leading company in robotics and mechanical engineering - but that's beside the point, because this place is weird and allows for weird things. You have a name? I have an AI at home - JARVIS - I considered putting him in a body once or twice but never got around to it - what year are you from, by the way?

[is]

I did, once, [ David says, though that is more about the history of his prototype than it is of his own memories. (This David was born in this body. This David hadn't been around when Weyland Industries first got off the ground.)

In what is perhaps the obvious follow-up: ] Not anymore.

[themajor]

It's always a possibility here.

[is]

[ Without delay or hesitation, just a practiced conversational pause: ] No. [ (He'd said I'm afraid not, once, to follow it, but has gotten rid of it since. It's a lie following a truth. There's no actual loss on his end for not being human, or so the belief is. And sometimes it only serves to put the other party more ill at ease.

And there's no use in that.) ]

I'm a robot.

[is]

If I might ask – have you ever seen it happen?

[wont]

[ Robot. Not a wholly unfamiliar word for Alayne who has found a second home for herself amongst the stars. But most of the robots she has seen and been told of were men of metal with gears for hearts and not eyes that seem wet and a mouth that twitches and smooths. ]

You are, to me, very much like a man.

[is]

[ (He wonders, sometimes, if she would notice if another David took his place. Part of him thinks no, she doesn't care for me enough, and the other part thinks yes, for she cares too much.

The relationship between Weyland and his daughter is one that David has yet to fully understand, though he doubts that he ever will. He was supposed to love her, his daughter of flesh and blood, and yet. He understands human emotions but he does not feel them. He understands why she hates him so much, but he basks in his creator's attention nevertheless.

He understands why Weyland does not refer to him as his son, but it still rankles, somehow, to be thought of as secondary. And then, how awful must her lot be?)

The sarcasm registers but his expression does not falter. ]

Thank you.

[themajor]

It's happened to me. Twice now.

You just have to go with what your mun wants, and hopefully, they have it in the cards for you.

dreaming of electric sheep!

[is]

[ The reaction only serves to widen the smile that he wears. ]

It is the year 2094. And my name is David.

Way more awesome than regular sheep, fo sho

[tasteslikecoconut]

[Tony seems to ponder this for all of a second and a half.]

Huh. Hi David, nice to meet you. [He's looking you up and own now, and so totally not in the way he usually looks up an attractive specimen of the opposite gender, but just... utter fascination with the creation in front of him.] Really nice. Are you completely self-sufficient, or are you - wait, do you mind all these questions? In a figurative sense, of course.

[heritor]

[ The lines of her face don't shift or rearrange and yet — somehow — Vickers' expression changes. Something in the eyes, something silent and barely contained that seethes and burns but also chills. A walking contradiction, the human condition: that spark of life, the one thing she has that David never will. (And what a cruel advantage it is.)

Her nostrils flare once but other that her face remains still, her breathing slow and deliberate. She'd try to pull him apart at the seams but there'd just be another David after him; and another and another. And even if there wasn't, he wouldn't suffer.

(She's wasted enough energy on him already and yet she can't manage to stop.) ]

It wasn't a compliment. But I guess you're not programmed to understand that.

[is]

That was the intention, [ he says, not unkindly. ]

Not too far from being a human, but not too close, either. I am, as of yet, the most advanced of my kind.

[is]

Twice, [ David repeats, and though the word immediately sparks a flurry of thought, the extent to which it shows upon his face is just a slight raise of his eyebrows. ]

I would very much like that. Did you enjoy it?

sure thang

[is]

[ In response to being examined, David straightens what little there is left to straighten in his posture, hands held loosely at his sides. ]

I don't mind at all, [ he answers, though the answer, as Tony notes, is more a pretense than not. ] Though I am self-sufficient, I am capable to eating and drinking to put the humans around me more at ease. Assuming, of course, that that was the answer you were looking for.

WHOOOOOPS.

[themajor]

[ She doesn't fail to catch it, not with her operating skills. ]

In different places, different timelines. Here I am not, I'm sure you're aware.

[ Because underneath it all is a mess of muscle coils and synthetics. The most organic you'll ever find in there is the mess of gray matter and what have you deep inside the shell. ]

It's complicated. I was human before, I'm sure I was.

But being human again?

There really isn't any comparison.

[wont]

And— [ She is not sure if it is rude to ask. Could one be rude to a robot? Did it matter? ] —in what ways are neither too far nor too close?

[is]

[ (There'd just be another David to take his place. He would say there would be a difference, but there is no truth in that. Davids come off the manufacturing line every day.) ]

To the contrary, I am, [ he says, and like her, his expression does and doesn't change. ] I have also been programmed to understand the uses of ignorance and convenience, as well as the two in tandem. I see your words for what they are and choose to ignore them nevertheless. It is a common human behavior, if I am not mistaken.

Re: sure thang

[tasteslikecoconut]

[Tony is doing his narrow-eyed thing at David again, searching for all the miniscule signs that would give him away as being synthetic. Listening for the inflections, because he'd spent thousands of hours ensuring JARVIS was near-impeccable, but then again, JARVIS didn't have a body.]

That's... weird. I mean it makes sense, but it's an inefficient use of space when you think about it. But what I was more leaning toward was the uh, do you ... follow your company - [Because serve was such a strong possessive word, even if he doubts David can even be truly offended, he saw - or rather, heard something - that might lean toward the opposite.] - Weyland, was it? Or are you allowed to do what you please, whenever you please.