Event Eleven.

[awashmods]

"Four ducks on a pond, A grass-bank beyond, A blue sky of spring, White clouds on the wing; What a little thing To remember for years -- To remember with tears!"

he day is normal. It's a bit chillier than it's been, the nip of fall in the air, but as the new people in the Town settle in... things have gotten peaceful. And yet. When everyone goes out to greet their neighbors, to hug their friends, to shake hands or make eye contact or who knows what -- they'll realize very, very quickly that nothing about today is normal at all, actually. Hopefully nobody minds a little extra sharing today. Welcome to Awash's eleventh event log, everyone! Further information on this event can be found here at the OOC post. You are welcome to start your own posts or logs for this event as well. If there are any questions, please ask them here. Thank you!

Comments

[allweather]

Well— ah. Important people...? How much do you happen to know about social standing among members of the peerage?

[That is, like, all the important context, actually. He's found - rather without asking - that most people here do not come from this kind of situation! Hmm.]

In short, they've been having a rough time, and I was keeping them hidden for a while. The rest [his impeccable manners] is politics.

[usedlick]

[He doesn't, at least perhaps not Reim's iteration of it. He understands things like politics in social interactions like this.]

I'm perhaps not familiar with it as you know it. I wouldn't mind learning, though.

[He is always up for learning new things!]

[allweather]

[Reim considers. Reim then considers again, for good measure. Well. Alright.]

Where I'm from, the country is in name ruled by a king, but in practice ruled by the four Great Dukedoms, of which I myself am a servant. My father is an earl; being the second son, I have a middling level of social influence on my own, and that's being generous... But professionally, I serve as the personal valet to one of the Dukes, which allows me to integrate with the other Dukedoms family members more closely than your ordinary civilian. Those children— they are the children of the Dukedoms, each of them, and so they do technically outrank me in terms of social standing.

[thanks for coming to his ted talk]

So while I do value them as individuals and would look after them on my own regardless, what you witnessed was, in part, a social obligation between noble houses.

[usedlick]

[Connor listens carefully. It all sounds very logical, laid out like this. These children are part of noble families, and the one he is talking to is a servant of those families. He understands it well enough.]

I see. In some ways, it's easier to understand for me than the social orders of where I come from.

[Twenty first century Americans have social structures, of course, but they aren't laid out nearly so cleanly as what Reim has just described. It takes a lot more understanding of nuance, which took a lot of work for CyberLife's engineers. Even Connor can't fully grasp it sometimes.]

I hope they were alright, though. [Whatever was happening seemed... bad.]

[allweather]

Well— I hope so, too. I believe they will be; they're tougher than they look.

[You know, a bunch of children, one of whom is a big crybaby. He doesn't know for sure, it was too recent, but he has faith in them!! Surely, they'll be alright. Surely, no one else will need to be boxed into calming down.]

Is it truly easier to understand than what you're used to?

[usedlick]

Yes. Where I come from, social status is not technically defined by birth, although it can play a big part in your future chances of success. Your family's wealth, race, religion, and a lot of various politics come into play, too. It was something the engineers at CyberLife had to work very hard to model correctly, so that androids could accurately understand the power structures at play.

[A pause, and then he adds:] I'm sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. I'm an android, and I was made by a company called CyberLife. [He has to start adding that to his standard greeting protocol - get it out of the way early.]

[allweather]

I— see. That is fairly more complicated, although I can't deny that my way of life does have its drawbacks...

[He's checked his fancy servant privilege and knows how many people have it much worse for no good reason, not to worry. That said, awkwardly he adds:] Pardon me, but I don't quite know what an android is. Is that why you have the...?

[He gestures to his own temple; the glowy bit???]

[usedlick]

Yes. In accordance with the American Android Act, I'm required to wear it.

[Although, he should probably back up a bit and explain what he actually is.]

Essentially, an android is a robot built to look and act like a human. I have many functions, but primarily I was designed to assist detectives in investigations, and assigned to the Detroit Police Department, Detroit being the city I was manufactured in.

[Is that fine? He doesn't know how to retrofit his explanations for people from less advanced times yet...]

[allweather]

[what the heck is an american]

I see... Like an automaton? I'm afraid my vocabulary still needs more time to match up with the, er- modern— but you're a man of the law! That one I understand.

[Yay! Learning! And for some reason he's required to wear a glowy thing, alright, the future is now.]

[usedlick]

Similar to that. [Though an automaton is pretty primitive in comparison to him.] But yes, I am a man of the law. Though, I've found there's not much in the way of a criminal justice system here.

[He doesn't mean that as a bad thing, necessarily. So far, he hasn't seen any real need for a structured one in these circumstances.]

So I've busied myself trying to learn more about the cause of our captivity. [And has found almost nothing, but details.]

[allweather]

Besides that one young man with a sharp tongue and an attitude, I haven't met anyone posturing about being in charge of much. [Guren, he means... He likes Guren, sure, but the attitude on that boy.]

You've been researching...?

[usedlick]

[He hasn't met Guren yet, so he'll just have to take Reim's word for it. Though he assumes it is Guren he's talking about, since he's the only one Connor has heard of as being in charge.]

Where I can. I haven't learned much, though... [Which is concerning, because he's really good at learning things!]