1. Chapter 1 (1/2)

hi, i am the chosen storyteller and this is my first attempt at writing for detroit become human. there's a decent chunk of info i need to give you before diving in, so let me go down the list:

1. i'm prone to writing romance, but aside from references to lutherxkara and markusxnorth this is a platonic adventure. i can't promise that a markusxconnorxkara threesome relationship won't be teased though. and even if it's not serious, hey, i'd ship it. *innocent whistling intensifies*

2. because every minor encounter connor has with kara and markus is super tense, i truly believe they have some shit to address. i think they could become friends under better circumstances. and since markus and kara went deviant much sooner, who's to say they couldn't help connor adapt to things like figuring out who he is? i know fanfic writers portray connor having

o out times with hank, but i think there's topics hank wouldn't know how to approach with him.

3. do expect lore errors like anything related to cyberlife's story and misinformation about androids' technical whatnot. i'm not the type of person to absorb lore, i'm sorry but my

ain refuses to retain it. on that note, i've never been to michigan so expect errors about that too.

4. there's a very, very small au aspect to this story because of canada not happening. why are kara, alice and luther still in the us? i don't know, but i was hoping you did.

5. finally, the last thing i have to tell you is this a very slice of life story. like, chapters trying to stay in the shorter range mostly about conversations and some might not even have dialogue. the average detroit fanfic has someone getting beaten within an inch of their life, but because that confuses me deeply i won't participate. i have heard that everyone in this world is either a sadist or masochist, according to some random-ass anime clip in youtube recommendations. sometimes context only raises more questions, you're welcome.

with all that said, sorry for this overly-long an. i promise they won't be like this in the future.

disclaimer time – "everyone seems to fucking hate the dude who actually made this game, so i'm glad not to be him. *blows a party horn*"

( a detroit: become human fanfiction typed entirely by the chosen storyteller… )

odds and ends of humanity

chapter 1

after the android revolution, connor mostly avoided showing his face in jericho. he tried once – north still gave him the occasional look, but she wasn't alone. many others seemed to pause their conversations when he walked by, some weren't shy about stepping back like his deviating was a one-time event or elaborate set up. and connor knew he couldn't change their minds, so it felt like staying away was the best thing he could do.

one day, however, there was no case work and hank was sick from the flu. connor completed the mundane tasks around the house that seemed to pile up each time he poked his head through his bedroom doorway and asked for updates on his health. it was around three-thirty in the afternoon when hank finally fell out of bed and shambled over so he could give him the most murderous glare and to slam the door. like at that point spoken language didn't communicate enough. connor received his message, though.

sick hank versus an entire community of wary androids...

so connor left a note, refilled sumo's food bowl and gave him a generous amount of goodbye pets before leaving the house.

by four o clock in the afternoon, rain began to pour over the streets and energized connor. it seemed like the sun hadn't peaked through the clouds all day, so this was a nice change of pace for him. he certainly didn't bother to shield himself from the rain, leaving the sweatshirt's hood down and sleeves pushed up just for this occasion. he didn't think he could overheat like this, not even when windows of jericho's population minus markus giving him wary looks kept popping up in his vision. the only reason that would have happened was due to the fact he'd gone as far as to leave the house, but he certainly wasn't in a hurry when he seated himself on a bench. they were taunting him; did he have what it took to face jericho in a much more casual situation? whatever that was.

when he did a quick search of possible words to fit the context, more options than he anticipated flashed up and canceled those other windows. spine... heart... gut... balls... he felt more confused than before. but it's not like it mattered; none of those body parts had a thing to do with character.

what did matter was his inability to put himself on the path to jericho. he knew how to get there, now. he wasn't even sure if it needed to be secret with at least local androids having the choice of whether blood or thirium made a family. the obstacle he faced was his own feet; they refused to walk in the direction the obnoxious reminder flashing in the corner pointed out.

let jericho see you've changed

if deviating was truly such a drastic change, how come he still had questions lined to fire at will in hank and wasn't making progress understanding his replies? all he had was hank, and when he was either too tired or was incapacitated like with this round of flu he truly understood one thing: he was alone.

connor found a bench among the more bustling shopping area, and even among a mix of humans and androids he felt alone. he couldn't understand what was going on in any of their heads at the moment. if he made the effort, he could literally get inside the head of any passing android but that might lead to confusion on the other android's part.

it seemed like everyone passed by in slow motion, and he had time to study every minor difference in body language and clothing style to create his own evaluation of who they were. but even if time illogically

oke for him, even with his eyes being able to maintain a frantic pace... he couldn't possibly keep track of everyone. he should be able to, though, in theory. but his mind was already preoccupied with other things, and identifying sports fans just by their sneaker

and or predicting entire script of the argument the drivers of two cars were about to have as they were seconds away from meeting in a decidedly not-so-serious hit weren't prioritized.

connor's stare eventually landed on another male android, one who stood out more than any other at the moment because of how much expression he put into every movement. he still had his led, but traded in his cyberlife outfit for obviously expensive and high quality clothing. connor didn't want to form an opinion on the very unfortunate shade of green of his vest, but the android occasionally stole looks at himself in a store window and posed confidently with his reflection smiling back at him. no one could fault him for self esteem.

to connor's surprise, a human woman who was either in her late twenties or early thirties jogged up to him in what had to be a new dress considering its perfect condition. the soft pink was definitely easier on the eyes than that green... until the two made contact as the android perked up upon seeing the woman and hurriedly reached out to catch her as she leaped enthusiastically at him.

it would have been an emotional encounter if the woman hadn't miscalculated her leap and

oke the heel of her shoe in a crack. the woman let out a

ief cry as she fell, but was caught in an actual blur by the android even though her um

ella looked like it impaled his torso from that angle. he steadied the woman with an arm around her waist while she circled her arms around his neck as she was effortlessly lifted off her

oken shoe into his arms. heels or not, the woman was tall enough that her legs dangled off the side but the android certainly didn't seem to mind as he met her incoming mouth halfway-

"it's good to see some improved human/android relations." a soft male voice suddenly spoke up.

connor made a startled movement to the farthest end of the bench, no gasp or cry could be formed purely out of being caught off guard by the new presence sharing the bench with him. no being able to cobble together a sound meant he also couldn't defend his staring or dramatic reaction, unfortunately.

of course the voice belonged to markus. of course jericho's leader had come into the larger shopping area and joined him on a bench as if there was no such thing as a bad first impression. connor watched him tensely, the complete opposite of markus' natural posture and eyes and expression radiating warmth. he clearly had intentions to converse, but those extra editions were involuntary.

connor was already caught staring, so he accepted his fate, setting his gaze back on the couple across the street. "that's an improvement?"

"we can't be sure of what their story is, but it's going well for them." markus replied promptly, stealing glances at the couple for a moment too.

it wasn't long before the couple

oke apart for the android to take a hasty walk down the side of the road, arms still full of the human woman. they made their exit into a small cinema, lighthearted and giddy despite what one might label a gloomy scenery around them.

"what about your story?"

connor was so prepared to return to people watching, he hadn't anticipated more conversation. he let his gaze flicker back to markus, hoping he showed enough confusion.

markus took a chance in the form of sliding along the bench, just a little closer for the sake of letting him know their encounter wasn't an accident. he obviously intended to talk to him, the fact that they were doing so here as opposed to jericho not a deal-

eaker as far as he was concerned. but there was still a certain amount of space between them, just to not make connor feel overwhelmed.

"it's your choice to live among humans, but i hope you also know that it's okay to not rush into the unknown."

connor was sure he

istled at mention of jericho, images of wary eyes from one corner to the next. "there's plenty of subjects i still don't understand, but one insists on being top priority: interacting with... any life form not four-legged."

"four...?"