Ghosts In The Machine
Aspiring Artists
So after months of wandering around Skyrim I finally was able to get to a point where I was comfortable saying I finished the game. Detroit Become Human was an obvious choice for what to play afterwards considering the fact that I love both sci fi and Quantic Dream's other games. I still haven't gotten around to writing the Heavy Rain fic that I planned over a year ago but that's beside the point. Anyways I blew through the game in one night and it's definitely surpassed Beyond Two Souls as my favorite. I think I got a pretty good ending out of it; Markus got the government to recognize the androids's rights, Kara and Alice survived the recycling facility, and Connor didn't lose his mind to Amanda. I was kind of disappointed that there weren't any epilogue scenes after I finished the game though. Apparently I didn't get good enough of an ending for that. Anyways after a few days of playing Borderlands 2 I finally sat back down and tried to figure out what I wanted to write about and the first thing that came to mind was something with Connor. For various reasons that stalled after I was about 75 % done with it and I tried to think of something else. This scene came to my mind and I ran with it. Honestly Kara's story is the one I grew the most attached to and she had so many aw inducing moments with Alice in the game that I had to try my hand at adding a few more. I'm also a sucker for Markus and Carl so that's in here too. I was listening to Ordinary World by Green Day while writing this. I hope you like it.
Kara wakes up to the eclectic decor that adorns the walls of Carl Manfred's guest room. Despite the various bobbles and pieces of art that she's sure were never actually intended to go together the whole place feels warm and inviting and that in of itself fills her with a strange sense of comfort after so many days on the run. Alice isn't in her arms like she was when they went to sleep though and she struggles to fight down the panic that rises inside of her at that fact. They're staying at Carl Manfred's house, a man who Markus considers his father, and Markus himself as well as North are also staying in the other guest room. In reality Alice is probably safer than she's ever been. That reasoning doesn't do much to calm her nerves though. If she heads downstairs faster than normal no one needs to know.
They've been staying here the past few weeks at Markus's suggestion. With Jericho destroyed and much of Detroit in various states of disarray following Markus's launching of raids on the recycling centers set up by the US government there was really nowhere else for them to go in the immediate future. Markus himself had already been planning on using the mansion as a place to wind down after long days being the de facto head of state for the new android population living in Detroit. Carl needed more people around who weren't him and Leo anyways, at least according to Markus, something about it being good for his recovery. Honestly, she doesn't know enough about human physiology to make any sort of assumptions on that front. Carl's apparently doing much better than the last time Markus saw him and that's good because even in the brief time she's seen them interact it's clear they mean a lot to each other.
North's a little bit harder for her to gauge. She and Markus seem to be happy together, but Kara has never really had much in the way of a meaningful conversation with the other woman. When Markus goes to hammer out some negotiation with the US government or debate the future of android society with other prominent members of the resistance she almost never goes with him though which means she's around a lot more. If Kara had to guess, though she also isn't an expert in psychology, she'd say that North looked bored now that the brief fight for Detroit was over and perhaps even a little disappointed that it hadn't escalated into a larger conflict. She spends most of her time running laps around the neighborhood and hardly ever even talks to Carl unless Markus is around so Kara doesn't take the lack of communication personally. Alice seems to like her though and at the end of the day that always accounts for something in her book.
She reaches the living room in record time but finds it empty. Voices from what she had always assumed was a locked closet draw her attention. She has to make sure if one of them is Alice so she heads over and tries the door. The art studio is a breathtaking sight in of itself and she's sure she's never seen so much color before in her life. In the center of the room however there's Alice smiling as brightly as that night on the carousel and that takes her breath away for an entirely different reason. She's got a paintbrush in her hand and is painting something while Carl watches intently from some sort of contraption attached to his wheelchair but Kara can't make it out from her position in the doorway. She's too taken aback by the variety of emotions hitting her at once to move though.
"She's a natural," Carl says noticing her. "Getting Markus to do this was like pulling teeth."
"That's because you practically threw me to the wolves with no prior warning," Markus says carrying a box of art supplies from behind a row of shelves. "She actually wanted to paint."
"You wanted to paint too," Carl says. "You just didn't know that you wanted to."
"Wants aren't exactly something they program you for at Cyberlife," Markus says. "But yes I suppose watching you paint brought me a certain level of comfort even back then."
"See Alice," Carl says. "He's coming around."
At this Alice turns around to acknowledge him but instead catches sight of her and says, "Kara, are you coming to paint too?"
"I don't know," she says unsure. "It seems a little crowded."
"Nonsense," Carl says. "The more the merrier."
"Come on Kara," Alice says giving her a look that she has no chance of saying no to.
"Okay," she says moving further into the room. "Where do I start?"
"You start with a canvas," Markus says plopping one onto an easel in front of her. "The rest is up to you."
"Okay," she says grabbing a paint brush with more confidence than she feels.
"Try closing your eyes," Carl says. "It worked with Markus."
"Hey that painting of the desk was perfectly fine," Markus says.
"Exactly, it was perfect," Carl says. "It wasn't art."
"Now you sound like those critics you're always complaining about," Markus says. "What happened to your whole "art is subjective" speech?"
"Those people would probably actually like that desk painting," Carl says. "Maybe you should try selling it to them."
"Right after you sell that painting of the Mayan vase," Markus says with a smirk.
"You drive a hard bargain," Carl says.
With the conversation seemingly over Kara returns her attention to the canvas in front of her. She closes her eyes briefly but opens them again when nothing immediately comes to mind.
"Picture something that makes you feel something," Carl says in an encouraging voice. "It could be happy or sad as long as it's an emotion."
She closes her eyes again and an image of Alice immediately comes into view. Of course it would be Alice. Alice who has made her feel amounts of happiness and fear that she never imagined were possible. Alice who made her want to be more than just a machine. She begins briefly moving her paintbrush quickly across the canvas before the image shifts to Alice sitting on the carousel specifically. For a brief moment the scene zooms out and she doesn't just see the carousel from her perspective standing a few feet away but instead some distance behind her. From this vantage point she can see herself standing beside Luther, the Jerrys bouncing with excitement, and Alice smiling brightly while the ride spins around. She can also see other parts of the run down park framing the carousel as if it were a beacon and the snow falling in sheets slowly covering it all. Her hand flies across the canvas in an effort to capture what remains one of the happiest moments of her life.
She opens her eyes again and is shocked by just how good it turned out.
"It's beautiful," she says to herself more than anyone else.
"I can practically feel the emotion radiating off of it," Carl says after maneuvering himself to get a better look.
"Looks like we have another aspiring artist to give you a run for your money old man," Markus says with a smirk.
"I'm not quite done yet," Carl says. "Now if only we could get that girlfriend of yours to give it a try."
"Maybe one day," Markus says sounding uncomfortable. "Don't try and force her into it though."
"In my current state I could hardly force anyone to do anything," Carl scoffs. "Besides, in my experience art that comes from a place of doing it because you have to never turns out well."
"Your current state is still pretty formidable old man," Markus says a smile returning to his face.
"Pirate's Cove," Alice's voice is behind her now. "I like it."
"Can we hang it up in our room," Alice directs this at Carl.
"It's Kara's painting," Carl says. "She can do whatever she wants with it."
"Can we Kara," Alice turns to her with that look again.
"Of course," she says.
Without much further preamble Alice excitedly grabs the painting and starts heading towards their room.
"You'll need a nail," Markus says handing her one as well as a hammer.
"Just pick somewhere that isn't structurally integral," Carl says in a tone that she thinks is joking.
She bids them farewell and begins following Alice's path back to their room. As she walks past the front door she sees North enter unceremoniously in her running clothes and gives her a quick nod before pointing her towards the art studio. North gives her a nod back and begins heading over leaving Kara to ascend the stairs. By the time she makes it to their room Alice has already picked out a spot on one of the walls and is currently holding the painting there. She fails at fighting the smile that appears on her face at how determined Alice looks in her current task.
"Markus says we need a nail," she says holding up the offending object.
"Oh," Alice says pulling the painting back into her arms.
"I think the nail goes in first," Kara says wishing that Markus had been a little bit more specific about the whole thing. "And then we hang the painting on the nail."
That sounds right in her head and she doesn't relish the idea of going back down to ask Markus for clarification especially now that North is back. She places the nail against the wall, pounds on it a few times with the hammer, and then grabs the painting from Alice for hanging. Hanging up on the wall, she has to admit, it looks even better than it did in the studio.
"I miss the Jerrys," Alice says moving to stand beside her.
"Me too," she says fighting the image of the Jerry being gunned down at the recycling center from entering her mind.
"And Luther," Alice continues.
"Yeah," is all she can say because the image of him laying helpless on the floor at Jericho telling them to run is also something she'd like to forget.
Alice moves to pull her into a hug and she smiles despite the dark thoughts swirling around her head. That's the effect Alice has always had on her. No matter what the doubts or concerns she was having, holding Alice in her arms always made her feel like everything was going to be alright. They didn't make it to Canada like she had planned, but they survived the recycling center and were safe in Carl's house for the time being.
"Now you have to show me your painting," she says smiling.
"It's not ready," Alice says definitively.
"Well why don't you go work on it some more and I'll wait here for you to surprise me," she says.
"Okay," Alice says excitedly before bounding back out of the room.
Everything was going to be alright. It had to be.
