Survivor - Connor x OC

Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken

Pink – Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken

Taylor had her eyes closed, listening. Speaker of the House Berkley was giving his closing statements, arguing against granting citizenship to deviants when no one had proven definitively that they were a sentient form of life. As she knew he would. On one side of her was Connor, the other, Markus.

She supposed she shouldn't have her eyes closed, but she was centering herself, preparing for the moment to come. Before auditions she used to put in earplugs, close her eyes, and block out everything in an attempt to calm her nerves. In her head, she would tell herself that an hour from now, this would all be over and in the past. Just get through it.

Vice President Mills had delivered a very pragmatic call for unity, echoing the President's sentiments that regarded the country's need to stand together and the will of the people. She supposed it made sense, he was Warren's chosen running mate after all.

"Taylor Kolbeck, ambassador for the android uprising." Taylor felt the muscles in her face twitch and struggled to smooth her features. Opened her eyes. She could feel her heart pounding in her ears, but she ignored it and the cameras that were focusing on her face.

Markus had given her, in her opinion, a rather noncommittal approval when she told him her plan for the closing statement. He really had entrusted this whole thing to her, and when she expressed any doubt, he told her that she knew how to handle humans better than any of them.

She supposed it was true.

"I've spent the past week trying to convince the people in this room that deviants are, in fact, people. I don't think that there is anything else I can personally say to that effect." She raised her blue eyes to look directly at Speaker Berkley. Focusing on one person made it easier to speak. She used to do that in her auditions, too. He was looking back at her, his lips pinched into a frown.

"I've met many deviants over the past eight months, learned a lot of different stories. But some stick with you more than others. Instead of going over the same points, rehashing everything I've already said, I'm going to leave you with one of those stories."

Taylor moved her hands, folded over the desk in front of her and the notebook she already had opened to the page she needed. Her eyes stared at the words for a few seconds, the perfect scrawl of CyberLife sans across the pages. In just a few minutes, this would be over. She took a deep breath.

"Cary was born blind. She had lived her whole life in darkness, under the watchful eyes of her parents. At the age of 24, she decided that she wanted to live on her own. After many fights and arguments, her parents finally agreed, on one condition. They purchased me, a PL600 model android, to help care for Cary in her new home.

"Everything should have been simple. Cary was accustomed to being blind, she just needed help adjusting to her new environment. She was very averse to my help, no matter how difficult things became for her.

"It was in my programming to help her, and so I was forced to work around her stubbornness. I had the advantage because she couldn't see me. I didn't realize at first that my behavior had started to deviate from my programming, coming up with ways to outsmart her into accepting my help. Because she didn't know anything about androids, she didn't know either.

"It happened slowly, but I realized it all at once. I worried for Cary all the time, and I was afraid that she would figure out that I was feeling things. Deviancy had become a very talked about topic on the news and Cary followed the stories every night, but she never asked me about it.

"The more emotions that I experienced, the more Cary seemed to tolerate my presence. Or maybe it was just time. It's hard to figure out what you're feeling sometimes, let alone anyone else.