038 웃 VIDEO

[secretasshole]

[Private to Mira]

I need to speak with you.

[Public]

[David is in his room, standing in front of the giant window, which is currently just displaying the stars outside the Barge instead of one of the artificial environments it usually shows. He looks... normal, really, just like David usually does, but there's something a little bit different about this message.

It's the last one he's planning on making for quite a while.]

I am four years, three months, and twenty four days old.

[One corner of his mouth lifts in an almost annoyed smirk.] I am aware I don't especially look, or act my age.

In my world, I'm certain I would be considered obsolete by now, with or without my creator. Other models were already in production by the time the first David 8 was released. Before I arrived on this ship, I had only been interacting regularly with humans face to face for a few days. I have been on board for one year, eleven months, and six days.

[He's boiling down to one message, and it's simple and difficult to admit, because it means admitting he's wrong, and he's never wanted to do that.]

I'm leaving.

[So there's that.]

I've discussed my departure with Mira, and Erik had offered me a place in his world. I don't believe I am capable of helping an inmate until I better understand what it means to be an individual, instead of someone who is only beginning to understand it himself.

[Because he is one, he's always known that, but he doesn't really understand how to help give Mira a purpose when he doesn't really have one of his own. He can empathize, but he can't really help.

Maybe he'll be back. But for now, he knows this is for the best.]

Comments

[exnihilo]

[She wants to cry, a little, to scream, stamp her feet. She can't believe she's getting left behind by another asshole robot, and the thought nearly surreal, because she hasn't connected David and Darling in her mind in months, because they're nothing like each other at all. And it doesn't staunch the hurt, but it short-circuits the tantrum. She sulks, hunches, stares at the wall, tries to untangle something worthwhile and honest from her throat.]

I don't know what I require. But I like you. And I trust you.

Why do you think you can't?

[He's telling her, instead of tricking her. She can be honest with him back.[

[secretasshole]

[David doesn't exactly look wounded, but he's certainly affected, because he doesn't like feeling as though he's abandoning her, which is absolutely what he's doing. Even if he thinks it's for the best. She likes him, and she trusts him, and he's come to enjoy having that. She's always treated him like a person.

But he can't stay.]

Because I can empathize with your position, but I-

[This is hard. Admitting he doesn't know something is hard, because it hurts his admittedly very sensitive sense of pride to admit he doesn't know something.]

I don't understand enough about what it means to be an individual to fully help you become one. It's something I still haven't fully discovered.

You deserve a warden who actually understands how to help you.

[exnihilo]

I don't think half the people here understand what they're doing.

[Mulish, jaw set, but it's sulky rather than truly defiant, no rages brewing. She glances away.]

Where will you go?