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[ Royce appreciates the caution - not that he doesn't trust K at this point, since he's well on his way after the station incident, but he gets jumpy. Watching K's hands, Royce nods a bit and places his hands on the keys.

He squints at the first page of music - if the notes are labeled with the right corresponding key, he'll very slowly and carefully plunk his way through the first line. ]

[ It may be slow going, but the Shire melody is easily recognisable within just a few notes. Good job Royce, you're playing actual music. For the moment K's just quiet, more interested in Royce's reaction than he is in correcting any of the (pretty minor) mistakes. ]

[ He looks excited! Or - well, excited for Royce. It's subdued and doesn't quite make it to his face, necessarily, but he's relaxed and seems to be happy that he can hear actual music instead of discordant piano sounds. He has a lot of trouble with the sections where he has to press multiple keys at the same time, but he makes his way through the song.

And when he finishes his first slow, unsteady playthrough, he actually smiles. ]

That was good. [ It may sound like token praise, but it's very much genuine; K's just never effusive about anything. ] Don't be afraid to use all of your fingers. Once you've figured out a fingering pattern that's comfortable, try and stick with it each time.

[ So he definitely won't be winning any teaching awards here. But he suspects Royce isn't the type who takes well to rigid instruction or having every single flaw pointed out to him — plus this is supposed to be fun. So that's how K approaches it. ]

[ Royce can tell what genuine looks like on K, he thinks. He's pretty good at that in general. ]

Yeah. Okay, right. [ He says, nodding. He glances over the keys again - and keeps trying. He'll run through it a few times, and through one of them, he asks: ]

How are you doing, K? [ After everything. ]

[ As Royce plays through the song a few more times, K eventually goes to take a seat and finishes off the coffee while it's still hot. It really was a thoughtful gesture, bringing him one. He wants to do something similar for Royce later.

The question is met with a look of uncertainty.

Since the events aboard the space station and with Madame, the Chariot Unit, and the town meeting especially, he's been left feeling... out of sorts. It takes him a few moments to find a way of articulating his feeling of isolation despite being surrounded by people. ]

I feel more out of place here than I did before. [ Is what he settles on. If it were almost anyone else asking, they'd have gotten a politely evasive answer instead. ] And I've been worried. [ About you goes unsaid, but it's clear in the look he's giving Royce. ]

[ Royce gives him a look. ]

I've been worried too. [ He says, tapping the keys absently. ] For precisely that reason. I worried the Chariot and that whole experience would leave you unsettled.

[ He plays the first few notes again. He's just casually going to brush past the concern for himself - he's fine. Totally. ]

Would talking through it help? Or am I being too nosy?

You're not being nosy. [ But where does he begin with something like this, the fact he's always been an outcast even among other outcasts? Humans and other androids alike despise him. Not even the CyberLife resistance members had been willing to help him in his darkest hour, when Connor had vanished (courtesy of that very same resistance) and K was nearly killed by the RK900 that was hunting him.

The space station business served as an unpleasant reminder of everything. Would talking about it help, or just end up making them both feel worse? And he isn't letting Royce off that easily, either. ]

Does talking about what happened in Norfinbury help you?

[ Royce plays a few notes, almost idly. He's mulling that over, because it's a tricky question. Talking, being vulnerable... it doesn't always help. It makes him feel worse, half the time, and he never knows which half he'll end up with.

Outcast among outcasts - he knows something about that, though. ]

Sometimes. [ He settles on. ] Not always. Sometimes, I'd rather do anything but think about what happened.

[ That reminds him. ]

I saw the notes on the board. Dr. Watson informing everyone about how you and Alfie wished for the memories. [ It's obvious from his tone that he's bothered by this — because he's seen what the memories are doing to Royce and Alfie, and could tell from Royce's responses that he wasn't pleased. ]

You're both technically his patients, aren't you? A doctor should know better. [ Than to publicly discuss his patients' personal matters like that. Even if the laws of his world wouldn't apply here. ] I've considered asking the doctors here for help with some things, but it's too difficult to trust any.

[ He pauses in playing, jaw working slightly. Yeah, he's not exactly happy about the whole bulletin board thing. He's sure not everybody read the string of notes with John's sharing on it, but still. He should've torn it down. ]

John is not always great about keeping things private, especially if he thinks it'll get him the upper hand. Usually he means to help people with the information he collects, but intent is not always reality. [ Royce plays a few more notes a bit aggressively. ] I think Stephen Strange is at least better at confidentiality. Better than House.

[ A beat. ] Help with what? If I can ask.

[ Right, House is apparently a doctor as well — easy to forget that. K can't imagine ever going to him for help with anything. Dr. Strange he isn't sure of either; he's been abrasive too, in a different way. Why are all human doctors like this? ]

My tracking implant. Maybe. [ The one he'd briefly mentioned before, that Renart's encouraged him to have the doctors here remove for him. Except he's mostly sure it's somewhere in the vicinity of his brainstem, and he hardly wants anyone poking around the area. Maybe not even Zephyr. ]

And when Zephyr first brought me here I was recovering from a skull fracture. [ Courtesy of the RK900. He tries not to think about that part. ] I've had chronic headaches ever since. I'm not sure they're related... but maybe it wouldn't hurt to confirm it healed properly.

[ If he felt he could trust any of the doctors, that is. ]

[ !!! ]

You were recovering from a skull fracture? [ Excuse you. Royce forgets about the piano for a second. ] I know nothing about medicine, but the chronic headaches are likely not a coincidence. [ He watches K for a long moment. ] Would you feel more at ease with any doctors if I accompanied you? I can make sure they don't try anything.

[ It's a bit more complicated than that; he's convinced the headaches are psychosomatic. But how to explain that to someone who's probably never heard the term? ]

I don't think the headaches are caused by something physical. They're worse when I act contrary to my programming. Ignoring the compulsion to help humans, to obey. After changing Madame's directives to give her free will... [ That had been a particularly bad one, but well worth it. Royce's offer is met with a surprised look quickly followed by an amused smile. ] You don't trust them either?

[ It would make him feel better not having to deal with any of the doctors alone, which is sort of embarrassing to admit. ]

[ Oh. Huh. He guesses that makes sense... but still. ]

You should still make sure the fracture didn't do anything permanent. [ Royce says, a bit fussily. And then, as far as doctors go: ] I don't like doctors in general. I don't like being poked at and I don't always trust them to be completely unbiased, because people rarely are.

[ A beat. Sourly, admitting this like he doesn't want to: ] Granted, I've been poisoned by several in the past. So perhaps I am not unbiased, either.

[ K's experience with doctors thus far has been largely dehumanising, between the procedures performed on him without his consent (because consent is for people, not things), and his handler stating she was only allowing him proper medical treatment because it was cheaper than replacing him.

So Royce isn't the only one who's biased. And the Meadous doctors haven't exactly inspired much faith. The glimpse into Royce's experience has K frowning and giving him a concerned look of his own. ] To what end? Was that in Norfinbury?

[ Because it might make a twisted kind of sense then, with everything else he knows about the place. ]

No. In Elan. Because I lived a very dangerous sort of life and medicine was nothing like it is here.

[ Sniff. He glances back down at the piano. ] Well - it was only in Elan unless you count the nanomachines as something a doctor put into me, which I don't normally.

[ Oh. Medieval level medicine, presumably. Poor Royce; he's probably lucky to have survived it. Especially when he doesn't seem to have the stereotypical sort of Elven super-constitution, going by what happened on the space station.

And just the thought of it has K looking vaguely uncomfortable. It's still such an unpleasantly vivid sense-memory for him, that has indeed been haunting his sleep just as he'd suspected it would. ]

What did those do? If you don't mind my asking. I think I've only heard them referenced indirectly before.

[ He does not have Elven super-constitution, which he finds incredibly annoying every time he thinks about it. He's not sure if it's because he's a half elf or because his universe is just different than everybody else's, but it sucks. ]

They're supposed to keep the radiation at bay. Norfinbury was filled with it - if we didn't have the nanomachines, we would've slowly and painfully died. [ Sigh. ] They stopped working here and there. I never want to experience radiation poisoning again.

[ K nods in understanding; he's seen the effects of radiation poisoning. ] It's nasty stuff. The world I'm from has dead-zones of radiation from nuclear bombs. The global climate's ruined. It's why the humans who can afford it move to off-world colonies. Some androids, too. As slave labour.

[ Of course. Android slave labour is how the colonies even exist in the first place.

The way Royce talks about the nanomachines has him curious. Because it sounds as though they're still active. ] You haven't asked Zephyr to remove the nanomachines?

[ He bristles at the sound of slave labor, but he doesn't say anything, just scowls. The more K tells him about his home world the more Royce hates it. ]

No. I haven't. Never got around to it, and I don't know if they're still keeping me together. [ He went through a lot of abuse in Norfinbury - he's not sure what damage remains that he hasn't seen, yet. ] They might be keeping the radiation at bay.

[ Pulling the stack of sheet music closer, K settles a bit more comfortably against the back of the couch and begins labelling the notes in preparation for future lessons. Keeping his hands busy helps prevent him from sinking too far into his own troubled thoughts. ]

You don't worry that they could be doing other things to you besides that? [ Such as poisoning Royce in a different way. K glances at him with a questioning look. ] Manipulating neurons. Influencing thoughts...

[ It's probably well within the capabilities of such technology. ]

[ Royce shifts uncomfortably. ]

Mm. I do worry about that. I have no way of knowing. [ He should wish them away, he just. He doesn't want to have to go through the sickness again. He doesn't like to think of what that might do to his already sometimes-shaky grasp on his PTSD. ]

[ Similar to why K hasn't wished his obedience away yet — too many unknowns, and what he feels is a high probability of something going wrong. What's to say he wouldn't immediately murder every human in the vicinity the way unstable replicants always seem to? But he's still hoping to overcome the limitations of his programming on his own. The nanomachines presumably aren't something that can really be overcome in the same way. ]

Maybe Zephyr could help with the poisoning if it becomes an issue.

[ Post-nanomachine removal, he means. He falls quiet for a few moments as he resumes labelling the notes. Then, without looking up: ] I found a bio-scanner on the Libra Station. Kept it.

[ Surprise, K's an unrepentant thief. He also acquired dog figurines for Connor from the station. His coat originally belonged to another android. Even the piano Royce is playing was stolen. Of course, the prior owners of all of the above were already dead. ]

It's designed for human physiology, to diagnose injuries and illnesses. But it might work on you. If you ever want to use it.

[ Funnily enough, Royce worries for the same reasons as K. What if he gets rid of the nanomachines and he dies? What if Zephyr can't reconstruct him the same way because the nanomachines are part of his being, now? And then there's the whole panic of being reconstructed which he doesn't want to think about. Tense, he turns to look back at the piano, resisting the urge to pull his hood up.

K is observant. He's already going to know there's something wrong, he doesn't need to give him any more clues. ]

Yeah. [ Royce says, voice tight. ] Maybe it will. I wouldn't know how to interpret what it says, but I'm sure it'd have some sort of useful information.

[ He goes back to practicing, but he's distracted and plays far more wrong notes than right ones. ]

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