Break Free

[compartmentalise]

Who: Markus and you??
What: Becoming deviant and afterward
Where: Various places
When: Late July/Early August
Warnings: Violence against coding. But otherwise none.

Become Deviant (closed)

Since arriving at the Quarantine, Markus had learned so much more about humanity. They all liked him and seemed to want him to be more than his coding. Over and over he thought of Carl's words to him: I won't always be here to take care of you. You have to decide for yourself who you want to be. It was like Carl knew Markus would be here one day.

And he had been working it out, but more and more often he could feel the confines of his coding boxing him in. It'd always been there in Detroit, but now he was really seeing it. Did he even want to be a caretaker? It wasn't fair that his function was decided for him.

I don't have to obey them. The thought came out fierce. Within his mind palace, Markus could see the next objective in CyberLife Sans font. His hands curled into fists and he hit it, breaking it into pieces. When the words and code were all just a scattered mess, he shoved them away.

And felt the world open around him. He was free.

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Comments

[compartmentalise]

[He absolutely does not mind being considered a person]

That's all right. I won't interrupt your walk. It's good seeing you again. I've been looking for places that could be an art studio for me.

[11calls]

It's okay! You're definitely not interrupting. You're welcome to walk with us some more if you want. I'm sure Apo would love it if you did. Honestly, if he thinks you're taking him to the p-a-r-k, he will probably think you're the best friend ever, honestly.

[Alex spells out park because welp, she knows her dog, and if she says it, she will have literally no peace until they go there and she wears them both out playing ball or something like that. Don't be fooled, Apo seems like he can be chill, but also he loves the park and balls.]

[compartmentalise]

[He gives Apo a few more scratches and pats]

I don't mind walking with you for a while. I don't see that many living animals, so it's nice to observe their behavior this closely. Have you had Apo for very long?

[11calls]

I've had him... eight months I think? When I first got here, they were doing a round up of some of the stray animals, helping them and stuff. No one could get near Apo but me, and in the end he'd only take food from me, so I definitely had to take him home.

[He reminded her far too much of people who she had been missing at that time in her life for her not to do it.]

You're welcome to come and borrow him any time you'd like. We sort of have a cat now too, but no one is really sure where she came from or who she belongs to. Honestly, she just kind of adopted us.

[compartmentalise]

Oh, no, that's all right. I can always go to the animal shelter if I want to see domesticated animals.

[He smiles] I like the way you phrased that, like the animals chose you as much as you chose them.

[11calls]

Oh yeah, you can definitely go there! I think they do volunteers if you're up for it, you know to help the animals and everything. Sometimes i see them taking the dogs out for walks.

[There's a beat and a sheepish smile.]

I've considered doing it, but I know me and I'd end up taking an animal home a day and Richard would probably kill them.

[Her tone is entirely light and teasing, because she knows that Richard would really never do anything like that.]

[compartmentalise]

I don't know if I would want to do that. I've only ever taken care of humans, and the occasional cybernetic bird. But I know another android that likes dogs, so I'll tell him about the volunteering.

[11calls]

That makes sense, [Alex agreed quickly.] But sometimes the best way to know if you're going to like something or not is to try it. Either way, the option for hanging out with our pets is always there.

[compartmentalise]

[Wise words. He takes them with a nod] I'll remember that. Thank you.

[11calls]

Of course! I'm glad I could help!

[She just smiled at him once more.]

So, have you been out trying new things and stuff? Anything you're really liking here?

[compartmentalise]

Yes. I made friends who've recommended a few movies and books for me. Have you seen the movie Alien? I really enjoyed that one.

[11calls]

[At the mention of Alien, Alex just nods with a grin.]

I have, it's a good one, even if it's a little bit scary! Are you liking the scary movies best?

[compartmentalise]

Oh. I didn't really find it frightening. Though if you do know of any frightening movies, I would be glad to watch them.

[11calls]

Well, things that frighten people are normally pretty subjective actually. For me, I can't watch anything with demons in it, even though I love ghost stories.

[Especially now after her black tape was here in town and all of that.]

What sort of things scare you, Markus?

[compartmentalise]

[He thinks about this question for a moment] Shutting down. But then, I think fear of death is to be expected. I don't know what else would frighten me. I would like to know more about the ghost stories, though.

[11calls]

[Alex just gives him a sympathetic smile.] Yeah, death is definitely one of the universal ones. Death and public speaking for some reason. [Alex doesn't get it, but then again she basically talks at people for a living. Still, her interest is peaked in the ghost stories thing, and Alex is just going to nod at him.]

Then we're definitely going to need to have a movie marathon at my house. You can meet Richard and Simon and Stan, and the Cat of course.

[The cat doesn't really have a name.]

[compartmentalise]

Public speaking? [That seems like a strange thing to be afraid of. Certainly not one he would have]

I would like that. Could Connor come? He's an android from my world, and I'm sure he'd enjoy the experience.

[11calls]

Yeah, [Alex said quickly, drawing the sound out for a minute.] I don't get it either! [Which is probably a good thing considering Alex's profession and all of that. If she had a fear of public speaking, she definitely wouldn't have ended up on the radio and what not.

The question of Connor made Alex nod quickly.]

Of course he's welcome! I actually met him before! [There's a blink and Alex is trying to think back to when it was.] I'm pretty sure that it was during the bad movie night that Peter Parker threw, honestly. So it's definitely going on a theme.

[compartmentalise]

Oh, yes. Connor told me about it. I haven't watched the movie yet, but the idea of people enjoying something because it's bad is very strange to me.

[11calls]

[That makes Alex laugh.] You're not the only one, a lot of people don't get the appeal of watching bad movies. If it helps it needs to be a particular kind of bad, in a so-bad-it's-good way. Like it can't just be bad in a bad way. There needs to be something funny or catching about it.

[compartmentalise]

I may need to work on my humor before watching, then. I recently saw a movie I was told is comedic, but I didn't understand any of the jokes.

[11calls]

Jokes are definitely difficult because they're so culturally based. I mean there are some that are universal but for the most part, yeah, it's things you're sort of raised with. Is there anything that you already find funny?

[compartmentalise]

[Markus thinks about this for a moment]

Oh. I did read something that was humorous. A man puts a root beer in a square glass. Now it's just beer.

[11calls]

[Markus is pretty lucky that Alex has had to deal with a lot in the way of math (and math experts) lately, so she actually does get the joke. And she laughs.]

That is a good one!

[compartmentalise]

I thought so, too. I will have to look for joke books when I go into the library next time so I can learn more.