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.

Clothes Shopping | Art, Literature, Music | The Zoo | Want to do a thing but don't see a prompt? PM me at seraphjewel

Comments

[alfa]

Really? [ He brings back a box full of supplies, pulling up a stool to sit close to the owl's cage. Slowly he starts the process of checking the wing, then bandaging it up again. ]

So how does that work? I mean— remembering this place, and hearing about yourself, won't that change the way things happen for you now?

[compartmentalise]

I don't know. Maybe, but that's the point of having a choice, isn't it?

[alfa]

[ Owen pauses what he's doing to look at Markus, a smile stretching across his lips. ]

Yeah. I guess you're right.

[compartmentalise]

[He smiles back, watching Owen work with the bird. His smile grows a bit more]

You're very good with them.

[alfa]

They're very good with me, too.

[ He finishes bandaging the wing, then scratches gently along the owl's feathers, starting at the head and going down the back. The animal practically seems to purr happily, closing her eyes. ]

I like animals. They're easy to deal with. Easier than people.

[compartmentalise]

[He watches. This moment seems to embody what the word "cute" should mean]

What animal do you like working with the most?

[alfa]

Here? [ He purses his lips thoughtfully. ] The gators, I think. The ostriches too, or the alien equivalent they have here. They're pretty smart; I've been training them.

[compartmentalise]

[A pause. He almost looks up information on these animals, but then stops. It would be so easy to do, but more interesting to get the information from talking to Owen]

What do you train them to do?

[alfa]

A bunch of stuff. Fetching, tracking, digging, stopping and running on command. [ He leans back and closes the cage finally, leaving the owl to rest. ]

They're probably capable of doing more, but there's not much purpose for me to try. Visitors like seeing them do those basic things already.

[compartmentalise]

There was no purpose in Carl encouraging me to read or paint, but he did it anyway. They may enjoy the challenge.

[alfa]

Wanting you to like those things is a purpose in itself, I'd say. [ He nods. ] But you're right. Maybe I'll think of other things I can train them to do.

[compartmentalise]

I will look forward to seeing what they can do. [A pause] If I come here to volunteer, I would get to watch all of the animals. I think that's a good way to learn about them.

[alfa]

Of course. That's one perk about volunteering. [ He smiles a little, stepping closer to where Markus is. ] Are birds your favorite kind of animal?

[compartmentalise]

I don't know. [He feels like he says this a lot, but he really doesn't know. He's had a very very sheltered life before coming to the Quarantine] I haven't interacted with any other kind of animal.

[alfa]

That's tragic. [ He's smiling lopsidedly, winking at Markus. ] Luckily you'll have plenty of opportunities to fix that while you're volunteering here.

[compartmentalise]

I'll be looking forward to that.