InsaneJournal

Who: Markus and Connor
Where: A local museum
When: 15th August
What: Learning about their new culture
Status: Completed

“If I’m going to be teaching English Literature and Art at school when the new year starts I should understand more about the world I’m living in,” Markus said to Connor as the walked down the street together. It still felt strange and mysterious living in this world where they were entirely free to be themselves. “I think I’ll try and buy a piano when I get my wages,” he said conversationally as he watched people meet their eyes as if they were just like everyone else on the street. Which, in this world, they really were. Markus wished North and the others could see it. “Do you think this is what Detroit is like now?” he asked, wondering Connor’s opinion on the way their own world had come to terms with the robot rebellion. “I’d like to think our friends are living as well as we are,” he mused, but deep down he feared the worse. He couldn’t contemplate what they must be facing without him. What if it had all gone to hell once more? “Are you happy here Connor?” he asked curiously. Wondering if his friend missed Hank as much as he missed his own friends. Was this what happiness felt like? If not, what? * “Wouldn’t it be easier to hack into the internet and learn everything that way?” Connor asked as he walked alongside Markus. He was all about exploring this new world they were in, but that didn’t mean they had to do things the hard way when there were easier options for them to learn stuff. “Will one even fit in the apartment?” He was already trying to figure out where Markus would be able to place a piano. It wasn’t just their space anymore either. They had been given a human roommate. They had to share. “Hard to say.” Anything could be happening there while they were here in Goodland. “I would like to think Detroit is like this now.” The only difference was there were humans still here in the city whereas back home, they all abandoned the city especially after Connor helped free the thousands of androids from CyberLife’s tower. “I miss Hank,” he responded truthfully. Was he happy? He wasn’t quite sure yet. “Are you happy?” * Markus gave a quick nod. “Easier, yes,” he replied, “but Carl taught me that art needs to be experienced on a different level,” he explained, wondering if Connor would understand without having Carl there to teach him. “Information is one thing but without the associated feeling it has little real meaning.” Which was why the museum had seemed like the logical place to begin their exploration of this world. “Perhaps an upright piano, like the one I had back at Jericho?” he suggested, which brought back images of talking to North on the rooftops and their shared memories. He knew enough that humans would refer to it as ‘falling in love’ and the place would always be special to Markus for that reason. “It wouldn’t take up much room,” he said with a small shrug. “I almost wish we’d stayed longer,” or been brought to Goodland sooner. “The not knowing is the hardest part of being here.” He looked at the crowd as Connor did the same, “all that hate and ignorance isn’t going to disappear overnight,” Markus said with a sigh. He feared their people would be paying the price in acts of violence for decades to come from those who still believed them to be machines. “I hope everybody’s okay.” Markus looked over at Connor and smiled, “I bet he misses you too. Sumo too,” he added, remembering the dog his friend had such affection for. “I… I’m not sure,” he answered honestly. “I feel I should be but part of me feels restless, as though there’s something else I should be doing instead of simply living my life,” Markus told him. “Maybe I need another focus,” though there wasn’t a war to be fought here, which left him high and dry. * Connor listened as Markus explained why going to the museum was a better choice than just hacking the internet. It made sense to him. It was like a crime scene. You could read about it, but seeing it in person was a lot better. “That makes sense,” he finally said. “That would probably work best,” he said about the upright piano. “I think everyone would be okay. I can’t see North and the others letting anything bad happen to the others.” Not to mention there was nobody around to do any harm to them. Not unless people from the outside started to come into Detroit. He kept that thought to himself, though. He didn’t want Markus to worry more than he already was. “I wonder if he’s looking for me.” He had been with Hank when he all of a sudden ended up in Goodland. So, he couldn’t help but wonder if his friend was on the search. “This was what you fought for. I would think you would be happy.” They might have not had to fight for freedom here in this place, but ultimately this was what Markus wanted for them all. “I guess we better find you another focus.” * He offered Connor a smile of thanks - despite the few words, Markus could tell that his friend understood the difference he had attempted to explain. “So we see things in person and see how they make us feel,” he said with a nod. As for the piano, Markus would work on that down the line. If he needed a distraction he could always take up painting and drawing, which would make Carl proud, he knew. “North might become a little unpredictable without me around,” he mused, “though Simon and Josh would balance her out. I hope,” he said looking towards Connor with a frown. “She’ll be alright, won’t she?” And the others? Simon would take over and lead, he suspected, with help from the rest of the androids. “I don’t like not knowing, Connor,” Markus admitted, running a hand across his face and looking troubled. That was an easy question to answer. “If Hank knows you’re gone, he’ll be looking for you,” Markus stated. “I don’t know how Goodland works, whether we disappear from our own worlds and there’s simply a hole left where we were standing. That would seem too… messy, though,” he told Connor. “It’s more likely that people don’t notice we’re gone, so if Hank doesn’t come for you, it’s not because he doesn’t care,” Markus said softly, resting his hand on Connor’s arm. Was this what he’d fought for? “Maybe it is,” he said looking down at his feet. “Mostly I think I fought so me and my friends could be left alone. Is that selfish to admit?” Markus asked Connor. It felt it, now that he had the time to stand still and see how his actions had been interpreted. “Can we find me another focus that doesn’t involve a war, please?” he asked with a sheepish smile. * Connor wasn’t quite sure looking at some painting was going to awaken anything inside of him, but it’s what his friend wanted to do, so here he was, still walking alongside him to the museum. “That could be a problem,” he said. Anyone going a little crazy could trigger something much bigger and that would be bad. He glanced over at Markus and thought about the question for a moment. “Yes, I think so. They could also end up here like us.” Which was always a possibility. “I don’t think we have a choice. We’re here and they’re home. We have to hope that things are going well back at home.” Because thinking any other way would just be torture. That was still something that Connor wished that he understood. Did time work different here. Does anyone really notice that they’re gone or are they still there? No one seemed to know. And if they did, they weren’t sharing it on the network. “Maybe,” he finally said with another glance over at Markus. “I know.” He smiled a little. Was it selfish? Or did Markus really do it for more than what he just said? “No, but I don’t think you fought that war just so people would leave you and your friends alone.” If it had been the case they would have all just stayed hidden. “I’m sure we can find you something that isn’t war-related,” he said, flashing Markus a quick smile again. “I think this,” he pointed towards the museum building that they finally arrived at, “is a good place to start.” * Markus gave a nod, knowing that it could take any small trigger to spark the war once more. “I keep thinking, what if she thinks I’ve been arrested or kidnapped by someone in our world?” he said softly, telling Connor the thing that had been haunting him since the moment he’d arrived here. “If North were to show up I’d be able to relax but she’s always seen humans as the enemy. It wouldn’t take much to ignite that,” any more than it would ignite the hatred the other way. “I just wish I knew she was safe.” It wasn’t something he’d know, though, unless North arrived here too. Markus would just have to learn to live with it. Somehow. “I hope I’m right,” he said with a shake of his head, “for both our sakes. I can see North and Hank tearing our world apart just to find us,” Markus said with a small laugh. “Better that time freezes until we come back,” he said giving a look over at Connor. “That way the world is safe from our crazy partners,” Marks chuckled softly. He looked up at Connor and shook his head, “is it wrong that I don’t even know anymore?” Markus replied. “It started off so simply. I was just trying to survive and then, somewhere along the way it got a lot more complicated.” Connor might have had his own journey to becoming a deviant but he was the only one here who understood what it took to break their programming. Markus looked up at the building and smiled, “I think you’re right, Connor. Do you know what bothers me most? I don’t think I have even the slightest idea what normality would look like. Whether it was here or in our world, it wouldn’t matter.” He climbed the steps and headed into the peace of the museum and Markus felt a familiar longing for Carl. “I’ve seen this piece before,” he said as he stepped up to a painting. “Carl had a print of this. He said it was a depiction of loneliness,” he shared as he looked at the fog pressing in on the figure in the picture. “I wonder where he’s going,” Markus mused. * “What were you doing before you woke up here?” Connor asked. He had been with Hank before he was in the park. Maybe Markus too had been around North or one of the other Jericho androids when he disappeared. “Maybe she’ll think rationally about it.” He didn’t know North well, so all he could do was guess. “She’s safe.” He couldn’t imagine anyone being stupid enough to start anything. Not when there were so many more androids in Detroit now. And the humans had been evacuated out of the city. “I can picture that too.” He hoped time just ran differently between here and there. “I would have to agree with you.” The world would be much safer if time froze while they were in this place. Connor thought about it for a moment before answering. “No, I don’t think so.” Honestly, he was glad that Markus had done what he had done. If he hadn’t, he would have never broken through his own programming and he would probably be back at CyberLife. “You’ll figure it out,” he told Markus as they headed inside the building. When Markus stopped at a painting, Connor stopped and looked at it. He didn’t see what Markus saw, but he could tell it was affecting Markus by the look on his face. “To a better place?” * He thought back to the moment at the protest when the androids had flooded the city of Detroit, thanks to Connor’s intervention, saving the lives of his friends in the process. “I remember giving a speech to the other androids,” Markus told him. “Telling them that they were, finally, free. I remember being with you, Simon, Josh and North and then the euphoria of that victory became total confusion as I found myself here.” Markus knew that everything he was saying here was steeped in emotions but they were new and interesting to him. He couldn’t imagine losing this capability to feel once more. “I hope the victory will be enough to keep her safe,” he said giving Connor a small smile, knowing that his friend was trying to help him counter his emotions with logic and common sense. “Let’s both of us hope that time freezes, then,” Markus agreed with a nod. “Can you imagine a world where they teamed up?” he asked with a soft chuckle. “It would be far more revolutionary than anything we could create.” If he could convince himself that the world stood still in their world, perhaps he would be able to live happily in this one. Connor’s words settled something in Markus’ head and he smiled, “maybe that’s what true freedom is. Just working out how to get from one moment to the next without hurting people or being hurt?” That was how it had felt throughout the uprising. Just surviving from one moment to the next. “What will you do with your freedom?” Markus asked as he returned his attention to the painting. He’d always wondered if the man depicted was moving away from something or towards something, lost in the fog that engulfed him. Markus realised that, whatever he was leaving behind there was always something else to come and Connor had put his finger on it almost instantly. “Just like us,” Markus said with a smile. “Moving towards something good, even if he doesn’t know what it might be. Only we’re not alone,” he said resting his hand on Connor’s shoulder and giving it a squeeze. “I’m glad you’re here. I don’t think I’ve told you that yet,” he meant it, absolutely. * Connor knew exactly what Markus was talking about. “You never left,” he pointed out. “Maybe we do end up going back at some point to the point from when we were taken.” Or time froze until they were put back like they had mentioned already. “She’ll be okay,” he repeated one more time. “It could be that.” It could be anything, really. And they were in this new world and they were just going to have to learn and figure it all out from this point on. At least no one seemed to want to get rid of them here and as far as he noticed, they hadn’t gotten any dirty looks from anyone. “I’m not sure yet.” He was still trying to get used to being in this new place and how people were treating the both of them. Connor looked between the picture and Markus. “As long as we’re not moving towards anything bad.” They had enough bad in their lives. He smiled his weird half-smile. “You haven’t until now. I’m glad that you’re here too.”