Installing Pop-Up Blocker

Chapter 1

Stress ^ 51%

"I am not sure," Connor replied sticking his hands into his jean pocket, finding his quarter.

"Oh," Simon's smile dropped about 4% around the corners. His honesty, again, bringing discomfort. "Well... Markus is up in his studio." Simon quickly shifted the laundry basket around opening up room for Connor to pass on down the hall he just came from.

"Thank you, Simon."

"No problem, hey could you remind him to recharge sometime tonight. We have a meeting with the Governor and some state senators tomorrow. He needs to be running at optimal capacity."

Urgent task:
Talk with Markus
Make sure Markus charges
Optional task:
Understand deviancy

"I have added it to my task list," Connor said as the new dialogue box popped up in his left periphery.

"Thank you, Connor. Have a good evening. Try and charge some too." Simon waved, turning down the hall.

At the end of the hallway, tucked behind a door were the stairs up to the attic and bell tower. The stair, those that didn't have to be replaced due to rot, creaked under his polished shoes. Bent forward to avoid the lowered beams of the triangular roof, he headed toward the brighten western walls. Illuminated by a great rosette stained glass window that bounced sun warmed reds, blues, and purples along the floors, walls, and piano. Canvases were stacked up along the tighter corners of the sloping ceiling, most appearing to be done even though the artist claimed otherwise. Markus has currently settled behind a splatter covered aisle, eyes closed as he dragged his brush across a canvas' surface.

"You should have told me you were coming," He said with a warm smile, never opening his eyes, "I would have demanded you bring Sumo with you." His voice soothing all in good humor.

"Some would think you care more to see Hanks dog than me." Connor snarked back, a smile finally pulling at his lips. The wires in his neck calming.

"Well, he is the best pillow when charging," Markus replied. "You are a very close second though."

Stress v 34%

"I missed you." He continued as Connor bent down quickly and left a small kiss to his temple, walking behind Markus. Connor watched him blindly paint, pulling out his quarter and rolling his thumb over the founding fathers bumped face. Every painting in the studio had been a blind masterpiece, something Markus could conceive of and create seemingly from just 'thinking about his emotions'. Connor's eyes trailed along the path of the brush, a dozen little pop-ups on paint composition dry time, color and stroke references to the Manfriend School of Neo-Symbolist movement, even trapped dust origins began to clutter his vision, making the loose brush strokes even harder to decipher an image from. Leaning to the side, Connor began rolling the cold coin across his knuckles as he simple took in what he saw.

Markus never had a problem conveying emotions, he thrived in it in fact. His existence alone was their people's best defense against anti-droid claims of mindless machinery. A being who could not only feel but who could convey it so succinctly that if a Turing Test was ever created for art than surely Markus would have blasted through its parameters. The LED, if left, would have been a redundancy as his mood was always on show, yet controlled.
Wearing your heart on your sleeve
-popped up only to be immediately deleted. Another empty platitude needing to be deleted from his hard drive. It felt even more hollow when it's dialogue box obscured his view of Markus' sloped relaxed shoulders.

"Did you hear," Markus asked, eyes closed, slowly raising his tone as to not startle Connor. "The Jerry's have a new dog." Good humor laced through the simple statement.