"You seem stressed. When is the last time you did something fun to relax?" - from simon-pl600-501-743-923
SEND MARKUS QUESTIONS! | @simon-pl600-501-743-923 ( @the-mind-of-xelyn )
Simon found him directly after the last of a series of meetings, clearing away the materials he’d brought to give the human members of the party a tactile point of reference. There was a furrow in his brow, deep and fixed, and his fingers drummed at the tablet atop his document case. He had to put the finishing touches on a draft that would soon be forwarded to the capitol regarding android housing; one which argued against stripping it down to what was considered ‘adequate’ for android livelihood.
And his last audience had been... resistant.
City officials who eyed him rather like patronizing their home computer that had decided, that morning, to gain consciousness and speak in a language they only partly understand. They matched his passion with bland veiled boredom, at best, and thinly concealed alarm, at worst. New Jericho simply could not house, clothe, and supply every android in Michigan. They strove to, but it was an unattainable goal, and Markus was working to ensure that his people would not be homeless.
The statistics could not be ignored. Homeless androids were far more likely to fall victim to hate-crimes, leaving them damaged and desperate for supplies, driving them to steal, sometimes (though rarely), even kill. If they did not die themselves.
Simon’s voice jarred him out of his thoughts and his hand loosened, on the tablet. He blinked. They were all stressed, but he supposed he hadn’t been hiding it well, just now. He let out a restrained breath, “Fun?” He queried, because he couldn’t think of something, immediately or conventionally fun that he done in...
He took time, when he could. Sitting on New Jericho’s roof, to watch the city. Reading, in the library, when he had a spare moment. But-
A smile, slightly weary by virtue of being tired, but genuine eased onto his expression, and he rounded the corner of the table, to lean his weight against it, “What did you have in mind?”