"Thank you for doing this, Connor," Markus tells the android as he tucks his arms into the sleeves of his coat. It was hard to turn down Markus' requests. Connor knew that the minute Markus calls him up on the phone, twelve in the afternoon, with a voice sounding borderline desperate. Connor didn't think twice after that. He had headed straight to Markus' place without thinking twice. Markus had helped him. It was Connor's turn to return the favor.
Connor gives Markus a small smile but then he sends a glance behind him where a small child stood awkwardly. Alice. Kara's daughter. Markus had agreed to babysit her earlier but then something big came up that called for Markus' attention. That was when Connor steps in. He would take Markus' place to take care of Alice.
"Carl is upstairs," Markus informs Connor, "he probably won't need anything. He has an assistant. An AP700 model. We just call him Adam. You might recognize him after leading hundreds sharing his appearance out of Cyberlife."
"Why can he not take care of Alice?"
Markus sighs.
"Kara entrusted Alice to me. If Kara knew that I left Alice in the care of Adam, someone I don't quite know well enough to do so, she wouldn't be happy. But you? I know you."
"Yet, she dislikes me," Connor points out.
"You would be shocked on what she thinks of you now," Markus says, "but I digress. I need to go. I'll call you when I'm heading home."
Connor merely nods.
Then Markus gives a relieved smile. He bids his farewells before heading out the door. Connor can see his form until he walks out of the gate and turns the corner. It is then that Connor truly comprehends his situation. That is why he turns and looks pointedly at Alice and wonders how he should entertain her. Connor didn't know Markus' house too well either so he wasn't sure what he was or was not allowed to do here. He could consul Carl but Markus made it sound as if he shouldn't bother him.
So he settles for asking Alice herself.
"What do you suggest we do?"
Alice shuffles in her place. Her eyes blink innocently. She says nothing to give him a clue on what they could do together. Since she says nothing of what she wants... Connor supposes he has to decide for her… and remembers the chess board that he had used to play chess with North. Connor knew that, though not capable of growth, Alice's model was programmed to learn just as any other child. If she did not know chess, he could teach it, but then again would that be something a child would be interested in? Connor doubts Alice would be interested in something like a logic game. That is how Connor reaches his second conclusion, a story, because he remembers seeing many books in Carl's bookshelf. He could grab one and read it together with Alice.
Yet, he faces another conundrum, when he remembers that all the titles he saw were classics. Many were written in old English and contained slang words that weren't commonly used anymore. A lot of what Connor might read to her would fly over her head. He could look within his own databases to see if he had any stories but everything that was sorted into memory were mysteries. A lot of them contained cold blooded murder. That wasn't exactly something a child would want to read.
Connor doesn't realize that he's been staring at Alice for a full blown minute before a voice interrupts his thoughts.
"Have you ever tried to paint, Connor?"
Connor sees Carl at the end of the stairs in his wheelchair. He smiles politely at Connor while Adam stands beside him. The android positions himself so that he is standing behind Carl and gripping the handles of his wheelchair. Adam then steers Carl closer to Connor.
"I am not certain if that is within my capabilities," Connor admits.
"Nonsense," Carl waves his hand in the air in dismissal. "Everyone has the ability to paint. They simply do not put the effort into developing such a talent."
"That's not what I meant," Connor says, "I don't think it's within my programming to paint."
Carl's eyes glint with a hidden humor.
"Oh? Markus said something similar."
"He did?" Connor blinks.
"Yes. He had his own art gallery. You were there. To think that he thought himself unable to paint just as you are now."
Carl then turns his attention to Alice who fiddles with her fingers.
"What about you, my dear? Would you like to paint?"
Alice's face shows that she considers Carl's words. For a moment, Connor believes she will not answer, but then she hesitantly nods her head. That was all Carl needed to usher the both of them into his art studio. Before long, Connor has a paintbrush in his hand, and Alice is beside him with her own. For some reason Carl thought it'd be best if they shared a canvas. Connor was unsure as to why but he would not question it.
Alice starts first.
Her painting is childish in nature. It is surprisingly refreshing to see her paint little flowers in the corner. Connor then pictures a magnolia in his head, captured straight from the internet, and he decides to replicate one similar in it's image. Alice stops in her own painting to watch him and for a moment Connor forgets that Carl is watching them alongside his assistant. For a moment it is only he and Alice in a world of flowers. She paints silly little ones that make the painting for more alive, while Connor strokes paints that capture beautiful magnolias that reminded him of the wild growth in his inner mind palace where Amanda had once resided in.
The end painting was a mess.
Alice had painted over a lot of what Connor painted but he didn't mind too much. Not when Alice smiles at him hours later, paint all over her face after wiping her hand across one of her cheeks.
Connor smiles too.