"If you came here for comfort, you came to the wrong place." North said to Markus coldly.

During their brief conversation, North responded coldly and sounded as if she was annoyed that he was trying to talk to her. He wanted to speak with the others to get an idea of what Jericho was like after his arrival because if he was honest, this wasn't anything like he was anticipating. He wasn't naive enough to expect some secret utopia when he finally made it here, but he definitely thought that Jericho was going to offer something better than what appeared to be a slow death on a rusted old naval boat. Talking to North and hearing the way that she spoke of Jericho herself, he felt as if his feelings weren't completely unfounded at the least.

Markus had to admit he felt a sort of sting from North's coldness. Being that he was now amongst others like him, he was craving to form a connection with them, and maybe the fact that North was very pretty played into him wanting to talk with her. What with her softly curled brown ponytail, regal jawline set sternly, creamy skin, and her fierce brown eyes. He wondered if his new found sentience also came with a type of sexual awakening, something similar to when humans went through puberty because he couldn't seem to not be attracted to the women he spoke with. First his attraction to Irys, and now he found himself swallowing a sense of rejection from North. Either way, he walked away figuring that he had gotten as far as he was going to get with her.

Whatever feelings the others in Jericho had towards Markus before, their opinions of him definitely appeared changed now. During the raid of Cyberlife's warehouse, he'd taken most, if not all of the initiative as the others couldn't seem to agree on anything regarding an approach to the mission at hand. Especially North and Josh. He did manage to win the both of them and Simon over, even though he did do things that they both made clear they disagreed with. North seemed to favor being aggressive, more action oriented, and distrustful, such as when she had rejected the help of the security guard simply because he worked for humans. Whereas Josh came off as being more pacifist, open to outsiders, and against taking any action that he would view as being too risky. Simon never really took a firm stance on either direction, but he did seem to shy away from what he thought would endanger the group or lead to discovery. In the end though, Markus assumed he just wanted results and went with whatever seemed to be the best move at the moment. That was a stance Markus felt he could relate to more.

Back at Jericho he was taken aback when North accredited the mission's success solely to him. There were more than a few times that he noticed North giving him appraising looks when he did something that she was impressed by, particularly when he had brought the other androids to sentience. An ability that he was rather shocked to find out that he had. With North throwing the attention on him, he found himself being able to eloquently put that he didn't want to supply the androids with more parts so they last longer in hiding, he wanted true freedom. Freedom to be who they are and be recognized for who they were. They were alive! They wanted to be free!

"That was a pretty good speech back there." North said from behind him.

Markus had been alone in one of the quarters of the ship looking for some privacy as he wound down from the mission. He wasn't expecting to be found, even more he wasn't expecting for North to be the one seeking him out.

"Oh, thanks." he replied with a quick smirk.

North leaned against a wall casting her eyes downward, "Sorry, if I came off a bit...bitchy towards you earlier." she brought her eyes up to meet him.

"I think you made it clear a few moments ago that whatever opinion you had of me before has changed." Markus assured her.

North gave a quick smile of her own, "I guess I just wanted to let you know that you really did good back there at the warehouse and you did a really good thing for our people too. I mean, I know the humans would rather see those like us just die out but it's nice to know that there's someone here that wants to let them know that we're not going out that easy."

The way that North spoke about humans always felt tinged with deep loathing for them, Markus noticed. In their short conversation from before, North again had spoken openly on how she viewed the humans feelings towards them as nothing but hatred and a wish to destroy them. Don't get it wrong, after viewing the injuries of the androids at Jericho like Lucy, the female android that died in front of him, and the boy who was left to shut down by his adoptive human parents, he was finding it hard to not actively share in North's sentiments. Then he thought back to Carl...and Irys. It was strange that he just thought of her then. Carl had shown him kindness before Markus even knew of his sentience, but Irys was just a woman who happened to think she was helping him one day. Surely, she would have reacted towards him differently if she had known who he really was, right? He had a feeling that if North could hear his thoughts, she would answer a definitive yes to his question. However, there was something inside him, deep inside of him, that told him that Irys maybe more like Carl than the people who hurt the others in Jericho. Which he knew was a very strong assumption on his part for only briefly sharing a short afternoon stroll with a woman he barely knew. Just something about it felt right.

"You speak so definite about how the humans feel about us. Did you ever think that though there are some that hurt us, hate us even, not all of them are like that?" Markus asked as he approached her.

At his question, North stepped back away from him, her expression etched with a mix of disappointment and inner rage.

"What is it with you and Josh and Simon? Why is it that you keep clinging to this idea that somehow the humans will welcome us with open arms? Even after the horrible things that you've seen they have already done to us?" her voice quivered and her bottom lip slightly trembled.

"I just don't feel things are that simple, North." he tried to sooth but he knew things were already sour.

"Yeah, sure." North all but spat at him, "Anyway, thanks again."

With that she stormed away from him. Makrus knew it was better to leave her be. He had concluded that he ruined any progress he hoped that he had made with her. Best not to push it for the time being.

The air of the outside always felt better than the stagnant, moist air of the rotted naval ship. Markus could admit that he wanted to allow himself some time away from Jericho. He was down for the cause of his people, but even after the new hope that he brought with the supplies lifted from the warehouse, there was still a thick air of misery and uncertainty that hung around. It had just gotten to a point of being unbearable and he needed a minor escape. In spite of his newfound popularity in the group, it seems no one questioned his leaving.

It was a sunny day but growing increasingly chillier by the minute. The promise of an upcoming snowfall was heavy on the wind. As he walked through the streets, his attention was immediately caught by a figure sitting on a bench a way ahead up the street from where he was walking. The figure struck him with familiarity, causing him to quicken his steps forward. It was the hair that caught his attention, a thick cloud of dark curls that got etched into his mind from a few days ago, along with her name. Once he was close enough he saw that it was indeed Irys. She was by herself today and her hair was different. The day he met her, her hair was free-flowing and hung in her face. Today, her bangs were braided against her head in two rows up into a messy ponytail piled on top of her head. She didn't seem to notice his coming up to her as she was wearing a pair of chunky, dark, wireless headphones on her head. Her head bobbed along to the beat of whatever she was listening to, her voice humming along lowly as she did so. It was like she was in her own world and Markus suddenly felt like he would have been intruding on her moment if he got her attention.

He felt at an impasse just then. Things were different when he met her back then. He was alone, in search of Jericho, and probably just latched on to her because of the short span of kindness that she had shown him that day. He was now with Jericho, an active member, and perhaps getting involved with a human in any way wasn't the best move for him to take. Honestly, North and the injured androids did, unknowingly, seem to heighten his sense of paranoia around humans. Still, he couldn't forget that warmth he felt at her smiles…

Finally, throwing his caution to the wind, he slowly stuck out his hand, and lightly tapped twice on her shoulder.