#marcus macaroni

slight canon-divergence: marcus runs immediately after the botched adler mission, leaving the LSPD to think he died (+ he seeks refuge in the vanilla unicorn maybe. not important)

adler/marcus parallelisms in my head...

adler:

criminal turned cop. under contract to do good. she seeks to be a good police officer because it is her job at the moment. wants to make her mom proud, even if her mom is also a criminal.

believes in humanity's growth, even if she doesn't inherently trust or love humans. it's just an objective fact: humans will grow, and learn, and change, and places such as the city will change as a result.

she expresses belief of the city almost like a child, you have to lead it by the hand to let it grow in the right direction.

she seems stoic/stern at first glance also, being a cyborg/android and all, but is actually quite playful, a good conversationalist, speaking earnestly and honestly in juxtaposition to marcus, Man Of One-Two Word Replies And Very Cryptically At That.

marcus:

"it's a 9-5." 'it's my job." he keeps repeating these phrases but it's clear he harbors an almost naive, childish, idealistic belief in humanity's good - he tells this to nana, and orly, over and over... that he believes orly can still chase her dreams in this city, that he believes the LSPD, despite multiple failures in catching the criminals at large, are still good people...

he seems a stoic, hard-headed, and stern individual, but is very empathetic despite his police livelihood being "just a job." i.e. in the adler case, even though cortado/crocus/blanks see adler's empty bike and decide to turn tail, marcus decides to go further north and hunt blindly for clues

very individualistic - introverted, almost to a fault

claude describes marcus as someone who would be the same no matter if he was EMS, gang, or police

he's sort of a living weapon - an extension of his job. an ends to a means. i do wonder if he would harbor that same idealism no matter what: that people CAN change, that the city CAN improve, that people CAN chase their dreams... in any case, though, i think adler/marcus are both people extremely dedicated to their jobs (both are "built for it," both literally (android) and not-so-literally (will not allow himself to do anything else))

^ in the same vein, adler WAS a criminal. she can and was a GOOD one. in the same way, marcus could just as easily turn to that side: and succeed. so what's the reason he didn't?

(for the record, adler says that if she wasn't under contract, she would turn to the criminals' side. it would be "more interesting", and "the straight and narrow" wasn't built for her.)

funnily enough, adler doesn't seem to have the same grievances as marcus, despite committing more (and worse!) crimes (<- probably.) she gets along with people just fine and finds joy in it

ok notes time

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yea of course marcus can only speak plainly to adler like this in a dream. COWARD!!!

ofc the first thing he suggests is splitting up - 1, he doesn't want to speak with adler due to the ensuing guilt/shame, and also his lone wolf nature

i made the entire city empty just so he can talk plainly to her LOL. i feel like he would somehow be too self-conscious otherwise. if there was any chance of anyone hearing or seeing, the guilt/humiliation would be crazy for him i think. only when they're the only people in the world that he can truly admit his defeat, his shortcomings, his most vulnerable fears, to the person he failed

yeah i imagine they sat in complete silence in the car while patrolling for like. at least 4 hrs

he brings them to the beach in an attempt to see nana or orly, who he usually meets by the water. yeah no dice (very hopeful color scheme w very bright warms and teal-turquoise cool colors)

ADLER BACKSTORY WUUUEHH I throw up and die.

marcus being vulnerable. I throw up and die also

adler finally bringing up The Topic. AWESOME! (i inverted the warm/cool colors to Show the mood change. Heh)

marcus apologizing FINALLY. AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yeah. haha

(its sort of a recurring thing that i use neon blue to express marcus/claude's deepest darkest thoughts/secrets). in this case, that he desperately wants salvation: for adler to forgive him. that maybe he can move on. and not add it to his list of sins. but even this wouldn't absolve him: after all, orly had told him not to worry so much: that it wasn't his fault. however, that guilt still weighed on him like a sack of bricks so

ironically enough, the day after marcus's disappearance, adler did speak with nana and express that although she's mad/disappointed, this can be a learning opportunity for everyone. so maybe if marcus did come back, he would have the opportunity for that forgiveness...

i imagine he camps out in a portable or the corner of a warehouse or something wallowing in despair for like a week or two before he drags himself to the vanilla unicorn in desperation

"it's what i want to hear, but far from what i deserve."