Ah, hit the one thing Markus didn't like about himself on the head there, Connor. The fact that with free will meant that you really were free to make choices that could be the wrong choices. Markus didn't want to be violent. He never wanted to be violent, but it was there, inside of him, that ability.

He could make the choices that would make North happy; make the choices that would hurt people who didn't deserve to be hurt, no matter what the outcome was. That he could become violent... that terrified Markus, and he looked down at the ground.

"I understand. You don't know me well enough to know if I'll stick with nonviolence or not." Markus looked back up, eyes meeting Connor's with a frown. "I will, but time will tell, for you."

And knowing you had a big brother on your shoulder, watching you in case you stepped out of line, that actually helped put Markus a little more at ease, even if it made his thirium pump pound.

"Then you can observe me, and in return for letting you observe me, you'll talk to me." Markus said a little slyly, just a hint of a joke in there. Observation wasn't what was going to cut it for Markus; you can't observe someone into deviancy, after all. So Connor would have no choice but to talk to him.

He caught that slip, Connor. "I won't be a threat to people, because I'm not irrational. I'll show you that."