The Fletcher's Paradox

Two.

Carlos and Etienne made their way out of the store and out into the little plaza outside. Nothing out of the ordinary was there: a fountain, pigeons, a man strumming a guitar, the usual protestors outside of the store, and even a preacher who wouldn't stop shouting at an android that it was a demon. Again, nothing out of the ordinary. As the protestors shouted at Etienne, Carlos did his best not to say anything and to bring him away quietly.

"It's because of these things that we're out of the job," one of them shouted, getting up close to the both of them, "They have no place standing alongside humanity!!"

Carlos said nothing he tried to block the protestors off from Etienne, while also trying to walk away. "If you're out of the job because of androids, then just find another job instead of whining about it," Carlos spoke with light disdain.

This caused a few grumbles amid the short silence, but they were only riled up again. "They... they took all of them!! No one wants a human doing a job as well as they can versus an android who can do it perfectly on the first try," the protestor in front of him yelled again, getting up close and pushing on his chest slightly.

"Alright that's it," Carlos mumbled to himself.

Before Etienne could calculate what he meant, Carlos had thrown his fist wildly at the protestor. This had caused them to fall back down to the ground. Carlos reached into his front pocket and pulled out a small object. He went over and kneeled in front of the protestor, showing off the shiny badge. "Detective Carlos Van Lehman of DPD. Be sure to file a complaint to the department, because fucking hell, you're damn good at complaining with that mega-mouth of yours."

Etienne watched the whole ordeal, absorbing whatever information he could from it. Carlos walked off and his new android trailed closely behind. They walked through the streets in silence for a little while, keeping to themselves while walking along the pavement. They got to a point where they had stopped before a crosswalk and were waiting for their turn to cross the street. Etienne believed this to be a good opportunity to address what had happened.

"Why did you defend against the protesters in the plaza?" Etienne spoke.

Carlos bounced on his foot in thought. "I don't know," he finally said, "I guess I just don't like people that sit around and wait for everything to be handed to them when they don't put forth the effort to make things change themselves."

The signal turned red and the two crossed the striped walkway on the road. Etienne decided that he would need to know a lot more about Carlos in order to accommodate the living routine they'd soon be having together.

—

"This is where I'm staying, um... my home," Carlos gestured to the house as he stepped inside.

The door opened up to the living room which had a couch, tv, a coffee table, and several scattered pieces of paperwork. To the left was a hallway that led to the other rooms, to the far left corner before that was a small kitchen, and to the right was a dining table, which had also been covered in paper. A distant meow was heard, and in stalked an orange tabby.

Carlos placed his keys in a little ceramic bowl on the table before plopping down and kicking off his shoes. The cat hopped up onto the couch and meowed loudly. "Hey Pumpkin," he smiled and reached out his hand. The cat sniffed it before rubbing against it.

Etienne walked over and stood next to the couch, observing the two. The interaction was... normal, he deemed. He began to walk around, exploring the quaint home. Carlos just watched him a bit warily, but made no move to stop him.

He walked over to the dining table that was covered in papers. Etienne noticed that they were all case files, arranged neatly with strings and post-it notes connecting a few of them. All of them were relating to cases of missing persons, most of which were children. He turned around and walked into the kitchen. It was small, with just enough room to fit one or two people at a time. He opened the fridge and saw that quite a bit was missing. Etienne closed it and saw a notepad with a grocery list on it. He analyzed the list, shopping for everything on it.

Carlos turned on the tv to some old cartoon about twins and mysteries. He smiled a bit and continued to love his cat, to which she would squeak happily in response. Etienne walked back into the living area, watching them for a moment, before heading down the hall to the master bedroom. It looked similar to how the dining room table was fashioned. There were scattered papers with seemingly random connections, sticky notes, the whole works. The only thing that differed was the mess underneath the mess.

Not only was there papers everywhere, but clothes, too. Etienne carefully began to pick them up while trying not to disrupt the maze of papers. He grabbed a blue basket and went through the room, cleaning as he's programmed to do. He stopped for a moment when he came across a table next to the bed. On it was a picture frame of a man and woman — Carlos and Chloe, with an older man behind them. He calculated that they had a familial attachment and set the photo back down, continuing to clean.

Carlos was a bit wary having an android around. He'd heard cases of rogue and deviant androids, what they were capable of. It's like a gazelle welcoming a lion into the cage — it makes no sense, yet here they were. This entire interaction was crazy. Carlos has never even considered getting an android before this past week; no one thought he would buy one. And yet, again, here they are.

Carlos' phone buzzed in his pocket and Etienne got the same notification in his software. "It's a message from the Detroit Police department," the android stated. "It seems to be a text from... 'drunk daddy hanky'?"

"Y-Yeah I got it," Carlos spoke quickly and checked the message on his phone, a bit flustered. He read the message and sighed. "I've gotta head back to work," he said, putting on his shoes. Pumpkin meowed in protest. He gathered his things and stood awkwardly by the door. He seemed to be thinking.

"Pumpkin will be alright. I'll be sure to care and play with her, and feed her well," Etienne stated, taking his place on the couch. He seemed stiff as the orange tabby sniffed around his lap. He reached up and started to pet her, and she squeaked happily in response. Etienne looked up at Carlos and gave a small smile for reassurance.

Carlos sighed. "Alright. I'll um... I'll be back maybe later tonight. Just- you know where everything is so... yeah. Bye," he spoke awkwardly and left, shutting the door behind him.

Etienne stares after him for a moment before continuing to pet the squeaking tabby. This would prove to bring more awkwardness, he thought. Maybe he should do something to try and seem more open and leave less room for those awkward conversations. He looked around, processing different ideas. He calculated the best approach and stood, walking to the kitchen. This should prove to Carlos of my non-threatening nature, he thought. He took off his uniform jacket and started getting to work.

This should prove to not be a disaster.