A New Era [Selenus]

    Oh god oh god ohgod ohgodohgodohgod she couldn't find Alex anywhere.

    He promised her. He promised her! He was supposed to stay next to her, right next to her for the entirety of this, but he wasn't.

    How could she be foolish enough to agree to this?

    Clutching her compendium close to her chest, the attendant hurried along the pathways, winding farther and farther form the crowds (which was good) and further and further into this place (which was bad), golden eyes shifting anxiously every which way as she hoped to find a familiar shade of blue in this compound. Brother or not, it hadn't been a very gentlemanly move to leave her behind, and she was entitled to go home now.

    But not if she couldn't find the door.

    Which was nowhere to be found.

    After what felt like hours (but in reality was only 40 minutes), she stumbled to a stop, vision growing fuzzy. Was it a lack of water? Another attack? Maybe both, maybe something else. In slow, almost jerky motions, she felt out the rim of the fountain she had passed multiple times today and gingerly sat down on the marble, cringing at the cool feel of it before bending over, her head almost on her knees, shoulders and arms beginning to shake. // Home...I want to go home... //

Selenus still had a few hours left before Newman would allow him to cease his forced attempts at the endless cesspool of awkwardness known as socializing. After a few further minutes of wandering around R&D Park, Selenus decided to sit down next to a fountain and relax. He didn't need to drink, and he couldn't even feel refreshed to begin with, but the sounds of crashing water had a weird soothing effect on the canine robot.

As Selenus lay down next to the first fountain he found, he simply listened to the relaxing sounds of water and prepared to suspend his systems when...

// Home...I want to go home... //

Selenus's ears perked up. When he turned around to greet the source of the words, his optical receptors were greeted with a long-haired, yellow-eyed woman clad in blue, resting in a clearly desperate manner on the marble near the fountain.

Selenus wasn't sure how to react, but... he was still technically under orders from Newman to socialize, so...

"Excuse me miss. Is everything in order?"

    Paige stiffened at the sudden voice. Who was this? A stranger? A guest? Alex? The last thought filled her with a blinding rush of hope, and she lifted her head, blinking once, twice, readjusting to the light after closing her eyes for some time.

    Then she screamed.

    Long, loud, and high-pitched, the screams echoed off the surrounding trees and statues as the attendant jerked back, her side careening into the edge of the fountain before she rolled off her seat and onto the ground with a heavy thump. Her compendium, once held to her chest, ended up digging into her abdomen as she lay there for a moment, panic-stricken. Pushing through the pain, she rolled over so she was almost lounging on the ground, then began to awkwardly scuttle backwards on her hands and feet, wincing as the pavement dug into her palms, leaving them red and raw. Oh god, this was why she hated leaving, this is why she preferred home!

    "G-Get away!" she tried to speak in her usual composed voice, but fear twisted her words, making them squeak and stutter. The slight shaking in her arms grew, and before she'd even moved more than five feet away, her arms gave out. As she fell back, the woman turned on her side and curled into the fetal position, resting her shaking hands protectively over her head.

Selenus watched in a mixture of annoyance, sadness and concern as the woman scrambled in fear at the sight of him. Not that she would notice of course, he didn't possess facial expressions, but the feelings were there.

"Evidently not..." Selenus muttered to himself.

He watched as the woman finished scrambling and eventually curled into a what could only be described as the world's most trembling immitation of a simian fetus. After a few minutes of waiting for the woman to calm down and literally laying low to appear less threatening, Selenus simply nudged the woman softly with his snout.

"Are you done? I assure you: Whatever negative imagery you may have pre-conceived of my intentions regarding you are false."

    She couldn't see because her eyes were shut. Her breathing, which had already been erratic, was borderline hyperventilating, and her heart was beating rapidly; the two combined made it difficult to hear much. But she could still feel very acutely. Something hard brushed up against her leg, and instinctively she whimpered, jerking away.

    Oh god, this beast was...talking. She couldn't make out most its words (nor did she care to), but she could at least make out its voice. She wasn't sure whether or not she should be comforted by the fact that this thing had intelligence or terrified by that. So she stayed curled on the ground, trying and failing to hold back light sobs that made her shake even more.

This approach was clearly not working. Selenus simply took a few steps back and sat down to wait until the woman calmed down on her own.

He had to say though, her reaction was really driving home the point that he doesn't fit in...

    Why wasn't she dead yet?

    Surely that beast would have eaten her by now. It was prodding her earlier. Smelling her, no doubt, trying to gauge best what to do to her. But now...now she heard nothing.

    Her panic mildly settled by the silence, Paige slowly disentangled her hands from her hair, forcing her arms to lower slowly, carefully, until her vision was no longer obscured and she could see once more. She immediately regretted this decision as the...thing entered her sights.

    Instead of retreating, she froze, eyes locked on the creature, just waiting for it to see her face and come springing forwards. If she was lucky maybe all she'd have to live with was another scar. Please, please just be another scar. She could live with those. She already had so many. What was one more?

    After about a minute, she found the creature still. She relaxed only slightly, allowing her hands to gently rest on the pavement. After another minute or so of the beast staying completely still, she slowly, cautiously, reached out with trembling fingers and felt for her compendium, gently pulling it towards herself before hugging it close.

    Some part of her felt inclined to question what was going on. Was this creature just waiting for her to let her guard down to take advantage of her later? Was it just waiting for an opportunity to strike? It probably could answer her questions since it possessed speech. But all she could manage in her state (although it was better than it was not long ago) was a small hiccup.

Selenus backed up even more (making sure to do it slowly as to not startle her) and very slowly and gently spoke up. He normally wasn't one for shifting his method of speech, but dire situations equired unusual recuourses. He needed something that's straight to the point, yet friendly, something like...

"I'm not here to hurt you."

    She should have known. There it was, gaining ground, ready to pounce, about to leap any moment, oh god why hadn't she just stayed down--

    ...It was...sitting?

    With her head up, the creature's words were much clearer. She understood them easily this time, and she warily blinked in response. This thing wasn't going to eat her? No killing, no gnawing, no slurping, not even a little maiming?

    ...No, no, that wasn't right, that wasn't right at all. Things weren't stacking up. If it wasn't here to hurt her, why else would such a thing be here?

    "Then...what...?" she rasped, voice choked by the shortness of her breath and her still ongoing anxiety.

"Then...what...?"

"I was simply trying to engage in "idle chit chat". You seemed agitated, so I asked if everything was in order, as I have been instructed is proper manners, and you proceeded to engage in a panic attack."

Selenus sighed internally. "Now if you will, let us try this again: My name is Selenus. What is yours?"

    "...Paige."

    Later she would wallow in embarrassment and self-derision at how cold, how undignified, how utterly unapproachable she was, but for now all she could think about was how glad she was to still have all her extremities and how much she just wanted to leave before something else awful happened. Not that leaving right now was an option, though; as she moved to a sitting rather than a reclining position, her legs felt numb, weak, unable to support her. And even if she left, where would she go? There was no door to rush into, no brother there to help her, no familiar guest nearby to save her. She was stuck. As much as she hated it, she had to endure this, ahd to find some semblance of control over herself.

    Swallowing thickly, she tucked her legs beside her demurely (or, as demurely as she could manage in her still agitated state) and managed to twitch a corner of her mouth in a half-hearted, fleeting semblance of a polite smile. "...P-Pleasure."

Selenus looked at the woman before him known as Paige. Was she really so distrusting of modern technology that he'd terrify her that badly? Or was it something else? No one else in the park had been out-right terrified of him... In fact, most of the people who saw him thought he was an animatronic and tried to take pictures.

Well whatever it was, she was clearly not comfortable with his presence. That wasn't exactly good...

"I apologize for having scared you. However, if you don't mind my asking, why is it that I scare you so much? Is it my body? My voice?"

If Paige were paying just enough attention, she'd be able to detect a hint of sadness in Selenus's words.

    She couldn't very well list all the reasons why...what was his name...Sel...Selvester? Selene?...Why this being made her so jumpy. Shaking her head slightly, she spoke. "It is not you." Holding her book with her forearms, she grasped her upper arms with both hands, forcing herself to take slower, quieter breaths. She could do this. She could calm down some on her own. She could do it. She had to. "I...I do not like being away from home."

    That was a terrible excuse for a response. Wincing at her inadequacy, she attempted to clarify. "I become...skittish."

So the young woman suffered from agoraphobia? Comprehenisble. One in a hundred people suffer from it, if the Wikipedia page open in his mind is correctly informed at least. However, this seemed to go beyond the fear of open spaces, or even the fear of not being at home... From what Selenus felt, this woman was afraid of being in this world all-together. Strange indeed. Probably a simple subconscious mental exaggeration.

"I presume someone as afraid of the outside as you would have memorized where your home is, and I doubt you would wander too far off; which leads me to believe you've to accomplish something before you can return. And judging by the frantic nature of the route you were taking before sitting down beside this fountain, I am lead to believe that you are looking for something or someone."

...He was rambling again, wasn't he?

"Pardon me for over-speaking. What I'm trying to say is: I may be able to help you find what you're looking for."

    She listened quietly to the creature's observation, nodding her head every so often. He wasn't wrong; most times when forced to leave the room, Paige requested (read: demanded) that they only wander as far as there was a door in sight. Which door mattered little to her; the important thing was that should something go awry, she could run to safety. And...was she walking frantically? Probably. Most likely. She was never in her right mind here, out in this world. Too many things could go wrong, too many unknowns, too much she didn't understand despite her reading and questioning and hours of studying.

    As reluctant as she was to take help from a creature she didn't know nor could identify, the thought of reuniting with her brother and getting out of this place was far too tempting for her to say no. Without a second thought, she leaned forwards and blurted out, "Brother!"

    Her cheeks flushed pink after a moment, more so embarrassed at how she tripped over her tongue than what she said. "Alexander. I'm looking for my brother, Alexander." the words tumbled out, still hurried, but exceptionally slower than the statement before. "My build and height. White hair. Carries a doll. Gentleman."