Surveillance Check (Open)

..............Her eyes opened. Visual and auditory sensors activated, and Ruo slowly stood up to find herself in a warehouse again. Ever since the recent events, she had taken hold of this abandoned warehouse in Iwaigodai. It contains plenty of boxes to have ample hiding areas, and even still, plenty of space to roam around in. However, the time between today and her escape was quickly becoming hard to determine, as out here, she had no method of gaining the time, and she did not have the time programmed into her head. Her only option after however much time it was, was to possibly go outside, something that has not been done in a while. She decided to walk through the warehouse, taking the longer pathways around the boxes just to be careful, as she never could know what was ready in the room with Ruo. Though, even when she went through, it was impossible to not step into some of the sturdier metal boxes, that blended with the dull color inside the warehouse, and a clang would be heard of the metal box hitting the machinery within her, causing her to jump back instinctively. She would activate her self-monitor program, finding no issues with her body...for the third time.

When she finally made her way to the door, she would catch sight of the many dents in the middle, as well as the broken chains around the door, indicating it had been forced open. Ruo paid it no mind, remembering it was by her own hand, in her state of panic that she broke in, looking for this place which seemed only welcoming to give her the refuge she needed. She would only open one door, just enough to be able to turn sideface, and slide through, closing it as quickly and silently as she could, daylight, mostly concealed by the smog, making it look like an evening day turning into night. The warehouse was located in an old abandoned complex that seemed to have nothing remotely alive or organic exploring it, so it seemed the perfect place to hide for her. Ruo would take the long way, sticking to the corners and sides of the complex, crouching half the time, getting through the abandoned half-done buildings, and some equipment. The complex itself at the time was planned in the middle of other buildings opening into the street, and mid-construction, scrapped, since of its inconvenience and most people not knowing where it was, and how to get through it, only making it a perfect hiding area. She would soon make it out, getting through a broken fence, large enough for her to get through.

She would cut through the alleyways, and eventually get to the city of Iwaigodai. The city itself was a little rundown, or designs that were becoming more classic than modern. Being in range of a nearby modem, she could connect to the internet; the only way she was able to tell, was that she had suddenly gotten the time and day. It was currently Saturday, January 27, at 2:18 P.M. It had been several weeks since she had been outside after taking shelter in the warehouse she had soon deduced. She would take a look behind her, and then seconds later, a second look, before finally moving from her stationary position, choosing to walk near the walls, down the sidewalk. This would be just a small surveillance check around her area that she stays in. Afterwards, if finding nothing, she would immediately head back into the warehouse for the day. Though, that would not stop her from looking behind her several more times, even if she saw nothing at first. Were anyone to spot her however, her black hair would be behind her, still in the same shape as when she began, her skin that was visible a shade of grey, and her eyes blue. She would have her jacket on her, zipped up and hanging to her thighs, restricting the view people had on her entire body, though her hood would not be on, as to her, in a decent light, as dark as it seemed in the afternoon, putting on the hood could make her even more conspicuous.

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((I would like preferably no more than three people in this topic including myself. I don't want too many to come in and have people unable to post due to time issues.))

((Heh, after reading that application back then, I just had to join this xD. No need to worry about time issues with me, I'm ON practically 24/7 aside from when I sleep :3))

The air was pretty chilly as Hibiki strode through Iwaigodai. It wasn't the usual tourism spot, that's for sure, but Hibiki liked exploring new spaces, thus rising his chances of meeting interesting people. He moved to Ueitawa only recently, and he was on a roll, wanting to see every place around this region that he possibly could. While Iwaigodai wasn't the place that most people would recommend to him, he still insisted on checking it out, and so, the result was him walking around the old city parts and gazing at the various factories. Ironically, that wasn't the thing a normal teenager would be interested in doing, but all in all, there wasn't much else to do in this particular town. The combination of cool wintery weather with the ever-present smog lingering in the air, wasn't adding to the nicety of Hibiki's little tour at all. Still, since he had already taken the precious time to come here, he wasn't about to turn back now. There wasn't much to do back at the dorms either. He had finished his homework in the morning hours and was left with plenty of free time for the weekend.

The only thing that truly bugged him at this place was the lack of civilians walking around. It was the weekend, at least some of them shouldn't be working, right? Or he was just having bad luck, as he had not met a single person since the moment he put a foot in Iwaigodai. Then again, for such a dark town, it could be expected and yet Hibiki hoped that he would meet someone he could at least exchange some words with. It wasn't often that he went more than half a day without having a conversation. Sticking his hands into the pockets of his jacket, he kept prowling through the streets, heaving a sigh at his misfortune.

Eventually, he came towards a mostly deserted part of town that appeared to only have some warehouses and such. He hadn't even noticed that he walked that far. His mind was drifting way too much with the lack of anything tangible to focus on. Hibiki was about to turn around and head for a different route, when he noticed a person walking on a nearby sidewalk. He couldn't see much, considering the darkness, but he had a wild guess that it was a girl. At least it seemed that way. For some unknown reason, she kept looking behind her very often, as if she though someone was following her. Funny, as Hibiki hadn't seen a single person besides her for his whole journey. Hm, he was standing a little ways off, so she probably wouldn't notice him unless he made a move. At first, he was a little unsure, as he had his suspicions as to how she would react, taking in the fact that she seemed extremely wary. But he wanted to have a talk with someone, so he decided to take the risk.

''Hey there.'' he called after her as he cautiously walked over. ''Is there anything wrong?'' he asked, wanting to know what was the real reason for her constant looking over. The last thing he wanted was to get in trouble if there was someone she was running away from or such. Hibiki didn't feel like doing heroics today.

Ruo would turn a corner, not looking behind her as much, but to her sides inconspicuously, not really drawing attention. However, being relatively alone in this part of town would make her look all the more noticeable, considering what she was wearing. So far, no one really was noticing her, nor was she finding anyone or anything suspicious, at least she was not picking up anything. Who knows what could be going on inside the houses she was already passing. The thought made her look at the door next to her a bit closely as she passed. Though, she would not really catch anything in her view, and it would only make her shake her head at herself as she regained her casual posture, and continued to walk down the road.

It would be around this time where she would suddenly hear someone calling out to someone. She stoped dead in her tracks, not really expecting it to be her, but lo and behold, she noticed a man, looking as though he was still in his teenage years, walk towards her. He was most likely, human in the sense that he was not artificial, and made to look a certain way. He had short black hair, blue eyes, quite similar to her own, though his were perhaps brighter. And he was also wearing all white, which she would have thought made people look even more conspicuous, but perhaps he was not trying to hide. She would make a slight step backwards finally realizing for sure, that the man was heading this way, for her specifically. To Ruo, this could not be any worse. She was far too worried for herself and unwilling to risk being found out or captured to be seen by other people, much less approached. Though, she had no plans. She could probably attack him, perhaps even incapacitate him if necessary. Or run away, though she would not be sure if the man would not follow. Ruo soon finally would get in control of her worries and remain there when he approached, for the time being. Though, that would only mean she would not do anything too obvious or run away, but that did not mean she had stopped worrying.

The man had asked if there was something wrong at all after he had already approached her. She was remaining on the sidewalk, but the most she would probably let him get to her would be at the curb, lest he risk setting her off and having her attempt to leave. Ruo would look slightly off near his direction, then turning to him, in a sort of passive face, neither happy, nor upset. Not really showing any kind of noticeable hostility. “O-Oh. I am well,” she said quite stiffly. Communicating verbally was something she had only done with her creators, though talking with other people was something she was not experienced with. She could not speak like a normal human, not being one herself, but she will have little choice but to learn if she wants to blend in, unlike now. She would place a hand on the sealed zipper of her jacket, holding it in place, and looking back at the man. “Well? How are you fairing?” she would ask, stiffly still. Unless he said something she could take note of, she would only nod at his response. She would then keep quiet for a few seconds, before opening her mouth, and taking a second more to speak. “Is there anything you need at all?” she asked. She would remain silent after that until he responded, thinking in her simulated mind. She had to be careful. Him coming to her may mean he had a motive to see her. And she could never be too sure on the motives of anyone but her own.

Hibiki had to say that this girl was quite surprising, if not outright strange. Now, that he got closer to her, he could tell that she had black hair and blue eyes, much like himself, except that her hair was a lot longer. But, duh, she was a female, so that was normal. That in itself didn't deter from normality, yet there was something weird about her. Hibiki didn't think that he looked dangerous or even threatening, yet she appeared a bit like a cornered animal, backstepping a little before he managed to even get too close to her. Well, maybe she didn't like close contact with people? Hibiki wasn't sure yet, so he decided to leave a slightly bigger distance between them, trying to avoid scaring her any more. As of now, he really wanted to know more about this strange individual. She wasn't like most of the people he met.

He was kind of relieved that she didn't run or anything, and actually spoke to him. Although, she sounded a little...off? Maybe she was just nervous about meeting strangers. Afterall, if he took the fact that this town was mostly vacant, he could understand that a sudden appearance of a person practically out of nowhere can be off putting. Perhaps he just startled her, or he himself was just overthinking the situation at hand. Yeah, that was most likely it. He should just go along with how it was, and think of it later. He came for a friendly chat, he shouldn't be straining his brain on it too much. That kind of defeated the purpose.

She did say that she was fine, and while Hibiki had his doubts about that, he decided to take that at face value and not question her. She probably wouldn't want to answer anyway. ''Hm? Me? Nothing much, just taking a walk.'' he answered her simply, as he was a little surprised by that question. That wasn't what he expected at all, from the way she acted before. Interesting, really. ''No, not really, you just looked like you were worried about something, and I guess I wanted to have someone to talk to in this deserted place.'' To be honest, Hibiki wasn't really sure why he eventually decided to approach her. He must have been getting pretty lonely, if he started talking to kind of suspicious looking people, with no one around to see if anything bad happened. Choosing not to dwell on what already happened, he offered her a friendly smile. ''Although, I can leave if you want me to. I didn't intend to disturb you.'' Yeah, that was definitely the only thing he could think of saying. He had no idea how to approach such a girl.

One the man had stopped, she saw that he was actually further away than she had hoped. Only slightly, but better for her, as his presence was only making her uncomfortable. When she had asked how he as doing, the man did not particularly answer in the way she had thought of. Actually, rather he just explained what he was doing: taking a simple walk. She wondered if humans tended to act this way, as it sort of threw her off when she got her answer. Though, she nodded nonetheless. At the very least, the man did not seem hostile, so she would probably be safe in not attacking. Whether it was a naive decision or not would depend on the man’s next move. The man also expressed that he seemed to figure that Ruo seemed worried. She would not mention this out loud visually or verbally, maintaining her passive face, but she would realize that means she would be quite conspicuous in a natural environment. She would have to make a mental note and store it away to learn how to act like a natural “human” would, in order to blend in with the surroundings; as walking aimlessly perhaps was not the greatest plan.

The man would also mention that he wanted someone to speak to in a place as empty as this, which seemed to confuse her a bit. “But, surely this place is devoid of people,” she said calmly. “Would you not want to go to places with more people so you could meet them?” she would ask. She was not condescending him at all, she was in fact genuinely confused. She knew that humans tended to act oddly, his previous words, along with her own past seemed to indicate this. However, humans are social beings, and would want to be around others. She had rarely ever been alone with one herself, so perhaps she had never had that sort of experience until now, talking to this strange man. In fact, that was precisely why she picked the area. Iwaigodai, for all it’s events, had its areas of little population, which had its own risks and gains from that. The gain would be the ability to hide and stay alone. The downside would be that getting caught, would only be just as easy if not easier, since one person in an area devoid of people would draw attention. It ultimately came down to where you were and where you could go, or where you wanted to go.

She would tilt her head slightly at him, when he offered his chance to leave. To tell the truth, Ruo would not mind the thought, however she could probably not say that out loud, lest she act heartless in front of the man, and once more, not drawing attention. Though, she was perhaps willing to go ahead and tell him, when she felt a sharp adjustment in the back of her head, and a sudden shift in personality would change. “You can always stay! Never a wrong time for company!” she would say quickly, giving off a noticeable grin all of a sudden, and then in a short second, turning back to a slightly surprised look, and closing her mouth, the adjustment in her returning to normal. Her eyes were a bit widened, but only slightly. Her machinery had been acting up again, and now she was paying the price for it. The incompatibility of her hardware sometimes caused spikes in her personality, and made her act differently for brief moments, or do things she may not normally do. And it was not as if she was acting and thinking differently, she would genuinely feel the same eager happiness she felt when saying the man could stay. There was no current fixation to her issue. It was part of her hardware, and an attempt to fix this issue of her would require a complete overhaul of her system of equipment. And at least for now, she would be against it, vehemently. She chose to remain silent until the man would respond.

Stats:

Exactly. At this precise moment, Hibiki was starting to actually wonder just why was he there on his own. She did have a point when she said it would be more convinient to go somewhere else if he wanted to spend time with people. And honestly, he was drawing a blank. For a moment he wasn't sure what to say to that. Yes, he did come here mainly to check this part of Ueitawa out, but aside from that? It would make sense for him to leave after a brief observation and go back to the rest of the human civilization who had a common sense and hung out elsewhere. There wasn't even enything particularly interesting to keep him from leaving, and Hibiki was starting to feel like an idiot. He had to say something though.

''I suppose you're.......right....'' he trailed off with a shrug. ''I just wanted to see what this place looked like. I don't know why did I not leave yet.'' he left it at that, as he wasn't sure what else to say without sounding stupid. He decided that he was probably going to take his leave after this awkward conversation was done and over with. It wasn't worth it to keep walking around for no reason anymore. He already realized that it wasn't the best idea to do that, if it was going to end in a similar way to this current situation he got himself into.

Besides, he kind of expected her to be happy with the offer to go away. Maybe he should stop expecting certain behaviour, as she acted totally differently than what he thought. Suddenly, she was very....enthusiastic and happy about him being there. She was even grinning widely. Such a quick change in character was quite intriguing. It was as if she completely switched to something else for a brief moment. Yeah, she was definitely strange. On second thought, this was like layers of strange. Almost all of what she did seemed a little out of the norm, and Hibiki was wondering how did she come to be this way. It was almost...astounding. No matter how good he was at solving stuff, he couldn't really figure her out. She really was something.

''Well, if you say so.'' he said carefully, still slightly bewildered from the sudden change of demeanour. ''I just thought that you probably wanted to be alone, considering what kind of a place this is, that's all.'' he was getting a little confused, as he couldn't tell what she really wanted, and this wasn't usual for him. He would say he was pretty good at understanding people, but she was..different, and he wasn't sure if it was in a good or a bad way.

Ruo would end up nodding slightly when he confirmed her point. Did not seem like a rude statement, just a suggestion. If anything, this made Ruo feel as though her moral compass was for the most part, in the right place, as she was encouraging him to be social. The man though, went on to say he was interested in how this place looks, which is a valid concern. To see such a difference in the areas of Ueitawa that she does know of, it would be perhaps fascinating to learn more about them and how each respective area came to be this way. For that reason, Ruo found herself fairly interested in his motives for being here. “Well, not leaving means you have more time to explore. To my knowledge, Iwaigodai does look similar no matter where you go, but it is always good to look yourself,” she would explain with a remaining noticeable sense of stiffness, but not so much as before, as she was fairly calm at the moment. And she was not particularly thinking ill of him, she was just naturally worried for her own safety, and gained a mild sense of egocentrism from that, which seems to be preventing her from speaking or acting for another’s behalf.

She would frown and shake her head once more when her personality was finally under her own control. While having him stay for the time being was not completely out of line, it certainly would look odd to anyone watching of her sudden shift from her nervous behavior, to cheerful glee. She would think in her head, hoping in vain for some random glitch. Anything would work as long as it fit what happened earlier…..and nothing came up. Figures the time she wants to act out of her set personality, it does not work. She could try on her own, but she would never be able to do that. Until perhaps sometime down the road once she is sure she has the capabilities, and the methods to do so. The man himself she could probably at this point confirm was not hostile. The thought would not make her feel any better, but at best, it could be a blanket sense of safety for her own, much like a nightlight.

She did not know what to do after what happened, so the best she could hope for is for it to be forgotten and leave it at that. Or he would keep that in the conversation and it would make her even more tense. And he seemed to pay little mind to it. In fact, he seemed to expect Ruo to want him to leave. She could not admit that he would be partially correct, however, the man had done no wrong. Ruo would probably accept that it was her own issues sooner than blame the man. In her normal, calm attitude, she would shake her head slightly. “Truly, it is not that huge of an issue. I am merely exploring the town, as for the most part, I am unfamiliar. I will admit, you did catch me by surprise,” she said. She was not lying when she explained she was exploring. If anything, she just did not tell the entire truth, which in a sense, is still being a bit dishonest. Ruo however, was not particularly concerned. The man was not violent or hostile, but she would not dare tell anyone where she would come from, nor where she would go. But nonetheless, it was surprisingly enough, almost relieving to see someone who at first glance, was not out to chase her down, much less destroy her.

Right, exploring. That was one of the things that he could possibly be doing. That would be a little excessive though. His initiate resolve was to just take a quick walk around Iwaigodai, and that was far from the definition of exploring. Besides, she was right about the fact that it looked awfully similar wherever you went. That wasn't likely to further one's interest in staying around. That was just the way it was. ''You do have a point there. Although I wasn't planning for a thorough exploration and the non-diverse enviroment can be a slight turn off.'' Hibiki gave a slightly amused snort, finding this conversation a little ridiculous. If someone in past told him that he would be discussing something like this in the middle of practical nowhere, he'd probably brush it off as a fairly amusing joke.

Although it seemed that she was taking it more seriously, as she had mentioned that she was exploring herself. Well, at least it got confirmed that he did indeed startle her at the beginning, so that was probably why she acted a little stiff back then. ''Well, I'm sorry that I startled you. That wasn't my intention. Maybe I should consider being less friendly to strangers sometimes.'' he stated casually, although it didn't seem to be that much of a deal to her. ''I suppose I'll leave you to your exploring then?'' he asked rheoretically, w'ith a smile. He doubted there was much more they could discuss at the moment, and the stuffy smog was starting to annoy him a little bit. Perhaps that was a cue to take his leave. ''It was nice meeting you. Perhaps we'll run into each other again sometime.'' he said afterwards, giving her a little wave and turning around to leave. She was hard to figure out, but she wasn't a bad company, and he wouldn't mind meeting her again in the future.

~Exit~

((Gah, this turned out to be shorter than I planned. I guess my muse flew out of the window xD. Anyway, I was bored and checked out the archives on the chat and noted that you wanted to end this xP I suppose this will do. I didn't really have any more ideas for this afterall XD ))

Ruo would tilt her head slightly. His shift of intention was nonetheless confusing for her. This was how humans acted? "Well, perhaps bring some company. Next time it will be more enjoyable," she said, giving a slight smile. It was sincere, but only slight, as she was trying to encourage the man. Perhaps she turned him away from her more noticeably than she thought.

Ruo would give a half frown at his statement about being less kind. "It could always help you to be kind to them. It is perhaps, how I am acting," she said. She would have to think on it later on who was truly at fault. he had soon relented to leaving her be, and giving her a wave. Ruo would look a bit confused before raising her hand to her head, giving a small wave. The wave was quite sloppy; she would need to learn how to communicate verbally and physically more in the future. Once the man had finaly left, she would continue her walk around, remaining uneventful apart from that moment. The man would remain in her mind as one of the first people she has seen outside her old world.

((END))