She gives a slight shrug then goes back to what she was doing.
There are several tables surrounding the stage in a semicircle; each one holding several computers ranging from the latest in gaming tech, to even some custom made tablets, their 3D printed bodies being a clear giveaway that these devices never saw an assembly line.
On one side, the university is setting up their work stations, their team wearing matching T-shirts. While several others are busy going over their gear. There are a handful of empty stations and even a couple of empty seats with no equipment. One of the staff sees you looking at the setup as you walk by.
âHey,â he says, trying to get your attention. âWe still have a few open spots for the contest. Itâs $25 for a single entry, or $75 for a team. Are you interested?â He asked.
Altierâs head moved towards the speaker just enough to indicate he heard the guy.
âEehg,â He said as he thought it over. âMaybe next time. Would love to but on a tight deadline. Donât think boss would be happy if found I was playing games.â
The pulses grow stronger as you pass through the store, directing you toward the north side of the building, and toward the entrance to the storage rooms.
âNo worries,â they reply.â âIf you change your mind, youâre welcome to join. Registration ends a noon.â
Just as they finish, a college age man walks up to you wearing a black short sleeved polo â â â â â with the storeâs logo embroidered across the sleeves. The name tag reads âTrevor - Lead Techâ.
âHi,â he says. âIâm Trevor. Kausha said you were looking for help with your tablet.â Before he can continue; a girl walks up and stands next to you, and begins to look around in a slightly bored manner. Trevor glances over at her and asks, âIf you give me a moment, I can finish up with this gentleman then I can assist you.â
She holds up and hand, then replies âThatâs okay, Iâm with him.â
She looks back at you and smiles, adjusting her backpack before looking down at her phone and texting something.
âAh,â Trevor replies, looking back to Altier âSo, whatâs going on with your tablet?â
OOC:
As Trevor speaks with Altier, Billie is suddenly bombarded by mental pop ups leading to the infamous Rick Roll YouTube video.
If not for the shades and beard, he would look at this stranger confused. It takes a second or two to realize she might be the fifth member but was not certain. He tries to see if she looks anything like the spook from earlier.
Regardless, he checks his phone after feeling it vibrate and looked at the messages. Putting it away soon after, he addressed Trevor.
âUh, right. Chip in the stupid thing melted. I think itâs the Carpe Noctem board?â
For a moment, Billieâs eyes met with Oswinâs. Once she processed that he was looking directly at her with that stupid smile on his face, she immediately looked away, embarrassed and confused at his behavior.
What was he smiling about? Here words were supposed to cause a completely opposite reaction, he had no reason toâŚ
She must have just imagined it. After all, in weather like this, it wasnât out of the question that her brain got fried because of the heat.
As Altier finished talking to the woman and went for the desk he was sent to, Billie followed in his direction. As they waited for Trevor to arrive, she proceeded to pay no mind to Altierâs advice and loitered around the shop, staying close enough to the group in case something were to happen, but far enough that they wouldnât be able to start a conversation with her. With nothing to do, as none of the displayed items attracted her attention, she nervously looked for any signs of suspicious activity in the store.
Overhearing the employeeâs suggestion, Billie shot a nervous glance at Altier. She would hate to be dragged into some game, especially one where sheâd need to work together with other people. Itâs not like she could be useful in it anyways, she knew nothing about computers. As far as she was concerned, it was a waste of time and seventy five dollars. They couldnât afford to get sidetracked by stuff like that.
Luckily, Altier didnât seem to be all that interested, so she quietly continued her stroll without having to raise any objections.
In her highly alert state, Billie noticed that Gracie suddenly became distracted by something and started walking away from the group.
Is somebody going to stop her? Should I stop her?
As Billieâs hesitation caused by the prospect of potentially having to talk to Gracie prevented her from follow through on her thoughts, the worker they were waiting for appeared at the desk, redirecting her attention away from the strange girl.
She slowly began approaching the table when she witnessed an unfamiliar girl suddenly materialize next to Altier and claim that she was with him. Immediately tensing up, Billie sped up her approach and stood behind the pair, keeping some distance and intensely eyeing the stranger from under the brim of her cap, watching her every move. The thought that this could be the fifth member of their group crossed her mind, but it didnât make the girl any less suspicious in her eyes.
She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, indicating that she received a message. She made no attempts to look at it mostly because she was very used to the notions that all of the texts she ever received were spam messages and that nobody ever wrote her anything, but also because she deemed it too risky to pull out the phone that contained the files from their first mission in such a crowded place without a very good reason to do so.
Oswin had been very unsubtly glancing at Altier every few seconds, and his eyes lit up when Trevorâs nametag came into view. Thatâs the guy weâre supposed to meet! Soon weâre gonna learn all about whatever this job request actually entails. I always knew Alt was sort for Alter Ego; heâs got this in the bag.
The smug grin Oswin was generating got completely wiped off his face as some strange girl barged in and attached herself to the group. Out of the corner of his eye, Billie caught his attention, moving in closer and standing at a reasonable distance away, making every possible indication as clear as they could be that she was watching the newcomer. It seemed that everything was under control, or if it wasnât, the retaliation for whatever might occur would be swift.
As Oswin slowly moved towards Trevorâs position, a text message alert suddenly popped up. Flicking through various screens, he stood perplexed at the series of messages he received.
Should I�
There was no reasonable adult nearby, or even someone he considered to be reasonable like Billie, who could stop him or say otherwise. With a mischievous expression, he quickly threw together a response and sent it off, hoping nobody would read into the âUCO_OSâ profile sending off such a mature and rational response.
same place more like UR FACE gottem
The smug grin fully returned, and Oswin stood with his arms crossed, tipping his head back slightly to bask in his smugness, silently hoping the universe didnât decide to ruin it for him yet again.
Trevor pauses for a moment, giving you an inquisitive look. He then nods before responding. âThose boards are known to act up, especially in this heat. Since there are different configurations for each model, Iâll need to check the stock room to see if we have the correct components. If you and your associates will follow me, I can take you to the stock room so we can verify we have the correct model.â
He gestures toward the rear of the store, where at a glance you can see Gracie, already walking in that direction. Holding the device Cass tossed her earlier in her hands.
The pulses lead you through two warehouse doors in the rear of the store, one of them is held open by a door stop.
Looking inside, you can see several staff members on the west side of the building. None of them notice you; they are seemingly preoccupied unloading a large truck - one of them using a forklift to place pallets of electronics and appliances onto the warehouse shelves.
The pulses speed up, leading you to the north east corner of the warehouse, towards what looks like a section of wall was being built (the cinder blocks only coming up to your torso). On the other side of the âHalf Wallâ you notice what looks like several work benches and large tool boxes. The thing that sparks your curiosity the most, is the large Shipping container shoved in the corner.
Following Trevor toward the stock room, you canât openly see anything out of the usual. But something is setting off your senses, like when you would hunt - that knowing that something is watching you.
As you pass through the warehouse doors, you follow Trevor to the north east corner of the building. But you notice something odd - your eyes catch a brief flash of light as each one of you cross over a reflective yellow safety line painted on the ground. From what you can tell, the light is not something the human eye could detect, but your eyes are more than capable of seeing.
As the group rounds the corner, Gracie can be seen standing near a half wall of cinder blocks.
Trevor walks past Gracie and looks over his shoulder to Altier. âI was wondering where the other member of your group went to.â He said, reaching down and scanning his name tag on the sensor next to the gate. âIs there anything else
you need before we check out that circuit board?â He asked.
While Billie was intensely watching the girl who had just decided to join the group and acted as if she was a part of it, she caught a glimpse of Oswinâs face in the corner of her eye and had to momentarily redirect her attention to him to confirm that he indeed had such a smug look on him for no discernible reason.
She gave him a brief look of confusion when her phone vibrated again. Canât be two spam messages in a row and that kid is looking hella weird right nowâŚ
Reluctantly, she pulled out her phone for a moment to look at the texts she had received. She immediately figured out what the first couple of them meant, but before she could wonder how the sender had her number, the last one attracted her attention. She stared at it for several seconds before her brain was able to draw a connection between its contents and the mischievous expression on the kidâs face.
Why do I have to deal with thisâŚ
She put away her phone and looked at Oswin with the most miserable, deadpan expression imaginable, clearly unimpressed by and judgmental of his attempt at humor. If it was his attempt at humor, that is. After all, she didnât see him type anything on his phone.
Maybe he can just do that, with that weird body of hisâŚ
The thought that the kid was completely unaware of the seriousness of what was going on here kept lingering in the back of her mind.
Billie hated the prospect of following someone she didnât know to some place she was unfamiliar with for a reason she was unaware of, however it didnât seem like she had any other choice here. This was clearly a part of the job she had agreed to, which could be her only opportunity to get closer to tracking down the thing she had been obsessed with for the last four years. After all, everything she had tried before failed, so maybe this job would finally change things⌠she couldnât back off, no matter how uncomfortable it made her.
With a nod, reluctantly setting her hesitation aside, Billie followed the employee towards the back of the store. She looked uncomfortable as ever, but her eyes showed a certain degree of determination. She tried to stay at the tail end of the group, so that the suspicious stranger was always in her field of view, just in case, she also caught a glimpse of Gracie who was going in the same direction, almost as if she was following something. Billie couldnât see what it was.
Billie abruptly stopped in her tracks as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She suddenly got a strong feeling that she was being watched. This sense had been highlighted compared to most others thanks to her extensive hunting experience and potentially her condition, to a degree, so she had all the reasons to trust it. She instinctively looked around, trying to determine what was triggering it, but quickly realized that this was futile. The thing that was watching her didnât want to be seen.
Not talking to anyone in particular, she muttered to herself quietly, looking quite concerned âI have a bad feeling about thisâŚâ
Billie could have easily chalked this feeling up to paranoia and current less than optimal weather conditions messing with her brain, however the notion of strange occurrences from earlier prevented her from coming to that conclusion. They had clearly been watched in the diner, and they were being watched now. This couldnât be ignored.
Working almost reflexively, just like she would do on a hunt, Billie swiftly took off her glasses and pulled her goggles over her eyes. With a press of a button on their side, she activated the device built into them, sending invisible waves in all directions. She was hoping that it would pick up on something she was unable to see with her own eyes.
Billie would wait for the image to come through inside her goggles, and if there wasnât anything worth noting, sheâd attempt to catch up to Trevor and the people with him in the warehouse.
Oswinâs smug expression met Billieâs immensely tired and unamused glare, his eyes bouncing back and forth between her and Trevor as his grin started growing awkward in its presentation. Does, uh⌠Does she not get the joke or something? Is this some kind of a faux pas that I donât understand? Surely adults donât instantly lose their sense of humor as soon as they turn twenty, right?
Maybe itâs just a tough crowd. Maybe next time I need to pull up the âI hardly know herâ joke. That was done almost to death at the college, so perhaps with this crowdâŚ
Trevor started moving again, and Oswin had missed most of what he said to Altier due to being distracted by his delicate basking-in-smugness process. Seeing Billie start following, Oswin quickly joined her, but after making a beeline to her position he abruptly slowed, remembering the incident at the door and dreading accidentally treading on her patience any further.
Poor girl. Oswin tried not to let his face get consumed by the sadness of it all. I mean woman. How old is she, exactly? I canât tell if sheâs just getting into college or just getting out of it. Although technically speaking, Iâm just getting out of college, and Iâm only thirteen, so perhaps Iâm not one to judge. Although I didnât exactly go to college, so to speak, so Iâm not quite sure that counts exactly. I mean, I did attend classes, but only ever for examples to reference in study, but I never got⌠Okay yes technically I did get paid for it, but not directly, sort of an under-the-table sort of thing, except I was standing next to the table, why do they call it that exactly? Do you have to hide under the table so you donât get noticed or someth-
Oswinâs eyes flashed at Billieâs sudden loss of momentum, slowly creeping up behind her with one hand covering the other and both quite near his throat. It was hard to tell if her reaction was more personal or situational, but he eventually decided on situational as the words she muttered seemed to fit nothing else.
As the goggles went over her eyes, Oswinâs eyebrows raised and he stepped to the side to get a better view of what was happening. Tech - any tech at all, outside of the most basic - fascinated him like it was magical, and Billieâs goggles were hardly the flimsy plastic ones the college used for safety purposes. I wonder what they do?
He didnât have long to find out. A number of waves shot across the room, instantly colliding with Oswin and the multiple delicate systems he had running at all times, causing a flurry of things to scramble up for a brief moment. Although his robotic body did not feel pain, this was the closest thing to a migraine he could experience, as his vision feed flashed various colors and his mechanical mind buzzed.
âAh! Freaking-â He stumbled, gripping the sides of his head as he buckled at the waist. If he had been at the college the dean surely would have pulled him aside for a good long talk for using that kind of language, but he wasnât at the college, and all he could think about was trying to keep from falling over or having some kind of system crash. It wasnât so terrible that it actually risked something like that happening, but Oswin was so taken by surprise it very much felt like it.
If Billie waited for the image to generate, she would, possibly among other things, notice an incredible amount of interference all along the line of sight where Oswin stood, causing a massive amount of smudging and distortion. Evidently there was no risk of potentially losing him with those goggles around.
Altier followed without too much concern, other than trying to get a better look at the stranger that joined them. He briefly checked to ensure the group was following but they were quite on it. As they came to the spot, he briefly checked his phone due to the new message. He promptly blocked that sender in the group and put the phone away.
The goggles send out their waves, scanning the entirety of the main floor of the store; clearly outlining shoppers and staff alike. However, there is an unfortunate and unforeseen side effect - Oswinâs systems begin to react to the waves, causing him to stumble. His systems distort the goggles making it difficult to see around him; but itâs not just him. Some customers near you (with cybernetic enhancements) begin to complain of a high pitched âringingâ in their ears.
Throughout the store, electronic systems distort your sensors with grainy images. Looking up at the ceiling, you can hardly see due to the amount of disturbance caused by large power lines; terminating near a large concrete pillar that runs from the floor to the ceiling.
From its appearance, it was designed to bear the weight of a massive load - much more that the typical load bearing supports found in large buildings like this.
But something does catch your eye. Standing near the entrance of the store (in the entryway) you can barely see ⌠something âŚ
Looking directly at it, you still canât see it. Itâs like a void in your vision, but your senses know itâs there. Its shape is hard to distinguish, but itâs definitely there. When comparing it to the woman that greeted you earlier, it appears larger - maybe three meters in height.
But as you linger in looking at it, trying to wrap your mind around this ⌠thing, the doors open. Once more the staff welcome a couple with the standard âWelcome to Green Countryâ greeting; and just before the doors close, the void vanishes. The little evidence of its existence fading into the background interference.
Whatever it was, you knew deep down that it was watching; and unlike your experiences on the hunt, this ⌠âspectorâ wasnât behaving like a prey animal. It leaves Billie with the impression that she, along with those in the group; were being stalked.
After Billie activated the device, the image took strangely long to load. She assumed that it was the various electronic devices present in the store that were messing with the system and prevented her from receiving a clear picture. In the forest, nothing like that ever happened and she had always received a clear result almost instantly, but here the device was struggling, clearly not made for use in such an environment. After all, it had been marketed as hunting equipment, and there arenât many people using hardware stores as their hunting groundsâŚ
But before Billie could contemplate the inefficiency of the device or wait for the full picture to come through, her attention was suddenly drawn elsewhere.
As soon as she heard the voice of the kid scream out not far from her, seemingly in pain, she practically ripped the goggles off her face and rushed to him. She didnât seem to pay any mind to other people in the store who seemed to showcase similar signs of distress. Why is he here?! Heâs supposed to be with the othersâŚ
She tightly gripped Oswinâs shoulders, preventing his fall and looked him in the face. To her, it appeared to be blurry, as she wasnât wearing her glasses, which made it seem all the more similar to the face of the kid from the incident, as her mind filled in the missing details. Her heart rate increased and was echoing in her ears as her own face showed a mix of genuine fear and concern. These were easily the strongest emotions she had shown so far, heavily contrasting her usual detached and indifferent appearance. At that moment she forgot about everything that was going on and her sole focus became making sure that the kid was safe.
âWh- what ha- Are you hurt?â She stuttered, overwhelmed with emotion. She couldnât let someone suffer because of her actions again.
As the initial shock from Oswinâs unexpected reaction faded and the intense emotions she had experienced calmed down, giving way to rational thought, she noticed in the corner of her eye that the screens built into the lenses of her goggles lit up, signifying that the image the device had captured fully loaded. Getting a sense that the image could contain something extremely important, she let go of one of Oswinâs shoulders and put the goggles back on to examine the results as she looked back towards the entrance of the store.
In the next few seconds the expression on her face changed from mostly neutral, trying to make sense of what she was seeing, to slightly frustrated, seeing all the visual noise caused by the electronic devices in the store, to concerned, noticing the distortion around where Oswin stood, and finally to a great deal of distress, as she froze in place, noticing something standing at the entrance of the store, something that was clearly not supposed to be there.
Billie couldnât make out what it was, as if it was redirecting her eyes away from itself, leaving a void where it stood. She could only tell that it completely towered over all the people present in the store and that its intentions, whatever they were, couldnât be friendly.
She took a step back as a bead of cold sweat ran down the side of her face, taking a position almost as if she was trying to shield Oswin from whatever was standing near the entrance, when it began to fade from her view. Coming out of her stupor, she rushed to save the image within the memory of the device before the visage was completely gone.
Even if everything seemingly returned to normal, Billie couldnât get rid of the heavy feeling that they were still being watched by this thing, almost as if it was stalking them. Same distress on her face, she turned to Oswin, switching the goggles off and placing them back over her cap. Now she seemed almost protective of him. This was the first time since that day that she seemingly came in direct contact with something supernatural, which greatly amplified the terror she felt at that moment.
âWe need to go. Now.â Billieâs words were quiet, but carried a lot of weight. She felt that they needed to join the others as soon as possible before something went wrong.
Not waiting much longer, she put her glasses back on and, after a moment of hesitation, took her hand off of Oswinâs shoulder and grabbed him by his hand to lead him through the doors into the storage area. She rushed to catch up to the rest of the group.
Oswinâs hand slipped off the side of his head as he stood with mouth agape, completely powerless in Billieâs grip. His irises flickered for a moment before snapping back to a shining blue, locking onto Billieâs frightened eyes and tormented expression.
There was something more than concern in her eyes, something Oswin couldnât quite comprehend. Maybe he was just not comfortable seeing her without glasses, or maybe this had always been there and he had just never noticed, but⌠Why was there grief behind her eyes?
âIâŚâ He stared up at her, too overwhelmed by her sudden and extremely significant caring to do much else. Billie could practically read the chain of thought as it wrote itself across his face, going from clear confusion to realizing it was something Billie had done which rattled his senses, and then how touched he was that she cared about his well-being.
âThank you.â He started to move towards a smile before he realized blurting that out with no context didnât make any sense. âIâm sorry, I mean- Iâm fine, thank-â
Suddenly Billie looked back at him with a new look in her eyes. The grief was gone, and in its place a sense of urgency and protectiveness to a degree that Oswin had never seen before. If she had told him to jump to touch the extremely high ceiling in the storage room, it felt like he would have no choice but to comply somehow.
Without so much as a second to reply to her grave warning, she grabbed him by the hand and quickly strode off. Oswin immediately fell into keeping her pace as best he could, partially because he knew if he stopped at all he might accidentally trip her up with his weight or prompt her unintentionally pulling him over like an unbalanced statue, and partially because, in that moment, it seemed like he had known her as an overprotective older sister his entire life, and any decision that may arise must be deferred to her.
His eyes traveled to her extended forearm as they walked. He had to find a way to help her. No matter what else happened, he was going to help her, both by being a friend and by- well, honestly, he hadnât thought about anything beyond that. But surely he could figure something else out.
Realizing what she had just done, Billie felt a sudden urge to pull the brim of her hat over her eyes or turn away in order to somehow conceal her emotions. It was caused less by the anxiety she got from having to interact with other people (at an urgent moment like that it had to take a back seat), and more by the notion that she had just shown a great deal of concern towards another human being (a strange one at that, but still undoubtedly human). She absolutely couldnât risk someone developing an attachment to her, especially someone as naive and vulnerable as this.
I just hurt him, why the heck is he saying thank you?
Billie immediately regretted having such an outburst of emotion. Had she not shown any concern for Oswin, heâd have no idea that she was the one whose actions had hurt him and none of this would have happened⌠Now did she hurt him anyways? The device never had such an effect on anyone beforeâŚ
Luckily for her, the device completing processing the image provided a much needed distraction and allowed her to look away from Oswin and try to pretend that nothing happened once again. Unfortunately for her however, what she saw in the image made everything much worse.
At first Billie had to put a considerable amount of force into pulling Oswin behind her, as he clearly wasnât prepared for it and his weight was completely unnatural for someone his size, but gradually leading him became easier as he seemingly managed to pick up her pace.
Billie, however, didnât have any time to worry about Oswin and practically forgot about his existence all together as her mind was busy trying to rationalize what she had just seen. It could have been just another distortion caused by overabundance of electronic devices in the shop or the result of a malfunction of her goggles, after all they werenât new by any means⌠However⌠there were no electronics at the spot next to the entrance to the shop where she saw it, the distortions caused by hardware looked completely different from the unnerving phenomenon, and her goggles, if old, were very well-maintained, being the only electronic device Billie took good care of, and had not malfunctioned before in any way that would be similar to this⌠and most importantly, Billie felt a presence there, she sensed that something was watching her. She could accept that the sophisticated censors in her headgear were giving her a faulty reading, but persuading herself not to trust her own senses was too much to ask from her. Deep down she knew that something was there in that room and could still be lurking somewhere nearby, and no attempts at rationalization could change that notion.
Billie stormed through the warehouse, still clenching Oswinâs hand roughly, not paying attention to anything around her and only briefly stopping once at a turn to locate the group and immediately continuing her hasty, nervous stride towards them.
Much to her surprise, she felt a brief moment of relief when she spotted the familiar figure of Altier and even Gracie, however it immediately changed to concern and distrust at the sight of Trevor and the stranger. After everything she had just witnessed, she had absolutely no reason to trust these two. Her initial concern switched to something closer to poorly suppressed anger and frustration mixed with distress as she neared the group.
As Billie rushed past Altier, she uttered a quiet âWeâre being followedâ in such a tone that clearly indicated that she wasnât messing around.
She went up directly to Trevor and asked bluntly âDo we have any reason to trust you?â There was a certain weight to her words that made it painfully clear that she wasnât talking about the made up circuit board and that they had deeper meaning that the computer shop employee would be able to understand if he was in on this operation. She clearly looked and sounded distressed, however there was something about her facial expression and tone that indicated that she was ready to act decisively if a need for that were to arise.
Oswin dutifully followed along behind, his speed varying incredibly as he kept getting distracted by the inside of the storage area and all the people working inside, unknowingly fitting the concept of a child needing to be lead by the arm. However, just before he could properly make his way through the room, something else caught his eye.
Oswinâs feet skidded to a stop, a hair away from touching the line, as he reared up on his tiptoes and swung his arm back to keep from stumbling forward. The light was both mesmerizing and concerning, and he wasnât sure if it was shining from beneath the line or was simply an amplification of the light being reflected.
Something pulled at his sleeve for a moment. Looking back up, he started violently at the sight of Billie walking away with his disconnected arm. I mustâve released it because I didnât want to let go or stall her walkingâŚ
Trying to non-verbally get her attention by extending his hand and making a concerned expression didnât work, so away with his right arm Billie went, seemingly oblivious to its weight and how it barely avoided scraping across the ground. Focusing back on the line, Oswin took a slow, massive step across it, and looked back at it in confusion, too distracted to resume following both Billie and his missing limb.
If this is a paint of some kind, I should put some on stuff that I keep losing. Thatâd help me find it no matter what. Of course, if it was night, maybe that wouldnât helpâŚ
Trevor, being completely caught off guard by Billieâs question; looked dumbfounded as he processed her words. After a second he put his hands up, and replied âWoah, whereâs that come from?â He asked.
Looking between the group, he took in the various expressions from everyone before continuing. âIâm just a middle man. I donât know any of you or even why youâre here.â Opening the gate to the work area, he stepped through and walked over to a soda vending machine, the words OUT OF ORDER written in red across a piece of paper that is taped to the front.
Giving Billie a minute to take in his words, he shrugged, then continued. âLook, I get paid to work in the store and whenever someone comes in, and gives whatever the âpass phraseâ; I get paid extra to bring them here.â
He stops taking, allowing the group to decide what they want to do. Then after a moment, he says. âLook, I get paid if you follow through or walk away. But whatever you choose is, I need to get back to work; the store manager doesnât like it when Iâm gone too long.â
After a moment, Trevor looks at Billie with a confused look. Opening his mouth to ask why she was holding a mannequinâs arm, but then deciding not to do so.
Too preoccupied with other things at the moment, Billie didnât notice the sudden change in weight of the thing she was holding in her hand or how the direction of the force it was exuding on her arm seemed to change to a more downwards one. She continued her stride forward as if nothing happened, not bothering to look back.
Taking in Trevorâs words, Billie gradually began to calm down, just a little. She was still not satisfied with his answer and the concern about the thing she had seen back in the shop still lingered in the back of her mind, but she had to reluctantly accept it. She concluded that he wouldnât have any reason to lie about being a middle man in this operation, and if that was the case, he really wouldnât be able to know what was going on here. Sheâd have to pose her questions to someone higher up in this operation if she wanted to get some kind of useful information.
With that in mind, she turned her head towards the stranger girl that had joined the group earlier on and gave her a long scrutinizing look from under the brim of her hat. If the employee of the computer store didnât seem to be involved, she still seemed extremely suspicious.
Finally, she let out a sigh, gave a reluctant nod, signifying that she accepted Trevorâs response, and followed him through the metal gate. There wasnât much else she could do here.
Billie responded with a pained, confused look of her own, wondering what else he could have wanted from her, when she realized that she was still tightly holding onto Oswinâs hand. Before the embarrassment caused by this gesture could fully set in, she noticed something odd. Something about Oswinâs hand didnât feel quite right.
Billieâs eyes slowly moved down her arm, towards where she assumed the kid was standing only to find a whole bunch of nothing in his place. When what am I hol-
She raised up the object in her hand to her eye level, looked over at Oswin who was standing quite a way behind for some reason with mild confusion on her face, then finally back at the object again. Realizing what the object was, she let out something that sounded like a weak whimper and the arm that was holding it up in the air dropped limply.
Finally, when the fact that she was holding Oswinâs disembodied arm fully settled in her mind, all color left Billieâs face together with all signs of emotion, leaving behind a lifeless, empty, deeply depressed stare that could only signify that she was completely over everything that was going on at the moment. Her mind blanked out completely, unsure how to react to the visual information it had just been presented with. It was genuinely impossible to tell based on Billieâs expression if she was about to cry in desperation, break out into nervous laughter or start yelling at Oswin at the top of her lungs. The only things for certain were that she was not having a great time whatsoever and that leaving the arm hang lifelessly in her hand any longer could potentially lead to catastrophic results.
The only coherent thought that Billie was able to form in her mind at that moment was Iâm so done with this crapâŚ
Oswin almost thought the inquiry was directed at himself for a moment, but Trevorâs reply cleared up his confusion. Slowly pulling himself away from the peculiar yellow lines, he turned his gaze towards the conversation as it slowly played out.
Trevorâs gaze prompted Oswin to start violently as he remembered the thing he literally just saw and just reacted to and already forgot about. As Billie started to notice what had happened, Oswin adjusted his turtleneck and quickly walked forwards with a sheepish expression, unsure how he was going to recover from such a horrible embarrassment.
âIâm sorry, I⌠got distracted.â Oswin moved to awkwardly hold his opposite upper arm before realizing it wasnât currently attached. He awkwardly strode through the metal gate, tensing up as if it would suddenly snap out at him.
Then he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. Billieâs expression finally caught his attention, and his shoulders flew up into the top of his neck as he tried to get a grasp on what exactly it meant. Exhaustion- okay, that was evident, but that also seemed to be a permanent feature. Beyond that, it was a complete mystery, but it was close enough to disappointment in his mind that Oswin felt he should start apologizing, and fast.
Wait, you already said sorry once. Maybe explain yourself a bit first?
âI-â He began, but stopped himself instantly. It would do no good to explain the intricacies of his mechanical form, especially since he had no proper education about any of this and knew even less than she did, in all likelihood. Easier to explain why it happened in the first place.
âI mustâve disconnected when I stopped at that line back there.â He made a mild gesture with his head towards the oddly glowing line on the floor. âBoth arms are like that. I can swap with the other pair, but itâs hard to do that while Iâm wearing this.â He tugged at the tight collar of his turtleneck. âTechnically I can do it with my legs too, but⌠uh, probably best not to demonstrate that here.â
âSorry.â He reached to grip his opposite arm once again, only to be reminded yet another time that it still wasnât attached to his body, leaving him to oddly fidget in place, hoping something occurred to break the tension, as making eye contact with Billie after his most recent apology was too difficult to attempt.
The girl that had joined the group made a confused face as she watched Billie hold Oswinâs hand. Looking to Oswin, and watching him make his way through the gate; she turned to Gracie and asked, âIs that supposed to happen?â
Hearing this, she shrugged. âI guess so.â She said, before walking through the gate and looking around the work area.
When Oswin said this, Trevor laughed. Bending down, he rolled up his pants and exposed his artificial leg.
âI can do that too,â he said with a smile. âLost mine in a motorcycle accident a couple years ago.â He said, before fixing his pants.