connect.
n0nesse:
[txt] I’m on my way right now.
Not knowing whether he’d be bothering to come back, 9S is sure to grab Cruel Oath and his own welcome box, as well as the cables he’d collected. He pauses to eye the Keurig machine, but decides he could return for it if later if he had to. 2B might be interested in trying real coffee for once.
There would be time to dwell on how he could have possibly missed her presence, why he was so unobservant when it was literally his job, all the what-ifs in the world. Right now the only thing that mattered was seeing her. 9S clutches the box to his chest as he runs, heading for the lake. Sure enough, as he nears it he feels the unmistakable ping of another unit’s black box. It was the sort of thing his Pod could have alerted him to ages ago, but they hadn’t seen fit to give him 153 for some reason.
He follows the signal along the footpath until he finally sees her, waiting for him, like it was just another rendezvous point. 9S slows to a walk momentarily to drop his box on the soft carpet of pine needles, then runs to her and throws his arms around her in a hug. Normally he would never; but these were extraordinary circumstances. The closest thing they’d ever had to this was saluting each other in the Bunker hallway. He might not have ever seen her again, but here she was, and he wasn’t going to let this chance get away from him.
she doesn’t really know what to do with the idle time besides review the audiovisual data from the outside of the apartment complex. there are no notable changes to speak of. 2B makes a divot in the dirt with the sole of her boot, and sighs.
she’s starting to understand why pods are programmed to break up gaps of silence with proposals and attempts at conversation. the waiting is hard. she misses 042.
soon enough, 9S’s black box signal appears in her information feed, and 2B lifts her head in its general direction.
❝ 9S — ❞
he rounds the bend into her field of view, but the rest of her words slip her mind when he puts his arms around her. 2B is momentarily stunned, her hands hovering in the space just behind his shoulders. they’d never been this close before, had they? she doesn’t think so.
❝ i’m glad you’re okay, ❞ she finishes, finally managing to return the hug.















