forum "And it became Human, in most ways that mattered." // OxO // OPEN

Started August 10, 2019 by @ElderGod-Icefire

tune

Zev nodded. "Alright." he followed her out the door and onto the roof, quiet. He moved as humanly as he could, looking around and blinking, the fake breaths slightly faster from the movement.

"Hey! Harlin! Long time no see," Thesa called out, waving to the tallest guy that was leading the group over, causing him to wave back as she started towards the group and they met up, "How are you and Teagan doing?"

He waved for the others surrounding him to leave, they were clearly soldiers or bodyguards of some sort and also clearly androids. They followed him direction and Harlin shrugged after shaking Thesa's hand and looking over at Zev with hazel eyes, "We're doing pretty good..are you going to introduce me to your companion over here?"

Zev looked at Harlin carefully, though he made sure that it was in a human, curious sort of way, not an android sort of way. "Zev Shokova." he introduced himself, holding out his hand for a handshake and twisting his lips in a friendly-looking smile. He had run so many algorithms on this; on figuring out the right way to smile so that it looked real, and he was 95.56% sure that he had succeeded.

"Nice to meet you Zev, as you could guess, I'm Harlin, one of Thesa's only friends." A hint of a smile in return crossed his face as he shook Zev's hand. He turned back to her and motioned to the door to the building, "Shall we head inside?"

She smacked his arm and rolled her eyes before nodding, "Oh shut up, Teagan beats you on the friend scale." Thesa started walking once she finished talking, motioning for Zev to follow and mentally congratulating him on how real the smile looked.

Zev nodded. "I see." he replied, eyebrows twitching slightly in a very close approximation to amusement. He followed Thesa and Harlin inside, quiet, and careful to keep himself looking and behaving as human as possible. He had done the math, and knew that the less he talked, the less likely it was that someone would discover his secret.

They walked down into the building, which was actually decently nice considering the planet they were on. "Alright Thesa, enough with the bullcrap, what do you actually want?" Harlin said, leading them into an office and sitting down in one of the three plastic chairs there.

Thesa sighed and cracked a smile, "You know me too well, I admit. I'm not here just to say hi. I need some parts for my ship, a few weapons, and another few job offers."

Zev was silent, mimicking what Thesa did. His eyes roved about, observing everything, but he didn't comment. He sighed softly, or at least, seemed to.

She sat down in one of the other chairs and leaned back until it was perched on two legs, watching Harlin carefully as he raised an eyebrow, "Please?"

He sighed and pretended to scowl, "The only things I can help you with are the weapons and parts. You know you have to find your own jobs."

Thesa cracked a grin, "I do know that." She looked around for a minute and settled on looking at Zev, trying to gauge how he was handling the situation.

Zev sat down after a moment, crossing his arms and feigning discomfort. It was almost uncanny how easily he was mimicking human emotion, but at the same time…it was almost a question how much was truly a mimic, how much was really some emotion just starting to be realized inside him.

"Well, get out of here then," Harlin said, standing up and swishing hands for them to get out, "I'll have Teagan start getting everything ready while you go find some jobs. If you're back by dark you can have a room to stay in here."

Thesa's face broke into a smile and she jumped up, motioning for Zev to do the same as she walked out and waved to Harlin, "Thanks bud! I'll be back to annoy you."

Zev got up, following Thesa silently. His algorithms were still running, assessing, monitoring, finding the safest ways for him to act.

"That was my friend Harlin, one of the only two people I actually trust on this planet," She explained, looking over at him as she walked to another staircase and started down towards the ground floor.

Zev nodded. "Alright." He replied, looking at her. "Am I doing well? With what I'm trying to do?" He looked over at her.

Thesa shrugged, opening a door out onto the regular ground level and walking out of the building, "I think you're easily passing as one, but maybe loosen up a little more."

Zev nodded. "Loosen up? How so?" He asked, looking at her inquisitively. "In what way?"

"Just, relax your shoulders and loosen up, act a little more casual," She explained, rolling her shoulders and acting more relaxed so he could copy, "You just seem kinda uptight."

Zev mimicked her carefully. "Oh. Okay." he replied slowly, eyes flicking over her and taking in her stance and position, and mimicked it.

Thesa nodded in approval, "Much better, now just follow me and do what I say, I just have to get a few more jobs and then we'll head back and rest, tomorrow we can actually fix my ship, and then we can get you to Alexi."

Zev nodded. "Alright. I understand." He replied with a quick smile. He knew that that was one of the way humans showed that they were listening.

She smiled back in return and headed out, not even glancing around at the smaller merchant setups or the insane variety of people and styles.

He followed her carefully, mimicking her movements, though not closely enough that it was obvious.

For a while, she walked, dropping back so she was walking next to him as she headed down streets until she reached what looked like a bar, though one that didn't seem to get much use from how small and trashy it looked.

Zev was quiet, cocking his head a little at the sight of the bar. "What is this place?" he asked curiously, looking at her, then at the bar again, trying to figure it out.

"the best place on any planet to find people doing illegal crap and needing things transported," She replied, a small grin on her face as she opened the door and stepped inside, holding it open for him as well.

"Ah." Zev stepped inside. Then if they found out what I am…I would be captured, and sold to the highest bidder. His mouth twitched slightly.