Bo:
He felt...safe.
And warm, at that. Before Bo opened his eyes, he'd caught a brief smell of leather and freshly laid carpet. It hadn't smelt like anything familiar, but Bo was just glad that he could still smell at all, that he had even woken up. Upon opening his eyes, he found himself laid across a leather sofa in a small room, with a blanket neatly tucked across his body. The room, besides another couch, some cardboard boxes and a TV, was incredibly bare. At least, he wasn't on the streets anymore.
Which meant that, someone had taken the time to save something as insignificant as a Bionic like himself. There was no compensation that came with retrieving a Bionic, since for the corporation it was more like 'recycling', or that was how it came across to Bo. Not like he knew too much about how everything worked, but he had never heard about anyone being compensated for finding an astranged Bionic.
So, why had they saved him?
He heard footsteps close by, and the sound of a shower turning on. After carefully removing himself from the blanket, he slowly stood up to find himself in different clothes from yesterday. He was now wearing a white, long-sleeved shirt and grey sweatpants. The clothing was uncomfortably tight, the sleeves barely met his wrists, and the pants definitely didn't meet his ankles.
Taking a walk out of the room he had woken up in, Bo found himself in an equally bare-looking kitchen. The room itself felt rather warm with the oak cabinets, white-marble countertops and the ashy, grey wall behind it all. When he came out of the kitchen, he came to see even more cardboard boxes, each with a hurried label scribbled across them.
This apartment had clearly just been remodelled, because the paint was new, the flooring had been replaced and there were boxes everywhere, so someone had only recently moved into it.
Bo also spent a few moments to himself reliving the dream that he had had. He wasn't sure why he had dreamt in the first place, or how it was possible. He didn't think Bionics could feel enough to dream, period, and he thought it strange that his mind had rehearsed his very first memory after waking as a Bionic.
Rather than dwell further on the sudden change in routine, he stood, and continued to walk around the apartment. He found it difficult to build a picture of the person living here with such little info: minimum furniture and the lack of decor made it difficult for Bo to analyze this person, and construct a suitable way to approach them.
At the end of the hallway, he came to a bedroom. The chamber had a cream carpet, a white open-doored wardrobe with drawers and a king-sized bed with plain white sheets. He stood there for a few moments, appreciating how light, open and modern this apartment felt.
That was one thing Bo could point out about the person living here. Perhaps they were also light, open and modern.
The sounds of water hitting the floor could be heard to his right, and he noticed a door most likely leading to an ensuite bathroom. What Bo didn't expect, was for the sound of running water to end so abruptly, and for a second he froze in place, unsure of what his next move should be. He waited in anticipation as he heard bare-footed steps getting louder and louder.
Maybe it was because of the shock on her face, or because of the towel wrapped around her front, but for a split second Bo felt his heart contrain in his chest. He had never frozen before, never, and for the gazillionth time his brain came about questioning what he was feeling, and if he was feeling.
He had only a second more to take in her damp, dark skin and blonde curls, because as soon as the door opened, it had closed just as quickly.
***
Larifa
"Fuck!" she hissed under her breath, with her back to the door and her hands hazzedly tugging her towel tighter around her chest.
She wasn't expecting him to be awake yet, at least, not for another day. Last night before sleeping, Larifa had brought up a search engine on Bionics. The website had said that he would have taken at least three days to 'thaw out', so why the hell was he stood outside of her bathroom door?!
She was seriously considering swan-diving out of the closest window, even taking into consideration the 50 foot drop between herself and the concrete ground.
After a few moments, Larifa felt a gentle tapping on the other side of the door.
"Hello?"
Larifa's breath hitched in her throat. He sounded normal? That was a good thing, right? "Yes?! What is it?"
"Are you alright? I apologize if I scared you."
"Yes, well...it was definitely one way to greet someone," Larifa scoffed, half jokingly and yet still half in ridicule. Then again, she wasn't sure what she was expecting.
"I realise now that that wasn't the best idea," she heard him mumble, quite monotously.
It went quiet for a couple moments, before Larifa took in a deep breath, and decided to break the silence. "Um...I'm Larifa. What about you? Do you have a name?"
"It's Bo."
"A-ah, I see. It's nice to meet you?" she said, not meaning it to come out as a question, but it had nevertheless.
"Likewise."
Another pause, before Larifa cleared her throat again. "How are you feeling? I mean, can you even...I guess, do you feel...normal?"
Larifa felt something slump against the other side of the door, and she lept away from the door in panic before the voice on the other side of the door spoke again. "I feel normal yes, thank you. Were you the one who saved me?"
"Yeah...my friend and I, we...I found you outside of a convenience store, in the snow. Can I ask, what were you doing out there?"
"I don't know."
"You don't...know?" Larifa repeated, before frowning at Bo's response. What the hell did that mean? Had someone dumped him? Or, forgotten about him?
"Larifa?"
"Yes?!" The Bionic interrupted her thoughts abruptly, and she immediately straightened herself up. Catching the site of a spare gown in the wash-basket, Larifa risked dragging it out, sniffing it before flinging the towel off and tying it around her body, all the while calling out, "Just call me Tuff! I kinda' hate it when people call me by my first name."
"Tuff..." she heard him test out, before he then said, "Can you open the door?"
"Um, just let me-"
"I'm really sorry for scaring you. I only want to thank you," Bo interrupted. For a second, Larifa was sure he sounded a little less...Bionic-like. This felt like a red-flag, but a Bionic was the last thing on earth that would commit any acts of violence. What did she have to lose?
"Alright, Bo. I'm going to come out now."
"Thank you."
Slowly turning the handle, Larifa pulled back the door to find herself face to face with the previously unconscious Bo. He stood taller than she had expected, and she tried not to stare, but it was difficult not to when he was doing just that.
She wasn't sure what she had been expecting, but she hadn't expected him to have blue eyes.
She didn't know why, but she just...hadn't expected that. And now she couldn't avoid them, because she was sure it had been maybe a full minute and he had not batted an eyelid, not even once to blink and it was beginning to get to her.
The man before her had such an impassive expression.
And not long after, Larifa felt her face burn with a whole mixture of different emotions.