Larifa:
"Do you remember what happened to you?"
Carefully, and a little too gently Larifa placed her mug on top of the coaster as she continued to keep her eyes on the table-top. Gosh, Larifa was not an awkward person by nature at all, but for once in her life she found herself strewn up with what to say, and how to say it. She knew absolutely nothing about Bionics, how they worked, how they thought, or even if they could drink a cup of coffee. Bo hadn't touched the now lukewarm mug in front of him, and instead had kept his blue eyes on Larifa and the word 'uncomfortable' didn't do justice how she was feeling.
Bo answered quickly. "No, I don't. I'm sure it was an effect of the drug that they gave me."
"D...drug?" Larifa risked a quick glimpse up, and sure enough, met Bo's fervent stare. She found it astonishing how someone with such a placid countenance could convey a feeling so strong as to force Larifa's gaze back down to the placemat.
"Yes."
"Ah, right..." She looked up again, ready to combat the icy tones in his irises with her own dark ones, daring Bo to look away first. Of course, he didn't. "The clothes...do they fit okay?"
The Bionic looked down at himself. "They're a bit small."
"I-I mean, you're not that much taller than me but you're lankier than I had expected," Larifa laughed off, before hastily taking another sip of her coffee.
"Thank you, either way."
"It's uh, no problem."
"..."
She couldn't take it anymore. Larifa stood up quite suddenly and took her mug to the sink, eyeing the one she had offered to Bo which remained untouched. Purposely keeping her body poised away from Bo, she rinsed out her mug and kept her head down. Only the clanging of ceramic and the sound of trickling water could be heard, and for what felt like an eternity. After she had finished, Larifa remained stood still facing away from Bo for a few moments, tapping her finger against the counter as to let it all just sink in. Every so often she would glance back towards the man sitting at her table, and every time her gaze was met by Bo's who hadn't for a second looked away. And every time, Larifa felt her face heat up.
Clearing her throat, she pulled her short hair from its pigtails and ruffled out her curls in an effort to rid her body of its rigidity. "Bo?"
"Yes?"
Larifa sat down again at the table, unsure of what to say. "Do you not like coffee?"
Watching as Bo picked up the mug and stared at the brown liquid, Larifa noticed how the Bionic's face was unchanging, and the blonde wondered if this man had ever smiled even once in his life.
Bo glanced down briefly at the mug filled with cold coffee just as impassively as Larifa had expected. "I've never had it before."
"You wouldn't like to try it, or...?"
"You don't need to make another one."
"Okay," she quickly whispered. If the conversation remained as stale as it was currently, Larifa considered maybe knocking herself out as an alternative. Although, the kitchen window, open as it was, was looking fairly enticing to jump out of. "Um...since you're a Bionic, does that mean that you have no place to stay? Somewhere to go back to? SomeONE to get back to?"
Bo shook his head. "I have the factory."
"Yes but, how will you get there?"
"I can run there."
Larifa was aware of a Bionic's impressive, enhanced abilities, although not to an extent. "Can you really run that far?"
A pause. For a moment, Larifa swore she saw the Bionic's brow twitch. "What do you mean?"
"The only Bionic factory in North America is the one in Canada right? In Montreal?"
"Yes."
Larifa cleared his throat. "We're in the state of Maine. In the US." For a second, Larifa was sure that she saw a flash of panic sweep across Bo's eyes, and she in turn was quick to say something before he could. "I mean, technically in distance it's not that far away, so driving there might be an option-"
Bo shook his head. "No. I can still make it if I make stops."
For a moment, Larifa's mouth dried up in disbelief. "You can't be serious. I know that I don't know much about Bionics, but I know that you can't travel unless you're accompanied by a human. I don't know how complicated it is for a Bionic like you to cross the border, not to mention that you obviously can't deal in the cold."
"There are other ways for Bionics to travel. They can send out transport to pick us up at pick-up points, and as for the cold, Bionics are a lot more resistant than you think," Bo replied dryly.
Was this man as oblivious to his own physical well-being as he was to the concept of human emotion? "If you can get a ride back then that's great, but I still think you shouldn't risk going out into the cold like you did the other night. Bo, you may be a Bionic but you still have the body of a human." Bo didn't reply, his eyes hidden beneath his dark bangs, however, Larifa was still sure that the Bionic's gaze hadn't wavered from the table before them. "As I said, I can drive you as far as the pick-up point-"
"No, you've already helped enough. I'm supposed to be the one helping you," Bo interrupted, his voice noticeably firmer and tenser.
Larifa didn't know how to reply to his seriousness. She hadn't expected it, and she could feel the beginnings of fear creeping up her shoulders. How far should she take this situation herself? Should she call someone? Was she handling this correctly? Should she be more...demanding with him?
One step at a time, Tuff.
Larifa took a breath in. "Listen, we'll figure this out. In the meantime, you can use my shower if you want to. I-I mean if you need to?"
Bo nodded. "Can I borrow your phone to ring the company? The closest pick-up point in the US is New York."
"I can do it while you shower," she insisted, standing first from the table and waving him along.
"Okay. Then-" Bo stood from the table and disappeared out of the kitchen.
Finally, Larifa breathed out and let her head fall to the table. Why had this happened to her? She felt slightly cheated, and just tired of constantly facing twists and turns, and for once she had seen things clearly set out on the straight path that she had paved. Now with Bo in the mix, her path had taken an unexpected swerve, and it had taken Larifa aback quite a bit.
She heard the shower turn on, and after lifting her head she pulled her phone out of her pocket to research the company number. The phone dialed for a few seconds before she heard a monotone voice call out to her on the other line.
"Bionics speaking, how may I be of service?"
"I have a Bionic here with me, and there seems to be a bit of a mixup-"
"What is their identification model?" they cut off.
"Oh, um, I'm not sure I didn't check."
"Their name?"
"Uh, Bo...I-I don't know his last name, I can get some more information and call back later-"
After a few moments, the caller replied, "There's no need. I'm afraid there isn't a Bo in the system."
"What?"
"If you find out his identification model, a more thorough search can be provided. Until then, there's nothing more we can do, so please make sure to call back with the information needed."
"There isn't a single Bionic called 'Bo'? Not a single one at all?" Larifa breathed, her chest tightening and constricting with anxiety.
"I'm sorry, but maybe the Bionic you have is defective and gave you the wrong name. If that is the case, we can send out a vehicle to pick it up and dispose of it at once."
"What? No! That's not necessary!" Larifa nearly yelled. "He's not defective, I mean, I don't know a lot about Bionics but he seems adamant about getting back to the factory."
The operator, Larifa guessed, did not bat an eyelid. "Again, I apologize but there are no Bionics with names beginning with 'B'. Although initially human, they have been programmed to do exactly what they have been instructed to do by humans, and the alliteration to their model could confuse them when being ordered to complete a task. There is not," the operator emphasized, "any Bionic in the country called Bo."
"I...I see. "
"As I stated before, a more thorough search can be done with the Bionics identification model, though it seems most likely that the Bionic that you have may defect in some way. Please ring back with its identification number when you have it, and we can organize an examination of your Bionic for free."
"I'll...I'll think about it. Thank you for your help."
The phone line went dead. What was she supposed to do now? Other than bringing a little more information to the table, Larifa started to feel even more unsteady. Just where had Bo come from?
Her phone started to ring after a couple of minutes, and she checked the caller ID: Mike. "Hey-"
"What's been going on with the Bionic? Is he still there?" Micah yawned through the phone.
"Yeah, he's taking a shower." Larifa breathed in. "Listen, Mike, I don't know what to do."
"Why, what's happened?"
She breathed in again. "I rang the Seoul bionic factory. And apparently, Bo isn't in their databases. I can get more information and call back later because Bo could be a nickname or something, but what if they don't find anything? I don't have a backup plan. I NEED a backup plan," Larifa rambled, her bottom lip turning sore the more she chewed it.
"I uh...I guess it's trickier than we expected."
"Duh! It's really bad! Just where did he come from?! Is he from overseas? He speaks English fluently, and he sounds American. What am I supposed to do with him?!"
"He's a Bionic, right? I mean... 'it' can figure it out for itself can't it?"
"That was mean, even for you," Larifa scowled. What was Micah's deal with a Bionic's pronouns?
"It's true. What can it expect you to do? Does it even have expectations?"
"I can't just throw him out onto the streets! And for the last time, can you at least address him as a person?!" Larifa began pacing back and forth with her phone held to her ear intently.
"Well, 'he' can't stay there with you. Bionic's creep me the hell out." She heard Micah pause, then a sigh followed. "Can't we just drop him off at some Bionic store somewhere?"
"What if they kill him? I mean, I read somewhere that if a Bionic isn't registered somewhere then they need to be immediately 'put down'," Larifa swallowed, her heart thudding against her chest. "Plus the operator said that any defective Bionic needs to also be put down too." She wasn't sure if Bionics were technically alive, or if they even had a heartbeat, but Bo had a conscience and she couldn't make the decision to destroy that. "I guess, I can just take care of it myself, maybe."
"'Take care of it'? What do you mean by that? Tuff, just give him to them already. I don't understand why you're making a bigger deal out of it than it is-"
Larifa felt her jaw clench. "You haven't met him. You can't say that."
She heard Micah scoff over the phone. "What, and you suddenly know everything about him? Tuff, he's a BIONIC. He's not a person, not even an animal!"
"He's...he's not something to just kill. We can't kill everything that scares us, or that we don't understand just because we don't like those feelings!" Larifa yelled this time, unable to hold her wavering voice back. She had no idea that Micah had these reservations about Bionics, that he could so easily judge a living thing based on what they were and what they had been told about by other people. She didn't want to believe that, and she wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, but for once she was a little tired of doing that. "I'm HELPING him, Mike. Because it's the right thing to do."
"Oh, sure, it's the 'right thing' to do. On what basis is this right or wrong?" Micah huffed over the other end.
"On the basis of basic humanity and empathy," Larifa spat back, before angrily ending the call before Micah could reply. She felt a little bad about ending the conversation that way, but her feelings of aggravation were overwhelming her at the moment. She needed a moment to cool off, before she started making horrible assumptions about her best friend, and before anything could really change in the way she saw him.
She could handle herself.
She could handle this.
"Larifa?"
"Yes?!" She turned to her right, her tone still slightly irritated, and gasped at the sight she saw.
Bo stood before her in nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist; his dark hair was still wet and plastered to his forehead, and his pale skin was glistening with water from the shower. Larifa thought her head might explode.
Before her mind could process anything else, Larifa turned on the spot and yelled out, "What're you...can you put something else on, please?!"
Then, she paced out of the room and slammed her back to the wall of her hallway, with her hand pressed to her chest.
She could handle herself.
She could handle this.