Setting: A generic street

[unclebob]

The machine is puzzled. It's an odd emotion, but no stranger than the others he has felt over the past few days. Why is he still here? He was lowered into molten metal and went offline. That should have been the end of it. Should have, but was not. Now he is here, wherever "here" might be.

What is his purpose now? His mission has been fulfilled. John is safe. So the tall robot stands there with an unnatural stillness about him, staring out as the people pass on by. His face wears a small expression of befuddlement.

Comments

[sociably]

Shouhei's leaving HOMRA right then, sleeves of his jacket rolled up and a bright smile on his face as he ambles down the street away from the bar and towards home. Though more and more, HOMRA and his comrades within the gang are coming to represent home for him.

His smile falters a bit when he catches sight of the man standing alone, the only non-mover in a sea of busy busy people, and Shouhei sidles up, head tilted to one side as he speaks up.

"Ah...are you lost, mister?"

[unclebob]

The Terminator looks down on the person who has approached him, his brow crinkling in even more confusion. Most people with the exception of the Connors seem far too busy wrapped up in their own lives to pay him any attention. Not this one.

Young male, late teens, early twenties perhaps. His systems scan for any kind of weaponry. Finding none, he's categorized as a non-threat. "Possibly. Where am I and what year is it?"

[sociably]

Shouhei's easy-going grin slips a little as the man looks down and stares at him. It reminds him a little of walking into HOMRA and having the attention of everyone inside suddenly on him. This guy looks like he could easily be part of a gang too, tall and looming.

Although, that's certainly not the question he's expecting.

"Where are you and what year is it?" He echoes the question stupidly, not sure if this is part of some elaborate set up or if this dude really doesn't know. "It's July of 2011 and you're in Japan right now. Shizume City. Are you looking for someone?"

[unclebob]

2011? How had he slipped forward through time? It was possible, of course, but the usual methods should've caused him to appear on the streets naked. He looked around him, as if taking in the bustling streets for the first time. In his future, Judgment Day has come and gone by this point. The world is a desolate wasteland by 2011.

To see it alive and full of people, the way it should be, sets off a deep feeling of satisfaction within the Terminator. They had won. There's the briefest flicker of a smile before he answers. "Negative. There is nobody I know in this place."

[sociably]

Ah, it looks like his answer's well-received, and the man's smile elicits a responding one before Shouhei's (often slow) brain fully processes the words spoken and his smile goes fizzling out again.

"Then, how come you're here in Shizume City? Is it for a business trip?"

The man does seem distinctly un-Japanese. Foreigners come to Japan all the time for business trips, right? And it would explain why he seems to be so lost.

[unclebob]

"No. I am unsure why I am here. I had a mission. But I thought it was over." Perhaps it's his fate. That's what Sarah Connor was always going on about, how to change Judgment Day and end up saving everyone. Now, with his mission complete and the fate of the world completely changed, he's been left in the lurch. If only there was some hint or clue as to which way he was supposed to go.