This pain in my heart is all mine [Open]

[double_discs]

who; Rinzler and OPEN
what; Rinzler is (as usual) restless and has several things on his processor. Best coping mechanism? Parkour and stalking.
where; Zone 05, mainly around the Tronhaus but all over.
when; Nowish. Today. Afternoon time.
warning(s); Damn my hiatus, I'm bored. None yet.

Comments

paging zone five parkour shenanigans? :D

[thom_293]

Ever since the teleporter incident, the knowledge that your genetic coding could be tweaked at the slightest provocation, and the fact that Thom was currently (and each time he came out of a teleporter, still) a female had given him a new sort of determination. Sure, life had been tossing his entire team lemons for months now, but did you know lemons produced electricity?

Yeah. Best idea.

Well, electricity, in this metaphorical case, meant getting used to what he had to work with. He'd hit the PT harder than ever since his abrupt gender change, because he would figure out this different-centre-of-gravity-thing if it killed him. He'd made a point of sparring with half the station, and had come out only slightly worse for wear. Couple bruises, maybe a pulled muscle here or there. Nothing that indicated the end of the known world.

Mostly, it felt good to stretch them out. He was actually a little faster in his current body, probably owing to the fact he'd dropped about twenty pounds of muscle mass, and pushing his limits? Well, it was a Spartan thing. The idea of limits need not apply.

By the time he hit Zone 05 he'd already been at it for a while. Didn't much stop him from picking out a low building and making sure he hadn't lost the ability to parkour his way to the top of it.

My User wears the pager, sweetheart, not me. /SHAMELESS

[double_discs]

Rinzler caught the movement from the corner of his eye and turned his helmeted head towards it to confirm. He saw a person climbing up a building; he was amused at the pace it took. Still, it was an impressive show of maneuverability. Rinzler watched until the individual was nearing the top--and then he moved into action of his own.

He leaped from the balcony he stood watch on and ran across the wall of the building opposite for a short time. When he pushed off that surface he ducked and rolled onto the next rooftop back on the opposite side and was back on his feet, running, without so much as a second lost.

It didn't take him long to reach the roof the female was climbing. As she reached the top and come over the edge, Rinzler pounced the floor in front of her. He glanced up from his crouch and gave her a steady gaze.

that's what she said???

[thom_293]

Let one thing be said for all the years of training the Spartans end up with. They are just about impossible to startle. So while the sudden appearance of - actually, dude sort of reminded him of Anon - whoever certainly classified as abrupt, it didn't break the glass ceiling of actual surprise.

He arched an eyebrow, returning that look somewhat ironically. Bro, he's seven feet tall and built like a chick who is also a tank. Also, he's obviously and unmistakably armed, a HE pistol tucked into a shoulder harness, combat knife strapped to his thigh. What're you playing at?

"Nice day for a run, huh?"

/DED |DDD

[double_discs]

Neither weapon concerns the program, nor the size and build of his would-be prey. He'd taken on larger in the past. He was always amused whenever he found someone taller than him, though, as being the tallest program on the Grid was quite convenient. Still, it meant little.

Rinzler rumbled softly for a moment before indulging the other with a flat reply. "It is always a 'nice day' for a run."

/takes a bow

[thom_293]

Thaaaaaaaaaaat was... not conducive to anything, really. Normally, Thom was a pretty decent judge of body language. Not great - hard to be when a guy spent most of his free time in a suit of half-tonne body armour - but a fair hand nonetheless. He'd learned a lot about people since he'd ended up on Sacrosanct. Little quirks and gestures that amplified or contradicted a person's words. Normal, human stuff.

This guy, however, didn't really give off much of anything. Even his words could have been read out off a mission log, for all the personality in them.

"Got me there." He held out his hands, palm-up, in a gesture that was part shrug and part surrender. Only the latter was feigned.

"You looking for a fight?" As far as random stabs in the conversational dark went, it was probably his best shot at figuring out whatever the guy wanted. Possibilities ran from 'no' to 'yeah here I'm going to try and throw you off the roof'. Thom took a glance back down and over his shoulder preemptively. Nothing he wouldn't survive, if by some wild chance he was overpowered.

/would clap but...still ded

[double_discs]

Rinzler tilted his head as he considered the question. Had he been looking for a fight? No. Would he mind having found one? No. But was he focused enough to participate in one? Probably not. Which was the only part of his processing that disturbed him.

He wouldn't loose, he was confident in that much of his programming, but the fight wouldn't be his best in this condition. And that annoyed him. Enough to elicit a low growl out of him.

The red circuited program didn't move, held the crouch as easily as a statue would.

"Would be shorter than a Game," he finally said. The least he could do is put the User to some good purpose. Maybe it would take his mind off what was plaguing him. And it gave the other an out from an endeavor he didn't think was wise for the User. He could always change his mind later.

is this where i bust out the phoenix down, baby? :(

[thom_293]

"... You've never ran into a Spartan before, have you?" Thom just shook his head, smiling a little. At least they were now on more familiar ground, and the guy didn't seem likely to try a surprise attack. That, in some off-the-wall way, made them buddies.

"Name's Thom." He held out a hand in greeting. S'up, programdude.

it might be useful? :3

[double_discs]

The program rumbled uncertainly at the outstretched hand as he stared at it. He recognized the gesture and understood what it meant but he did not particularly care to give any part of himself over to any User if he could help it. He looked back up at Thom and replied quietly. "Designation: Rinzlerrr."

There was only a brief pause before he continued as if reading off a prompt. "Spartan. UNSC soldier. Augmented organic being." Beat. "Missing your armor."

/all over this

[thom_293]

... Welp. He retracted his hand somewhat awkwardly. Although if this thing was at all like what little he knew about Anon, it probably didn't register something like 'awkward'. Which meant that particular emote was all on him.

"Rinzler. Nice to, ah, meet you." Because a little pleasantry could never go amiss. Mostly that was his pre-Spartan upbringing at work, the memory of getting his hand whacked with a spoon when he didn't mind his ps and qs at the dinner table. What can he say? Some things stuck with him more than others.

"Huh. Earlier statement rescinded, you've done your homework. If you know my favourite colour I'll be really impressed."

/huzzah!

[double_discs]

He looked the female being up and down, assessing. It was a little too hit-or-miss with guessing at the person's favorite color with so little data gathered on the individual Spartan in front of him. He was tempted to try but decided against it. He was aware it was only sarcasm anyway.

"You are proficient in free-form movement." He paused for a millisecond to search for a certain word. "Parkour. French. Users have many languages." He was tempted to ask why. "Play a Game with me."

[thom_293]

"Depends on the game, but I don't see why not."

Caution, as they said, was the better part of discretion. He had no information on Rinzler beyond, well, his name. No point agreeing to things that were going to end badly just out of turn.

"What do you have in mind?"

[double_discs]

"Tag," he answered quickly, simply. Rinzler's concept of the child's game was slightly skewed both thanks from who he'd played it with in the past and his own view of how it was played altogether. But basically it was the same. The biggest difference was the playground was larger; it was a Parkour challenge, running from one end to a Zone to another while trying not to get pounced or otherwise caught in the grip of the predator who was pursuing the prey.

He dipped his head slightly, leaning forward, closer, eager and said, "You might be a challenge. Rare." He leaned back to his original position. "Play?"

[thom_293]

Thom watched him shift. Tag. Pretty harmless, all things considered, provided it wasn't going to be played with tasers.

And honestly. Turning down a challenge? Not a happening thing.

"Sure. Rules?"

[double_discs]

The program simply shrugged. He wouldn't try to kill the soldier if she didn't try to kill him. It was as simple as that.

"Chase or flee?"

[thom_293]

They were obviously on Rinzler's home turf. Thom wasn't particularly familiar with Zone 05, and although a quick survey of his surroundings would go a long way towards mitigating that unfamiliarity, there was no way to avoid holes in his knowledge caused by blind-spots, adjacent buildings and the like.

Either way, he'd be at a disadvantage, even if he stepped up his game and pushed his physical limits. That said, it wasn't really in his (or any Spartan's) nature to take well to the idea of being pursued.

So, Thom laced his fingers together, turned his arms out and cracked his knuckles in a standard approximation of the 'let's do this' gesture. "I'll chase."

[double_discs]

Rinzler watched the gesture with vague curiosity before the words filtered through and he nodded once succinctly. He waited half a second before moving to the quickest exit off the building. He fell straight down to the ground without hesitation or a blink at the landing. He'd barely hit the ground before he was moving again.

He headed towards an alley, sensors keeping careful track of where the Spartan was as he did so, planning out his next move based on which way she decided to follow him.