(Untitled)

[skybot_snd]

The caves weren't the T-1000's favorite place on the island. On one hand, they provided isolation when needed, and cover from the insistent heat; on the other, they housed certain lizard-like individuals, and made him jumpy. Especially when he was, apparently, lost.

Not that he was willing to admit to being lost, of course. He wasn't. He was

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[how_itgoes]

Sam's not really one for the caves, but the truth is that he has to do the patrol and in here, he can even lose Gene Hunt for all of a couple moments to breathe. He swears he's heard something, but he can't put his finger on whether it's real or just his mind, but he still is cautious as he wanders deeper into the caves yet. "Hello?" he calls out, cautiously. "Anyone in here?"

[skybot_snd]

The voice was vaguely familiar, and the T-1000 placed it in the IPD vicinity; not an officer he was personally familiar with, but definitely not a lizard or a threat to him.

He held on to the fork, just in case, advancing towards the source of the voice. He kept his noise-making to a minimum, since stealth habits were hard to shake, and because spooking people could be fun.

Finally, he located the man with his back conveniently turned, and a few steps later, he placed his hand on the man's shoulder. Hopefully, it wouldn't get him shot.

[how_itgoes]

Sam doesn't even own a gun, so it might be difficult for him to shoot (when he isn't just imagining a gun in his head) and he still jumps slightly, giving a slight sound of surprise as he rests a hand over his heart. "Is there any reason," Sam asks, breathless from fear and adrenaline, "for the surprising someone like that?"

[skybot_snd]

The T-1000 did his best to refrain from smiling at the reaction, and considering the limiting lighting, he probably succeeded.

"Sure," he replied earnestly, letting his arm drop to his side. "I was testing your alertness level."

[karmic_darwin]

It had been a few days, and Mohinder thought he'd best go check on Ayla. She would come to him if she needed him, he knew that, but that didn't lessen his feelings of responsibility for her. Or the affection and desire for her well-being.

He didn't know her habits very well, but the caves seemed like a good place to begin. Well, they would've been, if he hadn't gotten hopelessly turned around while thinking about Molly and Ayla and Shanti, and Del and Dani and Monet, lost, broken girls all of them.

When he heard a sound coming from around a turn, he froze. Anything might be hiding in these caves. "Hello?" he called softly, hoping not to disturb it if whatever it was was larger than he, but alert Dani or Ayla or any of the humans in case it's them. "Ayla, Dani, is that you?"

[skybot_snd]

The T-1000 breathed out, relaxing instantly as he recognized Mohinder's voice. The scientist had nothing remotely Cardassian about him. His presence could probably even be construed as comforting.

He headed for the source of the voice, maintaining a stealth routine as he passed a turn and spotted the other man, who was currently looking in the opposite direction. He made sure not to produce any noise as he approached him. While he didn't want to cause genuine distress, startling Mohinder a little bit couldn't be harmful, could it?

"Not exactly," he admitted, offering a friendly slap on the shoulder. "Last time I checked, I was just me."

[karmic_darwin]

Something landed on his shoulder with a thump. "Shit!" Mohinder cursed in Chennai street slang. Austin's voice registered a few seconds later, but the cursing didn't stop for almost a full minute.

"You can't just do that to a person, Austin. I might've... all right, so I don't carry a gun anymore and I'm not especially dangerous when unarmed without time to plan." He glared impressively but not actually angrily at Austin. "I'm not young. I might've had heart failure!"

[skybot_snd]

As Mohinder went into a prolonged period of cursing, the T-1000 looked down at his feet, doing his very best to feel guilty about the whole thing. Still, the best he could manage was barely suppressing a grin. When he looked back up, he was met with a glare, but glares usually failed to register with him, unless they belonged to very specific people under very specific circumstances.

"You seem fine," he assured, spotting no signs of an imminent heart failure. "How old are you?"

[plays_checkers]

There wasn't a need for Czernobog to adapt to life in the caves. He was very much at home and liked, aside from the casual droplets of water or intrusions, the quiet the caverns provided him.

He looked up when he heard the familiar sound of someone who was lost.

"No need to hide like that. I'm the scariest thing down here."

[skybot_snd]

The T-1000 kept the fork in a steady grip, but otherwise attempted to present an unthreatening demeanor as he exited his corner to face the source of the voice.

"I wasn't hiding," he insisted, frowning as he took the man in. "I was scouting the perimeter."

While maintaining stealth mode, which could be interpreted as hiding, but that wasn't very relevant.

"You don't seem very scary, but my fear perception isn't the most reliable," he admitted after a short evaluation.

[plays_checkers]

"Neither are your lies. You were hiding," Czernobog told him with a nod as he wiped the area he used as a chair with his thick, old hand. "I am very scary. I am very, very scary." He declared. Czernobog heard the words echo on the cavern walls and bounce back to his ears. It was good to hear confidence in his own voice once more.

"Who are you?"

[skybot_snd]

"It was an evasion attempt, not a lie," he explained with a faint frown. Evasion wasn't one of his strengths. Outright lying, however, was an easy enough mechanism to access. It wasn't as if his Poker face was lacking. "My lies are fine, I just rarely use them."

He took several steps towards the man, stopping in close proximity.

"I'm Austin, the T-1000," he said, offering a nod in greeting. His gaze scanned the old man, trying to assess his danger level. There was something about him, but scary wasn't a word the T-1000 often employed. "Scary as in intimidating or scary as in a tangible threat?"