Sharing Information
Characters: Zach and Ru Setting: The bar, late evening Zach had decided he’d gathered enough information to meet up with Ru again, so he messaged her to join him at the bar again. There was a poker game going on, which he was watching from a corner table, easily counting cards with a drink next to him. He wasn’t playing, but his eidetic memory took some of the fun out of it for those around him, especially with his generally unreadable expression. Watching the game though was better than twisting the fabric that was still tied around his wrist, even if it looked different than when she’d tied it on in the first place. That gave away the bit about much of his mind she’d taken up since their last interaction. It wasn’t like him to give away any feelings or thoughts, and the last he wanted to do was give those away.
Ru was smiling when she arrived, sitting down next to him. She had spotted the cloth around his wrist before she got to the table, so she didn't have to glance at it to know it was there. In fact, she made sure not to, curious if he'd be irritated or not that she was ignoring it. "Hi." she said. "Do you have data to share? I do!" she said, clearly excited.
The excitement was interesting. So was her sitting right next to him, instead of across. He watched her, noticed the way her eyes didn’t notice the fabric on his wrist, but he didn’t have a reason to do anything more than just look at her expectantly for a moment. “Do tell,” he said waiting, resting his chin on his hand, waiting for whatever she had to say.
"I met one of the new people. Hayden." she said first. "He's very interesting. Part of this love triangle with his brother and a woman who was apparently with both of them. And get this--all three are here." she said, smiling. "That ought to be fascinating." she shared. She also held up her hand and ticked off points. "He was part of a love triangle. He's in for robbery. He has left massive holes in his own story due to not wanting to ask difficult questions." she said, coming up with her three points for Zach.
That was interesting, more something out of a novel or a movie than something one would expect to run across in real life. “Have they interacted already?” As she ticked off her points, he nodded in approval. “I met two new people. Reggie and Jason.”
"Considering the bruise on his face, yes." Ru said. "So, keep an eye out. Should be quite the show, eventually." she told him with a smile. "And go you! Tell me about them." she invited.
“Oh? It came to blows already?” Zach asked. That was even more interesting and as she said, due to be quite the show. “Reggie is social, or so he says. He says he talks too much. He is learning though to be good with silence, which is a new practice and at least half related to the fact that he’s in a relationship with Jason.”
"Interesting." Ru said, taking that information in. She'd met Reggie briefly, she recalled. She wasn't sure they were on the same page, really. "And Jason?" she prompted, smiling.
“Jason’s paranoid,” Zach said with something close to amusement in his eyes. “He got very worked up when I already knew about him and Reggie, as if it was something to hide.” Which perhaps it was, but at the same time, Zach wasn’t exactly a gossip unless telling Ru what he’d learned counted. “He’s smarter than he looks though, able to keep up with a conversation on the hypothesis of the facility as a whole. And he also seems curious about my disinterest in physical contact.”
"Hm. Perhaps he worries that people will treat him poorly if they learn he's gay, or at least homosexually oriented in some fashion." she mused. "Cool that he's into hypotheticals. And most people would be curious about that, Mr. Briar. It's not the norm." she told him. "Which you know. So, I'm sure he was." And yet he was wearing the cloth she'd put around his wrist to mark the occasion, having seemed to fashion it into a bracelet.
“He also found us interesting,” Zach said, sipping at the drink he had, no alcohol, just club soda with a lime that the young man behind the bar had made him. “Or my high level explanation of us at least.”
"Oh?" Ru asked. "Do tell." she invited, wondering how they'd gotten on the subject. Was she on his mind? Was she the default person to talk about because she was the only one with a consistent connection with him?
“That our physical relationship doesn’t seem properly defined,” Zach said not quite making eye contact. “He’d asked if there was someone that had captured my interest and I thought yes, but it doesn’t come in the package with a bow as most interactions would.”
Ru noticed that he wasn't maintaining eye contact. That was interesting. "Isn't that what you insisted when we were discussing the experiment in the first place? That you're unlike others, and therefore would not relate in the same manner? I believe you were insisting that very point."
“I still feel that way,” Zach said, huffing out a breath before finally looking at her. “But you’ve proven to be distracting.” He couldn’t get her out of his head was more like it, but he didn’t go into the details. “And Jason brought up the point about how I don’t know how you feel about the matter.”
Ru gave him a smile. "Mr. Briar," she started, tone warm. "Of course I'm going to be distracting. That's the logical conclusion to the experiment. You had a fulfilling time, which is new to you, and therefore of course it's going to be on your mind. That's simple math." she said first. "If given the option, lab rats will pleasure themselves until biological function shuts down due to neglect. Humans, sadly, aren't that much far behind that." Ru drummed the tabletop with her fingernails. "I imagine the real question would be whether or not it mattered how I felt about the matter." she posed. "It was all set up in an experiment. The focus was you. As the person taking on the role of the scientist in this matter, my personal feelings are irrelevant."
“I’m aware of the parameters of the experiment Haruka,” Zach pointed out, tone slightly terser than before, but as always, it was a subtle change, easy to miss if she wasn’t paying attention. “And despite it being simple math, the outcome is not one I expected.” He still thought of himself as outside of that. “And if I was curious what they were, your personal feelings?”
"Haruko." she corrected, smile still in place. "And you don't have to get testy." she added, because she did indeed catch the shift there. "The best experiments always result in unexpected findings." she told him. "And if you were curious, then the best course of action would be to ask me, now wouldn't it?"
He’d botched her name. That wasn’t like him and this time the confusion on his features was clear, as if he was anyone else. Why had he done that? What about her had set him so off that he’d messed up her name? It left him floundering for a moment, before trying to shake it away with no luck. “What were your feelings in the situation then?” he asked wishing for a better way of asking, but he was too thrown at the moment.
Ru didn't outwardly react to the loop he was clearly being thrown for, but she noted every moment of it mentally. "My feelings were I saw someone I would like to someday call a friend in a predicament he was otherwise not going to get himself out of. I provided an outlet for the parameters set up between the both of us, and I'm happy that it appears to have affected you. I was hoping that it would." she told him. "If you're wondering if I am going to become a clingy, sycophant, then you can rest assured I am not. You were quite clear with your feelings on relationships in their entirety, and that stance is firmly in the negative. I'm aware of that so you needn't worry."
“Hoping it would?” he asked looking at her, finally managing to get the few emotions he had under control again. “I hardly expected you to become clingy, you aren’t the type. But I find myself...curious if it would happen again.” That did go against his stance on relationships, though her comment about it wasn’t entirely accurate. He didn’t see the point. He hadn’t been convinced otherwise, but those thoughts were warring with how often Ru was seeping into his thoughts.
"Just curious? You have no opinion on whether or not you would want it to happen again?" Ru asked curiously. "And I suppose that brings up the question of whether or not you would want it to happen again with me specifically. For there are quite a lot of other people here, who may in fact bed you. In fact, that was part of what we were finding out in the first place, yes?"
“I believe my curiosity stems from an interest in it happening again,” Zach said, but he didn’t sound completely sold on the correlation. It made sense, but he didn’t think of himself as typical. “I didn’t think we’d expanded the experiment to that level of things,” he said, unconsciously looking around the room and the small crowd that had gathered there. “I wouldn’t be opposed to you, though for the sake of science, you’d be all I know.” Which was more than he’d really expected to know.
"Well, look at it scientifically. Are you going to learn more from another encounter with me? Or would you want to explore other options, to see if it's more your speed?" she posed, not trying to jade his answer either way.
Zach looked at her, for an instant conflicted before he shook his head and the expression was gone. “There’s more to be learned from another encounter with you, more on the giving side of things and my capabilities as well as determining if there is, in fact, more that might be enjoyable. And of course, there’s determining your opinion on the matter beyond your assistance in the first experiment. There’s also a significant amount that could be learned from an encounter with someone else. It begs the question of just what it is that would be worth learning.”
"Everything is worth learning." Ru said, winking at him. "So, I suppose you just need to choose what your next directive will be." she provided. "Do you wish to continue with me, or are you going to seek out someone else? I've been trying to consider how to do a control group." she said, humming to herself.
“A control group?” Zach asked because her wink had him thinking of other things. Like that he hadn’t actually kissed her yet. Whatever he’d read had that coming first and instead, they’d skipped three steps for their experiment. He’d spent more than one hour of the day wondering what it would be like. So the distraction of her widening their experiment was a welcome one and Zach hoped it would bring his mind away from the more ridiculous thoughts bouncing around in it.
"Yes. All experiments need one. Though I'm having trouble figuring out what we would do for this one. Though now I'm wondering if people would answer surveys about their sex lives. Could be interesting to put out there, no? I know people can answer anonymously, there have been messages that were anonymous..." she said, thinking that could just be highly entertaining.
Zach considered that for a moment then nodded. “I think they might. People rather enjoy talking about themselves and under the guise of anonymity I imagine they would say plenty. The internet has proven that again and again.” He watched her for a long moment, then reached for his drink as an excuse to avert his eyes. “What would your answer be?”
"We could even put the survey up anonymously." Ru said, wanting to do this now. "And what's my answer to what? I apologize, I've lost track of the question." she said.
“We could. It’s not hard,” Zach confirmed, seeing her interest in it. He had to admit, it could yield fascinating results for a multitude of reasons. “To a survey about your sex life,” he clarified.
"Well, a survey implies there's many questions." Ru said. "So, we'd have to write it all up first. I promise I'll fill it out as well." she told him, looking pleased. "I'm excited for this, if people actually play ball, it'll be great."
“Yes but if you fill them out anonymously I’ll be forced to speculate which are yours,” he said, which was not the point. He didn’t want to guess, Zach wanted to know. Rarely did he actually care at all about someone else and as a result he found himself latching on to the interest. “I assume for questions it should be varying levels of information. Lighter things followed by more in depth questions.” He sipped at his drink again. “I have no doubt at least some people will play along.”
Ru laughed. "I was planning to point my answers out to you." she told him. "So, don't worry. You won't be forced to guess." she promised. "And yes. That I believe would work." she said. "Leave it open so that they don't have to answer it all, just whatever they're comfortable with."
That he wouldn’t be force to guess was a relief. “Your answers should go up quickly. Mine as well I suppose, though mine would likely be short. It would encourage others thought.” He tapped the table with his fingers while he thought. “Simple, almost control questions first. Have you, how often or how many partners, perhaps how old were you the first time.”
"Let me come up with a list, and we'll go from there." Ru said. "I think there's more interesting things to be asking, though those few standards are a good place to start."
“It gets the taker comfortable. They seem easy and then by the time he or she gets to the questions with more weight behind them, they answer freely.” Zach smiled for a moment, something conspiratorial. “I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with.”
"Good times." Ru said, grinning back. "Well! On that note, I'd like to get started. I'll be contacting you very soon." she promised, hopping up. Though she did give him a hug. "It's hug day." she explained, before starting away.
Zach probably should have responded to the hug, but he was too surprised at her jumping up and announcing that she was starting on the project and not continuing their conversation that he didn’t do more than halfway pat her side before she pulled away. He watched her before finding his voice and taking half a step towards her. “Haruko...I think I’d be more interested in expanding our experiment than branching out...for now.”
"Then we'll continue it." she said, smiling. "We can address it when we get together again, work out what we're going to be doing next." she told him, ever reasonable. "Until then, consider what it is you'd be interested in. What you want to explore."
It wasn’t until she agreed that Zach realized he’d been worried she might not. He found himself nodding, ever so slightly more than necessary. “I will. You could do the same.” He went back to his seat and his drink, ghost of a smile on his lips again before turning back to the cards and attempting to pick up in counting them again.