Aaaaaand here we are on Singularity [D]isplacement's 3rd chapter! Sorry for the wait, but I'm sure you all know how life is. Also, a review by Lord of Moons brought it to my attention that Anemone already KNEW humanity was extinct. Didn't know that till it was brought up, so before next chapter gets uploaded, I'm gonna go back and rework that conversation between her and A2 with this knowledge in mind.

Singularity [D]isplacement

Several hours had passed since the human called 'Caim' allowed A2 to accompany him, and during that time, she quickly began to realize that despite the monumentally world-changing and extraordinary circumstances she found herself in…

*SLASH! SLICE! FWOOOOM!*

...the usual day-to-day she'd been living for the last several years likely wouldn't undergo any drastic changes. A2 figured this was a relatively safe assumption to make, given that whenever the two of them happened across any groups of machines just wandering about, Caim almost always dropped everything to go and kill them, whether it be by tearing them asunder with his sword, or melting their metal into a white-hot slag with that fire ability of his.

'Guess he wasn't kidding when he gave me that shrug…' A2 mused internally, nimbly dodging the sword strike of a machine with more humanoid proportions before sharply kicking it in the waist and sending it shooting towards a clustered together group of its kind, the impact greatly damaging its frame and sending those it hit flying in various directions. True to that uncaring and uncertain shrug he gave her earlier, A2 quickly noticed that Caim seemed to have no particular destination in mind as he wandered through the nature-overtaken ruins of civilization with her close behind him. If anything, he appeared more to be trying to get a lay of the land than anything… 'Guess that's no surprise; whatever his deal is and however he ended up here, it's clear as day he has no idea what's been going on with the world, or even what the deal with some commonplace shit is…'

With all this in mind, A2 supposed that she ultimately shouldn't have been surprised at how… aimless this new partnership she entered into was, but it was ultimately still a bit strange for her to be doing this mundane wandering with no apparent end in sight now that she was accompanying what a majority of her kind regards as 'god.' Most would likely expect grandiose things and purpose right off the bat, doubly so with how her companion might very well be the last of humanity, if Anemone's words were to be believed, and she had no reason to doubt her...

Not that she was judging, mind you. A2 would readily admit she didn't have a single right to that with how she spent the last several years of her life since her defection from YoRHa doing exactly this. Still, the white-haired android could only wonder how long they could keep this aimless wandering up before trouble inevitably found its way to them. She'd picked up a few ways to stay under YoRHa's radar over the years, but she knew an executioner squadron would find her sooner or later, and what would happen if Caim was present for that inevitable confrontation? Between the brown-haired human's aggression and instability as well as the titanic importance his very existence held for her kind, A2 couldn't even begin to guess how their first run-in with other androids would go, enemy or not.

Finishing off the last machine attacking her by simply stabbing straight down into its metallic scalp, A2 silently observed as Caim hacked away at a cluster of the remaining machines with an obsessive -machine-like, ironically enough- focus. While he thankfully hadn't displayed any manic behavior or expressions that were anywhere close to intense as they were during their first meeting -and the first few groups of machines they happened upon since forming their little partnership- his bloodlust was still clear to see with how he immediately made a beeline for any groups of machines they noticed with his blade drawn.

Honestly, A2 couldn't tell what was more morbidly fascinating; the unhinged look of glee he displayed while trying to kill her, or the unchanging scowl and look of undivided focus he'd since adopted while hacking away at his targets.

With one final swing of his sword that slammed into the ground, sending out another staggering shockwave that sent the remaining machines near him flying, quiet once again overtook their surroundings. As she watched his tensed-up demeanor begin to relax, A2 couldn't help but voice her thoughts on the pattern she'd witnessed for the last several hours. "...You really get your kicks outta killing shit, don't you?" She asked rhetorically, her tone dry. In response, Caim was quick to cast an annoyed scowl in her direction, giving off the indication that he'd heard others bring attention to his bloodlust in the past and had long since grown sick of having attention get called to it

"Hey, I'm not judging. Going around and killing every machine I seeis all I've been doing for the last four years… Though in my case, it's more because I loathe every last one of them… whereas I'm guessing you're killing them cause you got nothing better to be doing, right?" A2 held up a hand of surrender in response to the scowl, keeping her tone casual as she spoke.

In response to the question she posed, Caim's scowl eased into a look of contemplation before shrugging in response, taking a brief look around their surroundings -around the vast expanses of overgrown flora and ruined cityscape that sprawled out in every direction- and slowly beginning to walk. Truth be told, while their eerily familiar glowing red eyes and aggressive behavior automatically made them something to be culled on sight, Caim couldn't bring himself to maintain the same sort of deep-seated, murderous vitriol towards these strange machines that he had towards the Empire and the damnable cult manipulating them. At this point, Caim's only other main motivation for targeting them whenever he caught sight of them was simply to derive satisfaction from slicing them apart, as well as help him think while he considered what he should eventually start asking his newfound guide about regarding this odd land he found himself stranded in… or even how he'd go about asking what exactly he'd like to know without a voice to speak with. A2 was speaking his language, so perhaps he could write out his-

*Groooooooaaaaaar…..*

Caim was brought out of his contemplation -and seemed to have gotten A2's attention as well, mortifyingly enough- when a familiar pang of hunger settled into his gut and the sound of his stomach growling broke the silence between them.

Ah, that was right, Caim mused, expression turning to one of dissatisfaction as he placed his free hand on his empty stomach. with every hectic, life-threatening event that had occurred in the landless prince's life as of late, it had likely been a few days since he last ate, and his throat was feeling rather dry to boot, now that he thought of it. His pact had enhanced his body in a number of ways, with one perk among many being able to go for longer periods of time without sleeping or sustenance, but even then, he still would grow tired and wear out eventually. If anything, Caim supposed it was a good thing he was only starting to feel his hunger now, and not when the world had been going to hell all around him. Now that he wasn't at risk of getting stabbed repeatedly at a moment's notice, getting carpet bombed by a fortress thousands of feet in the air, or getting gorily devoured by monstrous cherubim, a frankly ravenous appetite was beginning to set in for Caim.

"...Hungry?" A2 asked simply, with Caim not even looking towards her as he nodded in response, his gaze narrowing as he scanned his surroundings and pondered what he could possibly forage for food. He didn't have to ponder this long however before his white-haired guide provided him with an answer. "Well, as long as you don't got a problem with boar or moose meat, it shouldn't be too hard to find you a meal…" At the prospect of either of those animals over a roaring campfire, Caim nodded sharply in affirmation and agreement with this newfound course of action, already striding off in search of hunting prey with A2 catching up to his side. "Alright then… also, here's a friendly word of advice if it hasn't occurred to you already; if you really wanna catch something to eat, I'd recommend not making a beeline to kill once you see some machines to fuck up. All those explosions we've been causing from fighting them has probably been why we haven't seen any animals in all this time. The sound's been scaring them off."

Well, that would certainly explain why he hadn't seen anything other than these damn metal pests. Nodding in affirmation to this, Caim continued to scan his surroundings for any sign of a potential quarry, with A2 doing much the same as she walked alongside him. After an unclear amount of time passed, the duo suddenly came to a halt when they caught sight of their target… and Caim couldn't help but look on in pure bewilderment and confusion as he took in the staggering size of it.

"Alright, hasn't seen us yet…" A2 muttered, allowing her 40 blade to warp into her hand as she observed the wild boar idly eating some grass. Blinking, Caim cast a questioning look at the unaware android before looking back at the boar. Judging by her non-reaction, it seemed that if nothing else, boars that had a few feet on them in terms of height was nothing out of the ordinary in this strange land. "Okay, look, so if we're gonna take this thing down, we should be smart about it if we want it quick and easy. Maybe we should try getting closer and then hitting it as hard as we can in it's-"

*SLAM!*

Just like a few hours ago, A2 was unable to finish her sentence when Caim suddenly cut her off. She only had a moment to blink in confusion before the brown-haired human suddenly planted his foot into the ground -the force of the action kicking up no small amount of dirt and dust- reared his arm back, and threw his sword straight towards the boar, who'd only became aware of the presence of hunters just as the otherworldly blade lodged itself into the animal's side.

*SQUEEEEEAAAAAAALLLL!*

"!" Gravely injured but far from dead, the boar let out an ear-piercing squeal before suddenly charging straight towards the two of them at a blinding speed one wouldn't expect for a simple animal, even a larger than usual one. This sudden turn of events was so unexpected and occurred so quickly that Caim found himself rooted to the spot, too stunned to move.

"HA!"

Thankfully, however, just as the boar was about to ram into Caim with what was likely a bone-breaking amount of force, A2 made sure to cover for him… albeit in her own… unorthodox manner; and that was to kick him in the side with enough force to send him flying out of the boar's range before barely avoiding getting hit herself. With her posture still tense, A2 watched as the boar continued to charge off squealing bloody murder with the human's sword still lodged in its side.

Exhaling when she realized that they were no longer in any immediate danger, A2's posture relaxed as she walked towards Caim, who was currently in the middle of getting up into a sitting position, looking between A2 and where the boar ran off with a wide-eyed, disbelieving expression. "...Yeah, so if you'd actually wait half a goddamn second to let me finish my sentences, I could've told you that the animals here are some mean sons of bitches that don't go down easy." She elaborated, a dry tone in her voice. As Caim got back up into a standing position, he briefly gave A2 an unreadable look before his expression quickly morphed into a furious scowl when his gaze drifted to where the boar ran charged off to and the trail of blood it left in its wake. With anger written all over his posture, A2 couldn't only let out a quiet groan when the human immediately ran after the boar with the intent to finish it off.

"Oh for fuck's sake." The white-haired android groaned before trailing after him.

***O****

Eventually, night (or at least the closest equivalent to it in this part of the world) fell by the time Caim and A2 tracked and put their quarry down. With A2's assistance -and her comparative abundance of weapons at the moment- they were able to take down the wild animal without much hassle, and soon found themselves with several hundred pounds of bloody boar carcass to work with.

*FWOOM!*

With his scowl unchanging, Caim pulled his blade out of the boar's body before turning towards A2 and lighting it aflame in front of her, subsequently pointing towards the boar and one of the many trees littered around them to get his point across.

"You're telling me to… get firewood, right?" A2 asked slowly, and got a sharp nod in response from Caim before he turned towards the carcass and began to skin it with his sword, the fire having burnt off any and all dried substances that stained it. A2 watched him work for another moment before setting off in search of firewood for him to use.

Before long, A2 found herself with her arms full of branches and wood she hacked off any suitable tree and was walking back to where she left Caim with the boar. Briefly, however, she couldn't help but slow to a stop and take in the city ruins and the late-afternoon light that had covered, giving off the sense that sunset had begun when in reality, it was really the middle of the night. Casting a look back down to the firewood and branches in her arms, the taciturn android couldn't help but realize this was likely the first task she'd done for her new human charge that didn't involve killing droves of machines… and the first proper order he'd even given her, now that she thought of it. 'Well… insanely strong and bloodthirsty or not, guess he still needs to eat like any other human…'

Before long, A2 returned to find the boar's bloody carcass now skinned, with a large slit vertically running down it's waist and Caim currently skinning the lining of its now-removed stomach. Upon noticing her return, the brown-haired human set the stomach intestine down before walking up to her. "...Will these work?" She asked, holding out the bundle of firewood in her arms. Caim took a moment to look them over before nodding, relieving her of the bundle and getting to work on setting up a proper campfire.

Before long, Caim set up a proper campfire bundle before lighting it ablaze with a flick of his finger. With a fire up and blazing, he was quick to take several spare sticks that were firm and sharp enough, slice off several portions of boar meat, and proceeded to stab the pieces of raw meat into the sticks before setting them up in front of the fire to heat them up.

With his food now roasting over the fire, Caim simply sat down and continued to skin the boar's stomach with a small hunting knife. For her part, A2 merely stood a few feet away and watched him work, unsure what to do with herself otherwise. Camping and setting up fires like this was never something she actually did despite spending the last several years living in the wilds. Being an android, things such as eating and sleeping simply weren't necessary for her, and up until now, she'd never had the knowledge or incentive to actually bother with such a thing. The fact that she was in a part of the world that was in perpetual daytime only made the need for a campfire even more unnecessary for her.

They both continued like that for a few more minutes, the smell of roasting meat filling both their nostrils, before the scowl on Caim's face grew distinctly more irritated and he looked towards her. A2 didn't even have time to ask what the problem was before he set the skinned stomach down, stood up, and strode over to her.

"...What? What's the problem? Why are you looking at me like that?" A2 got an answer to her apprehensive inquiries when Caim set a hand on her shoulder once he was within arm's length of her and once again used his uncanny strength to force her down to the ground and into a sitting position.

He couldn't concentrate with her just standing there staring at him. At least when she sat, it was easier to ignore. Piecing together that same conclusion herself, A2 could only shoot Caim a dry look before speaking once more. "...If you couldn't speak, I'd give you shit about how you could've just told me to sit, human or not." She stated bluntly, getting what could only be described as a muted scoff from Caim before tying the ends of the boar's stomach intestine up with some small rope he had on hand and setting it down after giving it one last look over, apparently having decided that he was thorough enough with… whatever it was he was doing. A2 knew he was skinning the outer and inner lining of the stomach, but for what purpose, she couldn't say. "So… what was the point to all that?" She couldn't help but ask, gesturing towards the stomach as she did so.

In response to her question, Caim picked up the skinned intestine and briefly gave it a look, seemingly contemplating how to answer her, before mimicking the motion of drinking from it. A2 merely looked at him for a second before blinking in realization. "Right… water. Huh… didn't think you could repurpose a boar's guts for something like that…" At the white-haired android's words, Caim gave the white-haired android a sidelong glance -seemingly finding her oblivity to what was a commonplace survival method as odd- before bringing his gaze back to the roaring fire they both sat around. She couldn't help but let out a quiet scoff in response to that look.

Again, silence began to overtake their impromptu campsite as Caim waited for his meal to finish roasting over the fire. Before long, the brown-haired human eventually decided the meat was roasted well enough and didn't hesitate to take one of the skewers and begin devouring his meal. Funnily enough, despite displaying a clear ravenous hunger and biting out large chunks of boar meat from the skewer, Caim nonetheless ate neatly and without making a mess. It was a curious sight that A2 couldn't help but quirk a brow at, once again finding her gaze fixated on the strange human.

Before long, Caim once again took notice of A2's gaze lingering on him and once again cast her a questioning look. This time, she simply quickly brought her gaze back to their campfire. The landless prince's gaze remained on her for another moment before he cast a look down to his half-eaten portion of boar meat and over to the other pieces of meat that were still roasting over the fire.

Incorrectly assuming that she was actually eyeballing his meal this time rather than him, Caim simply plucked another skewer from the fire before once again getting up and approaching the taciturn android. A2 once again looked at him questioningly, but before she could say anything, Caim suddenly stabbed the bottom end of the stick into the ground in front of her before returning to his own meal.

Blinking at this sudden exchange, the rogue YoRHa android looked down at the impaled skewer in front of her, at the roasted boar meat at the end of it, before casting Caim a slightly incredulous look. After a moment's hesitation, she found the words to speak. "You… don't need to do that. I don't need to eat or drink to keep going like your kind does…" A2 was well aware of the fact that androids were capable of eating, it just wasn't a necessity for them to survive, mainly being an alternative means for them to acquire energy if they so choose, or if they simply wanted to go the extra mile in emulating their creators. A2 herself never felt the incentive to try food for herself, even after all these years of being left to her own devices. In response to this, Caim merely gave her another uncaring shrug, still focused on devouring his meal as he did so.

Before long, Caim finished off the portion of boar meat he selected, tossing the stick into the roaring flames in front of him before getting back up, taking the boar's stomach as he did so, and grabbing another portion of meat out of the fire. Silently, A2 watched as he began to backtrack from where they came from, likely seeking out a stream of clear water they passed previously on their travels, once again leaving herself with only her thoughts, the roaring crackle of their campfire, and the prevailing smell of roasted meat in the air.

'Fucking hell, it is hard to get a read on this guy… especially with how I've had to guess what he wants half the time…' A2 thought with a quiet sigh, sitting back and casting her gaze up towards the light-orange sky. For several minutes, the haggard android just sat there and took in the peaceful quiet all around her, with the only noise breaking it up being the constant crackle and popping of the campfire.

"..." However, as much as A2 simply wanted to be left alone with her thoughts while she waited for Caim to return, she soon found it rather hard to focus properly with the smell of roasted meat constantly bombarding her nostrils. With an irritated huff, the sullen android tried to ignore it, but it ultimately proved to be a fruitless effort. "...Okay, screw it. Maybe a few bites'll make the smell less distracting." She eventually decided, finally reaching forward and plucking the skewer Caim left her out of the ground. A2 took a moment to tentatively look the chunk of meat over (seemed to be a bit overdone by human standards) before slowly bringing it to her mouth and taking an experimental bite out of it, chewing slowly...

"...!" In an instant, A2's eyes immediately widened at the foreign sensation of taste on her tongue and her stomach -or at least the android equivalent to one- being filled with something for the very first time. As though an internal switch had been flipped inside her, the rogue YoRHa android immediately began to tear into her portion of boar meat with a ravenous hunger.

'Fucking hell! Did my insides always feel this fucking empty!?' A2 thought as she simply bit off the last of the boar meat -giving no thought to the portion of stick she bit off in her haste- before tossing her skewer aside and plucking a fresh one to feast on. In stark contrast to Caim's fast but neat manner of eating, A2 ate in a manner that befitted her unkempt and frankly feral appearance; hungrily and with no regard to manners whatsoever.

Finishing off her second chunk in less than a minute, A2 was about to reach for a third one when she realized out of her peripheral vision that she was no longer alone; freezing mid-reach, A2 saw that Caim had returned from his errand of filling his newly created water pouch up and was now silently looking at her, all while holding the severed head of a machine that likely accosted him while on that errand.

"...?"

"..." A2 wanted to say something, anything, to alleviate the unbearable awkwardness of this situation, but she'd already looked bad enough as was tearing into the food he set up like a feral animal and wasn't exactly eager to try and start defending herself with a mouthful of food.

As one would likely figure at this point, Caim didn't say anything in response, merely quirking a single, questioning brow at her behavior while eating before taking several spare sticks from the pile and setting up a stand to tie his pouch to and allow it to boil over the fire. At first glance, his expression seemed no different than usual as he worked, but A2 was very quick to notice from her position how one corner of his mouth quirked upwards ever so slightly… and even more infuriatingly, she could see hints of mirth in his eyes even as he worked by the fire.

"Oh wipe that fucking smirk off your face, you psychotic jackass." She hissed out under her breath, heedless of the fact that she was addressing a human. Said human didn't seem to take any offense from her scathing retort however. If anything, he only grew more amused, if the way his broad figure briefly rumbled with what looked to be muted chuckles was any indication. 'Oh, look at that. There's a sense of humor underneath all that bloodlust. Great.' She thought with no joy whatsoever, an annoyed, deadpan expression on her face.

Satisfied with the pouch he set up over the campfire, Caim took notice of how they were fresh out of boar meat cooking over the fire, and decided to rectify that by slicing off another portion of boar meat from the carcass to eat. With how big it was, there'd certainly be no shortage. Taking another look towards A2, who had since been eyeing him with a sideways glance, he gestured towards the carcass in a manner that told her she was free to cook some more for herself if she was still hungry before stabbing his own portion onto another stick and allowing it to roast.

A2 said nothing in response to all that, instead just looking down to her third, untouched skewer, before beginning to eat that one as well, albeit at a considerably less ravenous and more careful manner, mainly to avoid any further embarrassment, and partially because the ravenous hunger she'd just now discovered had abated for the time being.

For a time, the two of them merely sat there in silence, soaking in the dusky atmosphere and the constant heat radiating from their campfire. A2 certainly wouldn't deny that after all of the crazy and near-death shit she experienced this past day, a moment to just sit back, rest, and try and make sense of the crazy and world-changing shit she learned was something she welcomed with open arms. And strange as it was to experience for the first time, the white-haired android wouldn't deny that the sensation of food filling her normally empty stomach (Or… whatever androids used to digest food and turn it into energy. She wasn't a scanner like Number 21 who had that sort of terminology seared into their brains.) was a foreign, but definitely pleasant sensation…

This period of peace eventually came to an end when out of the corner of her eye, A2 saw Caim reach towards the severed machine head he'd left lying on the ground and offhandedly tossed it in her direction. Without blinking, A2 grabbed the head and gave it a brief look over before bringing her gaze back to Caim. Once again, the brown-haired mute was giving her a look that was equal parts imploring and questioning, before gesturing towards her with a wave of his hand.

"...Alright, I'm gonna take a guess and say that you want me to explain what exactly these little scrap buckets are, right?" Upon getting that nod of affirmation, A2 contemplated where to even begin on such a miserable, complicated matter, her gaze fixed on the glassy, lifeless stare of the machine head as she thought. "Figured… well shit, where to even start…?"

Now that was a question to consider. Based on what she'd seen in that memory as well as what she seen of him first-hand, A2 made the fairly reasonable assumption that whatever 'world' Caim came from didn't possess the sort of technology that could produce androids and machines, given that the brief glimpse of it she got via his memories featured things such as kingdoms, dragons, and people wielding archaic weapons such as crossbows…

After spending another moment mulling over how to even begin explaining things to Caim, a quick glance down at her exposed artificial muscle made her come to a sudden decision. If she was actually going to complete the monumental task of explaining to Caim both the fucked up state this world was in, as well as the fact that he was likely the only human alive, she realized that the best place to start would be with something relatively simple, such as an explanation regarding herself and androids in general. "Alright, how about we start things off by answering another question you likely got," A2 began, casting her gaze back towards Caim as she raised her hand -and it's complete lack of artificial skin- up for him to clearly see. "judging by the looks you've been giving me since we met, you don't know what to make of all this, right? Only that it's a pretty clear indicator I'm not a human like you." Arching a brow at her sudden line of questioning, Caim merely nodded in response and waited for her to elaborate further.

"Well, to put it bluntly, the humans around here were basically smart enough to create people, and those artificial people were usually created with a specific purpose in mind to serve their human creators. That's what I am; an android. That's what my kind is called and that's also frankly going to be all you're running into when it comes to faces more complex than a round metal head and two glass lenses." A2 explained, watching as Caim's questioning stare briefly turned wide-eyed as he took this information in. In particular, a look of comprehension flickered across his features as rose to a standing position and took in her exposed joints and muscles once more, like he better understood what exactly it was he was looking at. Perhaps the concept of androids -or at least something similar- wasn't as far off a concept wherever he was from as she assumed? "...specifically, I'm a combat android that was made to fight against these little bastards." Regardless, A2 continued, providing a brief sum-up on the role she was initially created for, holding up the head of the machine to emphasize her point.

"...The fucking machine lifeforms. Like androids, these little bastards didn't come into this world naturally like your kind and animals do. They were made to take over this planet, and a lot of the androids wandering around in this age, myself included, were created to put an end to them, hence why I was made a combat unit." A2 elaborated as best she could, and fortunately, judging by the expression on his face, Caim seemed to have gained a general understanding of what she was trying to explain to him. Good. Now to see if she could properly explain the fact that the machines -at least initially- were manufactured by fucking aliens, which A2 just knew was going to be pain trying to get across to a guy who hailed from some fantasy land filled with dragons and elves.

Still, she thought as she mentally went over how to best explain this, it wasn't as though she could just omit the detail of aliens invading and creating those damn rust buckets to do their dirty work, now could she? Best to just get it out of the way and explain as best she could… "Of course, one big distinction between androids and machines is our original creators; like we already established, your kind was the one that created androids, but these little fuckers? Their creators came from somewhere up there. Somewhere waaaay beyond the stars…"

However, rather than getting a look of confusion or unamusement like she expected, A2's words elicited another wide-eyed look of shock from Caim -this time looking far more disturbed by the information- before quickly casting his gaze up towards the sky; between his on-guard posture and the way he tensed up the moment she brought it up, it was almost like he was expecting something to suddenly descend down from the sky at her words. Raising a brow at this odd shift in behavior, A2 nonetheless continued with her explanation. "Yeah so, a couple hundred years ago, some ugly, squid-faced fuckers came down from the sky, apparently decided they liked the look of this planet, and decided to pull a hostile takeover, eventually going on to create the machines to infest every corner of this damn planet to do their dirty work when all the centuries of prolonged warfare wasn't working out for them."

And upon hearing her full explanation regarding the aliens, Caim's previous look wide-eyed of alarm faded into a grimace that was a combination of pure confusion and exasperation. That look alone told the taciturn android that the violent human quickly lost any idea of what she was talking about, and that he very much wanted a clearer explanation… which meant more fun times in store for A2…

"...You might wanna sit down and get comfortable for this. There's frankly a lot more shit you need to know and we haven't even begun to scratch the surface of some of the shit I've already told you." A2 sighed quietly, gesturing for him to sit back down before she went into further detail. She'd likely be trying to explain things to him for a while before they were finished.

At A2's words, Caim cast one last wary look towards the sky -topped off by him giving his surroundings one last look around, as though he was expecting someone to be watching them out of the corner of his eye- before drawing his sword and stabbing it into the ground as he took up a sitting position once more, all while tightly gripping the handle of his imbedded sword, oddly enough. It didn't look as though he was trying to threaten her with that motion. Perhaps that was just something he did to relax?(1) Regardless, the narrowed gaze Caim gave her soon after sitting down was a clear enough indicator to continue, and so she did; going into the nature and history of this world and trying to convey it to the violent mute as best she could. The looks he gave her at points made it clear that parts of her explanation simply beget more questions, but nonetheless made no motion to interrupt her and instead listened intently to her words…

And as A2 continued with her clumsy and abridged explanation on the nature of this world with Caim listening silently, the two normally violent and tense individuals both gradually allowed themselves to relax and enjoy a clear period of respite… oblivious to the fact that Caim's looking around before sitting wasn't unwarranted; they were being watched.

At the very top of the several-story tall building where Caim and A2 set their camp up by, sitting atop an extravagantly designed and large briefcase, was a young-looking android woman with glasses and dark brown hair, topped off topped off by an attire consisting of well put-together dress shirt and a black skirt and stockings. Standing up and casting her curious gaze over the edge of the building, the female android regarded the two singularities on the ground intently, taking in every word and detail of their one-sided conversation in spite of being about a mile away from them vertically.

Bringing out her notebook -an ever-faithful companion of hers since the very beginning- the unknown android quickly jotted several things down down on it before clamping it shut. Picking her large bag back up with ease, the female android slung it over her shoulder effortlessly before casting one final look down at the two individuals on the ground.

"...I can only wait and wonder what sort of ripples you two will create." With that thought spoken aloud, the bespectacled android turned around and took her leave, and but a moment later, no trace of her presence on that rooftop would be found, as though she vanished into thin air…

To be continued…

1 I always liked the detail in Drakengard 1 where Caim could be seen stabbing his weapon into the ground whenever he's idle. He's shown doing it while resting just before a newly red-eyed Inuart drops in to take Furiae, and he does it whenever you don't move him in gameplay. I think it's a neat character quirk, TBH.

And there we have it. Compared to the first two chapters, I'd say this one was a tad shorter and more filler. Mainly me trying to establish stuff going forward and maybe give an idea of what Caim and A2's dynamic is gonna look like going forward; they're surprisingly chill. Also, if anyone's wondering, the next chapter's gonna be much more eventful and be from Caim's POV, so there's that to look forward to. But like I said before, I'm gonna make sure to fix up the conversation in the previous chapter to fit Anemone knowing that humanity is extinct.

(Also, minor commentary regarding my writing if anyone's curious; I've been kinda deliberately making it so that A2 thinks out loud and frequently mutters to herself to kinda emphasize the fact that she's been fighting on the run by herself in isolation for the last several years.)