3,264th victim of truck sama

Chapter 22: Proxemetics

a/n: Thank you so much from for drawing Sage and allowing me to post it here! *fangirls over this beautiful piece*

God this is so cute! I love the coloring!

[Sage's pov]

I don't like to act on the opinions of people too soon. People will always judge others and have biases. However, when you first meet a person, these opinions are often wrong. It is a fact that people fill in the blanks of things they don't know of others, using nothing but their own imagination and whatever knowledge they have of that person, no matter how little. Therefore I try to ignore most opinions I have about people until I feel I have gotten to know them enough to judge.

Unfortunately, my opinions about Florence were wearing neon signs that screamed 'notice me' in bold.

He seemed perfect. He was energetic, kind, charismatic, smart, and had this slightly clumsy aura.

I once read somewhere about the study of proxemics, a branch of knowledge that deals with how people perceive and use space for nonverbal communication goals. One thing that it said there is how, like in animals, violating a certain amount of personal space with a stranger, or someone who is not intimate with you, can ring alarm bells and make them uncomfortable.

(a/n: disclaimer, don't trust me in this, I may be wrong)

Florence seemed to be an exception to this rule. At least to me, it seemed like it. He seemed to be the type of person with who you feel like you are best friends within a matter of minutes. The type that only after walking away from the conversation do you realize that you just spilled all your secrets to a complete stranger, and then when you think a little more, you realize how little you knew about them.

And that made me very uncomfortable. A quote that I once heard from a police officer during a school assembly replayed itself in my head.
"If something seems too good to be true, it probably is."

I knew I was being paranoid. When it came to people, I was always paranoid. Probably due to my social anxiety, I always feared the worst, and this certainly wasn't the only time I was paranoid and very uncomfortable due to a person being too perfect or too nice. However, like all times this happened, I subconsciously tensed up and became warier, my mask more impenetrable. I knew that not all people I talk to are psychopaths whose goals are only to use and manipulate me. I am pretty sure I never encountered one and probably never will. Unfortunately, my paranoia wasn't based on rational thought and therefore won't be solved by it. It would probably go away within due time, anyway.

"I see your point." He paused for a second before continuing, "Why not try it out?"

"Try it out?" I asked. While I had thought of testing out this theory, no safe ways that completely confirmed that my theory was true appeared to me. "How?"

"Next time you get a mission with similar stakes to your first one, just ignore it."

"Err... Sorry however I do not feel comfortable risking that much for a theory..." I said, not really knowing how to react to the absurd solution.

"That is understandable. I have my reasons to be completely sure that this is true, however, I know it would be unreasonable of me to push you into such a risky situation. Sorry for asking." He said before changing the subject. "Anyways, didn't you mention that meeting me was a mission? Was there any reward for it?"

"Oh, right! Thank you for reminding me."

'Open to the mission'

I wasn't sure whether I had to specify the mission or not, however, luckily, it seemed to understand the mission I was talking about.