Salvation | nier: automata reader insert

.𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥

[Name] found no familiarity in the vast sea of decay that surrounds her. The ruined city was once a place that she found odd serenity in. Despite thinking it to be unbearably noisy, she was comforted by the bright lights and buzzing city life. Now, there was nothing like that anymore. It was silent, only the sound of a passing breeze and the occasional creaks of crumbling buildings could be heard.

2B's heels clicked through the empty streets, her footsteps being closely followed by her partner's. The short locks of her silver hair fluttered gently along with the wind as it passed by her, ruffling the skirt of her uniform and causing her to stop for a moment in her tracks. She glances over her shoulder, peering at the curious gaze of the human girl riding on her back.

[Eye color] eyes dart across the broken streets which were littered with rusted remains of vehicles and she absorbs the sight of collapsed buildings. The expression she holds on her face is one that 2B finds endearing. She finds the loosely knitted brows and slightly parted lips of the girl to represent the epitome of wonder that she herself had never once felt before. Unlike 9S, she was not created with the innate ability to feel curious or to find things wondrous and she wasn't capable of human emotion.

To her, the world has always been bleak and it was only now that she realized how different it must have been for someone like [name]. She, a human who once walked these streets when they were still crowded with people, must have felt confused with how desolate it all was now.

"Does it scare you?" 2B found herself asking, voice void of emotion but she felt an inkling of something itch at the back of her mind. She didn't know what curiosity felt like, but she wondered if the odd urge to prod the human girl for some insight into her thoughts was what it felt like. "The silence. . . Does it bother you?"

She felt the girl tense behind her, the arms she loosely wrung around 2B's neck tightened to a degree that would have gone unnoticed by anyone else if they weren't 2B. The silver-haired android was observant, perceptive to her peers, and most especially to the last of mankind. From the moment the [hair color] haired girl awoke in the resistance camp, it was clear she suffered from restlessness. 2B couldn't be sure where it stemmed from or what she could do to ease it. It was only thanks to 9S's ability to empathize with [name] that he offered the idea of showing her around the city. At first, she was somewhat hesitant in accepting the offer, another detail that failed to get past 2B's attention.

The girl genuinely confused 2B. She wasn't hardwired like an android was, neither did her thoughts follow a predictable pattern. Humans thought so vastly different from them that 2B couldn't help but want to know more about the things that ran through her head.

This must have been how 9S felt all the time. The insatiable itch to uncover something that was once unreachable was almost unbearable, but she couldn't deny the excitement she felt arising at the prospect of understanding the human girl a little more.

"No, it's. . . peaceful." She finally answers the moment 9S steps up next to them. 2B is still peering at her and without a blindfold obscuring [name]'s eyes, she can see her gazing off into the distance with a look 2B has a hard time identifying. "I'm just not used to it."

It's the silence [name]'s referring to. 2B gathers that from the vague response and from the reassuring pat that 9S applies to the girl's shoulder, it's clear that he's caught on to her uneasiness as well. 2B feels the urge to press the girl for more, yet she decides to wave away the feeling in favor of continuing their trek across the city.

She had to remind herself that humans were fickle in their emotions. Prying could end up pushing [name] away rather than assisting 2B in getting closer to her.