(#Wattys2018) Time Out! [Tracer x Male Reader]

Part 8

   "Mind if I sit down with ya?" 

   She asked politely. You nod and she pulls up a chair and places herself onto it. You began to notice something odd -- her light pink sweatshirt was covering a rather large lump on her chest that appeared to be glowing blue. You drifted your eyes away when you realized it must've looked awkward to have been staring at her upper torso; as much as you felt you needed to hate her, you still wanted to be respectful. 

   She folded her hands together in her lap as she glanced at your book some more. "Absolutely dreadful. You've probably heard about it before -- evil Omnics invaded this very city, taking countless lives with 'em."

   You decided to hear her out some more before giving an initial reaction. 

   "I guess all Omnics ain't bad, though. There was one Omnic that I give all my respect to -- Tekhartha Mondatta. Ever heard of him?" 

   She then face-palmed a bit, smiling awkwardly. 

   "...Sorry if I've come off too strong; I get into this kind of stuff easily. I'm Lena."

   She held out her hand for a handshake, which you very hesitantly gave. 

   "Shy one, ay? Nothin' wrong with that.", she gave a little smile before continuing. "But yeah, Mondatta. He was... Oh, he was just so great. He was the Martin Luther King of robots, y'know?"

   Her smile turned into a little frown. "...And then that purple bitch- Oop! Pardon me! Sorry!  'Scuse my language. I meant that.. err.. her name was W- err.." 

  You started to get a faint idea that the kind woman in front of you was hiding something. Something important. "

  "...Th-This is just stuff I read online. Apparently, a lady with purple skin shot poor Mondatta in the head during a rather important speech. He wanted equality between human and Omnic, and good Lord, he got it. There's a city in Africa -- Numbani. Where Omnics and humans are free to co-operate in harmony."

   Ugh. Human-Omnic co-existence. The mere thought of it made you feel a slight rage build up inside you. From your experience, and from the experience of many Omnics, there are few humans who surpass as 'tolerable'. You just so happened to luckily be one of them. You had to force a smile and pretend to nod along with agreement. The hatred is starting to come into play, but something tells you that it's not because of her view on humans and Omnics. 

   You heard a slight buzzing noise coming from Lena's brown, leather purse. She reached into it, pulling out a tiny, dark grey cellphone. You noticed that, with a soft sigh, her facial expression went from cheerful to almost disappointed. She glumly looked at the screen again before putting the phone back in the purse.

"..Sorry 'bout that. Erm.. Oh yeah! About Numbani, I-" 

  She was cut off by her phone vibrating again. She sighed once more, this time with a tick of frustration. After typing something, presumably a reply, the somewhat-mysterious Ms. Oxton put her phone in her purse again, standing up and straightening her sweatshirt. She then looked down at you with a faint smile. 

  "I've gotta go.. Personal stuff, but thanks for listening to me ramble. I come here kinda often so if you're ever in town again, if you want, drop by and maybe we could hang out some more. You're a pretty cool guy." 

  Lena waved gently before walking off. When she was out of sight, you leaned back in the chair. Not paying any mind whatsoever to the book you'd picked out, you tried so hard to think about her. Not in a creepy way, though. It was more of trying to figure out why she felt familiar and why you felt the need to despise her. To your recollection, you don't remember a brown-haired British woman teasing you or causing you any harm. Your thoughts were interrupted by your body realizing it was hungry. Reaching into your pocket, you noticed you had some money left. You slowly get up, leaving your book in the chair and heading to the exit.

  It took quite a while to make it out of the maze-like library, but you finally did. You step outside and look around before noticing a restaurant whom you've favored almost your whole life. Although you didn't have too much frame of reference, you were quite certain that this particular restaurant served the best Chinese food. 

  Waiting in line for about 10 or so minutes, you finally make your way to a table where you ordered quite possibly the most cliche meal a non-Chinese individual would order: Chao mein and mandarin orange chicken with four crab rangoons and a large water.

  As you munch on your delicious food, your mind fluttered about one thought, and one thought only:

 "Would Neuron know why Lena seemed familiar to you, and more importantly, would he know why you felt obliged to hate her guts?"