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When Ash woke up from a reboot to find Revenant had switched to a new shell the first emotion that she felt was annoyance, followed by concern. However, she quickly realized it wasn’t just a new shell, but his bestial shell, one that he had to specifically transfer data into. Ash brushed her fingers through the course mane and was surprised to find it had been brushed through. The texture was silky, soft as if he had washed the fur. She opened her optics and was met with the cleanest fur she had ever seen on him. Ash pet him, earning a content purr from the simulacrum as he leaned into her touch.
“Morning.” He muttered, resting his skull against the top of her head. Ash continued to stroke the soft fur, enjoying how it felt when it was clean and brushed.
“You cleaned up.” Ash also noticed a significant lack of smell coming from his chassis. This specific one usually came with the unpleasant smell of rotting corpses and dried blood. Now, it had almost a minty scent.
“Mmm…” Revenant wrapped his arms around the simulacrum’s waist and pulled her closer, enveloping her with his large frame.
“Did you have help?” Ash asked suspiciously, she knew that Revenant could clean up by himself but the chances of that were unlikely.
“No…” He suddenly sounded very much unsure of his answer. Optics shifting away from her accusing gaze.
“Kaleb.”
“Maybe a little bit.” He admitted, still just enjoying the attention he was receiving. Revenant’s mind wandered back to earlier that morning.
“You’re coming with me,” Revenant announced as he barged into Mirage’s room.
Mirage screamed, not expecting to be woken up at 3 am by a freakishly large metallic beast. Revenant practically picked up the terrified legend with one hand and dragged him out the door. He was blindfolded and crying now.
Many of the legends heard the screaming but figuring it was Mirage they just turned over and went back to bed. He cried out once more when Revenant started dragging him through the hallways.
One legend did take the time to come out of their room, but to Mirage’s unfortunate luck, it was just Pathfinder.
“Oh goody! Revenant and Mirage, my two best friends!” Pathfinder happily trotted over. The MRVN even lifted Elliot’s legs and helped Revenant carry him.
“Where are we going, friends?”
Revenant just grunted, not seeming to care about the new addition to the team. Man , Mirage thought, the murderbot must really need help.
Mirage tried to determine where they were going but it seemed the destination wasn’t too far as he heard the click of a door. He was worried it was Revenant’s room but after a second he realized it was not the murder bot’s room. For one, it smelled way too nice and had almost a flowery scent. Two, he felt a draft coming in, Revenant’s room was buried in the deepest of crevices not facing outwards, and finally, there seemed to be actual carpet. The syndicate had removed the carpet in Revenant’s room after having too many calls to clean the bloodstains on the carpet.
“Uhh… where-” A metallic hand clamped over the legend's mouth and he was quickly shuffled to a different room. This one seemed to be tile and he was finally set on the ground.
Once the blindfold was removed, Mirage could tell he was in one of the other legend’s bathrooms, but he couldn’t tell who was. Maybe it was Ash’s place? It looked pretty nice and well-kept.
Revenant started the bath, confusing both Mirage and Pathfinder who sat back and watched the giant beast try to fit himself into the tub.
“Get over here and help me skin-suit.” He barked. Mirage confusingly attempted to help Revenant into the tub. Usually, the simulacrum could fit, but with this shell, it was proving to be especially difficult, even despite the luxury three-person tub.
“Wait a second, are we in Loba’s room!” Mirage blurted out after he realized why the bathroom was so big.
“Shut up and help me.” Revenant finally figured out a way to fit in and started washing out his mane. Dried blood and sus looking stains washed off his chassis from the intense heat.
Pathfinder didn’t seem to understand what was going on but he quickly began the process of cleaning Revenant’s mane. Mirage didn’t know what to do so he started looking for a brush. He was sure the gilded brush with jewels encrusted on it was not meant to be used on a mechanical beast but if anything could brush Revenant’s tangled mane, maybe it was the shining diamonds.
Revenant emptied the water and quickly started filling the tub again. Pathfinder has managed to wash out most of the dirt, blood, and grime but his mane was still disgustingly tangled. Mirage began brushing it section by section, the fur was soft and had a light brown color. Pathfinder seemed content with his job and even started putting conditioner in the fur.
Mirage flinched as several of the brush’s bristles broke after being pulled through the simulacrum’s mane. The brush lost a couple thousand on its worth.
By the time Mirage had finished brushing through the simulacrum’s fur and Pathfinder had finished washing it, Revenant had completely scrubbed his chassis clean. It looked weird to see the simulacrum look clean. Revenant leaped out of the tub and shook himself like a wet dog. Mirage groaned, looking down at his now-drenched pajamas.
“Why are you cleaning up?” Mirage asked finally, he had begun the process of drying the simulacrum’s mane and it quickly puffed up. He looked like a satanic porcupine.
Revenant stopped moving and slowly turned his head towards Mirage. Elliot felt uncomfortable under the simulacrum’s gaze and tried to decipher what that look meant. It took Mirage a minute but he finally glanced at the electronic calendar in the bathroom. Oh… Ohhhh… no.
Mirage silently went back to work now panicking over his plans for the day. He started stylizing the now brushed mane and quickly got carried away. Revenant sat still, for the most part, he did reach out and grab a paper from the vanity and a stray pen. The simulacrum scribbled something down on it and shoved the paper into the MRVN’s hands.
“Don’t ask, just do what it says.”
Pathfinder gave a thumbs up, much to the irritation of the sim, and quickly trotted away leaving Mirage alone with the beast. Revenant scrolled on his phone for a bit, leaving it to Mirage to style his fur. Unfortunately, the legend was preoccupied with his mind and didn’t notice what he was doing until it was too late.
Revenant glanced up at the mirror and froze. His fur was perfectly brushed but it was curled up in different sections with small bows keeping it together. His mane was frilly and pretty looking and exactly not what the simulacrum wanted.
“You look so… so… ” Mirage chuckled nervously.
“Stupid. Get this shit off me.”
Mirage quickly started undoing his work as a growl started building up from the sim. He decided to just leave it simple and brushed the mane out completely again. Revenant checked himself in the mirror and was surprised to see how untangled his fur was. He ran a claw through it and was surprised at how easily the fur parted. He turned to thank the legend but decided against it and quickly exited the room. Mirage finally took a deep breath of relief but it didn’t last long when he realized he was still in Loba’s bathroom and was screwed for Valentine’s Day.
“I have something for you.” Revenant finally announced after they had eventually gotten out of bed. They were now sitting on the couch watching the news there was an event at a restaurant downtown.
He watched as the news showed images of a prowler coming into the restaurant, in the corner of the footage were six very familiar faces. Valkyrie, Loba, and Bangalore were all standing on a table as a second prowler stalked their area. Across a gap were Mirage, Crypto, and Wraith all huddling together. Revenant almost mentioned something to Ash but she has focused away from the TV, specifically on him.
Revenant pulled out a small little box. Ash froze for a second, thinking about the impossible. Even Reid had gone silent in her head, paying very close attention to the simulacrum’s next move. He hesitated and then opened the little thing.
Ash’s hopes were quickly diminished when she realized it was just a little necklace. A small golden rat was engraved on a little circle, attached to a golden chain. She knew it must’ve cost a fortune which also meant he didn’t pay for it. He handed her the necklace and she inspected it.
“Thank you.” Ash put the small token on and showed it off to Revenant. He seemed pretty proud of the gift, despite not even paying for it. In a show of gratitude, Ash pressed her synthetic lips against the tip of his snoot.
“I have something else.” He quickly added.
“Oh?”
Ash picked up the disgusting fried treat. It was slippery due to the mass amount of oil dripping off it. Despite the fact she could technically put it in her modded mouth it wasn’t very appetizing. She scoffed and flicked the onion ring to the side. Revenant on the other hand seemed just fine tilting his head back, opening those massive jaws, and tossing several grease traps down his throat.
He snapped his maw shut, not even taking the time to chew, and gave her a sideways grin. Ash rolled her optics but couldn’t help the smirk forming on her face when she noticed the onion ring snagged on a fang. He looked idiotically dorky, causing even Reid to laugh at the scene.
Revenant noticed her alter laughing through several glitches and furrowed his brow, he couldn’t tell what was causing Reid to have a fit. He checked to make sure a piece didn’t fall on his mane. Ash joined Reid in a small chuckle when Revenant became increasingly concerned, checking his whole body before finally finding the stray treat.
Revenant shook his head and the onion ring slipped off, landing somewhere on the ground below. Maybe some prowler will come and snatch it.
When Ash heard that Revenant had something else planned, this was not what she had envisioned. She had pictured maybe a nice walk around the park, an evening dinner, or just sex, but not sitting on a bench on the side of the road eating onion rings. The food truck they had gotten it from was a little shady and this area was notorious for robberies.
Revenant had gotten a coupon for buy one get one free Onion rings and decided the 4-mile drive was worth it. She picked up another one and tentatively opened her modded mask. She swallowed the greasy thing and grimaced.
Revenant finished his basket and tossed the trash onto the road. He always figured that personal waste would never amount to corporate waste. Ash offered him her basket and he eagerly took it. Revenant devoured the basket, licking the grease off his claws. She had seen him do that before, but instead of grease, it was darker red and more coppery.
He pretty much emptied the basket, saved for a couple of spare onion rings, and set it to the side. Ash was getting increasingly irritated by the second, not only had he dragged her out here for shady onion rings, but she couldn’t even enjoy them.
Ash was about to suggest they should leave when she heard some movement behind her. She turned and was met face-to-face with the end of a trumpet. There was a little bit of fanfare to begin but as she noticed the other two members of the group of musicians she realized it was a mariachi band. Ash turned towards Revenant who looked just as stunned as she was, his look of shock turned to anger and he grabbed the trumpet straight out of the man’s hand.
“I wrote specific directions for that damn MRVN-” he mumbled. Ash heard him curse as he tossed the trumpet back to the musician.
“Revenant? What is this about?” Ash interrupted his rant, she was upset and mostly confused about what was going on.
Revenant knew that tone of voice and sighed. “I had something planned…”
“Why the mariachi band?” Ash looked back at the musicians awkwardly standing to the side.
“I told Pathfinder to hire Ajay’s cousin, you know, the famous violinist?” Revenant glared at the poor mariachi band, even though it wasn't their fault.
“I see, but why?” Ash asked, confused, it's not like they needed a violinist to eat some onion rings.
Revenant quickly grabbed the basket of onion rings, leaving Ash even more confused. He picked the best-looking one out of the ones remaining and held it up for Ash to see. She gave him a weird look as he got up off the bench.
Oh.
Oh.
Ash finally understood what was happening and didn’t know whether she wanted to hit him or hug him. Revenant got down on a knee and awkwardly held up the onion ring. An onion ring.
She froze, and the mariachi band started playing again but a little softer. Ash couldn’t help the laugh that came from her vocoder, it was a mix between her and Reid’s voices as she looked down at the simulacrum. The toothy grin she received from Revenant was all she needed to respond.
Yes.