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Mecha was well aware that her visual processing systems were failing - it was something she had accepted, as long as she could still see her siblings tussle and squabble over their latest video game venture. This was the most important thing for her to see above all else anyway. Seeing that they were safe and happy. Protected.
The details were starting to bother her, though. The little detail of the new scratches in her baby brother's paint. The little detail of the chip in her middle sibling's pointer finger. The slightly larger detail that one of the bolts on the main entrance to their home was loose - when did that happen? Unacceptable.
Perhaps denial wasn't working out for Mecha.
It was a good thing, at least, that Mecha had the entire base mapped out in their memory anyway. Allocating less processing power to their visual processing protocols freed up more for other, equally essential things. They walked expertly back down the warehouse entranceway towards their room, diverted some processing power to their language processing centers, and sat down with a book left in the corner for easy access.
Then came the difficult part.
No matter how much RAM space they freed up, the words didn't process. Mecha tilted his head one way and then the other, searching hard. They lifted the book up and into the centre of their visual field and found it a little easier to make out, but still…
It wasn't right. It was frustrating, and Mecha wasn't one to become frustrated for nothing. She valued efficiency. Functioning protocols. Knowing exactly what to do. And yet...
"Perhaps if I reboot in safe mode…"
"M?"
Mecha looked up sharply. "Little brother?"
"I didn't know you were in to reading covers and blurbs so much."
Mecha looked back down. Without tactile receptors, he couldn't detect the slightly thicker feel of the book's cover in his hands.
"M…" Silver walked in with his head tilted and optics dimmed. "You okay? I've seen you do that a few times today. More than yesterday."
"I am functioning correctly." Mecha replied simply. "Perhaps not at optimal levels, but I am functioning."
Silver gently sat down beside him with a soft huff as air left his vents. "Are you?"
Mecha closed the book and placed it on the floor. "You doubt me."
"Nah. I worry about you." Silver corrected him with a light poke to his sibling's cheek. "You're the last person to admit when something's wrong. But listen, M. You don't have to hide this shit from your family. This isn't some weakness. No enemies here, remember?"
"It is a weakness if it causes me to fail in my duty to protect my family," Mecha retorted, "so I cannot allow that. It is unacceptable."
Silver gave a small sigh and leaned into his brother's side, nestling his cheek into the older robot's shoulder. "You know, I don't hear things coming on my right side sometimes- on account of that ear still being exploded by the government and all. But you know? That's okay. I make up for it. There's accommodations for it."
Mecha considered that for a quiet moment. Silver could sense those cogs of logic turning and privately smiled to himself. Appeal to his brother's sense of reason and he could be in for hours of information, some interesting, some too complex for him to understand. He always liked it, though, when he could pay attention long enough-
Silver broke the silence first. "You know large print books are a thing?"
"I knew of their existence, but I had not considered this as an option before."
"Mhmm. 'Cause I know you like the classic paper ones instead of the computer ones. But on the computer, or I guess in your CPU as well, you can use screen readers. This little voice in the computer will read that shit to you. It's becoming more popular with organics as well."
"This defect is larger than the issue of reading text, brother. Do not change the subject. This is not merely about reading. I am afraid that one day I will be unable to interpret Neo's sign language. It is a visual language. Our communication has proven vital to our survival several times."
"I know. But... we have to be okay with asking each other for help. It's how we've survived this long, duh." Silver leaned back into his own space to give Mecha his own. "Same goes for any other living thing. So you can't see Neo's signs? Ask me. I can't hear something? You or Neo tell me. Neo can't talk to someone who doesn't know sign? We interpret."
"And what if I lose you. What if I lose him. What then, little brother. I cannot afford to be a liability to any of us. My visual field is decreasing significantly now. I am finding myself unprepared. Less aware of my surroundings than I once was. What if something such as this costs us our existence."
The brothers sat in a decided silence for a short while. The reminders of their hardships was never easy, and the brothers were on their own journeys with that. They had learned to sit with the quiet in times like this, let the pain settle, then let it go.
Indeed, they had lost each other more than once. Mecha's fear now was losing them to something ingrained into his very frame.
The younger brother spoke up again first. He always did.
"We have a community here," Silver started, looking to his brother with brightened optics, "and sure, it's no fix for our issues, but as long as we have community, we have survival."
"Perhaps. Even so, I am beginning to understand that this may be a form of grief. You are more emotionally competent than I. Is this a correct assumption?"
"Sure. You know as well as I do that there's no set list of things you can grieve for. I'm sure plenty of people feel loss, a lot of it, when they come to terms with this kind of thing. It's real. It's real to you, and that's enough."
"Indeed, that is a satisfactory conclusion."
"I don't come to those very often, so I'm pretty proud of that." Silver replied with a bright grin. "Want me to leave you be to think about things?"
"Stay."
"Course. What do you need, M?"
"Do not be quiet. Talk to me. I do not ask you often."
"Okie dokie. At least, with one ear dead, if I don't like a conversation I can just turn away and it's kinda blocked out. They invented gadgets for you to look at when you decide you don't like a conversation and wanna leave too, though."
"Your phone?"
"Exactly."
"They should invent a frame that functions."
Silver put his arm around his sibling's shoulder and nestled back into her. "Well, they invented the best little sibling ever who will read to you instead. Here..." He paused, using his free hand to pick up Mecha's book and opened it. "Where were you up to?"
Mecha shrugged a shoulder. "I was just beginning. It is new."
Silver nodded and turned to the first page. "Unilateral hearing loss is a type of hearing impairment where a person has impaired hearing in one ear... people with unilateral hearing loss may have difficulty hearing conversations with their impaired side, localizing sound... understanding speech with background noise... interpersonal interactions... wait, M, were you-"
Mecha's visor lit up a warm amber, his version of a smile. "They invented an older brother who listens to its siblings when they are struggling."
"They invented a sneaky rat is what! You can't just sit around being all nice and sweet like that and not tell me!" Silver feigned hurt, turning to face Mecha fully. He wobbled ever so slightly as he did, but it was enough for Mecha to notice.
A brief silence, and the younger brother was never happy with those.
Silver reached up and playfully grabbed at his brother's pointed ears, only causing Mecha to gently reach over and effortlessly flip Silver onto his back with a bang. It was nowhere near enough to hurt Silver, of course, but it did put a quick stop to his attack.
"Survival," Mecha repeated back to him. He reached down, poked Silver's nose, and began to walk away. "And, I must add... I already completed that book. It took me one month to complete. This was to be the second revision. I wished to consult the data more closely."
Silver stayed put on his back, staring at Mecha's feet as he left. "For the record, I'm not struggling."
"You are still lying on the floor."
"By choice!"
"You are less... grabby on the floor. I approve of this adjustment."
"Rude. It's just nice to give my balancey program a break."
Mecha gave the smallest of laughs to herself. "Community, indeed. You failed to reach the section where the text states that unilateral hearing loss may cause vertigo. So, you are welcome. I recommend that you remain in that position for some time."
"Why don't you verti-go somewhere and think about what you just did to me. You flipped me."
"Out of sight, out of mind, little brother, and you are outside of my field of vision."
"Sorry, can't hear whatever rude ass thing you're saying back to me!"
And indeed, Silver's orientation sensors did get a break, and indeed, Mecha saw things a little clearer. He joined Neo in repairing that loose bolt with a little more happiness. Neo greeted him with a smile in his optics, brighter than months ago, as was his new internal protocol, and Mecha smiled back.