Chapter Text
“And why the hell can I not?” Artificer growled, smoke trailing out of the sides of her mouth as she scowled at him.
Pebbles sighed, lowering himself to hover right above the floor of his shelter and crossing his arms as he returned the glare. Even despite the slugcat’s small stature, the iterator was forced to tilt his head slightly upward to maintain eye contact.
“Because I said you couldn't,” was his simple response, which, according to him, should've been enough. The slugcat did not seem to think so, as she simply growled louder and looked away in response. “Despite your… understandable hatred for the scavengers, I cannot allow you to attack the ones on top of my superstructure.”
Artificer scoffed, shrugging nonchalantly. “Just a few scavs. I've fought so many of their kind; what would make this group any different?”
Pebbles sighed again, louder the second time, as he fidgeted with the soft material of his cloak. Because they are a large group, and I'm not sure even you can handle them. I fear for your safety.
He prepared to speak, but the planned words died on his tongue, and he stopped. The ruffian shot him a confused look, and he scoffed, straightening as he lifted himself into the air to look down at her.
“I forbid you from going to fight those scavengers.” His words were cold and sharp as steel, and Artificer growled loudly upon hearing them. “This is a direct order from me, and as my citizen, you will obey.” In truth, he could not do anything to stop the slugcat, but he hoped his bluff would be enough to make her cease.
Her growl intensified, and Pebbles braced for the imminent (probably literal) explosion of anger to erupt from the slugcat. Instead, he was left shocked when Artificer turned around and stomped closer to the vent leading outside, lodging her spear in the floor right below the entrance so she would be able to reach it with a jump.
She climbed on top of the spear handle, balancing at the top of it as she shot him a hard glare. “Artificer…” The iterator’s previous indignance was swiftly replaced with guilt upon seeing her betrayed expression, but she did not offer a response as she explosively jumped to the vent above and crawled inside.
Just like that, his citizen had gone, leaving him alone in his chamber. Alone with his own thoughts…
The iterator only lasted about a minute before deciding he could not take the silence any longer! With a swiping motion of his hand, he opened a projected display in front of him, found Big Sister Moon’s contact, and pressed the button to call. An overseer popped out in front of him, both to show the other iterator on call and so that he could be projected on her side. As he waited for her to respond, Pebbles lowered himself close to the ground again.
As any time he called his sister, it only took Moon a few seconds to respond. The overseer immediately projected a clear picture of the blue iterator. As she leaned back from her display and waved at him, antennae perked up in surprise. “Pebbles!”
Some of his previously sour mood dissipated at hearing the cheery greeting of his sister. “Greetings, Moon.” In the background of her part of the video call, Pebbles could see Rivulet floating around in zero-gravity behind the iterator.
His sister, keen-eyed as always, immediately noticed something was wrong. Despite not having facial expressions, Moon had always been disturbingly good at figuring out what he was thinking at all times. “Is something wrong, little brother? You look a bit down.”
“Artificer and I had a fight.” Best to get right to the point.
Moon tilted her head, looking amused. “Oh, like the other hundred fights you have daily?”
“This one was different.”
“In what way?”
“I… we were arguing about something that can be seen as a touchy subject for her."
“She stormed off?”
“Yes.”
“Pebbsi, she always does that.”
“I am aware. Also, please don’t call me that.”
Moon giggled and prepared to say something else, but was interrupted by a brilliantly blue, furless slugcat landing on her shoulder with surprising accuracy. “Moon!” Despite almost falling forward and only keeping her balance thanks to the umbilical’s stabilization, the iterator did not seem to mind the sudden interruption at all, looking back and smiling at the slugcat that held onto her shoulder. “Who are you talking to? Oh, hi Pebbles!”
Rivulet waved excitedly, and Pebbles could not help but feel a twinge of amusement at the slugcat’s antics. “Greetings, Rivulet.” The slugcat suddenly lost grip of Moon and started to float away, but the iterator grabbed the slugcat and pulled her into a hug.
“You do not need to worry about Artificer, Pebbles. She respects and likes you far more than you’d think. I doubt she’ll stay away for long.” He huffed and prepared to speak, ready to ask her for clarification on why she believed that to be the case. Only for the other iterator to speak up before he had a chance to say a word. “She told me so, you know. One time, when she knew you would not hear.” Moon giggled as Pebbles’ shock must have shown on his face, still hugging her own slugcat friend close to herself as she assured him. “Artificer will be back because she sees you as an equal and a friend. Void knows she needs more friends she can trust.” Her voice sounded a bit more bittersweet toward the end, but mostly kept its happy tone as the slugcat held close to her chest audibly and visibly purred.
With his mind settled and relaxed from his sister’s assurance, Pebbles nodded slowly in response to her passionate speech. “I see. Thank you, Moon. I shall await her return, then.”
Moon nodded back, adjusting her hold on Rivulet, who seemed on the verge of falling asleep. “She’ll be just fine, Pebbles. I promise.” Another exchanged nod, and the slight seriousness of the conversation faded, replaced with more of her optimistic happiness. “You should call me more often, too! It’s not kind to ignore your big sister, after all!”
He rolled his eyes, but inwardly smiled at the teasing. “Yes, yes. I’ll try my best. Thank you for the help, Big Sister Moon.”
The other iterator’s eyes practically lit up at the nickname. “Anytime, Pebs.”
Exchanging goodbyes, the call was ended, and Pebbles waited no time in calling on an overseer to start to comb the general area of his can for Artificer. It wasn’t like the iterator was worried for her safety! He just needed to see that she wasn’t going against her wishes. Thankfully, it did not take long for his overseer to come upon the slugcat. She was seated not far from the gate that led into the metropolis that sat on top of his can, but thankfully she did not seem to have any plans to venture further inside and through the entrance to the city.
Seated on the metal floor, she was watching a projection that her citizen ID drone showed on the wall. Curiously, Pebbles told the overseer to approach and get to an angle where he could actually see what she was looking at. Popping out of the wall behind the slugcat and praying she would not happen to turn around, he saw himself on the projected recording that was being shown on the wall.
It only took him a short moment to remember it as the moment after the slugcat had figured out how to use her ID drone to record videos, something she immediately put to “good” use by filming herself being mischievous to him. The video she was watching at that moment involved her lunging at the iterator and clinging to his clothes with her claws while he tried to shake her off. Her drone floated around and got all the good angles of his shocked “expressions” as she climbed all over him while cackling.
Pebbles had to hold back the urge to huff as the slugcat sitting in front of the projection laughed loudly as if what was being seen was happening right at that moment. Little shit. He considered as he looked down upon her, the thought affectionate when the overseer angled itself to her blind spot and the iterator spotted a small, genuine smile gracing the slugcat’s features.
Still watching the recordings along with Artificer, he smirked as ideas of how badly he could tease the slugcat flashed through his mind. She was so going to regret not noticing his overseer!
Pebbles leaned back and kept watching with celebratory amusement, only regretting the fact that he could not laugh along with his citizen as he observed along with her.
