Work Text:
It was a misty dew morning, at the Strickland residence. 6:00am to be exact. The smell of freshly made Folgers lingers in a small office room. A Nandroid with braided hair enters the room to spruce up the office. Her name is Kristy, owned by the wealthy Strickland family. She's taking the time to clean the office now as her owners are training their horses on a nearby racetrack. Her owners own a ranch called the “Elite Thoroughbred Farm”. They’ve been running it for many years, Kristy has been with them for half those years. Her duties are to clean their house, clean the office, check if the stables are secured, helping Mr. Strickland by brushing the horses hair, filling their feeder with the correct amount to give to Mr. Strickland. She also the Strickland's riding gear and also the horses, as well as cleaning their blankets and putting it on them at night for the cold. She also notifies Mr. Strickland what time to bring them back from pasture….
Despite these thankless tasks, she's content with her job. She cleans the office space, and sorts the paperwork in neat piles. Paperwork of the horses they own, paperwork for the bills, paperwork from other owners who have horses at that ranch. Business happens frequently in the office. Despite the huge stacks of paper for her owner, he never has an issue working on them. Kristy finishes cleaning up the small office room.
“Everything is finished here, time to double check on the house!”
She exits the office and follows a small trail back to her owner’s house. It's a large house, it features quite an impressive man cave, an impressive living room with the latest tech TV, and a kitchen with the finest food available. Civilization is a long trek away and the closest neighbors are in the same situation, so it's good to have the home equipped with everything. Her owners are still in the racetrack so the home is still clean from her previous checkup. She walks past a wall plastered with images, all from her owners' winning horses. While Mr. Strickland was an experienced jockey, running the farm was quite a task. The older pictures had a younger Strickland on top of the horse and a gradual change to a family friend who was a jockey too who was on top. And in more recent pictures, it's the friend’s son as the newest jockey. Recent pictures featured Kristy as well, she always found horses to be pretty cute. While she was reminiscing, there was a knock on the door. That snapped her out of her trance. She walked down the hallway of photos to reach and open the front door, it's Mr. Strickland’s family friend!
“Howdy Kristy, I guess Mitch and his wife are on the track.”
“Yes sir they are.”
“I have some bad news, it involves my son…”
“Oh what happened!” Kristy said in shock.
“Well he got in an accident. Went hiking and slipped on a rock, he’s alright but his right leg is really bad.”
“How awful let me notify Mr. Strickland right now!”
In a flash Mr. and Mrs. Strickland are back at their house, hearing and thinking what they should have done after what their friend told them.
“What to do, what to do….” Mr. Strickland said as he fidgeted with a pen.
“The county fair is in a few weeks and we're down a jockey… Conner, do you know any other jockeys available right now?”
“All the best jockeys have been picked up already. Could find someone maybe but that's very unlikely.”
“What about buying out one of the other jockeys?”
“Each jockey has loyalty to who they're running for, no one would hire them after that.”
“Hmm, got any other family members we could use?”
Conner gives him a sour look.
“Mm, sorry, nevermind.”
“I could ask around to see if someone is available, but I wouldn't count on it. Like you said the county fair will be here soon so the last remaining jockeys have been hired, might have to resign from the races.”
“Looks like we need to tell our sponsor, Mr. Snacksworth, that we’re pulling out of the race. What a generous man who's willing to pay for extra supplies.”
The Stricklands and Conner look down at the sad possibility. Kristy shares the same feeling.
She felt proud when her owner's were in the top 3, even more so when they won a race. Having their picture taken with her at their side made her happy. Both Strickland and the horses are in tiptop shape which makes her proud to be a Sterling Nandroid
With her hypersensitive hearing, she hears some rustling outside so looks for the source of the sound. It seems to be Strickland's prized horse, Charlotte. Seems she could sense her owner's bad mood.
“Hello there Charlotte.” Kristy greets the horse.
“I guess you can sense what the Strickland's are feeling huh?” Charlotte whines.
“Oh Charlotte I'm sorry this had to happen. They said they couldn't find any available jockeys in this short time.”
Kristy took a quick pause.
“There's no jockeys available… but they need someone…”
“I’ve seen enough races when I was with Mrs. Strickland. My memory banks record everything to the smallest details. I've been around you long enough that you're friendly with me…”
“But that's silly! To think of a Nandroid as a jockey!”
“But what if…”
Kristy goes back to the house and knocks on the door to get their attention
“What is it Kristy?” Mr. Strickland asks.
“I’m terribly sorry for intruding but I might have a suggestion for your problem. I could race.
Strickland and Conner both laugh for a minute.
“Kristy, but you can’t race.”
“Why not?”
“Uh, well, you’re…uh…” A long pause as Strickland realizes.
“It’s never happened before and I think it’s not allowed in the rules.” says Conner.
“It’s not?” Strickland says. Conner and Strickland eye each other and both go to the bookshelf where they bust out a book of rules for horse racing. The things listed are etiquette when racing and not to use performance enhancing drugs on the jockeys or horses. But nothing about Nandroids…
“Please Mr. Strickland, I do my Nandroid duties! I clean the house, clean clothes and make food! Also, the horses respond well to me during the times I help you. Especially Charlotte, she's the one who's going to participate in the big race too right?”
Mr. Strickland looks her straight in the eyes.
“Are you sure Kristy? People might give you weird looks”
“I’m sure Mr. Strickland, I won't disappoint you!
