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"sh, shh. we're almost there."
the butler and maid made their way through the vast mansion hallways as silently as they could. the heavy rainstorm outside promised silenced footsteps. even if their hollow metal shoes were not too loud, it was almost as if human's ears were always perked and ready to make a fuss about their noise, so they had to be cautious -- and sometimes not even caution could save them.
but they had little reason to worry about that now. matriarch and patriarch of the elliots were on vacation, having left no one but tessa and several other human servants, who had no reason to act aggressively against the little drones; a silent peace treaty.
"sneaking, sneaking..."
he turned back to look at the petite drone trailing behind him. he was average size, but she was rather small, and he had to bend down to see her face. her eyes were fixed on her feet which stumbled over one another in an unsteady shuffle across the ground.
n tapped his thumb on cyn's hand, and her grasp fell away from his hand. he stepped forward and pushed open the vast doors to the ballroom, a huff of effort escaping his mouth as he did.
the room was the absolute opposite of claustrophobic, n's shoes clacking against the hardwood floor as he entered.
the room was empty. good.
"okay, it's fine to come in now."
"really?" a small voice returned, yellow eyes blinking in the distant darkness behind the doorway.
"yes, really! here, listen." n scrabbled up onto stage, making his way over to the familiar seat in front of the ballroom's grand piano (of course, with some enhancements to match the current technology.)
he played a cheerful little tune, putting whatever loaded into his processor out onto the keys. he saw the yellow visor glow brightly with joy as she made her way into the center of the room.
though she began dancing, it was not without difficulty. her awkwardly calibrated limbs made it difficult for her to move with as much ease as j, v or n could when dancing.
n noticed her difficulty, and quickly turned on one of his pre-recorded songs, hopping off stage to assist her. she graciously accepted his help, smiling up at him.
"curious... did you make this song?" cyn asked, now tapping her digits along his hands to the melody.
"i sure did!" n couldn't stop the pride from leaking into his voice, not only at the fact that he had made the song but that his sister recognized his style. it was nice to be seen, sometimes.
"has big sister v... heard it yet?"
"yep. she helped me write some of it... some of the bits are a little hollow 'cause she was playing the harp. it was, um...a duet!" cyn perked, her optics thinned in thought.
"query... could i play the harp too?"
"well, if j let you." n hesitated, then brightened, "...and we know who could convince j."
"big sister... tessa!"
"that's the one!" n unlinked one hand from her's to shoot her a finger-gun and wink, "i'm sure v will be willing to teach you."
cyn, still dancing, suddenly wilted a little. her movements were subdued enough for n to take notice immediately.
"what's up, cyn?" he prompted.
"what was it like... waking up. in the corpse piles?"
as if on cue, the background music spouted several off-key notes and n was thrown slightly off balance in surprise (both at cyn's words and the music), causing cyn to step rather hard onto one of his shoes.
n bit back a yelp and returned to his previous pace, hushing cyn's stifled apologies.
"it's fine, i-it's fine! just startled me, is all. uh, right. the pile." n sputtered out, trying to distract her from her guilt. "it was... cold, and a little wet. water didn't build up in my systems 'cause i was more close to the top, but... i'm mostly glad tessa brought me back, yeah?"
cyn's small frown turned into a small grin as she nodded at him, "nod of agreement. i am glad she brought you back too."
n couldn't help but smile back, glad that someone found his presence anything more than a burden.
...though, he couldn't shake his unease at the very concept of the question. is that why she woke up from her recharge?
"hey, buddy... what made you think about that?" he said with sad curiosity. cyn slowed down a bit.
n knew what this meant, and acted accordingly. he slower down to match her pace.
"mmm... it was lonely. scary... i could barely vent with the weight against my chassis."
a wave of guilt washed through n's core. he knew nothing could be done anymore, but he wished he could have taken her place.
he pulled her into a hug instead -- it was all he could do. he swayed along with her in silent comfort until the music drew out into a stop.
cyn tapped her thumb against his hands, a wordless indication that she wanted him to let go.
"...but, big sister tessa found me. then you, and big sister v and j." cyn added, a bit more joy present in her visor, "smile. things are better now."
n was still sad things turned out how they did. he wished he could fix things; for her, for tessa, for v, for j... but he supposed little victories like this were enough for now. "we'll never let it happen again, yeah?" n smiled and messed around with her hair, making her giggle a little, "you're stuck with us now!"
cyn swats his hand away and blows a raspberry. she hugs him one more time. "we'd never discard you either. smile."
oh.
uh.
n's lips grew taut and he patted her on the back, "aw, thanks." ...he was not sure what else to say. she seemed content with the answer, so he tapped her once again with his thumb and she pulled away. "so... are you ready to recharge now?"
cyn hummed neutrally in response, kicking at the ground and avoiding n's eyes.
"well... in that case," n smirked, uncharacteristically smug, "we could raid the battery cabinet."
cyn perked instantaneously, bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement, "yes, yes! enthusiastic nod."
"alright, alright! we're going!"