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The sound of Remote’s foot steps echoed around the stairwell. It was dark outside, moonlight flitting through windows.
Remote had took a long nap today, and now couldn’t sleep when she was supposed to. She was tired of being cooped up in her room.
The machine reached the ground floor, walking jauntily towards the big doors leading out of the hotel.
She paused, staring at the faintly lit sign in front of her. “Stuff For Yourself”, Robot Flower’s little store. Remote had never actually bought anything it directly, but she knew most of the batteries she used came from the shop.
Faint rustling echoed from behind the counter. Was an animal back there? Remote didn’t think anyone would be awake this late.
“Remote!” The mechanical chatter of Robot Flower’s voice rang out.
The other jumped back. Well, that made sense, but she was still surprised.
“Oh. Hello, Robot Flower.”
“What are you doing up so late?”
Remote tilted her head. Robot Flower was up too, shouldn’t she explain herself?
“I couldn’t sleep, thought i would walk around.”
The pink machine nodded in response.
They stood awkwardly in each other’s presence. The only time the two had properly interacted Remote had tried to kill Robot Flower. She still felt bad about it, but she had learned much more about death prevention since.
She should probably apologize, that was the right thing to do. Neither had talked about it, but neither held a vendetta either.
“Are you going to try and explode me again?” The other asked in a joking manner, she hoped.
Remote flinched, did that really have to be the only thing to mark their history?
“Oh no, i’m actually really sorry about that. It was, uh, irresponsible. Ive learned a lot from my team since.” Remote waved her arms around frantically explaining herself.
Robot Flower tilted her head. “I assumed.” She paused, thinking. “It’s all okay.”
Remote was relieved, she felt bad for having such tension with a fellow contestant, especially with Robot Flower. They were both mechanical minds, they all sort of needed to protect each other. And, being honest, Remote found Robot Flower pretty and wanted to see her more often.
“So… How’s Death P.A.C.T. Again treating you?”
“They’re nice. A lot of my existing friends are in the team and I like the new people. I like learning to prevent death.” She paused. “The Strongest Team on Earth, right? How are they treating you?”
Robot flower’s demeanor seemed to dampen.
“They are nice, I guess. I like Basketball a lot.” She hummed, “They all seem to treat me like i’m less than.”
“What? Because you’re a robot? Thats so dumb!” Remote shifted her weight. “I kind of get that. I mean not from my own team, but from other people. You can come talk to me anytime. O-or TV! i bet he’d understand too.” She added on the last part hurriedly.
“Thanks Remote.”
The machine leaned against the nearby wall.
“So, tell me about your day. Why are you up so late?”
Robot Flower leaned forward, resting her arms on the table.
-
They sat at the shop for what must’ve been 2 hours. Robot Flower was pretty nice. Remote enjoyed talking to her.
Remote finally glanced around, catching a digital clock inside the store. It read 4:37am.
“Oh wow, it’s late.” Remote commented.
“Hm. We should probably go and rest.”
Robot Flower made an equivalent to a sigh, before seeming to realize something and ducking behind her store.
“Here!”
She emerged with a simple battery, pushing it across the desk towards Remote.
“Woah!” She picked it up, examining it closer. “Thank you.”
They both stared for a few seconds.
“Err… it was nice talking to you!” Robot Flower finally concluded, waving to Remote.
She smiled back “You too.”