Chapter Text
The large elevator hummed, unmoving, as two brightly colored toons inside gathered in the center for discussion. The other five were scattered around the elevator. Some stood and some sat. Their run had sent them all the way down to Floor 15. Though it wasn’t a major achievement, it would be good to ascend back up to the lobby of Gardenview to reconvene with their friends and rest from the tiring outage.
A pale yellow mirror sat on the outskirts of the two toons, in front of the wide, hazard-striped elevator door. He watched them talk with bunched up legs and right arm hanging off a knee. Glisten wasn’t too tired, but he was fine to go back up to the lobby. He had some ideas for what to do after the run. Maybe try a new color of eyeliner, or set up-
Before he could finish his thought, a light green television sluggishly made its way over to Glisten. When the TV reached him, she turned around and seemingly crumpled onto the mirror’s side- one leg barely tucked in and the other lying out- seemingly not caring about her persona for once. Glisten made sure Vee hadn’t crushed his pink bow, stretching over behind him and feeling for it. All good.
“We had better be going back up soon,” Vee murmured, a slight drop of pitch in her last words. “I’m at 1%.” She let her head drop onto Glisten’s upper arm. Her antennae drooped.
Glisten shrugged. “I’m sure we will, darling,” He turned his head to watch the other toons again. “Goob needs to see Sprout,” He nods at the main distractor of the run, Goob, who had been rubbing at multiple ichor-stained wounds on his body. “And I think everyone is tired. Not me, though. I have many ideas for what to do after this.”
Vee didn’t respond verbally but managed a weak flick of her microphone tail to let Glisten know she was listening. Probably for the best, though Glisten doesn’t know how much battery talking takes up. Talking isn’t too hard for him but he’s not a robot. So how would he know?
Glisten continued to speak. “I was thinking of trying on new makeup. You could help me with that, you’re very honest. Or, I found my mic, we could sing some karaoke. Or get other toons to join in. Of course, we’d do this after you charge. Don’t want you falling in a punch bowl while singing ABBA, or something. What music do you even listen to?”
The television- heavy television at that- again didn’t respond. Right. Glisten probably shouldn’t ask her any questions. Vee wouldn’t want to waste her battery on “pointless questions” like songs she liked. Vee’s weight seemed to shift more into Glisten’s side.
“Alright!” Tisha announced as Cosmo started to slowly inch his way over to the many buttons on the elevator panel. “Cosmo and I decided to go back up. Does anyone have objections?”
“None here!” Goob responded with as cheery a voice as ever despite all his injuries.
Poppy, who had also sat out of the conversation, yelled out, “I think we should keep going!! We’ll probably find heals on the coming floors! And lots of pop!!” Rodger, leaning on the elevator’s side handrails nearby, nodded in agreement. “I have not gotten sufficient research.”
Tisha nodded, then with tired eyes turned over to Glisten and Vee. “What about you two? Stay down or go up?”
Glisten didn’t need to think much about his choice as he shamelessly remarked, “We should go back up. I’ve got lots of ideas for what to do after this.”
“Alright, it seems that keeps it settled,” Tisha looked back over to the toons who had already voted. It had already been established most of them wanted to go back up. She then turned back to the duo. “Vee, do you want to have a vote?”
“She doesn’t need to talk right now,” Glisten calmly stated. “She’s got a low battery and we’re gonna be going up anyways.” Tisha nodded and walked over to Cosmo. Glisten would remind Vee to thank him for covering her later.
It occurred to Glisten that it could be a possibility that Vee had missed out on everything that just happened. Glisten didn’t find it hard to believe that she had tuned everything out to preserve her one percentage of fuel. He gently elbowed the robot’s arm, which was hanging limply on the ground.
“Everyone- or mostly everyone- decided to head back up to the lobby,” Glisten started to say. “You’ll be able to recharge when we get up. And, I know that you wouldn’t like it that much, but I can help you walk to your room.”
Glisten wasn’t expecting any response, but at the same time hoped Vee was still awake. “Vee?” Nothing. “Vee?” He repeated. Still nothing. Without trying to let the television fall on the ground, he slightly leaned forward. Just enough to see Vee’s screen. Her head limply tilted as Glisten adjusted himself. Her screen was black.
“....Ah.” Glisten murmured. Vee had lost all of her battery. Glisten half-humoredly wondered if it was his yapping that powered her off. This would be fun, carrying an annoyingly heavy, metal robot to her room. Hopefully Brightney will be outside of the elevator waiting for them.
The elevator let out a “Ding!” signifying that they had reached the ground floor. The lobby. Glisten really hoped one of Vee’s friends would be outside so he wouldn’t have to carry her by himself.
With a loud creaking sound, the elevator door opened. Vee was still lying on Glisten’s side, and he didn’t want her to fall if he stood up. Instead, he turned his head to face the open space as much as he could and spotted Sprout and Brightney at the entrance. Glisten let out a dramatic sigh of relief. He slowly shuffled himself into a more proper spot to successfully hold Vee’s top half.
“I had a feeling this might happen,” Brightney approached Glisten’s side. “She didn’t charge last night.” The reddish-pink lamp’s brow was creased with worry as she edged in a spot to carry Vee’s lower half.
“It’ll be alright,” Glisten shooted a nonchalant smile at Brightney. Sure, he always got concerned when Vee powered off, but he couldn’t show that.
“On three,” Brightney responded.
“One.”
“Two.”
“Three!”
The two toons heaved upwards, struggling to hold Vee’s limp body until Brightney secured a grip on the robot’s legs on either side of the lamp’s torso. Glisten took a little longer to find a hold, but managed to scoop Vee’s arms into his hands and let her head rest against him.
His stomach seemed to flip over as he peered down at Vee’s unresponsive state. Her screen was empty and black. Her antennae were hanging loosely. Her whole body was limp. Her microphone tail dragged on the ground as they started to walk, but Brightney skillfully scooped it up with her foot and caught it in her left hand.
Vee would hate seeing herself like this.