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In the morning, at Carcosa Downtown, Tripmine was wandering around the shops holding a leather bag. He wanted to give 537Ø something other than flowers this time – well, he's still gonna send flowers to 53 – but he wanted to try something different. Something somewhat rather more… unique.
As he keeps on wandering, the Salesman suddenly walks toward him, offering a diamond for nail polishes. ‘Jackpot. This will be perfect for the gift.’ He thinks, but Tripmine’s brow furrows, tilting his head slightly; showing how much he disagrees with the price – Well, one diamond for nail polishes? Now that's ridiculous.
Tripmine then argues with the other until what felt like hours, The Salesman finally sighed in defeat and he lowered the price, offering an emerald for the bundle instead. Tripmine happily agrees, buying the bundle of colorful nail polishes.
After paying The Salesman – and giving him flowers as his thanks, of course! – Tripmine now went to visit 537Ø, climbing up the hill to meet the quiet – yet calm house. Trip went upstairs as he walked to the doorway, noticing the door was half opened. Curious, he took a peek as he saw 537Ø was facing backwards, sitting on a wooden stool, seemingly focused on the kitchen counter.
Tripmine can only smile at the engagement, opening the door slowly, as it lets out a low, small shriek. Tripmine now stands underneath the doorway, the other hand still holding the doorknob. He then – in a soft monotone voice – calls a small “Hey.”, echoing the silence in the room. “Good evening.”
He watched 537Ø quickly turn their head, now eye contact with the machine. “Tripmine, good evening.” 537Ø replied with a small smile. The shulker then coughed, turned towards the kitchen counter once again as he gestured their hand, inviting the machine inside. “What brings you here?” They ask, curious.
Tripmine can only giggle at their question. I mean, he could answer with good and well explained reasons but – he can not ruin the surprise yet, oh no – not just yet! Tripmine, not wanting to ruin the fun, responded with a simple answer, “I just wanted to see my fr- you. That's all.” Hoping 537Ø doesn't notice, he tries to bite back his words, feeling ‘friend’ doesn't suit the situation later.
537Ø turned around to meet Tripmine’s gaze once again – only to meet with the short distance between those two. Tripmine smiled, gripping the leather bag in his hand, excited to surprise the shulker with the gifts he had bought. On the other hand – Tripmine noticed – 537Ø was feeling a little bit embarrassed at the distance. Though, Tripmine just shrugged it off, then dragged the wooden steel that was next to 537Ø over to the opposite side of 537Ø, meeting the shulker face-to-face.
…
Silence filled the room, until 537Ø, “... You're really weird at times, Trip.” noting the machine’s unusualness, out loud – maybe not that loud but it's like a saying that makes others worried about their behavior.
However, Tripmine doesn't mind, nor talking back, he can only agree with what statement, because he felt the same too – Well, giving flowers, receiving gifts from the other’s hands – there was no reason behind all of this. Tripmine just wants to appreciate everyone, sending flowers as the first meeting is not his first time but – this feels different.
Not to mention that Delta thought Tripmine was courting 537Ø! Ahh, the embarrassment Tripmine felt when he finally realized what that meant… – Not only that, Gamma also bluntly told him that he’s gay. Ahhh…!
Tripmine slightly shook his head, throwing away his thoughts as he put the leather bag on the kitchen counter, let it face in front of 537Ø, wanting to show the gifts he got for them. He then dragged the colorful nail polishes one by one, giving 537Ø, who seemed more curious than ever, a peek.
He smiled, “It's a lucky find!” then grabs the blue nail polish, inspecting the variant beauty “A bundle, for just an emerald! 537Ø, this is a really good deal, don't you think?” He asked, but noticed 537Ø shows more confusion than happiness. “Tripmine.” 537Ø bluntly said, making eye contact with Tripmine. Tripmine can only tilt his head slightly, the shulker sighed “Are you sure? Can you.. reconsider this?”
“Mm, no…!” Tripmine shook his head, still smiling, though. “You know I really haggled hard for this,” He then giggled, remembering the small debate he had with the Salesman. “Oh, did you know that the Salesman originally wanted a diamond for this? Really? A diamond? That's ridiculous.”
The machine shakes the blue vial lightly, “53, can you believe this? A diamond just for these nail polishes? Dude, that's just a straight up scam!” Tripmine laughed as he continued his silly story, then saw 537Ø silly expression “Nail… Polish-es?” The shulker repeated that word, slowly, that made Tripmine confused too.
“Uhh… Yeah. Nail polishes.” He held the blue nail polish closer to 537Ø face, giving the shulker a good look as he continued to explain, “It’s used to paint nails. It also comes with variant, bright and colorful colors.” 537Ø shows a more puzzled expression, “You're tilting, 53.” He noted, making the shulker fixed their head quickly.
537Ø then leaned in closer so they could see the vial better. “I'm assuming it is an Overworld invention?” Huh. Oh… Tripmine realized something – 537Ø was not from Overworld, they're an endborn. 537Ø had mentioned about where they came from during the picnic with 53’s family. Gah, how could he forget?!
Tripmine sighed at the realization, “Sorry– I forgot we're from different worlds.” He apologized to the shulker before reaching his other hand, hesitating – Should he explain how to use these? Well, sure, helping a friend sounds fun anyways. – then grabbed 53’s wrist. The motion was a bit too fast, he hoped he didn't scare off 53.
“Uh… Trip?” 537Ø calls out his name, wondering what the machine is trying to do. “I'm trying to show you how to use this… It's better for you to know.” He quickly explained, his other hand put the blue nail polish down, and grabbed the sunset orange vial afterwards.
“...” Tripmine stared at the gloved hand he was holding for a moment, trying to process what he should say, or maybe trying to get 537Ø’s permission to take it off. Well, should he really take it off? He… had to admit , he never sees 53 without their gloves before. Would that be too rude? Would–
“You may.” Tripmine snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the voice in front of him. “You can take the gloves off.” 537Ø said, assuring the machine to continue. The machine can only sigh in relief, knowing the shulker gives him permission.
Tripmine now takes off 537Ø’s glove, revealing a hand with sharp claws. Tripmine stares at the hand, the glint in his optics showing that he's thinking of something. Well, yeah. It's rather more… silly. He didn't know that 53 has claws all this long! You can't blame him – the gloves they was wearing hid them so well…
“Since when did you… N-nevermind.” He rather stayed silent, and didn't want to ask any rude questions to 537Ø, “Don't think about it.” He murmured as the silence filled in the room, for a while – maybe for five minutes.
With such an awkward moment, the machine coughed “Okay, right. Let's just continue. You can just watch, alright? It's not gonna hurt, just tingly. “
“Tingly…” 537Ø repeated that word, the machine can only assume they didn't know what that word means as Tripmine slowly opened the topper, revealing the brush underneath it. The liquid coated with the brush, slowly falling into the vial. Tripmine looked at the topper and then turned his gaze to 53’s hand that the machine was holding with his other hand.
Shifting the way the machine held, he then quickly brushed the liquid onto 537Ø’s nail. The polish did quite look well, Tripmine has some experience with brushing nails. It's just some small hobby he picked up during his work time with Otto… – Well, let's not dive further into that.
Tripmine did the same until he was now finished, their nails done, now filled with brightful orange colors – matching 53’s color. Trip stared at it, still gripping the shulker’s hand. “Let's wait for them to dry, now we should do the other one.”
Tripmine released his grip, now – silently – requesting 53 for him to continue on their other hand.
537Ø agrees, giving the other hand for the machine to hold it softly. Well, this time 53 decides to take the glove off himself; prying the cotton off with his bare teeth.
Tripmine repeated the process until he – with hesitation – grabbed the blue vial, opened the topper quickly as he brushed the cobalt blue color in 53’s ring finger. Why did he do this? You may ask. Well…! Tripmine doesn't know either. Tripmine only felt like he wanted to show 537Ø that he will always be by their side, showing them he cares for them and…
Gods, is it too possessive? But – 537Ø didn't seem to mind that… Tripmine felt unsure, though – Why did he do that? Like, 537Ø is his friend…? Or… is it maybe actually more than that? Oh, he hoped someday he'll understand these feelings in the future, it's getting more and more confusing.
But the concept of… maybe claim 537Ø as his would be– Oh darn it, can he stop thinking about this!?
Tripmine shoved away his thoughts as if he'll get more embarrassed if this mere mindset continues its journey.
Tripmine has finished, 53’s bare nails are now covered with sunset orange – except for the cobalt blue on a ring finger that's on their left hand. “Now we wait, yes?” 537Ø then asked, Tripmine nodded, “We wait.” looking satisfied with his handy work.
More moments have passed, Tripmine is now focusing on the nail polishes, inspecting their colors and the conditions, shifting his hands to play with them. 537Ø, they stay frozen, afraid they'll ruin Trip’s work if they move by just an inch.
Now the wetness has completely dried off, Tripmine noticed it. But, he didn't seem to release his grip just yet and still, looking at it. 537Ø stated they had never seen painted claws before, holding the robotic hand. “So… this is how one would do to have colors on their hands, mm?”
Tripmine listened to 53’s talking and looking at the shulker’s gaze, only to be met with theirs as they both accidentally eye contact with each other, Tripmine quickly turned away, embarrassed. He can feel 537Ø does the same, too.
Silence entered the room once more.
But Tripmine killed it, “Ahem…” the machine coughed, “The paint should be dry now.” He says, not realizing he's squeezing 53’s hand. 537Ø hummed, agreeing as they now slid something from somewhere hidden from Tripmine's gaze. Tripmine's optics widened slightly as he let out a small and soft gasp, “... My sweater.”
“I fixed the tear.” Tripmine looked at the handmade stitches, remembering how he got his sweater torn out in Otto's tower. Well – it's a sensitive topic, though. Let's not think about it.
The stitches were made with flowers, 53 knew how Tripmine loved flowers. And flowers helped the machine cope with the difficult situations, especially from that damaging event. How sweet of them… Tripmine smiled as he stared at the embroidery, amazed by it.
“Yeah, I stitched them with flowers.” 537Ø stated the obvious, “I hope you don't mind.” They say softly, it's a sweet sound to him. “...I don't. Thank you.” Tripmine smiled softly to the shulker, “it's… nice.” He can't tell how much he thanked 53 for this – He should bring more flowers as his gratitude.
Tripmine slowly runs his puppet-like fingers – that was not holding the shulker's hand, of course – over the embroidery, wanting to inspect the quality of the stitches. He didn't even realize his hand was squeezing 53's hand this entire time, but he felt 537Ø squeezing his hand lightly.
“How about I paint your nails next?” 537Ø asked, “We should match.” Tripmine nodded, smiling brightly “Of course.”
Now his nails are covered with cobalt blue color, with one sunset orange on his left ring finger.