Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

You’re starting to get sick of this.

The restraints, the cards, that robot hovering in front of you all smug-like just because you placed a swapbot down by mistake, leading you to miscalculate the amount of energy you had left, ultimately ending in your loss. Now you're back at the first waypoint.

"It's only the second battle and you've already lost." It says, not as a question, but as a fact. Although it was smug at first, it's clearly disappointed now, shown by its display. What's with it and this Great Transcendence thing anyway? You don't even know what it is—and of course it won't explain it to you without being vague—yet you have to put the hard work into achieving it? Well, it's not like you have much of a choice anyway. You look down at the metal clasp around your left wrist again, the one holding your hand down to the cold concrete table. Thankfully it's not so tight that it's unbearable, but it is still quite uncomfortable.

"I said, you're not getting up," The robot reminds you once more just as you were about to try and wriggle out of there. Gosh, that thing just notices everything, doesn't it? With it's cameras all over the place. You relax your hand with a quiet scoff, so as not to waste your energy so soon.

You've been trapped in this game—or, could it be more accurately described as a world at this point?—for who knows how long. All of these puzzles, scrybes, rules and whatnot have started to get on your nerves for too long already, the feeling slowly building in your veins over time. You felt like you've needed a good, energizing stretch since all the way back in Grimora's crypt, when you were so busy strategizing at the time that you couldn't focus on yourself at all. But the scrybe who got on your nerves the most, was in fact, P03.

"How do I leave?" You finally ask, however fruitless the attempt might be.

"I just told you–"

You interrupt him, "No, I mean like as in... leaving the game."

P03 tilts his head contemplatively, an ellipsis appearing on the screen. It doesn't seem like he's able to understand what you're trying to say even with the explanation, though. Does he think it's about the card game? You clear your throat in an attempt to clarify, "And by this game, I mean this world, or place, or... whatever." Hopefully the gesturing and waving of your free hand helps to elaborate on your point, though you know it probably doesn't.

He responds with a short, flickering animation of him rolling his digital eyes. "You can't. Obviously." He pauses for a second, then gestures to the holographic display on the table with his singular claw. You can hear his fan whirring a little louder as he leans forward, paired with the slight sound of mechanical friction from moving his arm. "Not unless you start making some real progress on the Great Transcendence."

A sigh falls from your lips when you realize that there's truly no getting around this. You think of your home—your warm, comfortable bed, and miss it. You think of your friends and family, and miss them. This cold, dark factory does not compare to your life in the slightest. The ghoulish blue light spilling out from every screen doesn't help with the darkness. Especially so when you look at him, only being able to see his screen and the buttons in the bottom corners. The small breeze from the ventilation causes a chill to form on your nape. You try to ignore it as much as you can, lifting your hand to get back to traversing the lands of Botopia that are totally filled with oh so much mystery... Thanks to P03's amazing storytelling skills.

"So, what's the name stand for?" You prompt, lightly tapping on the arrows to make your character navigate the map. The least you could do was make some small talk. It was better than the silence. Er, well, almost silence anyway, save for the fact that there's always some kind of whirring sound going on in the background.

His screen flashes to static for a split second while switching it's expression to an ellipsis like before. He's not one for small talk—nevermind conversation in general—is he?

"Is this relevant?" He quips, his face neutral again.

"Huh?"

"Focus on the game."

Your eyebrows furrowed, doing the exact opposite of what he said and hovering your index finger only right above the next arrow. "I'm just tryna make some conversation," You scoff. It's hard to stand this place enough as it is, and now you're not even allowed to ask a few questions? Is being a little curious that much of an annoyance? It only seems to be the most reasonable thing to do, considering the bleakness of this strange place. All you want to do is fill the air with a more casual tone, unlike the fluctuating quiet that persists throughout each match. It would help you survive this lifeless factory just a bit better, that's for sure. However, instead of taking your bait this time, P03 simply waits for you to start participating again. So you do.

After replaying the battle you'd originally lost and somehow successfully making it through the next ones thanks to a few close calls, you make it to the next waypoint. P03 announces that the bot spawners are now offline before the tablet displaying the game turns off. You begin to wonder if that was meant to happen when he beeps, almost as if he was clicking his tongue in irritation.

"Lame. This old thing's dead already?" He says, tilting his head to the side to regard something. You're not sure of what, until the clasp around your wrist opens.

"I'll let you get up if you fetch a new battery."

You lift your hand up, rotating it as you examine it. P03 letting you be able to just roam around is quite the nice surprise, but it ends up making sense. Anything to make you do the dirty work, right? You get up, just as you were told, glancing at him a few times, only now realizing how short he was. You could see the outline of his silhouette a bit clearer now that you were standing.

Nevertheless, it feels good to stretch your legs.

"You're only allowed in the inspection room; the battery's in the inspectometer. Just don't touch anything else, and be quick." You nod in response, looking at the door to the right for a moment, then everything else. The room seems a bit brighter, somehow, now that all of your vision wasn't being drowned in that bright-ass hologram. You can make out more details in the room like the puzzle-locked boxes and the particle scanner behind P03.

Speaking of, he's clearly becoming a bit impatient as you stand there, just quietly looking around, so you trudge on ahead towards the doorway on the left. Maybe you'll find a way to escape here. Hopefully. You enter the room, quickly taking note of a few things right off the bat. The captcha-looking puzzles, the still conveyor belts, and... the inspectometer right across the room!

All in all, the factory looks exactly the same as it did in the low-res section of the game, except for the amount of dust. You miss that part, thinking back on it. You were so excited to try out this game, and look where that got you.

As you solve the puzzles with minimal effort, you examine each and every crevice of the walls and machinery, trying to find anything that could hint towards an exit. An outline of a door in the walls, maybe? Or a secret button under a table. Either one would work. Yet much to your disappointment, you find nothing of the sort. Feeling glum, you take the battery out of the inspectometer like you were told, and try double checking everything on the way back anyway; still holding onto that little bit of hope as always. There's nothing more you could do to soothe the hurt of finding nothing that could point towards an escape either way.

You enter the front room, shifting your gaze from the floor to the robot. Ah jeez, he's got his annoyed face on, You think with a downturn of your lips. You sit down, handing the large battery over to him from across the table.

"What took you so long? I told you to be quick," He sneers, powering the tablet back on.

"I, uh..." Shit, what's a good excuse? think, me, think! "...was trying to find the bathroom." Nailed it.

P03's silent for a moment. "Hm. Beasts and their biology..." He turns from the table, about to hover away before saying "I'll find you a bucket or something. Keep progressing until I come back." with a straight face, and then leaves the room.

You're gonna have to be honest, pissing in a bucket does not sound like the best way to empty a bladder. Sure, he's a robot and he's got a factory that, well, was once full of other robots, but weren't there more challengers before you? What if they too needed a little bathroom break between rounds? Actually, come to think of it, that was before anyone was completely trapped here. So, unfortunately, you're pretty much the only one to have this problem. Still, he's the one who dragged you into this mess. He should've at least prepared for your human quirks beforehand.

You continue on with exploring the map, and wait until he's back to start the next battle, all the while trying to come up with new ideas of escape. Hopefully one of them will lead to the way out.

Chapter Text

After defeating the Photographer and upgrading your empty vessels, you feel like it's about time for a break. You stretch your arms out infront of you, breaking up the tension in them. The light ventilation cools you off after the stressful match, and you sweep your fingers through the strands of your hair to detangle it, at least by a small amount. Man, it feels real good to have a bit of free will now. However, P03 doesn't look so pleased with it. His screen flickers a little in response to the noises you make as you stretch, as well as the rest of the show you're putting on.

"Are you done yet?" He chirps, a pixel eyebrow appearing on his face to furrow down a bit.

"I just beat an uberbot; that's good progress! Can't I have a small break for accomplishing what you wanted?" You bargain before arching your back to hear the satisfying cracks radiate from it, and sigh in relief. He flinches back a bit from the sound, finding it deeply disturbing. He always seems to forget the little things animals have to do in order to maintain their bodies. Like, sure, he doesn't have to stretch or anything of the sort, but what about oiling his gears, or tightening his bolts? He's got those, right?

"The faster you finish the game, the better."

You stand up from the table regardless of his suggestion, gliding your fingers across the edges of it as you take a step towards him. Again, you're caught off guard by his height. You had imagined him to be a little more... fortunate, back when everything—including him—was pixelated. But you ignore that for now, and lean against the table as you come up beside him.

"Aren't you a scrybe?" You ask, scrutinizing him. "Shouldn't you like, y’know, enjoy playing the game?"

The robot's caught off guard now, and it turns it's screen away from you, probably calculating the snarkiest way to answer. He's so annoying like that. Always trying to find the best way to insult, ridicule, and mock you. That's just all he does in his little factory. He's so lonely and egotistical that his own workers don't even—

"...I do. Enjoy it," P03 says, his voice more strained and muffled due to his fans that are stangely louder now. You're dumbfounded for a moment, unsure if you'd heard him correctly. You were expecting a different answer completely, one that was along the lines of

"But the Great Transcendence is more important than my enjoyment." He looks back at you, and that's just when the disappointment of your expectations hits. It's utterly redundant to you; only looking towards the goal instead of savoring the present. Why even play the game if all you want to do is see the ending? It didn't make any sense, especially with how little information you have right now. Though, you did notice that the screen was displaying static just as he was turning his head before it returned to his neutral face. You wonder what kind of expression he was hiding from you that prompted him to hide it, if there was one displayed.

Nevertheless, he continues to confirm your assumptions. Of course it's all about the Great Transcendence. What else would take top priority right now if not that?

"Fine, take your break," He says to interrupt the uncomfortable silence of your thinking. "I have other work to do, anyway." And he shoo's you away with the wave of his claw, turning around to face the particle scanner behind him.

Well, that was a bit odd. At any rate, you suppose you can't complain. You're allowed to have a break, now. Might as well make the most of it.

In the inspection room, you walk back and forth between the conveyor belts and the puzzles you've already solved, still trying to make a plan of escape. You trace patterns in the dust on the machine's surfaces, mindlessly swaying your fingers to leave thin, light trails. While you toss away several ideas, you remember the only thing you haven't tried yet.

The front door.

You briskly walk back to the front room and stand infront of it. Then, and only then is when you realize the front door(s) were the kind that opened automatically with motion sensors. Y’know, the ones at grocery stores and such. But you didn't walk over here to just give up because of a fun fact. You position your fingertips in the center line, take a deep breath, and pull.

The only thing that happens is the creaking coming from the doors, pushing against whatever mechanism was put in place to stop it. You huff, letting your hands drop back to your sides. Even with a few glances around the frame, you deduce that there isn't any kind of lever available either. That'd be too easy, of course.

You turn around dejectedly only to be met with P03's shit-eating smirk before he switches it.

"What did you expect?" He asks. "I've already told you the way out."

You cross your arms like a scolded child, averting your eyes. You don't want to accept his word as fact yet. There just has to be something other than playing the freaking card game, right? Nonetheless, he invites you back to the table, and you figure that your break has lasted long enough anyway. You plop down in your chair, and ease back into the game.

During the next few battles, you encountered quite the special bunch of different bounty hunters, ones that hoped to feed their families and the like.

"Name's Rust Van Bolt—don't wear it out, sweetheart," P03 says, generating a new voice for the character as he wears their complexion. You have to admit, it was actually quite a charming addition to the game. P03 isn't known for his role-playing or character creation skills, but you think he should be, atleast a little. You declare that you won't go down without a fight to the ruthless bounty hunter, and proceed to attack them with all the power you can conjure up. You didn't expect to be so into this all of a sudden, but you can't help it when a challenge comes your way.

You win, of course. These guys really aren't a match against you. So to celebrate your victory, you decide to head to one of the waypoints, and fast-travel to the shop.

"You're pretty good at playing these characters," You say coolly, and absent-mindedly tap on one of the icons in the shop. Your robobucks' total drops as three cards slide out infront of you. When he    doesn't respond, you figure that you said it too quietly. "I said—"

"I heard you. Thanks," He interrupts. His robotic—but usually more expressive in terms of sarcasm—voice is as monotone as ever.

You're not sure what's up with him lately. Why are his answers so awfully delayed? Are his audial processors glitching or something? Instead of picking a card just yet, you stand up and walk to the other side of the table. His face changes to that cursed ellipsis again, obviously wondering what the heck you're doing beside him.

Without saying a word, you place both hands on either side of his head, getting a good hold on it. Then, you start to tilt it in all different directions as you look for some kind of dent in the casing or something similar that could be causing the problem. As you do that, P03 makes a bunch of beeping, whirring and clicking noises in succession, looking at you with disbelief. A warning pops up in the corner of his face, telling you not to touch this robot's screen because yada-yada it could damage it, whatever. Oh! is this screw meant to be so loose?

You reach around to the back of his head to tighten it securely in place, but that's just when he decides he's had enough of this. He makes use of his claw by grabbing your shoulder, and shoving you back roughly. Your balance is thrown off, and your spit catches in your throat. You stumble backwards a bit, but thankfully end up regaining your footing. You hack and cough to clear your throat while P03 readjusts his head, then grips the edge of the table. He looks at you with angry pixel eyebrows added onto his neutral display.

"Why the f$#@ did you do that?" His speech is automatically bleeped out by whatever code censors his swears, making a loud beeep. It almost makes you laugh due to the absurdity of it, but you don't of course, since you wouldn't want to upset him further. You still wondered who decided that he isn't allowed to swear, though.

"You took so long to respond to me that I thought something was wrong with you," You say and cross your arms, then realize a mistake. "Er... something wrong with your head." That didn't make it any better.

Only now does P03 reach for the back of his head, presumably tightening the screw that you were trying to help with in the first place. "I think before I say or do, unlike you." Ouch. You have to admit, that hurts even coming from him. However, you honestly do feel bad for straight up harassing him. You might not like the robot all that much—and he definitely isn't fond of you either now—but he has a point. The actions you took were impulsive, and disliking him isn't a justification for grabbing him.

You shuffle your foot against the floor, moving the small amounts of dirt around. Wow this is awkward now.

Silently, you turn back to the table and sit down. God, how stupid am I? You think to yourself, and partially to God, apparently. You really don't know whether you should apologize, or if it's too late to now. He's just sitting there expectantly, waiting for you to start playing again. However, it's getting increasingly harder to tell if you're only imagining the tension.

You finally choose a card; the energy bot. Always useful, especially to get the big cost cards out faster.

Unfortunately, you're not exactly feeling riveted by the gameplay right now. You keep overthinking what you did, and wracking your brain to figure out why you even care so damn much anyway!

Chapter Text

"Ugh, sometimes the other scrybes' junk glitches in here. Ignore it."

Still, you poke around the wooden, antique cuckoo clock, pressing at the buttons to move the hands. The tiny doors suddenly pop wide open, and you're surprised because you don't really know what you did exactly, apart from messing with the hands. Well, they point to 4 o'clock now. What's inside?

You peek in and pull out the card that was previously lying there, turning it around to reveal the ever-beloved ouroborus you missed oh so dearly. You gasp, then hop around a like a kid that just got an ice-cream cone, squealing. P03 simply beeps, ignoring whatever shenanigans you're up to, but all you can focus on is how it's stats stayed 100/100 after going through the grueling effort for it.

You skip back over to the table, now eager to watch the (arguably) best card in action.

As the first round begins, you're lucky enough to draw the ourobot from your top deck, and glance over the board to start planning how to get it on as quickly as possible.

———

You collect the robobucks and the empty vessel upgrade like before with a relieved sigh. It was an interesting mechanic, including your computer files in the gameplay. You're not sure if the Archivist was allowed or even could access them, but what really made you panic was getting one of your windows files as a one-hit-kill card. Sure, that was your oldest file, but it was still pretty stupid to put it on the line like that, even if it's stats were actually pretty good.

Again, you got up for another short break. However, this time you didn't go to the inspection room like always. You snooped around the front room, hoping to find more cards like the Lonely Wizbot or the ourobot. Though nothing reveals itself, unfortunately. You give a short, disappointed huff and turn around to continue playing, but that's just when something grazes your left arm. You don't have enough time to realize it was a large, raw wire until after it'd burned your skin. A sharp hiss through your teeth catches P03's attention as he was quietly doing some self-maintenance. You clutch your arm, squeezing it in hopes of relieving some of the pain. Why the fuck is this thing just dangling here? You think, when P03 disconnects himself from a boxy-hardware lookin' thing, and hovers over to your side.

"Let me see it." He holds out his claw. You release your grip and wince when cold air hits bare skin. He clasps around your arm, and rotates it a bit to examine the injury. You can't help but stare at him as he does so. This annoying, sarcastic-ass robot, being so... careful and gentle about your injury? What could possibly be a better example of an oxymoron!?

"I'll go get electrical tape," He says, then releases your arm and heads into the inspection room on your right. You barely process what he says—your eyes fixated on the one spot where his screen used to be—until you look back down at your arm. The indents from his claw were barely visible in your skin, already fading away into your memory.

You blink, snapping yourself out of this trance. That was... weird. Very weird. You're not sure what that was about.

When P03 comes back into the room, holding the roll, you suddenly and conveniently remember what he said.

"Wha-Wait. Electrical tape?" Your breath is caught, absolutely appalled at what you believed would've been the last resort to wrapping up an injury, until quickly being proven otherwise.

"I don't have any gauze, if that's what you were expecting." He puts on his annoyed face, basically telling you to lower your expectations in his consideration for Beasts like you.

He's on your left again, and you steady your arm since he only has the one to wrap tape around your swollen wound. You flinch when the smooth, vinyl rubber connects, but still try your best to stay strong.

It's quiet. P03's focused on fixing you up, and you're focused on him. You wanna say something, but aren't able to conjure any words up that'd fit the moment. So, you just stare again, this time noticing his screen flickering more than usual. Hm, what's up with him?

Just when you're about to ask, he rushes to say "There. Better?"

However, he doesn't give you enough time to answer before he turns away, most likely because he wouldn't put in any more effort than he already has to abide to your silly human needs.

At least he's trying, I guess. You shrug, but take care not to move your arm around too much. He's probably just eager to get back to making more progress on the Great Transcendence. Well, that's how you rationalized it, at least.

So, you both return to the table, getting comfortable in your chair to continue playing. After winning a battle or two on the bridge—encountering more of those pesky bounty hunters—you end up in the ~magicks~ area, to which P03 perks up.

"I forgot to grab an extra piece for this part of Botopia," He states, and looks at you expectantly.

"What?" You make an incredulous face. "I just got hurt and you want me to fetch you something already?"

"This is only the second time I've asked."

"Maybe if you said please."

You wait a second, and are surprised because you didn't actually expect him to—

—Just kidding. He doesn't say please or anything like that, and instead switches his screen display to give you that annoyed look. "Get up and go," He orders.

And Damn, You think. Thought I was gonna get him with that one.

With a heavy sigh, you very slowly rise from the chair, and make sure every agonizing step is as loud and clear as the last. Through the inspection room, and onwards to the smelting room you go.

As you glance around aimlessly for whatever the heck he asked for, you notice the small, red flashing dot on the camera in the upper corner of the room. Ugh, of course he's watching you. But he doesn't actually expect you to do anything bad, does he? You've only injured yourself once... so far.

You find the odd rune-drone lookin' thing exactly where P03 said it'd be—floating above the smelter. Though just as you're about to leave with it tucked under your arm, you're distracted by the sounds coming from the pipes. You step closer to investigate, and that's when you become elated with finding out it's the Goo Mage.

"The pain is a bit more bearable," He informs you, his green mass gurgling, shifting, and sliding in his new container. "The pipe's walls squeeze me nicely."

You give him a smile, happy to hear he's doing a bit better. You'll never know what it's like to be turned into goo, but you do your best to offer the sympathy he deserves.

He also comments on how "You're close to the master!" while making an excited, toothless grin. It's endearing, though it breaks your heart a little knowing how the scrybe truly feels about him. Anyway, after a wave goodbye, you walk back to the front room, successfully delivering the missing game piece. Immediately after you sit down, it floats up and assumes it's position obediently.

"Good job," P03 says, and explains the use of the rune drone. Additionally, he upgrades your empty vessels. Now they won't be as "useless," he calls them.

On the way to the next uberbot, you overclock one of your sniperbots, just like you've done to a few other cards before. Except this time after it's returned to you, P03 doesn't unplug himself from the machine. You look at him, trying to figure out why he's taking so long, then realization quickly hits.

He's tugging at the plastic casing of the cord, trying to disconnect it from his screen. Is it stuck or something? His face changes to an ellipsis, though it’s pretty clear to you that he's just trying to hide his embrassment with it.

"Um," You start, unsure of whether or not he's got it. Is he going to ask for any help, or...?

After another ten seconds of him struggling, you decide you can't take it anymore. It's unbearable watching him in silence like this, and even more awkward than that.

"Do you need help?" You ask, despite knowing his pride wouldn't let him answer honestly. So, instead of waiting for a response, you take the initiative to get up from the table and walk over to his side. You look down at the robot, and it looks up at you. Maybe you're imagining it, but it almost looks sort of pleading. Then, a fleeting thought suddenly infiltrates your mind.

Cute.

Chapter Text

No, wait. Why would you think that?

He-He's a robot, for God's sakes!

I can't possibly...

You blink and stare, while quiet and pale. Oh God Oh God Oh God, No. Do you really have a crush on P03 of all scrybes!?

Oh God yes. You do; you realize with a mixture of horror and warmth flooding through you.

You do.

You shake your head to try and fight back your all-consuming thoughts. Have to get back at the task at hand...

Slowly but shakily, you lift your hand up to the plug stuck in his port, and wrap your fingers firmly around it, preparing to pull it out of there. He hasn't protested thus far. Hopefully that means he's okay with this.

You pull with all the might you could conjure up, yet it's still not enough. With a new sense of focused determination, you carefully place your other hand on the top left corner of his screen to steady him. His expression switches, though you don't pay any attention to it as you try to tug even harder. Then after a second, it slips right out!

You let out a triumphant huff, relaxing again after the struggle. Unfortunately, after closer inspection, you discover that you actually only pulled off the plastic casing, not the metal connector. A gasp and a quick glance around doesn't help you locate it. P03 beeps, grabbing your attention this time.

"Great. You just made the problem worse, you idiot." And he tilts his head back to prove it. You squint at the port, the one with the broken piece of the cable stuck in it. Oops.

You put a hand over your mouth to cover your guilty smile. "Pff, sorry." You think that maybe if his equipment wasn't so trash, this wouldn't have happened. "Do you have any screwdrivers?"

He directs you to the toolbox on the table beside the particle scanner, and after grabbing two, you tell him to sit on the table.

"Why?" Its display turns skeptical.

"Just do it."

And so he does after a moment's consideration; hovering up to rest on it, and then turning to face you. He tilts his head, wondering what your plan of action is going to be. Though the next thing you do was not something he would've ever calculated to be a possibility.

You end up crawling on top of him so his back's fully against the tabletop. This is... a very unorthodox way of approaching this problem, yet you can't help but feel giddy that this is actually happening. Yeah, you're just going to get the metal out of his port with the screwdrivers, that's all. Definitely nothing suspicious going on here.

You gently push P03's head back to get a better angle of the bottom, wielding one screwdriver to get ready trying to pull the metal out of the port.

"Is- uh... is this uncomfortable for you?" You finally think of asking, despite it being a bit late for that now.

You blink when the only response you get is the sounds of his fans trying so desperately to keep his circuitboards cool, and the flickering of his screen. You decide that you'll just try your best not to crush him. So, you flourish the second screwdriver once P03 has fully relaxed—his systems likely focusing on *not* short-circuiting instead of keeping his head up—and start to dig out the connecter the best you can. It's a tight space, so you struggle with wiggling it out of there. Maybe a pair of chopsticks would've worked better; they'd have lowered the chance for causing any scratches. Still, you lean in closer to get a more comfortable view of what you're working with.

And, well, you don't realize how close you are until he lifts his face back up to meet yours. You flinch back from the scare, making a pathetic startled noise. Heat spreads like butter across your cheeks, wondering what would've happened if he'd been even just an inch closer.

"Oh, looks like your systems are back online," You observe, unable to hide any of the awkwardness in your voice. This is a very awkward situation, after all. You, on top of P03, trying to "help" him.

"Get up," He says, ignoring your comment. There's a hint of static in his voice, probably due to shutting off so suddenly. You do as he says, and climb off. You shift in place, feeling the tension form in the room. Though, you offer him a hand to get down anyway. He obviously doesn't take it, and simply hovers down from the table instead. So much for courtesy. It's hard to believe whether or not you even like the guy. You're still debating it in your head. Once he's in front of you, it's easy to tell that he can feel the tension, too.

"You didn't even get it out," He whirrs, now trying to do it himself with his claw.

"I was about to," You defend yourself, crossing your arms. "before you got up and scared me." Ah yes, the good ol' blame-the-other-person tactic.

He generates an artificial sigh, as if playing card games with you is the most tiring thing he does in this factory. Then, he beeps as if he's just remembered something, and reaches out towards your left arm. It catches you a bit off guard, especially with how he pulls you closer. "Um..." You're not sure how to appropriately react to this when all you can think of saying is "You wanna kiss, or something?" and then you wonder if you're starting to glitch, too. However, you quickly realize what he's actually trying to do, and a pinch of disappointment yet fondness is sprinkled on top of the mess your feelings are considered to be.

P03 unwraps the electrical tape from your healing arm, and scans the nearby tables to grab the roll and apply a fresh, new makeshift bandage onto you once again. You suck in a sharp breath through your teeth, having completely forgotten about the pain until now. It's hard to tell if it's because he's the only other sentient being in this place, but you really do feel... comforted by him. It's like whiplash when in one moment, you're both bickering with eachother, and then in the next, he's tenderly caring for your burn.

Now you're left to question if this is something he's programmed to do, or something the sentient part of him wants to do. Though, one thing's for sure; you really hope it's the latter.

Once he's finished, he backs up and asks "Does that feel OK?" You can only manage a meek nod in return. Then, he ends up pivoting with "Good, because I wasn't planning on re-doing it."

And you know he's always gonna try to insult you or hurt your feelings like that. You know he tries to antagonize you. But even so, you feel that warmth in your chest burn hotter despite his attempts.

God, you've gotta get a hold of yourself. This is going too far. You bite your lip, not even trying to hide the fact that you're staring. "Are you sure you don't want me to try again?" You feel this sense of unaccomplishment at not having helped P03 with his problem in the slightest. You'd gotten ahead of yourself again, but this time you're not going to walk away without solving it.

He looks back now, pixels squinting at you as his arm whirrs to have his own go at getting the connecter unstuck. Of course, the prongs of his claw are too thick to really get any kind of hold on it, so he nods begrudgingly. You step forward with a small smile, a new idea forming.

"Could I hold your head for just a moment? I won't hurt you," You say, without promising.

He gives you a kind of side-eye, skeptical of the implications your clarification gives, but agrees nonetheless. Guess he's just curious to see what you're planning now.

You slowly but gently place your hands on either side of his boxy head. Then, you firmly bap your right hand against it. Hopefully it'll just loosen up, and gravity will help it fall right out. And, to your surprise—yet pride—it does just that. Wow. If you'd known it was that easy sooner, this would have been a lot faster. It really would've saved you from the embarrassment of getting on top of him like that.

"Hm." P03 reaches down to pick up the broken connecter from the floor. "I guess you Beasts aren't as incompetent as you seem."

"Aw, thank y..." You trail off, realization striking you like Zeus that it wasn't really a compliment. You exhale, but oddly feel light-hearted instead of annoyed. "Y'know, it wouldn't give you a virus for you to be a bit nicer sometimes."

"It's more efficient to be direct," He counters, rummaging through a box to find a replacement cord. "Letting your thoughts and feelings interfere with what you mean is..." He pauses when he finds one, pulling it out and putting it elsewhere for safekeeping the next time you need to upgrade a card. "...stupid."

You couldn't see his face when he turned away to put the box back, but you felt like there was something hidden behind the surface of what he said just now. It was almost like he was accidentally contradicting himself.

"Why do you feel, er, think that way?" You ask, genuinely curious.

He stops, the whirring of his hover pad quieting for a moment. "Well, it, it," His voice seems to glitch in the middle of his sentence. "It's pointless to add extra superfluous language when it's faster to get straight to the point. Like how you should be at the Great Transcendence already, but you're not."

You tuck your chin in, a little stupefied at the blatant remark. Though, now that he's facing you...

Is that a little pixel blush on his face?

"Because," He adds, interrupting your train of thought. "You're wasting time poking around my factory so often."

You're just about to argue against him, when his display turns to static, and he goes silent.

"Did you break one of the cameras?" He asks out of the blue.

"What? No. I can barely even reach them since—"

"Go to the lift and check on the camera down there."

His change of tone puts you on edge. Why is he suddenly so serious about some random camera? He's got plenty of other ones he can watch you with.

"Why can't you—"

"Now."