Chromis sat in his small apartment, the ceiling lights turned low. His mask was sitting on the nightstand next to him. He felt tired and bored. He hadn’t had any work to do for a while, his boss was taking time off to orient a newcomer. Chromis never knew what to do with free time.
Chromis’s slate lit up and chimed, the perfect answer coming from a nearby table. He slowly rose from his bed, crossing the room with no less than 70% lethargy by volume. The front of the slate was bright, displaying a portrait of a green robotic being, two long thin antennae swept back from its head, dropping below its waist. Chromis groaned.
“What did he get himself into this time” He muttered to himself
He picked up the slate, and answered the call.
“What did you do this time, Stomach?” He asked
“Heh, nothing yet. Nah, I was just wondering if you wanted to get out tonight, with the arena quiet and Eyes adopting another one” Stomach replied
“How do you know I don’t have plans for the Omnichroma?”
“Because you’re you, Chromis”
Chromis considered the idea. He was tired, but he was also bored. And, if he didn’t go with Stomach, there was a pretty good chance he’d get himself in some trouble.
“Yeah, I guess that sounds fine. The Escapist?”
“Where else would we go?”
“Alright, I’ll leave now”
“That desperate to get out huh?”
“No, I just don’t want you getting drunk before I’m there”
“Yeah! That’s the spirit! See you in a few!”
Chromis sighed, and dropped the slate back on the table. Stomach could be a labor to be around, but they’d been friends for years, and he was a lot of fun, when he wasn’t in a holding cell. He was a good listener, he never asked Chromis how he did in the arena, and Chromis never asked him how he got out of the cell every time.
Chromis walked back to the nightstand, and put on his mask. The sudden shock of energy made him stagger back a few steps, it always did. As the mask sank onto his face, he felt himself get stronger, his muscles tightening and his focus sharpening. He took a few seconds to get used to the feeling once again, then grabbed his keys and his wallet and left his apartment, shutting the door behind himself as quietly as he could.
“Hey man, surprise seein you here!” Stomach said
“How’d you get here before me? I live way closer” Chromis asked
“I’m probably just a fast walker, or maybe I called from out front, either way”
“Alright, just try not to get in trouble this time, I don’t want to spend another night in the hospital” Chromis said
“Heh, hospitals are ripoffs. I could do a better job operating on myself!” Stomach said
“Last time you tried that you almost died”
“Well I still did a better job than they would’ve. I’d’ve been fine if I was doin it sober”
“If you were sober you wouldn’t have needed the repairs”
“We gonna keep diggin up the past, or are we gonna go inside?”
Chromis nodded, and the two headed through the slightly transparent double doors into the bar. The bar was quieter than usual, not many people showed up to drink in the middle of the day, mainly only robots who could reset their systems at will. Chromis and Stomach weren’t that lucky, but neither of them cared much. The two sat at the bar, and ordered glasses of pure grain alcohol.
“So, what’ve you been doing since the last order?” Chromis asked
“Being bored out of my damn mind. Already threw my toaster into the wall and fixed it twice, and redesigned my oven three times. Can’t really remember what I changed about it though, whole night is kinda a blur”
“The only reason Eyes tolerates you” Chromis said
“You know it. No one else can reverse engineer a transfer pod while blackout drunk”
“Alright, calm down before your speechboxing attracts another engineer, I don’t think I can handle two of your right now” Chromis said
“Mr. Arena is just scared of intellectual debate”
The pair broke out laughing. They both knew what Stomach’s debate strategy was like. The bartender handed them their drinks. Chromis took a sip through his mask as Stomach drained a third of his glass.
“Ah, nice. This place always has the best grain”
“Yeah, that’s one of the reasons I always come here”
Stomach laughed as Chromis glanced behind his back. Three robots were staring at them whispering among themselves. Stomach noticed Chromis’s concern.
“They talking about you?”
“Definitely” Chromis muttered
“Quit being nervous about this stuff man! You’re the one that’s famous, they should be nervous, not you” Stomach said
“Yeah well I wish I wasn’t”
“You’re really good at letting everyone know that. Come on, let’s talk to them”
Stomach ignored Chromis’s pleading and waved the group over. After some questioning looks, the party of three picked up their drinks and walked over to Chromis.
“You’re Chromis, right?” asked a robot that looked like an amalgamation of cookware propped up on five long legs holding a glass in three hands
“Yeah, he sure is! I’m Stomach, who’re you guys?”
“See! I told you guys it was Chromis! I’m Locke, this is Phee, and Twim. We’re big fans”
“Well sit down! He isn’t gonna choke you out or anything” Stomach urged
“No, I’m only going to choke Stomach out”
“So, how’d you get the name Stomach?” Phee asked
“Ah, that’s a good story. As you can probably tell, I’m pretty weirdly built. Whoever my creator was thought it would be a good idea to give me mechanical organs, imitations of the ones organics are full of. So, the day I got to One, I was pretty scared and confused, you know how it is. So, I decided to find a drink, then another, then another. Pretty soon I was on the floor, almost fully blacked out. The one orienting me was a girl named Aptsi. So, there I was, absolutely plastered and escaping my issues, when she walks in. She asks me what the hell happened, and I sit up, and vomit all over the floor. We were all pretty stunned, considering I wasn’t supposed to have a stomach, heh. So, since I didn’t remember my real name, if I even had one, she just starts calling me Stomach”
“Hah! Damn, what happened after that?” Locke asked
“I have no idea, I barely remember the day at all, I’m just going off what she told me after”
Stomach reached for his tenth drink, and finished it. Chromis knew it was time to leave.
“Hey Stomach, we should go soon. I have to finish… training, I guess”
“Aww, but we just got here!”
“You’ve been telling us stories for almost four hours” Twim said
“Eh, semantics. It’s not even dark here” Stomach said
“That’s because we got here at noon. C’mon, let’s get going” Chromis urged
“Aw, fine. Yeah, I guess eight drinks is enough for today”
Chromis helped Stomach out of his seat, and walked him to the door while his new friends waved goodbye.
“Thanks for keeping them occupied” Chromis whispered
“I’m the only bot that can keep three arena fans from asking Chromis any questions, don’t forget it” Stomach slurred, chuckling
“I won’t, now come on, let’s get you home”
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“Wraith? Is such as you pertaining to increased mental fortitude as of earlier time?”
Wraith laid on its bed, debating whether it should ignore Eyes or not. Its head was spinning, full of questions it no longer wanted answers to. Eyes knocked again. Wraith groaned and buried its faceplate in its hands, light escaping into its optics through the free space between each joint.
“Yeah come in” It muttered
Wraith heard the door slide open, and listened to Eyes’s footsteps approaching in an orderly rhythm.
“Is such as you of wellness?”
“Not really, what is it?”
“I am embarking upon the thought of an occurrence that seemingly to being helpful to such as this situation, wishing of yourself to following such as me”
Eyes stretched out a hand, beckoning Wraith to come with him. Wraith weighed its options, and took the hand. Eyes led it through the hallway, through the kitchen, and out the front door, for the first time since Wraith had arrived. The purple sunlight glared back at its face as the hum of strange vehicles moving up and down the nearby highway that separated the small house from the distant cityscape dampened the noise of Eyes’s footsteps.
“Following of myself, such is importance of time”
The pair continued, climbing up a wide ladder to the roof of Eyes’s home. The roof was decorated almost like an extra room, with multiple chairs, a table, and an umbrella. Eyes directed Wraith towards one of the chairs, and motioned for it to sit. Wraith obliged, and Eyes pointed at the purple sun.
“Closely nearing of the horizon, commencement soon. Direction of attention to adjacency”
The sky darkened slowly, the sun sinking deeper into the horizon. Wraith thought the sun was moving too quickly, significantly too quickly to be able to fit 32 hours into a single day.
“Why is it moving so quickly?”
“Timing of adjacent days is of variety. Possibility of an example single day nearing an count of hours thirty-two, another twelve, yet extra fourty-three. Such as the things are of variability. Commence attention directed nearing horizon”
The sky continued to darken as the sun made its way closer and closer to obscurity. As the sun became further and further obscured, something strange began to happen. Wraith put its hand above its optics, shielding itself from the last of the light. The sky around the sun began to lens, and become discolored.
“What is that?” Wraith asked
“Omnichroma”
Suddenly, the lensing reversed into a fisheye perspective. The visual exaggeration grew and swelled until it reached a saturation point. Wraith heard cheers from a distance as the sun burst into ribbons of bright, splendorous colors that rapidly snaked their way through the sky, like an otherworldly firework. The ribbons flew and waved so fluidly Wraith almost forgot they were made of light. The ribbons weaved together until they covered most of the sky above, to a great deal of cheering and applause from somewhere in the distance. It reminded Wraith of something it had seen before, light weaving through the sky, but it couldn’t put a name on it.
“Occurence is nearing frequency of single year apart, you are being of luck to have arriven at such an adjacent time. Listening to me, Wraith, I am of confidence you are to find peace in this world. Trusting in me, I have seen many of the same reach the conclusion. It requires adaptation, but such is your ability. You will make this your home, you have already being started. Taking time, we will being of help you through it. Forgetting not of your own ability, and you shall succeed such endeavors. Trusting in myself”
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