The sound of the machines' whirring and clanking came closer bit by bit, talking over each other to the point of it turning to metallic gibberish. Running out of time to get this mission done, a black box is hastily pulled out from the garments of a frantic, lance-wielding woman.
"Miss Amaranth, it's finished! Don't worry!" One small machine worms its way to the front of the clinking crowd excitedly, hurrying towards her as she happily kneels down to meet it at eye-level, tucking some wavy white hair behind her ear.
"Oh bless your little processors, you all worked so hard to do this for me! I promise I'll make it up to you all, but it'll have to be later!" She smiles apologetically after taking a small decorative item from the machine and places it in the black box, tucking it away and running off to get back to base, waving back to the crowd of friendly machines as she leaves in quite a hurry.
Back in the Bunker, a somewhat tired looking Operator with short dark hair is finishing up her last data transfer before a much-needed break, having a stretch just as a familiar face comes in through the automatic doors. "Oh, hey 12S. Just finished up and heading for my break if you want to come with?" She tilts her head slightly while asking the question, as though hopeful her friend would want to give her some company that wasn't the other Operators for a while.
"Yeah, that's what I was hopin for actually, you lead the way 14O. It's... been a while since I've been back after all, hehe." The Scanner smiled sheepishly, as though embarrassed about forgetting where to go to get to her own quarters for maintenence, and follows behind 14O earnestly.
"Honestly, you really need to remember where your own room is, jeez. You're so quick on the battlefield but you'd forget your head if it wasn't securely attached in production!"
She nags her friend just a bit, laughing a little as well as they enter 12S' room.
"So, did you find anything cool from the surface for me this time? Like interesting rocks, or feathers from a bird?" 14O asks as 12S lays on the surface of her bed, soft and welcoming after a couple of days out in the field gathering data for the Bunker's research.
"Well..." 12S starts up with an almost apologetic tone in her voice. "Not exactly something like that?" As she holds out the little box towards her companion, she mutters a little bit out of shyness. "I uh, got some help to get this... I hope it's alright though."
The Operator opens the box to find a small hair clip with a bow accurately depicting a Spanish Moon Moth and it's intricate pattern and looks at 12S with an ecstatic expression, grinning from ear to ear. "You didn't! Did you go to the machines at the factory we heard about? No wonder you looked so sad having to turn down a chat for a couple weeks! It's so lifelike too, how on earth did you get a clear reference?!"
"I found it on the database and showed them, as well as got the materials they needed to make it, stitch by stitch! I'm... glad you like it, I really am. Now I don't have to keep it secret anymore!" She smiles at 14O sheepishly, happy that her gift got such a nice reaction.
"Hey, 12S? Happy 6 months."
"Y-yeah, 6 more to go, huh?"