Suggested Listening: I'm In The Mood For Love - Julie London
"A new office?"
"Yes, we have to relocate you, Miss…. Mom."
"...don't ask."
"Understandable."
That was the conversation that had gotten Bird Mom moved to an office on the other side of town. Sure, it was the same distance, but now it was the OTHER side of town. Bird Mom sighed. She'd have to go and find new cute little cafés and bakeries and what have you. She hauled into her new office. Granted, it was nicer to an extent, and the vending machines were actually stocked for once (she'd have to go on an expedition for quarters once she was fully moved in), and on top of that her office was a smidge bigger, but she'd have to go and meet all kinds of new people she knew nothing about.
Bird Mom reported to her new boss: Mr. Filedent. The Big Wig unknowingly seemed to glare at the Legal Eagle over his spectacles until she took a seat.
"So. You're in my location now."
"Yes, Mr. Filedent."
"I see you've done good work at Mrs. Penstocking's."
"Yes, sir."
"I expect you to keep that up, or possibly exceed, misses."
"Yes, sir!"
"By the way. I hope you don't mind, but we do have a small… party at lunch break when there's a new person here. It's not all doom and gloom here, despite my looks, Miss Bird Mom."
"Oh! I'll gladly attend, thank you sir."
Bird Mom waved to her new boss and got fully settled in her new office. She took a small break between papers to sign to grab a few snacks from the machine to stash in her "fun drawer". It's just a small drawer of trinkets and small snacks to open up on days of extreme boredom. She soon headed to the meeting room as it rolled slowly towards everyone's lunch break.
In the meeting room, there were roughly ten other Cogs beside Mr. Filedent and herself, making twelve. A triad of Spin Doctors, some Ambulance Chasers, a few Backstabbers, a couple of Big Wigs, and one other Legal Eagle. That made twelve. Everyone introduced themselves.
"As you know, I'm Mr. Filedent."
"Janet."
"Tilly."
"Nate."
"Johnathan."
"Seth."
"Anya."
"Scott."
"Trisha."
"...Pepper."
"Nice to meet you all, I'm Bird Mom! My name's.. Odd. But I'm sure we'll get along!"
Bird Mom waved hello to everyone, and everyone had celebratory "new employee" cookies and coffee. As she was getting to the end of her cup, she'd noticed that one other eagle was sitting by her lonesome, robotically drinking her coffee and switching to a cookie and turning her head in odd ways without barely moving her arms.
She found it kind of… sad. She scooted closer over to Pepper as everyone went back to their office to eat their actual lunch, while Pepper stayed behind with her cracked open can of soup.
"Hello there."
"Hi."
"You're Pepper, right?"
"Affirmative."
"Do you mind if I sit with you? You seem a little lonely."
"You can if you would like. I have no need for company—"
Suddenly Pepper's optics shut off and her limbs dropped to her side, some cookie crumbs getting on her legs and her empty cup shifting in her hand.
"Oh god, oh god is she okay?!"
Mr. Filedent put a hand on Bird Mom's shoulder.
"She's… lacking, to say the least, in the feelings department. She doesn't have an emotions chip. The poor thing shorts out whenever she tries to access emotions. We don't want to hurt her, but it means we don't interact with her much."
"Oh dear…"
Mr. Filedent gave a nod and went back to his office.
Bird Mom sat and watched Pepper reboot quickly.
"What were we talking about?"
"Um, n-nothing. What've you got for lunch?"
"Soup."
"Me too! We're soup— soup buddies—hng—"
"Soup buddies? Soup is an inanimate object."
"I um, I guess so. Hey, it was nice to chat, but I think I've got to head back to my office. You seem nice, Pepper. We should talk more."
"A...agreeeeeee...d. bzt—"
Aaaaand there she went again. Oops. The other eagle scurried back to her office, flustered. She certainly knew what she was going to do this afternoon. Soon, it was time for her to clock out, and she drove to a nearby parts replacement store before heading home.
Bird Mom felt terrible about causing Pepper's systems to freak out, and even on just her first day she wouldn't stand to see her systems panic like that. So she readied her wallet and went on a part chase.
Chips.
She went through the various aisles. Arms. Legs. Heads. Optics. Internal hardware… yes, that's it! She then went through those aisles…. Chipsets….
It took a solid half hour of getting lost just to find an emotions chip. It was omnicompatible, and featured a little heart sticker on it. That was utterly adorable. She didn't care about the price tag, which was about 150 Cogbucks. She wondered to herself why Pepper never thought to get a chip for herself… perhaps she never thought she'd need one. Maybe it was that bad where she couldn't consider having emotions at all.
It took Bird Mom another half hour to get un-lost, a couple more minutes to check out, and a bit under half an hour to finish her trip home. She hated post-work traffic.
x02-Crunch was sitting in the living room, playing some video games on the couch. Bird Mom had taken them in after learning of their unfortunate circumstances concerning their mortality in the egg, and they stuck with her ever since. Ah, thank goodness, they'd actually done the dishes today! She sighed in relief.
"I'm home, Crunch." She called out.
"Ooh, are we going to make the beef stroganoff for dinner?"
"Of course!"
"Oh, how was your first day?"
"It was… good."
"...Is that from the parts store? Did you fry a circuit, mom?"
"No, heavens no. I met a nice lady whoithinkisactuallyquitecute but she's not got any emotions chip."
"Huh?"
"Her systems panic if she tries to feel any emotions or even think about them. Poor thing. I'm going to wrap this and give it to her tomorrow at lunch."
"No, mom, what'd you say between 'lady' and 'but'?"
"Hnnnnng can youuuu get the pasta going?"
"'Course."
x02 got the pasta started with a couple of snickers at their mum while she wrapped the chip up in pastel yellow celebratory paper with a red ribbon. She put it next to her briefcase and went into the kitchen to cook, firstly putting on a jazz record to hum along to. Bird Mom started to chop the beef as x02 cut up scallions and shallots.
🎶 I'm in the mood, for love… Heaven is in your eyes… Bright as the stars we're under… 🎶
"If there's a cloud aboooove…."
The frying pan sizzled with flavored olive oil, mushrooms, and spices alongside the beef. Kale cooked alongside the egg noodles.
As the meal was served, both birds mixed sour cream into their dishes. The table was silent; it was too tasty to talk over!
Once dishes were cleaned and put away, the two had some cake for dessert and played some Mario Kart together. Bird Mom always plays Bowser.
"It's because he's the best dad ever, clearly."
x02-Crunch was a Bowser Jr. main anyway. They liked the light classes.
After a few hours of Mario Kart, the two birds went to nest.
The next morning, Bird Mom grabbed her suitcase and her gift. She first poked her head into Pepper's office and waved hello and good morning to her. Pepper waved back mechanically. She sat at her desk with the gift in her empty but quite large desk drawer, giddy with excitement for break. She also may or may not have accidentally made very strong coffee that morning. And drank three cups of it.
Oh well.
Almost instantly as it rolled to lunchtime, Pepper had just barely cracked open her can of meatballs and pasta when Bird Mom stepped into her office with the wrapped box.
"Hey, Pepper, I got you something~"
"Go on, open it!"
Pepper opened it, her rudimentary "curiosity" (which could barely be called such, but it was… there at least) eating at her neural circuitry telling her to find out what's inside. She mechanically untied the bow, and she tenderly opened the wrapping paper and stared at the box.
"I, I couldn't help but feel bad every time you shut down, and, um, I didn't know if your neural circuitry even let you think about getting one so… um… it's for you! I can help you install it after work if you want!"
"...Upgrade would enhance system performance by… Calculating…. 703% per-cent."
Pepper practically made an aoogah sound before crashing again.
Bird Mom caught a smile on the much more robotic bird's face before shorting out.
As the day ended, Pepper came over to Bird Mom's office.
"Can you install this for me? I cannot reach the back of my head properly."
"Of course; here, take a seat in my chair, I'll have to stand to do it anyway."
Pepper took a seat, and waited patiently for Bird Mom to start to open panels and gain access to her motherboard. She wasn't anxious at all, it was just like regular maintenance. When, even, was the last time she'd…. Had maintenance? She thought nothing of it.
Bird Mom looked around Pepper's motherboard for the proper place to insert the chip. Aha. An empty chip socket! She ever so gently placed the chip into what was essentially her new friend's brain. Her systems suddenly slowed...
"Rebooting to utilize new hardware. No need for concern."
...And then stopped. It took a few more minutes for her to fully reboot. She sat up in a still quite robotic posture. And then a more natural seeming pose. She folded her hands in her lap and smiled, but quickly began to tear up.
"Pepper, are you doing okay?"
"Y… yes….. I'm not crashing….. I can access… my data…!"
She hugged Bird Mom tightly and cooed excitedly. She seemed almost nothing like her previous emotionless self; in fact, Pepper even looked better, despite nothing changing. She looked… happy. She had feelings on her face, and she wore them proudly.
The two exchanged numbers and chatted on the phone that night. It was Friday, x02-Crunch was at a friend's, and Bird Mom reheated leftovers and took a nice bath. She'd finally gotten some time that weekend to relax and she was happy to help a friend out.
That Monday, the entire office was surprised to see Pepper come in with a new outfit. She'd never changed. She had new pastel blue clothing-plating resembling an a-line dress. She donned visible socks with her dress, and a daisy clipped on her head. Her tail wiggled back and forth as she walked with a bounce in her step.
She left a little vase on Bird Mom's desk with a daisy in it and a note.
"Thank you so so so so so so SO SO SO MUCH i'm running out of room to write so oh goodness THANKYOU-PEPPERFIZZIEBOT3"
Bird Mom read this note and smiled with a laugh. She kept it right on her desk, and took the best care of the daisy she could.
The two more often sat together and talked at lunch, giggling and "aww"ing at each other's stories. The workdays rolled by a bit faster, and the office seemed much brighter. Pepper switched between her two outfits, but did keep the daisy clip on her head no matter what.
A few weeks later, Pepper decided it was time to pop a question. It was a calm sunny Friday, just before the end of work. Pepper poked her head into Bird Mom's office.
"Hi! Can I talk for a second?"
"Of course, Pepper! What's up?"
"I-if you'd like, do you um…. Want to go on a daaaa…. Daaayy…. Date. doyouwannagooutfordinnertomorrownight?"
"A… a ...date?"
Pepper stepped back, afraid she'd hoped too high.
"I'd love to, Pepper! Where to~?"
"There's a nice Italian place I pass on the way home. They have live music on Saturdays."
"Ooooooh! Yes! Yesyesyesyes! Does seven sound good?"
"Affirmative~!"
The two hugged and waved goodbyes, and soon would be chatting on the phone again. Bird Mom came home with some groceries after work, and gave x02-Crunch the good news.
"Crunch, guess what? You'll never believe it~!"
"Did a cop sprout wings and you had to give your old boss the next roast chicken sandwich you make?"
"No, very funny. Pepper asked me out on a date tomorrow night~!3"
"TWO MOMS?"
"Two moms!"
"TWO MOMMMMS!"
"She's asked me to a really nice Italian place, they even have live music she said, oh gosh I'm so excited~"
The two birds decided to just have cake for dinner to celebrate. And plenty more Mario Kart. They also watched a few episodes of Scorpion before hitting the hay. In the morning, Bird Mom decided to clean up the apartment a little. Wipe down the kitchen, clean the bathrooms, sweep the hall, vacuum the living room and bedrooms, nothing too much that the two birds couldn't tackle. 5:00. Bird Mom took a quick shower and put on some nice perfume, and her nicest dress...
Which, interestingly enough, was pastel blue, with a white collar. She clipped a daisy to her head. It would be cute if they matched and darn-it if she wasn't going to.
She got to the restaurant at 6:50, Pepper already at the table (only having been there for five minutes, though.) Early birds they were. And they were dressed the same too! Pepper thought that was quite sweet, and giggled.
"I like your outfit."
"I like your outfit too!"
Both birds ordered a big plate of spaghetti to share, with garlic bread appetizers.
The live music began to play. A lanky Loan Shark started to pluck their bass guitar's strings, another shark playing their acoustic, a Short Change gal on piano, and a Number Cruncher on stage. The song was…. Very familiar to Bird Mom,
🎶 ~Heaven is in your eyes... Bright as the stars we're under…. Oh, is it any wonder? I'm in the mood for love~ 🎶
"Ah…. that's my favorite song…!"
Bird Mom started to hum along. So did Pepper.
"I think fate has it for the two of you, then, hee." said their waitress with smile as she gave them their garlic bread, and went off to serve some other tables.
Both birds reached for the same piece of bread, and ended up holding hands. Almost as if they were made for each other. Smiles were exchanged and they split two pieces of bread. It's cute who cares about efficiency, both of them probably thought.
"Where did you learn about this place, Pep?"
"Pep! That's adorable I love it—I mean, I came in one night after work. My batteries were a lot lower than usual and I barely felt like cracking a can open for myself. I just ordered a bunch of garlic bread and i… I suppose I 'felt' better. Something about this place made me feel 'fuzzy'. My systems 'liked' it. Something about here just felt…. Right."
"That's….. Adorable! Pepper, that's really sweet. I think I like this place just as much."
She held Pepper's hand again and gently squeezed it. Pepper smiled and kept her hand in Bird Mom's. Soon, the garlic bread was gone, and a big ol' plate of spaghetti was set between the two. Pasta was twirled and then one piece of pasta was in both bird's beaks and they just went with it and smooched. Smooch! Right on the beak! The two gently squeezed the other's hand as they softly kissed before breaking both the noodle and the kiss.
"I think… I love you."
"I love you too. Would you like to come over after dinner, Pepper?"
"Yes, yes I would~!3"
The birds split their bill (heh) and they drove to Bird Mom's apartment building afterwards. Bird Mom let Pepper sleep in an extra pair of pajamas, but both agreed to share a bed.
Switching into more comfortable clothes, Bird Mom swapped out her blue dress and daisy for comfy purple silk pajamas, matching somewhat to the pink silk pajamas Pepper now donned. Bird Mom brushed her beak, and climbed into bed. Pepper followed soon after, and Bird Mom held the other Cog in her arms, falling asleep, holding her close to her heart.
"Goodnight, Pepper."
"Goodnight, Bird Mom."