5.6
"It's beautiful, great. I like it," 5 said, blinking his one eye and holding the drawing to the sky.
"It's the source," 6 mumbled, watching the edges of his sketch ruffle in the breeze.
5 brought it down, "I know. I like them all."
The striped stitchpunk looked away, nervous. 5 pinned the new circle of signs to the old circles of signs- all the same, or similar. "We should--go back," 6 stuttered, hands tight on the key around his neck; he felt the loop against his nape pulling, and it grounded him.
5 smiled, "One day, I really hope we do."
For a moment, 6 felt only light and distant, but then saw his fingers reaching for the ink pots. He did not yet know the meaning of the source, but if every drawing brought 5 around, smiling like that, he would draw it again, and again, and again.