Saturday went by smoothly. The Walkers and Zane spent it sawing and melting metal into sheets for re-use. Stacks of steel tied together by cables were loaded onto a city truck and sold for construction and other uses. Other spare parts were collected and set aside of personal projects, which there seemed to be a lot of.
It was sometime a little after noon that the postman had come to deliver his usual amount of mail. Edna gladly exchanged letters and conversation with him before seeing him off with a little cornbread. "Jay~, you got a letter!" she chimed, watching jay run to her.
"A letter?" He took it and looked it over. Whoever sent it sure was old fashioned- heck, the thing was sealed in wax! With Zane looming over his shoulder, Jay broke the seal and read:
'Dear Jay,
My mom was a little too excited with the concept of me going to your house(if you can call it that), and has sent me to invite you over for brunch Sunday morning. She is looking forward to meeting you in person(Please bring your Synthesizer too).'
-Signed, Cole.
The two exchanged glances, Zane holding the whiteboard, 'His mom sounds nice.'
"Yeah, but this is Cole we're talking about, Cole's mom. You know how pushy and stubborn Cole is, what do you think his mom's gonna be like? Besides, look at all the other piles we still have to go through."
"Ohh, an Invitation!" Edd walked over, wiping his brow, "Going over to a friends house?" D'oh don't worry about work, you can go."
"Ohh, you have a friend deary? What are they like, when did you meet them?"
"Are you going to invite them over sometime? I'd love to show them around the yard-" Jay sunk down and stepped away from the conversation his parents were having, reading over the letter again before folding it up and sticking it into his back pocket.
"It's tomorrow anyway, so we have time to fix your eyes before sundown." Jay looked up at Zane who was standing very close. He looked down and sidestepped, smiling awkwardly and letting out a small chuckle, "And maybe teach you a bit about personal space, too."
'Sorry' Zane slumped his shoulders.
"It's fine, your sensors probably need recalibrating anyway, maybe we can do that first."
-o-o-
Sunday showers. Jay and Zane had made their way to the bust stop to catch the morning bus to the city. The droid seemed to marvel at the droplets that sprinkled down from the bleak sky, watching them hit and slide down the plexiglass windows. Jay held the synthesizer to himself, the makeshift case damp from waiting. Zane had placed his hat onto his ginger curls to try to keep the water out of his face and honestly it didn't look half bad, despite him wishing it was blue. "What, never seen rain before?" Jay cocked his head, surprised to see Zane shake his head.
'Rain. I have heard that word many times but I never saw it in person,' the marker squeaked across the board, 'Nor a desert, nor the city from the outside. It's pretty.' He went back to staring out the window like a giddy child, hand and face pressed against the glass as he watched the city draw closer from the horizon.
"...Why is that? Cole said you're an old model, haven't you been in use since then?" Zane slowly slid back down into the seat, thinking before pulling the cap off.
'I was turned off for transportation. I only remember dark rooms with bright lights or labs.'
'My existence was a secret for the most part, until advertisers paid more than the manufacturing. I became a template for other clone-like models, but the work fell through. Dr. Julien took the money and fled, and I was put into hiding with a promise he'd come back after things calmed down. That fell through too.'
"So… he abandoned you…?" Jay hugged the synthesizer case.
'We're here.' Zane stood up, walking out and waiting for Jay. The two made their way down the street and into the residential area, following the street signs and double checking the letter address. Before long, they found themselves at the door of an old house, newly painted and in well upkeep. Ringing the doorbell, Jay snickered at the long pre-recorded 'welcome' the quartet chimed.
"Good day, you must be Jay Walker, and you are…" The femme opened the door, slowly trailed her eyes up to the droids' face, who stuck out his chin and bobbed his head.
"Zane." Jay offered, feeling the hat being lifted from his head.
"Yes, excuse me, I was not told that you were bringing someone. The letter asked that you bring your Julien-40, not any other guests."
"Oh! Yeah, he's part of it." He pointed, to which Zane smirked pulling the bill down over his hair in the back.
"Riiigght, Well, come in." She seemed skeptical, looking the droid up and down as they walked in. The faded hat, stained tee, the overall dumpy look of him didn't surprise her, yet somehow she felt some form of annoyance towards him. "Please take off your shoes, especially yours." Jay complied with ease, setting the two shoes on the shoe rug. Zane however looked down at his sneakers, which were almost in shambles, yet clean as could be. He had never taken them off before- heck, he didn't know he could.
"Oh, hey, this way." Cole emerged from the other room, flagging Jay down. Pixal watched as they headed out before pulling Zane down by the shirt until they met eyes. "Please make haste Mr. Julien, you are testing my patience by simply being here."
'Oh?' Zane held up the board, his glasses muting his expression. 'I would move faster if you weren't holding me by the reins.' She scowled, giving him a little shove before going into the other room.
"You know, I would have never thought you'd even let me step foot near your house, not to mention being in it," Jay marveled, looking around at the various classical trinkets and fixtures. The silverware was living its name, every platter and utensil buffed to reflection and deeply engraved in elegant designs. Pixal headed over to where they were seated, filling the teacups for the two before taking a seat next to Cole.
"Yeah, well, It wasn't my idea," He admitted, taking a bite of one of the many neatly-stacked cakes, "my mom found out and thought it would have been rude not to return the favor."
"Well that was nice of her- ooh, are these raisin?" Jay delightfully took a cake.
"It's crasin and cream cheese," Pixal corrected, "Miss Brookstone made them for the occasion." She watched her guest delightfully take a bite, eyes trailing down to the case. Coles eyes had gone there as well, a brief glance followed by gently nudging Pixal.
"Hey, now that you've got that synthesizer, how about I teach you how to play the piano?" Cole got up, signalling for Jay to follow. The two sat down at the wooden bench, hands resting on the ivories. "Every key is a letter, and each finger gets a letter…"
Zane had found himself nosing around the house, looking at the various trophies that were hung and displayed in glass. Almost all of them had the name 'Lou' engraved neatly on the plaqus they bore, save for the few that looked older. He couldn't help but feel like he knew him from somewhere, the group name being too familiar for his liking. His thoughts halted when he saw a flash of white and purple move from the corner of his eye.
They had talked through this plan days prior over the letter. Cole felt like he needed the instrument, and he had hatched a plan in which Pixal agreed to help with… until now. On sight of Zane, she knew that she'd be casted aside for him. Cole always stated how new tech was better, but he was still his father's son; he loved retro tech more despite its flaws and clunkiness. She carried the case to the garage and out the back door, pulling the sledgehammer from the wall.
She was jealous, how many times Cole had wished she was programmed as a singer or dancer or instrument instead of an assistant. How many times she had tried to learn on her own by watching other perform or dancing with Cole's mom in secret. She wanted to surprise him, to prove to him that she could change for him- for his wishes… but now this? All the work she had been going through on the cusp of being tossed aside for this?
Pixal raised the hammer high into the air, the Synthesizer laying as an open target perfect for her. She swung heavily, freezing at the last moment as a loud inhumane robotic scream let loose.
"What the hell was that?!" Cole looked up, Jay noticing that the case was missing. He bolted from the seat and glanced around at the various rooms before looking out the back window. Both boys pushed themselves out the back door, looking upon the failed attempted. Zane had her pinned to the ground, a sneer twisted across his face as she squirmed and jerked.
"Get off me you outdated overweight auxiliary unit!" She barked, hand straining for the hammer that was tossed to the side. Zane's eyes burned blue from underneath his shades, he glared at Cole and pointed, holding his hand up and slowly crushing the air in between his fingers.
"Pixal, this was not what we had planned," he hissed through clenched teeth.
"Your plan was flawed, you think I wouldn't care being tossed aside?! I do so much for you and try so hard to do what you want me to do and THIS IS WHAT YOU DO IN RETURN?" She bit her lower lip, eyes burning as they wettened, "Am I not good enough?"
"No- no I just-"
"You invited me over just to steal my synthesizer?!" Jay protested, soaking in the situation, "And here I thought we were becoming friends!"
"What is going on here?" They all stopped, slowly turning to look at the tall, muscular woman who held the groceries in her arms, braid dangling over her shoulder. She looked miffed, keeping herself composed and standing tall. Everyone stood and lined up orderly, Jay holding the keyboard for dear life as she stepped over and learned down to his height. "I'm so sorry Jay, I'm going to have to ask you to go home," her voice soft and tenderly sung, eyes trailing to the sniffling droid and her guilty son, "Here, come inside, I'll pack some cakes for you to take back."
The bus ride back was a little awkward, Jay had thanked Cole's mom for paying the bus fee for them, and after so a silence fell upon the two who sat next to each other. "So uuh.. Was that you who made that noise?" He ran his hand up and down the case strap. Zane shrugged and smiled, taking off his shades and fitting them onto Jay's face.
'I said 'wait', but that didn't work as planned.' Zane wrote, glancing up.
"You said 'wait'? I think we should work on your voice next, it sounded uhh, not the best." he chuckled, pushing the glasses up on his face and looking down at his hands. The droid sunk into the seat, peaking an eye at him before stretching and casually putting an arm around the back of his bus seat."I can't believe Cole did that, he seems like such an honest guy, and then that happens… Plus, when he was trying to teach me, it wasn't making any sense! Fingers have letters but there are other letters and chords- uhg, it's so confusing!"
'Cole is loser.'
"Yeah? Well I hope he apologizes, otherwise I'm not gonna be able to turn my back on you." Jay protested, looking the other way.
'I'm fine with that.' Zane wrote smoothly, though erased after failing to get Jay's attention. His blue eyes looked down before trailing to the endless sands and rock hills in the distance.
