Excuses
A soft glow lit the inside of the bin, casting violet light back on her form. The storage unit was roughly the size and shape of a coffin, a metaphor that was not lost on its occupant. She had no idea how long she'd lain there, a space too small to move, her counter having maxed out sometime before. Most of her processors had gone into sleep mode long ago to save energy, and even thinking around the light from her eyes was difficult.
Which was perhaps why she didn't notice the scraping sounds until they hit the casing, sending a sound like an old gong straight through her skull, triggering all her senses into high alert.
Someone was yelling, and now she could hear rapid footsteps dashing across the debris above her head. The noises got louder, and more concentrated, as someone dug their way through huge mounds of half-incinerated trash to get at the lid. Three long minutes later, a sharp sound like metal on metal came from somewhere in the middle.
"Hallo? Anyone alive in there? Could you, you know, knock, or something? Assuming, of course, that you're in there..."
Morality caught her breath, and slammed one fist into the lid as hard as she could.
"Right, right, got it! Don't worry, we'll have you out in just a jiffy. Lucky thing this incinerator's broken, huh?" The last part sounded more like he was talking to someone else, but that didn't stop her from nodding in response. Of course, She'd severed their connection the moment the purple core had gone down the chute, a decidedly painful process for both ends, Mora understood, but she couldn't help but be glad that what she'd perceived as her imminent doom had become nothing more than a flash of intense heat, followed by being packaged right up by the Aperture Science Safety Waste Disposal Machine.
Over her head, she could still hear the voice calling orders, but they were muffled now, to the point of being unintelligible. There was a sudden, sharp pop! and now they were prying off the lid, whoever "they" were.
Light poured in, temporarily blinding her. The core blinked, waiting for her visual processors to clear up.
Purple optics met green, and the man's rough face broke into a grin.
"Hey there, pretty lady. Need a hand?" He held out his, an obvious offer for help.
That's not who I heard,she thought, placing her carefully-crafted appendage into his oversized palm, very aware of the size difference between them. He was surprisingly gentle, helping the older model to her feet without too much fuss, and a polite smile. The bared circuitry on her shell was much more blatant than the darkened lines on his skin, another contrast which bothered her. Morality was well aware that the scientists had huge stockpiles of replacement cores in case they failed, but she hadn't realized just how much they upgraded them.
She brushed her fingers against his shoulder, sending a feeling of gratitude sparking across her fingertips. The man jumped a little, but quickly settled back into his confident posture-smirk combination.
"Nice gal like you? No thanks needed; happy to help!"
She nodded, and looked around for the first time.
The Aperture Science Facility Safety Dump was a seemingly endless stretch of boxes of various sizes and conditioned, piled on top of eachother, each containing the remains of some incinerated object. Most of them were rust flecked with black coloring of some kind, though for sure it used to be the inverse. Her own bin was at the bottom of a small pit, clearly having only just been dug out.
Her saviors were mostly cores; a bright, smiling yellow core, with a childish form and starburst optics knelt at the foot of the hole. Logic's familiar face smirked at her from the top of a refrigerator-sized container that poked out of the debris like a ledge. A considerably paler blue core was off to the side, the voice that had called out to her babbling away to the human tending to the torn skin on his knuckles.
Morality blinked, shocked. The test subject…? she wondered, How…The woman had a kind, patient smile on her face a she examined the talkative one's hand, the sort of smile worn by someone who's heard it all before, but doesn't really mind if you tell it again. The core laughed, a pure, brilliant sound, and touched the back of his neck with his free hand, stealing a chuckle from the woman.
Mora ducked her head to hide a smile. Obviously I won't have their attention for a while…
A pair of arms folded around her waist, a chin fitting into the crook of her neck.
Another familiar thing, this time the feeling of a mind slowly settling down, sparked across her bare circuitry. She smiled, leaning back into the gesture, hands settling on his wrists, and turning her head to meet the rose-red optics.
Hello, Anger.
Morality. Sharp, curt, and to the point. Some things would never change, no matter how long they were apart.
I'm only doing this to calm down, he snapped, picking up on the thought. Don't go getting any ideas!
Of course not, Anger. It's good to see you.
A rough feeling, the digital equivalent of a grumble, flowed down her wires.
He was undeniably calm, or at least as calm as was possible for him. Still, the red core made no attempt to release her.
Angerality. Because it's adorable. Also, Chelley. Same logic.
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