"I'm telling you, We don't provide those services to non-employees, good day." The droid harshly slammed the phone down before sitting back in the office chair. It was a lovely summer day, the heat was dry and the surf was up on the coast line, and everyone was out and about soaking in the sun.
Save for him.
Cryptor sighed, deflating into the chair. The facility was near empty today, not even his dad was in which was rare in itself. Mindroid pattered in, his long loose cable-dreads pulled up and stuffed under a big floppy sun hat. He bore nothing but shorts, a towel, and a bottle of sunscreen despite not actually needing it.
"I'm going to the beach!" Min proclaimed triumphantly.
"Have fun." Cryp stated bitterly, flipping through a record book just to seem busy.
Min bounced on his heels in anticipation, waiting in silence patiently. "You're going to the beach too."
"Minny, you know the rules, registered robots of the facility aren't supposed to leave unless it's for work or with authorization of a higher up." Cryptor recited it as if he had committed it to memory. Mindroid patted his fingers on the desk, glancing about and humming.
"You could pretend to go to work and then go to the beach."
"No, That would be lying if I got caught." He shook his head, "unless I go there and there's nothing to work on….."
Min held up his fists giddily, "I'll get another towel~!"
"I keep telling you Zane, There's someone or something that keeps rooting through the scrapyard at night, I keep hearing it." Jay exclaimed while gripping his bookbag, Zane held onto his own in his arms like a pillow as the two walked out of the school building after the final bell. They both had enrolled in a summer school program, Jay wanted to get ahead in classes and Zane had never attended a school before, so it was a perfect opportunity for them both. "I think I need to get more cage-traps…"
"I do not think it is an infestation, I have yet to see anything that could allude to it." The droid shrugged, adjusting his glasses, "perhaps I will patrol tonight and investigate." not that he 'slept' anyway, but he did like laying next to his boyfriend at night. He made a lot of strange noises in his sleep. The two carried on down the street and across the boardwalk, Zane eyeing the distant beach and waters.
Oh how he would take Jay down there, the waves splashing sending glittering droplets into the sky perfectly, the sun reflecting off of the ginger's blue eyes like crystals. He'd be there too, silvery plating glowing like a celestial being as he held a stiff surfboard. 'I've never surfed before, Zane..' jay would bashfully bite at his finger. 'Do not fear, my prince, you can hold onto me as we dance across the sea' Zane would smile as the two surf off into the sunset. 'Oh Zane, you did it again… Zane… zane…."
"Zaaaaaannneeee!" The droid snapped out of it, quickly jogging up to Jay and smiling awkwardly. "Gosh, are the clouds that thick up there?" Jay teased.
"Sorry, distracted by the water."
"Oh is the beach open today? We can go down after we get home, I gotta see if my swim-trunks still fit me. Oh and see if there's sunscreen, and-" Jay continued to ramble on as he went, Zane caught in his own fantasy land once more as he trailed after.
"Walk, don't run!" Zane hollered as Jay charged at the water. The droid shook his head and tossed down the towels, pulling his hat and shirt off. Sticking his tongue out, he charged at the water and tackled Jay back down against the waves, laughing and pulling him up. "I've never expected water in such quantity to behave this way."
"Whaaat? You've never been to a beach before?" Jay splashed him, getting splashed in return.
"I have, but not for fun, and most definitely not for being in the water."
Jay's eyes widened, watching as the water poured out of the droids joints, "OH MY GOSH! Zane you don't have rubber seals!"
"Its fine, all the wires are coated in rubber and-"
"We're in the ocean," Jay started pushing him out of the water, "Its salt water Zane, salt eats away at alloys, you're not coated in a primer I don't think." Zane frowned, guess that explains why scratches in boats rust faster than cars. He held his arms up, letting the water pour out of his elbow joints and onto the sand.
"Well well, look who we have here." A snarky voice interrupted the two. Zane looked over at the high contrast droid before him, his cobalt plating and fox-orange highlights standing out amongst the pearly sands. The face seemed familiar, too familiar for his liking, just who was this droid and.. "The fabled 'Julien-40' and his owner? Pfah! Doesn't even have proper seals or a coating!" the droid spat, "Of course you're nothing compared to me. I bet you're looking at me wondering just who I am! Well, I'm you… the new you, the better you, brand new built and upgraded from your design!"
"Hey, I'm not his owner, I'm his boyfriend, thank you very much!" Jay placed his hands on his hips, "and I'll have you know that-"
"Why are you so short?" Zane interrupted, looking at the droid.
"Wh-" The droid blinked, stepping back as Zane approached and towered over him.
"Isn't that color going to get really hot out here in the sun?"
"Wh- no,- yes,- I mean- GAH! Stop changing the subject! I'm Cryptor, your worst nightmare! I'll make sure you never forg-"
"I don't sleep."
"I DON'T CARE!" He threw his hands in the air, "Mindroid! Help me show him who's boss!"
"Oh wow, so you two are brand new basically?" Jay smiled at the little droid who had pattered up to him and offered his hand. "Mindroid was it? I'm Jay, nice to meet you!" Mindroid whistled and glanced over at the ocean, holding his hand up as a sunblock.
"GAH! MINDROID! I asked you to hide behind me and pop out at the right moment for a surprise!" Cryptor barked.
[But the practiced script-] min began warbling.
"Forget the script, stand behind me we're going to try this again." Cryptor sighed and tapped his foot as his younger sibling got into position. "Anyway, like I was saying-"
"So we'll have to run freshwater to try to flush the salt out and then get some primer, sounds good?"
"Do we have to go home now? We just got here.." Zane mumbled, a little put out as the two walked, "If only I had a skin-"
"HEY!" Cryptor roared and ran after, stopping in front of the two. "Don't just walk away from me! No one walks away from Cryptor!" Mindroid scuttled across and hid behind Cryptor again, mimicking his actions as he waved his arms. "Who do you think you are, walking this way far? Moving away? I think you ought to stay, cuz what I'm about to say is gonna ruin your day!
"My name is Cryptor, I got Min to score, keepin' beat in the heat while you hit the floor, your jaw, in awe, from my words and rhyming score. The shore, footin walkin' hand in in hand, along the sand so I do demand: You leave this beach -you hit the reach the line- here to waste your time, the sand is fine, it's all mine." Min had added a beat as he went, Zane back peddling and stepping behind Jay, gripping his shoulders. Cryptor smirked, a cocky arrogant posture to fit, "What's wrong? Cat caught your tongue? Bwahahaha!"
"We need to go." The droid whispered to his boyfriend.
"Whaaat? I don't get it…"
"I can't win this… I will explain later when we get home." Zane reassured, starting to pick up the towels.
"Phah, not even a challenge? I told you, you're nothing compared to me." Cryptor kicked sand after them, holding a hand down for Min to high-five.
"Oh I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts," Kai hummed, walking in sandals down the boardwalk, a towel slung over his shoulder.
"There they are standing in a row~" Lloyd added, who was walking between Kai and Echo.
"Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head!"
"Kai, that is *not* the song I want stuck in my head!" Nya complained, "Half the reason why I offered leaving the shop was just to get away from it, not having it come with us. Can't you believe them Echo?"
"I am not built with the capacity of keeping songs in my head." The radio droid smiled, happy for having the limitation among many others.
The group hadn't seen Ronin since he left with Dareth to investigate the ghosts' murder, and with no clear indication on when he would come back, they took over just about everything. Business was steady, scheduling was set up better, inventory was re-checked and reorganized(this time with more cabinets!), and even some of the withering decor and boards were replaced. Kai had gotten better with money over the weeks, even starting to get ahold of the concept of math a bit better now that he helped both Lloyd and Nya with their work. With so much that had happened, a break was in order, and what better day to have one than today.
"So, What do you all wanna do today gang?" Kai offered.
"Well, the beach is open, the zoo, amusement park, market district-" Nya listed a few off the top of her head.
"Woah- Amusement park? Like Mega Monster Amusement park?" Lloyd piped, "Aw, can we go there? Can we? My friends talked about how awesome that place is! But uh, they said I'd be uh, too short and.. Can't really go without a parent.." Kai and Nya exchanged glances. Neither of them had ever been to that amusement park, or even one in general, and none of them were exactly parents either.
"It is still around?" Echo beamed, "My brother, father and I have been there before, and you do not need a parent, just a legal guardian that is or over the age of 18."
"Well, just our luck, which way, Echo?" Kai smiled.
"Hm, I believe it's in the desert, towards the east."
"What?!" he stopped in his tracks, "That's on the other side of town!"
"So a rap-off?"
"Not exactly, although that would be the most appropriate way of challenging him," Zane held the hose from kinking as it poured fresh water through his systems, "A music duel is like battle of the bands. Whoever overpowers the other in rhythm, bass, performance, or melody wins, and the other party must abide by the winner's rules. Since I was unarmed, I was unable to do anything, thus he would have won by default by simply challenging it."
"So you were beaten by your clone, and we're kicked off the beach?"
"Only until we can beat him." Though the legitimacy of this all was something he was trying to find loopholes in. Cryptor was a clone, therefore on a technicality, he was challenged by himself, and lost to himself, but also won, and the loser was kicked off the beach, but he had won- or rather his clone had won, which was him in essence, so did he really lose? Jay watched Zane's eyebrows knit, it was the face he put on when he was thinking deeply about something, perhaps a little too deeply.
"Which should be easy, I mean come on, you're Zane, the Zane, with years of experience with that sort of stuff, we'll be fine." He turned the knob and pulled the hose out of the droid's joint, letting the spare water run out before tossing it aside.
"Correction, I have never challenged anyone to a music battle, I only performed."
"We'll be fine-"
"And you don't know how to play a synthesizer, we are at quite the disadvantage."
"We will be fiinnee, see, you'll do all the singing, I'll press down some random keys, turn a few knobs, and it'll all work out." Zane gave him a hesitant look. It wasn't that he didn't trust Jay in this matter, winning or losing mattered very little to him, but the idea of performing again was another story. What if it all blew up again, what if there are stages, and people, and noise- automated lines and codes, footings and responses. Flashes of cameras as questions lodged left and right, blinding him and daring him to run from it all but unable to move his own legs as the limelight would swallow him whole. "Oh perfect, looks like it's all charged up and ready to go!" Jay happily picked up the instrument.
"No." Zane squeezed the edge of the hard plastic, the cover of the synthesizer creaking in Jay's hands. The ginger glanced up at him as he stared back doe-eyed through his shades. "... I don't have seals or primer."
Jay snorted, "Oh right! I forgot about that, got caught up with the whole flushing the salt out and music battle stuff." He gave a sheepish smile, "Where would I get the seals.. Oh! Borg tower!"