Valentines day drabble! Tachikoma mischievousness abounds!
"Mr. Batou! Wait up!"
Batou stopped, waiting for the Tachikoma to catch up with him before he continued on, face slightly perplexed. "What's up?" he asked, "you're oil was changed a few days ago, there haven't really been any missions…"
"No, no, it's nothing like that! I was just wondering if you could tell me about this Valentines day… we're all kinda confused…"
Batou glanced at the ceiling of the hallway as if begging it for patience. "This again? Can't you guys find some holiday history site on the net or something? I already explain Christmas till I was blue in the face…"
The Tachikoma stopped abruptly, giving Batou a quizzical tilt of the frame. "I never noticed a change in your coloring, Mr. Batou, and besides, doesn't your skin only have the eighteen squared sensitivity and thermoptic camoflouge? I'd think color adaptation would be a bit mu-,"
"It's an expression," Batou interrupted as they reached the hanger. "All right, what do you want to know?"
"Oo! He's going to tell us!" one of the other think tanks chirped, and the entire group gathered around.
Batou sighed. "All right; well, basically, Valentines day is all about romance and couples showing their…" he paused, looking for the right word.
"Affection?" one Tachikoma filled in hopefully, and was immediately shushed.
"Yeah, that's it," Batou said. He sat back. "Anyway, in the states and I think Europe both the man and the woman give little gifts to each other, though here in Japan it's usually the woman who gives the gifts on Valentines day, and the man reciprocates a month later."
There was a pause. An eye turret whirred, indicating a remote access. "I still don't get it!"
As if on cue, the hanger doors slipped open, and the Major walked in, raising an eyebrow when she saw the gathering.
"Oh! Major!" Batou's Tachikoma stepped forward, waving at Motoko. "Maybe you could help!"
The major didn't say anything, simply left her face blank, indicating for the Tachikoma to go on as she came on an encrypted comlink to Batou. What is going on?
Got me, Batou replied as the Tachikoma explained about his comrade's apparent difficulty in grasping the situation, guess you could just play along?
"And so maybe," the Tachikoma was saying, seemingly unaware of the separate conversation, "if you just showed it what people do on Valentines day?"
There was an extremely pregnant pause. Play along? Motoko said sardonically.
I promise to reciprocate on White day, Batou replied playfully.
You do that anyway.
He grinned, she sighed, and the Tachikomas waited impatiently. This is not in my best interests, she said, and dug into the pocket of her leather jacket, extracting a small streamline box and walking forward. He knew it was a pocketknife, she had mentioned she would get him one after an old one was lost.
It's not like you didn't have a gift anyway, he said, standing as she came forward. With little ceremony, she held out the box. "Happy Valentine's day, Batou."
He took it from her, smiling at her less-than-cheerful face and slight glare into his eyes as he said, "Thanks. I'll keep it close."
After this, you'd better. She said somewhat threateningly in return, turning away.
"Wait! Where're you going, Major? Aren't you supposed to kiss him or something?"
Another almighty pause. Motoko stopped mid-step, head twitching. Batou couldn't help but play that scenario out in his mind, but stopped when his logic kicked in – just like it always did. He forced a laugh. "You guys watching soap operas again? Gees, the things you pick up."
The moment ground back into gear, and Motoko continued to walk. With a wave, Batou caught up to her, and they walked out of the hanger.
For a moment, the Tachikomas were silent. Then they broke out into collective cheers. "Did you see that!" One crowed, "she already had a gift for him!"
"Oh what are you talking about?" another said, "She had five more in her pocket almost exactly like it."
"Yeah, but did you see the way she looked into his prosthetic eyes?" one said, "I swear I saw that on 'Natural.Cyborg Love' once!"
"You watch too much TV," the practical one shot back, "you know they decided in 2015 that it actually lowered IQ points."
"What are you talking about! We don't have IQ points!"
"Well, it was just a point."
"But not a valid one!"
"Comrades!" Batou's Tachikoma stepped in, waving it's arms, "We should not be arguing, we should be celebrating! The Major gave Batou a valentines day gift, and we initiated non work related conversation! The mission was a success!"
There was a collective cheer, and simultaneous chatter about human behavior compared to the behavior of Section nine, and speculation about the encrypted messages which none of them had seen fit to decode at the time of transfer.
Natural.Cyborg Love is just a random name I cooked up for a futuristic type soap. Lol… it sounds kind of amusing. That said… Aw! Silly little Tachikomas!