"And there is the option for you to rest for a short while over in the maintenance shop if you want, as long as it's not at full capacity." Lilac informed Sebastian as they walked away from the storage area and passed a few stacked boxes towards the barracks. "But…" Lilac shivered and rubbed her arm. "Whatever you do, don't sleep there." She said with a deathly serious tone.
Sebastian gave her a wary look while grabbing her by the shoulders and pulling her out of the way of a few people who walked by them. "...Why?" He asked after a moment of silence and letting go of her.
Lilac gulped and felt another shiver run down her spine as she remembered that one incident and looked around nervously before turning her head towards him while leaning close. "Because the last time someone did, the maintenance shop owner performed an excessive amount of customization on them while they were asleep. The poor guy was never the same after that." She whispered with a haunted look. It didn't help that Daisy had told her that if you stay in rest mode for too long. The woman would find you and perform all kinds of modifications on you, no matter where you are.
Shaking her head, Lilac whirled around and pointed a finger at his face as she started walking backwards. "So just only go for repairs or tune ups! Got it?"
Sebastian blinked at her with a strange look on his face before smiling in amusement and slowly nodding his head. "Yeah, I got it, kid."
"Good." Lilac sighed, letting her shoulders relax as they made it to the barracks area with little trouble after she had shown him around a bit in the storage warehouse and explained the shops to him. She was just glad he hadn't got lost or stuck in the warehouse like some people manage to do. That and the weight from the tablet on her hip was finally gone after she had delivered it to the quartermaster as the last delivery for the day. Which was relieving for her since that meant she could finally take a break, or at least once she was done showing Sebastian around.
Another thing she was glad about was that they weren't being stared at anymore. Or least so openly. That had definitely dimmed Lilac's excited mood by a good portion at the stares Sebastian had gotten after they had left Anemone.
Glancing at him over her shoulder, Lilac wasn't surprised to still see that same calm look on his face and the weary smile he had been wearing the whole time so far. Even with the not so subtle whispers, they had gotten from a few curious androids on their way to the storage area. Though none had worked up the courage to approach him, probably because she kept glaring at them. And while he didn't seem bothered by it, it did bother her, however, seeing as how she was supposed to show him around the camp and hopefully give him a good impression of the place. Or at least that's what she was trying to do.
She cleared her throat, which got his attention. "Hey uh…" She scratched her cheek and glanced to the side. "Sorry about earlier."
Sebastian let out a hum and looked at her with an unruffled look and raised a single brow. "About what?" He asked as they passed through an alley.
Lilac blinked at that, lowering her hand to look at him with a bewildered expression. Had he seriously not noticed? She shook her head and gestured back the way they came from. "The whispers and the stares. That always happens whenever someone new shows up in the camp. Though it doesn't last long, usually..." She mumbled. A few people were still coming down from their excitement after those YorHa Scanner models got deployed into the city a while back and when a few had stopped by in the camp.
Lilac scowled as she remembered when she had found one of them snooping around in her room and having to chase him out after she found him going through her stuff, along with throwing his pod at him. Though she did get into a bit of trouble for 'terrorizing an ally' as Anemone had put it.
"Ah, that." Sebastian chuckled, drawing her attention back to him. "Don't worry about it, Lilac, I'm used to that sort of thing. But I guess I really caught some people's attention by knowing Anemone?" He asked with a small smile.
"Yeah… Nobody else around here can really say that they're close with her." Or at least as close as they seemed to be. Lilac's face twisted into a thoughtful expression as she looked at him over her shoulder and raised a brow. "Speaking of that. How do you and Anemone know each other exactly? Were you two squadmates or something? I don't think I've ever heard her mention you." Or anyone else for that matter, which made Lilac all the more curious about him and Anemone.
Humming at the question Sebastian slowed a bit, staring blankly at the ground in silence before shaking his head. "No, Anemone and I weren't in a squad or anything." Sebastian turned his head up and stared at the sheets of fabric sitting over their heads that provided shade from the sunlight with an almost nostalgic looking smile. While Lilac slowed down to match his pace and listened intently. "I was on my own, the same as now. Running around in another city back over in the night kingdom. Anemone and I would occasionally run into each other. And as she said, we fought alongside each other and then…" Sebastian trailed off for a second, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath with a small frown on his face. "Then we parted ways." He said with a sigh as he looked at Lilac.
Lilac's shoulders fell after a moment and she sputtered. "That's it!?" Lilac managed to get out, feeling utter disbelief in her core. She had been expecting more details. "T-There has to be more than that, right?" She asked him, taking a few quick steps forward and stopping in front of him with a pout. "Come on, what was she like? What kind of battles did you two fight in?" Lilac asked him rapidly. Her curiosity getting the better of her.
Sebastian blinked at her slowly, a weary patient smile on his face as he silently regarded her, much to her silent frustration. Lilac waited for him to say something for a few seconds before she pretty much deflated. Hanging her with a quiet groan. "You're not gonna tell me are you?" She mumbled in disappointment.
Lilac heard him huff quietly in amusement before she felt his hand on the back of her head, which ruffled her hair. Making her go stiff before she huffed and stepped away from him with a glare as she fixed her hair, that weird feeling from the other day coming back for just a moment as she eyed his hand warily.
"Sorry kid, but…" Sebastian sighed, lowering his hand and glancing at the ground. "That's between me and Anemone." He murmured, almost to himself with an odd look in his eyes before it was gone and he was looking back at her. "But," He said slowly with an almost hesitant look. "I suppose you could ask Anemone for permission if you're that curious. And if she's alright with it, I guess I could tell you a few things from back then."
"Hmm, alright." Lilac mumbled while frowning a little bit in disappointment, but tried not to show it as she nodded her head. She already knew what Anemone's answer would be since the woman pretty much kept her past a guarded secret. With there probably only being a small handful of people Anemone trusted to let them know about it. And Lilac doubted she would be a part of them any time soon.
The sound of laughter reverberated off the buildings and Lilac turned her head to see two androids stumble into view, bottles in their hands as they had their arms wrapped around each other's shoulders. Their words were a complete jumbled mess with how much they were slurring them as they tried to say something to each other, only to break out into quiet giggles. Both androids struggled to support the other as they stumbled out of sight. More drunken laughter came from them before it slowly faded away.
Sebastian chuckled from behind her while Lilac shook her head with a sigh and started walking down the pathway into the barracks. The fabric sun shades that had been set up to block the sunlight and prevent people from overheating fluttered as a gust of wind passed through.
"So this is the barracks?" Sebastian asked as they passed a small group of androids who were sitting around a fire, tucked away in a closed off courtyard chatting with each other. The pathways themselves were also somewhat devoid of androids at the moment, but that was because everyone was busy working.
"Yep! This is where anyone can take a break from their work and relax or hang out. For what little time we can at least." Lilac responded as she turned on a corner, brushing past one of the buildings before Lilac gestured to one of them. "There's also some rooms that have been set up in almost all of the buildings, but they're mostly used by the non-combat models stationed here. Since combat models will mostly be out in the city and not here. But they can still use the rooms on occasion to rest." And unlike the simple and dull gray colored buildings in the other parts of the camp, the ones in this section were like actual buildings, with some even having actual paint on them, though a lot of it was starting to wear off from how old it was and starting to flake.
"Hmm," He held his right arm close to his chest as he massaged his wrist, something Lilac had noticed he kept doing. His brow would twitch every time he did it, but he didn't really show any signs of pain and hadn't brought it up, so she kept quiet about it, but still kept an eye on him as she continued to guide him through narrow pathways, letting him familiarize himself with the place. "It's got a cozy feel to it, I'll give you that. Better than the last camp I'd been to." He muttered to himself, which Lilac barely caught. "The buildings here also seem more-"
"Detailed?" Lilac interrupted, but he took it in stride and nodded his head silently, lowering his arm back to his side. "Yeah, these buildings were discovered when the camp was being set up and were full of old human artifacts supposedly. But the buildings were barren of anything once the camp was fully operational." She wouldn't be surprised if command had taken anything that wasn't nailed down for historical purposes or had it all sent it up to the moon for the humans to use. Thankfully some androids had managed to find some furniture out in the city to use so everyone wouldn't be just sitting on the floors or have nowhere to put their stuff.
"And you said that you have your own room?" Sebastian stepped past her as she held a small metal gate open for him before closing it before getting back in front of him.
"Mhm!" She nodded her head before wincing when she kicked an empty bottle that was lying on the ground. The bottle rolled until it hit a barrel and came to a stop. Lilac grimaced at the loud sound it made and glanced down to see a bunch more of them laid out on the ground and an android who was asleep against one of the buildings. Holding his knees against his chest, which was rising and falling slowly. Lilac sighed and gently nudged one of the bottles out of the path and continued on.
"Anyways, yeah. Thankfully, Anemone let us set up a barracks here. Though pretty much no one used it at first because we didn't have enough mattresses to spare since they were all being used for the maintenance bay. But it was maybe a year later when we got more mattresses in a supply shipment is when people started using the buildings for resting or hanging out instead of being used for extra storage. Also, my building's not much farther. So stop being slow!" She huffed as she marched on, keeping her eyes low in search of any more stray bottles.
"Hey, I've just been following you. So you're the one who's been slow." Sebastian retorted with a chuckle, making Lilac choke on air before she let out a quiet growl as she tried to think of a response before giving up with a huff.
(+)
(+)
Lilac slowed when a smell hit her nose, and she grimaced when she recognized it. Having smelled it a few times before. "Oh not again…" Lilac bemoaned as she peeked around a corner and saw a lone male android sitting in front of a fire on a folding stool, with a slab of meat cooking in front of him. An old worn looking book was sitting on his lap while he stared down at it with a frustrated look as he scratched the back of his head. The pages had long since turned yellow from age and were slightly torn at the edges.
The man sighed and raised his head, rubbing his eyes with a groan. "Damn it… Why can't this stuff be easy?" He muttered quietly before lowering his hands, his eyes immediately meeting Lilac's before she could pull her head back. His eyes widened a bit before he grinned and waved at Lilac. "Morning Lilac!" He shouted, making her freeze in place and grimace.
Groaning quietly, Lilac stepped out from behind the wall and returned his wave with a half hearted one of her own as she walked over. "Ah… Hey Hawthorn." Lilac mumbled with a frown as she stopped a few feet from him, shooting a wary look at the meat he was cooking, which was sizzling ominously. "Another attempt at cooking huh?" If it was like all of his previous attempts at cooking, Lilac knew exactly what was gonna happen.
Hawthorn nodded his head, unaware of her thoughts as he closed the book and leaned forward, picking a knife off the ground and poking at the meat with it. "Yep! I asked one of the combat patrols if they could bring me some moose meat. And since they did, I wanted to try my hand at cooking some again." He gestured to the book. "I even managed to get my hands on some salt like this book kept mentioning. So with that, it'll hopefully add some flavor to the meat, and bam!" He held his hands out in front of him with a grin. "Best food anyone's ever tasted! Er..." His grin then morphed into a not so confident frown. "Allegedly at least..." He mumbled while slowly lowering his hands
Lilac crossed her arms and tilted her head. "Didn't you say something like that last time?" Because the last time she had tried to eat his cooking, it had ended poorly. Looking back on it, she was really stupid for even trying to bite into that piece of meat he had given her, considering how burnt the thing was. She might as well have bitten a rock with how hard it was. And it almost tasted like charcoal!
Hawthorn huffed and set the knife down. "Hey come on now, Lilac! I know my previous attempts haven't exactly been…" He winced and scratched the back of his head. "The best. But I finally figured out how long I'm supposed to cook it!" He exclaimed before glancing away with a frown and cupping his chin. "I think…" He mumbled, which didn't inspire any confidence in Lilac of his skills before he shook his head. "Anyways, it shouldn't get burned this time!"
A quiet chuckle from behind made Lilac jump in shock and look back to and see Sebastian standing behind her. She then winced as she realized he had followed her out from behind the wall. Hawthorn made a sound of surprise and looked back at him, as he stared at Sebastian in surprise. "Ah, sorry, I didn't see you there." He squinted his eyes and leaned forward. "In fact, I don't think I've seen you before."
"Ah, that's because I'm new around here," Sebastian answered, rubbing his chin as he stared at the meat. Making Lilac subtly shake her head at him, but he ignored her. "Lilac's been tasked by Anemone to show me around the camp."
"Really?" Hawthorn grinned and leaned back, adjusting the book so it didn't fall off his lap. "That explains why she's not stuck running back and forth doing errands." Lilac gave Hawthorn an unimpressed stare for his comment as he let out a hum as he looked at Sebastian, one that started setting off alarms in Lilac's head. "Say, have you ever tried food before?"
Lilac's eyes widened at the familiar question and she quickly stepped in front of Sebastian while waving her arms and shaking her head. "Oh, no, no, Hawthorn! He's-"
"I have." Sebastian stated, making Lilac freeze and fall silent immediately.
What…? Lilac slowly turned her head to stare up at him in confusion. While Hawthorn was looking at him with surprise.
"R-Really?" Hawthorn asked with awe. "L-Like cooked right? And not just raw?"
Sebastian smiled and nodded his head before gesturing to another stool sitting across from Hawthorn. "May I?"
"Y-Yeah, yeah! Of course!"
Lilac stared at Sebastian's back in silent horror as he walked past her and pulled the seat closer before he sat down. Her stare continued to burn into his back as he and Hawthorn began talking. Lilac stood there silently hoping he would change his mind.
Though when he didn't show any signs of getting up, Lilac closed her eyes and took a long deep breath through her nose, and held her shaking fists at her sides as she made a sound of frustration in her throat before heaving out a sigh and moving over to a wall opposite of them, leaning against it with a slouch.
"So what kind of dish are you trying to make?" Sebastian asked, leaning forward and resting an arm on his leg while cupping his chin as he stared at the meat.
Hawthorn blinked and began fumbling with his book as he opened it, flipping through the pages. "O-Oh uh, well, to be honest, I'm sort of just improvising and doing my own thing. Most of the words on the pages are illegible besides a few ingredients." He said before stopping on a page and tapping it as he squinted his eyes at it. "It says that the main ingredient is a type of meat called steak. But ah... I don't know what a steak is or where to find one" Hawthorn admitted with an embarrassed look, before gesturing to the meat he was cooking. "So instead I'm using moose meat to um... substitute it!"
Sebastian let out a hum and nodded. "Alright, what about seasoning? You mentioned salt, right?"
Lilac sighed miserably to herself once she realized how engrossed Sebastian was with the whole thing, already feeling bored to death as she quickly went into her settings and lowered her volume to where the two men's voices were but a mere mumble. Satisfied with the set volume, she pulled her hood up over her head and covered her eyes with it, resting her head against the wall, since it seemed she was going to be stuck here for a while. She would leave, but she didn't want to abandon Sebastian here with Hawthorn and subject him to his horrible cooking.
Some time passed and the smell of the meat began to waft around the small, almost claustrophobic area they were in, squeezed in between the two and three story buildings around them. Lilac hesitantly sniffed at it, letting out a surprised hum when it didn't burn her olfactory sensors and was better compared to all the other times. She could also hear the exclamations of wonder coming from Hawthorn every once in a while even with her lowered audio, along with some words she couldn't make out coming from Sebastian. Though she wasn't curious enough to raise her volume back up just to hear what they were saying.
Lilac grunted and jerked when she felt something tiny hit her left cheek. Sticking her thumb under her hood, she raised it enough so she could look around. Another thing hit her cheek again and she looked to the origin to see a woman standing in a doorway, leaning against the doorframe and looking at Lilac with a raised brow. She lowered her hand and dropped a few tiny pebbles onto the ground before making a gesture for Lilac to come over.
Gulping, Lilac pulled her hood back so she could see properly before slowly walking over, raising her volume in the process. Lilac stopped next to the familiar woman, leaning against the building while fiddling with the tail end of her hood. "Hey, Cerise…" She murmured in greeting, avoiding the woman's gaze.
"Lilac." Cerise's tone made Lilac wince a little bit. "I thought you weren't interested in Hawthorn's research anymore? Not after last time." Cerise asked with a blank tone.
Lilac sucked in a breath through her teeth at the woman's tone. Guess she's still mad… "No…" Lilac replied warily as she looked up and met the woman's gaze. She gestured to Sebastian with her thumb. "I'm supposed to be showing him around the camp. But he and Hawthorn started talking with each other."
Cerise hummed at her answer and crossed her arms before finally looking away from Lilac. "I see." Cerise mumbled, her gaze focused on Sebastian. Or more specifically his uniform Lilac quickly realized. with a distant look in her eyes. "...What's his name?"
Lilac chewed her lip and mulled over whether or not she should tell her, but if Anemone wasn't bothered by his name… "It's... Sebastian." She mumbled out.
Cerise's curious look turned into one of confusion and she frowned, turning her attention to Lilac with furrowed brows. But all Lilac could offer was a shrug and a frown of her own.
"...Sebastian, huh?" Cerise said to herself in a murmur, as if she was testing the name, not that Lilac could blame her. Cerise mumbled it to herself again before looking at him with a scrutinizing gaze. "He show up recently?"
Lilac nodded her head. "Yeah, he got here not too long ago and the commander wanted me to help familiarise him with the camp."
"Hmm," Cerise smirked briefly and glanced at her. "Still calling Anemone commander hmm?" She asked with an amused tone.
Lilac shrugged, letting go of her hood. "Still haven't broken that habit." She admitted. Lilac had always felt weird calling Anemone by her name. She guessed it has to do something with addressing a superior by something other than their rank, but Anemone seemed to prefer being referred to by her name rather than rank or title. Something which Lilac was starting to get better at.
Cerise said nothing and looked away from Lilac and turned her gaze over to Hawthorn. A smile that Lilac would describe as overly fond appeared on her face as she stared at him while the two men continued to talk about food or something. Lilac wasn't really listening nor did she want to.
"Wait right here, I'll be right back!" Hawthorn exclaimed suddenly, making Lilac jump and look over to see him launch himself out of his seat and bolt past her and Cerise, who quickly got out of his way, as he ran into the building. Lilac heard his footsteps halt for a moment. "Cerise, do you know where-"
"I put it on the bookshelf, Hawthorn." Cerise answered with a smile, and Hawthorn was immediately off, his footsteps thundering from inside as he climbed up the stairs faster than what was probably safe. For the stairs that is.
Lilac wetted her lips and poked her fingers together as she stared at the taller woman's back. "Hey, Cerise… You're still not mad about last time, are you…?" Lilac asked hesitantly while also shifting her body into a ready stance.
Cerise's shoulders stiffened and she slowly turned her head towards Lilac, the smile still on her face but it didn't quite reach her eyes. And something about her gaze made Lilac take a step back. "And why would I be mad at you, Lilac? It's not like you had insulted Hawthorn's cooking and made him feel bad for a while, where I then had to comfort him until he was confident enough to try and continue to learn how to cook." Cerise said in a barely restrained tone while gritting her teeth. The artificial muscles under her shirt flexed.
Staring at her with a wary gaze, Lilac fully leaned off the building and hastily stepped away from the tall woman, holding her hands up in front of her. "Y-Yeah, you're still mad." Lilac stuttered before practically scurrying over to Sebastian and hiding behind him. Who was currently busy flipping the meat over with a knife while shooting an amused look at her.
"Can we go now, please!?" Lilac hissed, as she pulled on the back of his jacket. Peeking her head around his side to look at Cerise, who was taking deep breaths and running a hand through her hair, looking a bit calmer than just a second ago. Lilac didn't see why the woman was so mad about what happened. it's not like she tried to insult Hawthorn on purpose when she had spat out the meat, It just tasted horrible.
Sebastian chuckled. "Just a minute or two okay?" He whispered over his shoulder. "The meat's already done, Hawthorn just went inside to grab something. Once we're done, then you and I can go." He told her before turning his attention back to the meat.
Lilac looked at the back of his head with a furious pout before letting a pathetic whine and resting her head on his back with a thump. Sebastian's body shook, and she heard a quiet rumbling coming from him before she realized he was laughing at her.
"Stop it!" She huffed, poking him in the back.
"Sorry, sorry." He apologized in a tone that wasn't apologetic in the slightest and was more amused than anything.
"Okay, I'm back!" Hawthorn's voice rang out. Lilac lifted her head and saw him holding another book in his hands and a pencil as he moved over to the stool and sat down with an eager look. "Hey, is it alright if I ask you a few things?" Hawthorn asked as he opened the book up and started flipping through the pages.
Sebastian nodded his head. "Yeah sure." He paused when Lilac let out a quiet whine and glanced back at her to see a pained pleading look on her face as she stared at him. "But we'll have to keep it short. I'll be stopping by camp most of the time anyways, so I can stop by and give you some advice another day when I get the chance."
Hawthorn nodded his head rapidly. "That works for me!" He flipped to a blank page in his book and pressed the pen down on it. "Anyways, you mentioned something about adding other foods to enhance the flavor?"
"Ah, sort of. What I meant is that a dish doesn't have to have just one food, you can have it so that there's…" Lilac groaned quietly and rested her head on Sebastian's shoulder, he stiffened for a moment like when she had hugged him before relaxing. Closing her eyes, Lilac leaned against his back while her arms hung at her sides, muting her audio. Silently waiting as she stared at her internal clock, counting every second.
And just a few minutes later, Lilac felt a hand on top of her head and hood, jostling her slightly. Lilac slowly opened her eyes to see Sebastian looking at her with a smile, his mouth moved but there wasn't any sound. She quickly unmuted her audio as he talked again.
"...Lilac?" He asked, gently moving her head around again.
Lilac sniffed and raised her head off his shoulder, making him remove his hand from her head while she leaned off him and stood up from her slouch. "Are we leaving yet?"
Chuckling, Sebastian turned back to Hawthorn who was cutting into the meat with a look of awe, probably because he was actually able to cut into it and not having to chop at it like he did the last time Lilac was here. "No, not yet. I was just checking to see if you were still awake." He said with a teasing tone.
Lilac let out a warbled groan and rubbed her face with a hand. "I'm surprised I'm still awake with how boring this all is…" She muttered, making him roll his eyes while he took a piece of cooked meat from Hawthorn's outstretched hand. Sebastian bit down on it, letting out a pleased hum as he chewed. While Lilac grimaced.
Hawthorn bit down on his own piece, and Lilac watched in worry when he went completely still for a few seconds, staring ahead with wide eyes before he practically started bouncing in his seat, making weird sounds before he was frantically gesturing for Cerise to come over, swallowing the food. "A-Ah, Cerise! Come on, you gotta try this!"
"Okay, okay." Cerise laughed as she pushed herself off the door frame and walked over. Taking a piece from Hawthorn and popped it into her mouth, her eyes widening as she did as she made a sound of surprise. While Hawthorn started laughing.
"Do you want to try some Lilac?" Lilac turned her head at the quiet question and saw Sebastian looking at her with a raised brow, a small bit of cooked meat pinched between his fingers.
Lilac ran the question through her head and leered at the meat, poking her cheek with her tongue before slowly shaking her head. "Nah, I'll pass." She mumbled, glancing down at the dirt. She was silently thankful when he nodded and turned back to the other two androids instead of trying to make her have some.
"This is amazing!" Hawthorn exclaimed, holding a piece of meat in front of him as he looked it over. "It's never turned out like this before!" He looked at Sebastian. "And all that stuff about seasonings, mixing and matching with different food! It's crazy how much there is, and the fact that there's, even more, is incredible! I can't help but wonder how long it took for humans to figure this stuff out." He mumbled, staring at the meat with an odd look in his eyes.
Cerise sighed fondly behind him, leaning down and resting her arms on his shoulders with a smile as she held him close. "Well, I'm just glad that this turned out so well as it did." Cerise turned her attention to Sebastian and gave him a grateful look. "And thank you. Hawthorn here has been trying to research how to make food for quite some time, so he can make a big feast for the humans once we beat the machines and they can finally return to their home." She explained.
Hawthorn rubbed his head with a sheepish smile. "Y-Yeah, I know it probably sounds completely ridiculous, but I just…" He shrugged. "I just want to make something good for them, you know? Something they can look forward to."
Lilac blinked when she noticed Sebastian become completely rigid for a second and sucked in a sharp breath before he was relaxed again and sat up with a chuckle. "It's not ridiculous Hawthorn, it's a perfectly fine goal to have. And... I'm sure they'll appreciate it." He said as he stood up to his full height, Lilac straightened up herself and gave the back of his jacket an impatient tug before moving to the spot where they needed to go.
Sebastian glanced at her before looking back to the pair and giving them a nod. "Right, well I need to get going. It was a pleasure to meet you, Hawthorn, and thank you for the meal."
Hawthorn shook his head and waved his hands in front of him. "No, no, thank you. If it weren't for you, I doubt it would've been anywhere this good. And I wouldn't have known about all that stuff" He lowered his hand onto his knees. "I… I don't know how I could repay you."
Sebastian waved his hand at him with a smile. "No need for that, the food was more than enough." He turned away and walked over to Lilac as she tapped her foot loudly with an impatient look. Seeing that they were finally leaving, Lilac turned on her heel and headed into the narrow passage with Sebastian behind her. "See you around you two." Sebastian called out over his shoulder, getting a goodbye from the pair.
"Geez, about time," Lilac grumbled as she blinked her eyes when she stepped out of the alley, letting them adjust to the sunlight as she turned to face him while he adjusted his jacket. "Y'know, of all things, I was not expecting you to know anything about that weird stuff. Where did you learn to do that anyway?"
Sebastian went to respond before Lilac saw a person out of the corner of her eye practically come barreling towards them and bumping into Sebastian hard. Making him grunt and stumble, which caused him to collide with Lilac. Lilac gasped as she wrapped her arms around him, keeping him from hitting the ground as he fell onto his knees and wheezed.
"Are you okay!?" Lilac asked with a worried tone as she helped him back up.
Rubbing his shoulder with a wince, Sebastian lifted his head and gave her a nod before looking over at the person who had bumped into him. Lilac followed his gaze and saw a woman with blonde hair walking away at a brisk pace with a slight limp.
"Hey!" Lilac yelled. "You could at least stop and say..." Lilac trailed off when the woman stopped at the end of the path and turned towards them. Lilac blinked in shock at the outright vicious glare the woman was giving them, or more specifically, Sebastian. Her gaze lingered on Sebastian before she turned away, quickly disappearing around the corner.
Staring at the spot where the woman had been, Lilac stood completely still with her mouth agape. "W-What was that?" Lilac asked with a stutter and worried tone. Looking up at him, Lilac saw a frown on his face as he looked at the same spot where the woman had been with a pinched brow. He sighed after a moment and turned to her with a soft smile on his face.
"Nothing you need to worry about, kiddo." He said with a gentle tone, placing his hand on her shoulder and pulling her the opposite way that the woman had gone.
Lilac said nothing and continued to stare at him with a concerned frown. Before her gaze slowly slid down to his right arm and focused on his wrist. The one he had been massaging whenever she wasn't looking directly at him. "It has to do with your arm, doesn't it...?" Lilac asked with a whisper.
And she got her confirmation when his eyebrows jumped in surprise before they stopped. His eyes looked down at his arm before he sighed, his warm smile still in place even if it now looked a little complicated as he squeezed her shoulder and let go. Lowering his arm to his side to partially obscure it from her view.
"Like I said Lilac, it's nothing you need to worry about. Okay?" Sebastian said. Though Lilac found it hard not to despite his words, she did relax slightly. His smile then widened a bit. "Now come on, didn't you still want to show me your room?"
Lilac shifted her gaze to the floor before slowly nodding her head. "Yeah, it's just around the corner." Lilac mumbled as she adjusted her hood and grabbed his left arm before pulling him along.
(+)
(+)
"Here we are!" Lilac gestured to a small building that sat near the edge of the camp, covered by the shadow of the other buildings around it, with the perimeter barricades visible just past the few gate fences on the sides. Lilac headed to the side of the building where there was a staircase. "Come on, my room's just up these stairs!" Lilac exclaimed as she quickly made her way up. The encounter with the woman still lingered on her mind, though it had quickly been overshadowed by her excitement.
"Alright, alright. Wait up." Sebastian said with a chuckle as he followed her up the staircase at a slower pace.
Lilac turned the door handle down once Sebastian was next to her and went to push the door open, only for the door to get stuck and cause her to smack her face against it. "Ow!" She reeled back and rubbed her face as she glared at the door. "I thought Daisy said she fixed that?" Lilac grumbled before bracing her shoulder against it and pushing, forcing it open. Heaving out an irritated sigh, Lilac pushed the door completely open before stepping inside her room, which was mostly bathed in darkness, which her eyes immediately adjusted to. The only light source was what little ambient light there was from a small window at the back and from the light that was coming in from the doorway.
"Woah!" She looked back to see Sebastian stumbling in from the doorway before steadying himself, squinting his eyes as he looked down at the objects laying on the floor warily.
"Ah! Hold on, let me get the light." Lilac said over her shoulder as she fumbled around in the dark, kicking away some clothes and other stuff that belonged to Daisy. "Really need to make her clean this all up." She mumbled as she searched for the last place her lantern had been before she found it under a spare pair of pants. Throwing the clothing off it, she bent down and grabbed an electric lantern off the floor, and turned it on.
Sebastian hummed and rubbed his eyes as he stepped into the room fully, looking around when he lowered his hands. "Do these buildings not have electricity?" He stared at the hole in the ceiling where a light would usually be.
Lilac shook her head, wincing when the light became too bright and she blinded herself for a moment before adjusting the brightness. "We don't have any lights or power set up back here mostly because we don't have enough generators to be able to support those and the lights that are out in the work areas. Which are in constant use." Lilac smacked her hand against the lantern as its light flickered before it was fully working. "So instead we make do with these little things for light." Lilac sat the lantern down on a small crate before standing up and turning to see him looking all around the room, staring at some of the few human artifacts she had managed to nab from the few times she snuck out. And a few things that Mizuna had brought for her.
"Pretty cool huh?" She asked as he looked at a box with a screen on the front and some antenna's sticking out on the top. "I found it about a year ago in a junkpile. Though I don't know what it does. The supply trader and I had thought maybe it was like one of our terminals, but the wiring and everything were completely different. Or from what he could tell at least. The innards of this thing had pretty much broken down and were useless. Anyways, since he didn't have the necessary components or materials to fix or maybe jury rig it, he let me keep it." She patted the top of the brown colored frame. "And now it just sits here... doing nothing." She mumbled, her cheeks heating up a little in embarrassment.
Sebastian chuckled as he messed with one of the dials on the side. "That's too bad, though it probably would've been a waste of time and materials to repair it since tv channels aren't a thing anymore. So you wouldn't have been able to watch anything anyway."
"Wait," Lilac blinked in surprise and looked at it. "You would watch stuff on this? Like what? Those idol streams?" She mumbled, wiping a bit of dust off it.
"Idol streams?" Sebastian asked with a bewildered expression.
Lilac rapidly nodded her head. "Yeah! It's something some of the YorHa androids have been doing for a few years now along with a few Resistance models. Basically, you can watch or listen to them talk about stuff, like the weather or about machine attacks, or anything else really." She hummed and crossed her arms. "There was one I listen to all the time, 24D was her name. But I haven't been able to pick up her signal for a long time."
"Right... forget some androids would do that stuff." She heard Sebastian murmur as he rubbed his face with a groan. "Well, yeah I guess you could say this was used for the same thing. But you'd be better off just using the terminals or whatever else to watch those rather than this thing."
"Oh, that's uh, good to know then!" She said before stepping away when she remembered the postcards.
Moving over to her bed and pulling her hood down, Lilac bent down next to it and reached her arm under it, sliding out a tin box, before picking it up. There then was an odd and sharp sensation from her hand for a moment and Lilac gasped when her left hand spasmed for a moment and she dropped the box onto the floor. A loud clang filled the room.
"Lilac!?" Sebastian asked in alarm as he quickly walked over to her while she held her twitching hand close to her chest with a look of concentration before the feeling was gone. Her hand no longer spasming. Lilac took a few breaths as she carefully opened and closed her hand experimentally while moving her fingers around.
"It was nothing," Lilac mumbled as she shook her hand. "Just a small glitch is all." Carefully reaching down, she scooped up the metal box, turning it over with worried eyes to look for any damage, before letting out a relieved sigh when she didn't find anything broken and sat it down on her bed.
"Lilac that seemed like more than just a glitch. You did get your hands repaired right?" Lilac didn't need to look up to know that Sebastian had a worried frown on his face with the tone in his voice.
Lilac rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I did look," Lilac stood up and held her hands up to him. "See? All fixed up." Showing the repair job the maintenance shop owner had done. Lilac had been so close to sneaking out of there with the necessary tools and supplies to do the repairs on her hands herself the other day. But at the last possible moment, Iris had seen her and got a hold of her before Lilac could run off to her room. And she got stuck having the maintenance shop owner repairing her hands, which had been the opposite of what she wanted.
Sebastian leaned forward to get a good look at her hands. Lilac heard him let out a barely audible hum before his eyes narrowed and she realized he must've noticed the pale lines in the skin. "Did something happen?"
Pulling her hands away, she rubbed at one of the lines with her thumb. "Nah, it just looks like that because the maintenance shop owner was only focused on repairing the damage to my hands rather than fully applying new skin onto my hand." The worst part about the repairs was having to have a few internal wires that had been severed in one of the deeper cuts in her palms repaired. It always felt weird to have those replaced.
Sebastian nodded with a relieved breath. "That's good. So they should be fully repaired soon?"
"Yeah, Iris is supposed to do a maintenance check at some point to make sure there aren't any problems before finishing the cosmetic work. And I guess she'll have a reason to do it now too." Lilac mumbled as she poked at her left hand.
She wasn't sure when that would be though, since Iris had only returned this morning after going over to Pascal's village when Pascal had apparently asked for help with one of the residents who had 'fallen ill' as he had put it, in exchange for some parts. Lilac still found the whole thing ridiculous and wasn't sure what good they could do to help honestly. Androids were made to take apart machines, not put them back together.
Though Lilac had gotten a good giggle out of it when she saw Iris come back looking like a complete mess.
Sebastian nodded silently before walking away and over to a stack of books and looking over them.
Opening her thigh pack, Lilac took a deep breath and flexed her hand again before she carefully took the postcards out, thankfully still in the same condition as when she had put them away. She smiled as she held them in front of her, straightening out one of the corners on one of them before placing them down on the bed.
Popping the lid open on the tin box, she grabbed the two postcards and placed them on top of the eight others she had managed to find so far, before closing the lid and putting it back under her bed safely.
Standing up, Lilac sat down on her bed and quickly untied her boots before kicking them off and nudging them to the side before plopping down onto her back with a groan and closing her eyes.
"Hey Lilac, isn't this one of the books you grabbed when we first met?"
Lilac slowly sat up with a questioning hum and looked over to where Sebastian was and saw him bent down next to a wall, picking a book off the floor that was far from the others. Lilac wracked her brain as to why there was a book laying on the floor over there before she froze when she saw the familiar red frame, with the faded picture of a sword planted in front of a tree on the cover.
"O-Oh, yeah, it is." Lilac stuttered while she slowly scooted herself up a bit on the bed before bringing her knees up and hugging them close to her chest. "I... didn't really like that one."
"Hmm, story not that good?" He asked as he opened the book, glancing at the pages as he flipped through them.
"...I guess you could say that." She murmured and looked down at the floor. "It's about two human kingdoms fighting against each other or something and…" Lilac gulped as a tremor ran through her body. "There were just so many graphic depictions of humans killing e-each…" Lilac's throat tightened and she started to feel queasy as she remembered some of the brutally violent scenes that were in just the first chapter alone. It didn't help that the main character of the story apparently enjoyed the killing of other humans. With the book going into way too much detail for her liking. Which led to Lilac throwing the book across the room and not touching it since. Mizuna had later found Lilac a trembling and terrified mess hiding under the covers of her bed after she had read the first chapter.
"I just," Lilac managed to say, finding her voice as Sebastian stood up with a frown. "Why in the world would someone write such a horrible thing!? What android would want to read a story about humans…" She trailed off and squeezed her eyes shut for a moment as she felt an ache in her chest as she let out a shuddering breath.
"Ah…" She heard him say followed by a thump from the book as it was closed. Opening her eyes, Lilac looked at Sebastian and noticed that he didn't really seem bothered by what she had described and instead had a resigned look on his face as he walked over to her. "Right, I forgot that the more… negative aspects of humanity aren't as well documented as the good stuff about them." He mumbled.
Sebastian stopped in front of the bed and sighed as he sat down next to her, the bed sinking under him and causing her to fall over against him. He let out a quiet grunt when her head impacted against his arm, but he didn't move to push her away, so she just kept her head pressed against his arm while keeping her gaze on the book, as if it would jump at her if she looked away.
"You can't mean that that story is true, can you…?" Lilac asked quietly. "That would be ridiculous!" She said with a forced laugh, before tearing her gaze away from the book to look up at him. "Right…?" She whispered.
The pitying look on his face didn't help, even as he looked away his lips pulled back into a thin line. "While the story itself might not be true Lilac…" Sebastian sighed and closed his eyes. "That doesn't mean it couldn't have been based on something that had happened in reality."
Her eyes widened. "B-But humans are-"
"Humanity isn't perfect, Lilac." Even with his gentle tone. Those few words made Lilac snap her mouth shut, ending her quiet protest before it could start and forcing the air out of her. A tight feeling coiled around in her chest as she ran the words through her over and over again as she stared at the ground with wide eyes, having never heard someone say such a thing about their creators.
Sebastian heaved out another sigh and set the book down on the floor out of view before turning back to her. "Lilac look. I'm not saying humanity is all like what was probably described in that book or that they're horrible people, far from it." He said with a gentle tone. "But there were conflicts in humanity's past, many of them. One's where humans would wage war against each other because of ideology, religion, or because they lived in different nations, and many other reasons."
Lilac curled tighter into herself, a strange feeling in her throat as she kept her gaze locked onto the floor and kept silent.
"But," Lilac risked a glance up at him and saw a gentle weary smile on his face. "For every negative aspect in humanity, there was an equal amount of good. Neither can exist without the other in some shape or form, that is the way things were. It's what made- makes, humans such complex creatures."
Lilac stared at him before turning her head away, chewing on her lip as thought about what he said. She grabbed a fistful of the end of her hood in her right hand, pinching the cloth material between her fingers.
"Sebastian?" She asked after a minute of silence.
"Hm?"
"Can I ask you a question?" Pulling on her hood, she wrapped most of it around her knees and upper body. "A… personal one?" She whispered as she leaned against him.
"Mm, depends on how personal it is."
Here goes nothing. "...What kind of android are you?" She asked hesitantly with a wince and tensed in preparation for his reaction. But after a few seconds of nothing she relaxed when she realized there wasn't really much of a change in his posture, his breathing still calm and his shoulders still relaxed. Seeing that she didn't get a bad response she continued. "It's just," She played with a bit of her hair. "You seem to know so much of what the humans used to do before they were driven away by the aliens and machines. You know about the buildings, what they were used for. And then today, you know how to cook food and how to prepare a meal or… whatever it was called, you know about that box thing, you know about human's kill..." She bit down hard on her tongue before she could finish that sentence. "And finally… you have a human name too."
He hummed, and turned his head down with a quiet sigh, flicking a finger against his pants. "...I'm an old android Lilac. I've had the time to explore and learn a lot of things over the years. I don't know every little thing, mind you. But I'll probably know more than the average android, or at least have a better understanding than them." He explained with a weary smile before he shrugged. "And as for my name…" His eyes closed and his smile quickly twisted into a frown. "It was given to me by… someone close, you could say."
"How about Lilac? That'd be a good name for you right?" Lilac grunted quietly in discomfort from the old memory and squeezed her eyes shut as she trembled for a moment before it was gone. Taking a deep slow breath, Lilac opened her eyes again.
Lilac then frowned a bit from the somewhat vague answer Sebastian had given her, which hadn't really answered her question about what his model was. But she decided not to push it and just leaned her body against his with a quiet sigh since that was probably about as much she would get out of him for now.
"What do you think of the camp?" Lilac mumbled into his side. "I know it's probably not the best you've seen. But we've been managing pretty well lately, getting by every day. Mostly all thanks to Anemone for keeping us together really. And making sure we're working when we're supposed to I guess…" She muttered.
Sebastian hummed in amusement and adjusted his position, resting his right arm around her but said nothing.
"You know…" She started, her shoulders rising as she smiled a bit. "There are three rooms in this building. Two up here and a big one underneath us. Hmm, though that one's being used for storage for random nonimportant stuff. And I imagine you wouldn't enjoy bunking with Daisy and Mizuna…"
"Lilac…" Sebastian said slowly. But she didn't really hear him and kept going, raising her head as she got an idea.
"Oh! Maybe you can ask Anemone to clear out the room on the bottom! I'm sure she'd be fine with it! Or maybe you can stay in the building next to-"
"Lilac." She stopped when he said her name louder and his hand gently squeezed her arm, finally getting her attention as she looked up at him to see a regretful frown on his face. He sighed. "I'm sorry kiddo. But I'm not going to be staying in the camp."
Lilac's smile quickly fell from her face, a look of dismay replacing it soon after. "O-Oh…" Her shoulders sagged in disappointment as she stared at the floor in silence, before she glanced up at him again, clutching a part of his jacket. "Will you at least visit?" She asked with a pleading tone and look.
Sebastian smiled softly and nodded. "Of course, I was always going to stop by the camp anyways." He chuckled. "And I guess I'll also stop by on occasion to make sure you don't die from total boredom."
"Mmm," Lilac felt her eyelids slowly begin to droop as she leaned back against Sebastian's side. As she started to slowly power down her systems and programs one by one as she started to enter rest mode. "Promise?" She managed to get out in a quiet whisper.
"Hmph, I promise." He said, reaching up and gently petting her hair.
"Good…" She mumbled before sleep finally claimed her.
(+)
(+)
Merry late Christmas! At least I managed to get this done before the end of the year.
The next chapter might continue after this scene and it should be a short one if it is, as it'll be between Anemone and the MC. Though I'm not too sure yet. I'll need to write down a little bit to see if it would even add anything to the story or if it would be a waste of time to write.
Anyways, the next chapter should be back to a normal pov since I was sticking with Lilac's for this and the previous chapter because I thought it worked better for these scenes.
And lastly, Happy early new year! Here's hoping the planet doesn't decide to just explode.
/ Did a change for the stories summary so that it is hopefully a bit better than before. Because I was really iffy on how it originally was.