"It's not my fault you killed me, now is it?"
"You're not helping!" Ronin barked, diving to catch the small android who bounded out of the way, sticking his tongue out. The thief growled, getting back to his feet and chasing the bot around his workshop. Dareth had watched this since the time Ronin had busted through the door, hyper and eager to reveal his new reward to pawn. "Besides, I didn't kill you! I don't even know who you are!" He dived again, ramming his head on the counter and having a trinket comically become a new hat.
"Guess you should've turned it off when you had the chance." The ghost stuck his hands in his back pockets, smiling in amusement.
"Do you see an off switch on that thing? The second I get my hands on it is the second I drive a screwdriver strait through its neck!" That only caused more panic. Echo ran up the wall and hid on the top shelf just out of reach, peeking down at the furious man. He wasn't sure why he was talking to himself as if talking to someone else, he was the only living being in the shop.
"Now look at him, he's frightened all over again. You can't just keep scaring him like that otherwise you'll never catch him."
"Well, you're the ghost here, why not just possess it and bring it down?" Ghost? Echo blinked, looking around. He had heard stories of ghosts, but was never able to see or hear them. Dareth folded his arms, turning his back towards Ronin.
"And let you tear him apart? Look at him, he's so small and terrified, you'd basically be tearing apart a child! And you expect me to aid in your crimes against humanity? I'm not having it! I may be dead, but that doesn't mean I don't follow good morals."
"And you think haunting people is a good moral?" Ronin ran his hand down his face, sighing, "Alright, fine, I won't take you apart! I won't sell you either, you don't look like you're worth much anyway." Echo hesitated, but climbed his way down the rack, watching the thief clean up the mess he had made chasing him. The bot helped, picking up various trinkets and setting them back onto shelves, gliding his fingers across the dusty surface and squinting. He pattered his way into the back room and returned with a cloth and a bucket of warm water, getting to work cleaning the shelves. Ronin glanced over, "Well… at least this isn't a total bust."
-o-o-
Jay was well on his way out the door of his final class when he noticed a familiar person and their droid standing by his locker. The two hadn't talked since the weekend, Cole had been avoiding eye-contact since then and personally Jay didn't care. The ginger approached with his arms folded, "What do you want, Cole?" he sneered begrudgingly, "Here to steal my books too?"
Cole awkwardly shifted on his feet, "No no, I came to uh.. to apologize." he looked down, and then slowly up. "Uh, a verbal apology."
"Just get on with it." Jay grumbled, spinning the dial on the lock. Pixal folded her arms, an equal look of annoyance towards Cole caused him to avert his eyes. He hadn't apologized to her either.
"Uhg, I shouldn't have even thought of doing it in the first place. I was mad that you, a junkyard boy living in a trailer, could obtain something so priceless. And on top of that, you don't even know how to play it!-"
"So let me get this straight. You're saying, since you're skilled, and you're living in an old fancy house, that you think you deserved it more than me?" Cole stiffened up, shrugging and stuffing his hands in his pockets. Jay scowled, rolling his eyes and slamming the locker door shut. "Wow, you're really fitting in the stereotype, aren't you?" He pushed past, heading down the hall.
"Ah- Hey, wait-!" Cole caught up to him, "What I'm trying to say is, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to happen that way, I actually think you're a cool quirky person and-" The entrance door snapped shut on him. He sighed, bonking his forehead to it.
Jay opened the door, still squinting, "If there's anyone who deserves an apology from both of you, It's Zane." before slamming it shut again. Cole looked to Pixal who still had her arms folded, his eyes finding themselves back on the floor.
"At least you give me a chance to talk."
"Maybe so, but if you start out my apology like that, I just might follow suit." She cracked a cocky smile, stepping up to him and patting his arm. "Besides, I'm not any less guilty than you are."
"Yeah, but no one could ever be mad at you for long. From your face to your voice, you're all soothing unlike me." Pixal looked away, why was this having an impact? He was just stating his opinion, yet her face was heating up regardless. "I gotta grab my books, then we'll be on our way."
"I think you're soothing…." She whispered to herself, watching him head down the hall.
-o-o-
"Zane, you're back!" Jay ran and stopped short in front of him. Zane awkwardly let his arms down by his sides after holding them with the anticipation of a hug. "Where'd you go? You're all dusty."
Jay set down his books inside before following Zane to their usual spot of operation in the back. His eyes widened as he ran over to the yellowing computer case. "Woah, look at this thing!" He delightfully started prying the cover off, face falling flat as he glanced down at the stacks of papers. Zane had taken off his shirt and shook off the dust before slinging it around his forearm and walking back over to the case.
He held up the whiteboard with a smile, 'Hit me!' was in bold letters with an arrow pointing at his chest. Jay was a little iffy, "Like, hard or..?" Zane shrugged. "O-okay-" With one firm 'thwap', the plate popped open and papers spilled out over the table and ground, Zane hitting the marker to the board like a bell. Jay snorted, "Did you go and rob an office? No one told me you were a printer too!" he bellowed, slapping the table. Zane beamed, closing the plate and scooping up the papers. He held out the manila folder to Jay who shakily took it, chuckling still.
"Let me guess, office reports from a cubical?" He snickered, paging through the papers as his eye widened with awe. The yellowing papers held various graphics and typings all listed as figures or steps. He pulled out a stapled booklet from the notes labeled 'Julien-40 Manual and Maintenance' in bold letters encased in a black box. "Zane… Where.. When I said a manual I didn't mean…" He delicately flipped through the index, at a loss for words. His eyes trailed down to all the other folders and papers that were now neatly stacked and laid out for him. Just how many notes were there? He felt a little overwhelmed from it all- at least they were all labeled. Feeling a cold hand on his cheek, Jay looked up at Zane's simple yet eager smile, feeling the muscles in his face pull his lips into a warm smile. "We can fix your voice with this!"
'And eyes.'
"And eyes!" He chirped, hugging the droid. If he was made of anything but metal, Zane was sure he would've melted right then and there. He savored the hug, wrapping his arms around him and spinning him around before setting him down once more. His laughter carried Zane's mind into fantasy land, and everything seemed perfect- too perfect. He dared a smooch on his ginger curls, though Jay didn't mind- or didn't notice, his own mind racing with what wonders and mysteries were stored in the folders, not to mention how much easier it will be to fix Zane. The only way was up, an the two both concluded in their own ways that the sun was going to shine down on them for days to come.
On friday, Jay had dedicated a good portion of class time to ignoring the teacher in favor for reading through the disguised manual. Cole had even sent him a few glances of suspicion, he had never seen him so invested in a novel before in his life- not to mention one that didn't have graphics in it. Things got even more strange when lunch rolled around and he barely touched his bag in favor of reading. Cole glance around suspiciously before taking a seat across from him, staring in silence awkwardly. "Hey, Motormouth." He stated somewhat snarkily. No response. "Jay." Cole stated louder, to which he looked up from the words before turning the page.
"Hum?" he mumbled, not paying attention.
"What the heck, Jay-" Cole pulled on the book before jay whipped out away and slammed it shut defensively.
"What do you want, Cole?" he spat, annoyed and alert, "Trying to take my book too, huh?"
"You are really not going to let me live that down, are you?" He felt his neck get warm with embarrassment, "What are you looking at? You never read novels!"
"Well, maybe today I felt like it."
"Oh yeah? What's the title of the book?"
"The book title is… uh," jay glance at the cover.
"A-hah! Exactly! You aren't even reading it! Now tell me what you're looking at." Cole stared down Jay, his dark eyes piercing him into submission.
"Mmm…. Zane went and found this for me, isn't it sweet?" Cole nearly spat out his water, staring at the vintage booklet. "Isn't it sweet? Now I don't have to play roulette with a circuit board! There's so much more in here than I never knew- like, the keyboard can play records, etch them, play both sides- OH! And you can even hook it into speakers, how cool is that?"
"Give me that-" Cole snatched the booklet and paged through it, not buying its legitimacy.
Jay carried on, "And you know when Zane walked in on you playing? Turns out he has a tracker on the board so he knows where it is whenever its plugged in- OH! He also sings and dances! I can't wait to hear that when I fix his voice. Yeah, he came home last night and emptied a bunch of papers on me loaded with information. Er- I have yet to go through it, but I was saving the weekend for it anyway. Isn't this just so awesome? ...You know, you always get that look on your face about everything, huh?" Cole looked up, his eyebrows scrunched. "Yeah, like that face. You get that whenever someone tells you something, it's like you don't trust something until you see it for yourself."
"Well, not everything that's said is the truth," he flipped through a few pages before handing it back, "but that looks like the real deal. Wonder where he got it."
"I dunno, He wouldn't say.. Probably something personal." Jay went back to his page, reading from the top again. Cole looked around, sighing and tapping his fingers on the table.
"Hey Jay, how about you come over again, and I mean it this time. I'll teach you how to play the piano,"
"No funny business?" Jay peered over the book.
"No funny business, I promise." he assured.
"Mmm… Oh fine, but only if your mom makes those cakes again." The two exchanged smiles, it was a deal.