"How'd it go with Uran?" Kennedy asked when he saw Astro again.
"Has she always been stubborn?" the android asked as he rubbed the back of his head with doubt. It took all it had in Kennedy to not snort in a loud, obnoxious laughter of agreement.
"I believe that training llamas to dance is easier than getting Uran to agree." the boy assured, giving Astro a hearty slap on the back. "Bet a good buck or two she'd spit at you first."
The android flashed the human boy a concerned look. "She'd do that?" he asked. Kennedy laughed again even though Astro wished he wouldn't.
"Depends on what mood I'm in." someone said from behind them, giving both Kennedy and Astro a good jump out of their skin.
"H-hey Uran!" Kennedy clumsily greeted as his face started to flush an extremely dark red. Uran's only reply was a sly raise of her eyebrow.
"Y-you look great!" Kennedy added. "I'm glad you decided to come down. After all, this party is just for you and Astro- it would have been a shame if you couldn't come down for just a small visit."
"Right." Uran smiled as she folded her arms. "Would you like to place your foot further in your mouth, or are you done now?"
Kennedy gave another nervous chuckle while refusing to look Uran in the eye.
. . .
Meanwhile, at the Ministry of Science, Professor O'Shay worked with an elite group of other scientists as they sorted out the data of a new robot. Two robots, actually. If all went well, one was going to be designated as a male and the other was to be female. Their physical appearance wasn't being constructed by the Ministry, however, that honor was given to a partner company located in Europe.
The passing of the robotic freedom ordinance had made robots free to the public outside of Metro City. Now everyone clamored to create their own robots, no matter how intelligent, or advanced, or how human like they were. The robots created in Metro City were still special to the land they came from, but the availability of plans could easily be public domain now- or they could still be private, if the designer sends in the proper forms, of course.
The plans that Professor O'Shay was using were unique -not to be shared with anyone- and it belonged solely to the Ministry of Science of Metro City, any copies were to be considered stolen if used by anyone else.
Admittedly, allowing Astro and Uran to have a party without adult supervision was just a tactic to distract them from what he was really planning. He'd have to fly them out of the country to finish the rest of his plans. That would take almost a month, maybe a month and a half if Metro City was expecting that blizzard any time soon. It didn't seem likely that it would snow any time soon, considering how warm this season had been (some days were as warm as 11 degrees Celsius!) but when the cold front did come it, O'Shay knew enough in his time that it was going to be ugly.
Professor O'Shay shook his head- this wasn't time to be thinking about the weather, he needed to focus on the project at hand.
On the back of his mind, the professor couldn't help but wonder if mental diseases could transfer into the personality data of robots…
. . .
Uran wasn't sure whether she wanted to dance or not. Usually, when she really wanted to dance to a good song, her body would twitch in anticipation and potential. Right now though… that feeling just wasn't there. When she thought about it, all she wanted to do was go back to bed. She had to stay, everyone she knew was at this party because they liked her and Astro alike, the least she could do was pretend to have fun.
"Hey, you're Uran, right?" a voice said from next to her. Uran jumped from her secluded thoughts to look up at who had spoken to her. She looked up to see a boy that she did not recognize, and looked to be nearly three years older than she was. As he sat down next to her, his olive green eyes trained themselves to look over her- as if recognizing her profile would confirm her identity. Likewise, Uran looked him over, as if recognizing him would give a hint to his identity. He was handsome, no doubt, even if he looked a bit defiant. Uran looked him over suspiciously, her eyes tracked him down from his fire red hair -plaited, and pulled back into a loose and low ponytail behind him- to his black Converse boots.
"Who are you?" Uran then decided to say, realizing that the two had created a silence while judging each other. "I've never seen you around school before."
"My father's company relocated over the winter holiday." the boy told her with a roll of his shoulder. "I'm actually going to attend the high school, but my father got to meet Professor O'Shay, and the old man thought that I might like coming. Meh, I don't think I had much of a say in whether I wanted to come or not."
Uran gave the boy an odd look as he reclined in his spot to think.
"I'm Daichi, by the way." the boy then decided to add. "And you're Uran, right? That cyborg kid that folks in the robotic field has been going on about since they found out you had a connection to Doctor Tenma."
Uran flinched as the memory of an announcement gone wrong brought to attention several things. Her being not completely human was one of them. Daichi caught on to this quickly, and knew to change the subject.
"Can I get you a drink or something?" he asked, preparing to stand up. "You look like you haven't had much to eat or drink recently."
Uran gave an indifferent little shrug. "I guess you could bring me a water bottle or something." she agreed. "Did you see them earlier? They're in the cooler by the-"
"I saw them." Daichi told her. "I'll be back soon."
"Thanks." Uran dimly told him as he went toward the snack table.
Uran closed her eyes and tried to think a bit to herself. Whatever had happened, after talking with Daichi she didn't feel as tired as before. He seemed pretty nice, and was careful to not intentionally say something that could have made her feel worse. Who knows? Maybe he'd catch a hint and ask her to dance or something- but that was wish fulfillment.
At least she had someone different to talk to instead of just Astro or someone from school; someone that didn't know her quite well enough to know too much, giving them something could have ended up making her bitter or upset. It was too early to tell, but Uran had a good feeling that she could trust him.