Short one this time guys. And I hate how Fanfiction has all this junk set up, so it's not easy to write here anymore. I can't even tell if what I'm writing is going to be in BOLD or what, or even if there's a line beneath this. *sigh* It's gonna take me a bit to get into this again. I'm pushing Homestuck out of my head. And I'm going to Tumblr less, so I can concentrate more. It's really hard.
Ana ran sock-footed through the house. She slid around corners, giggling and making a game out of avoiding the robots assigned to chore-duty. She knew that Jack had already informed them that she lived there and they were not to attack, but it was a game to play and Ana was a very playful person.
She eventually found the kitchen again, and from there the stairs and main foyer. The welcoming hall was like a ballroom, with its high ceiling and giant chandelier. Ana found 3 robots cleaning the floors. Approaching them, she cleared her throat.
"Hello?" The robots stopped their work and looked up at Ana. She waved.
"Hi, I'm Ana. Do you know where Roger is?" They nodded. While they worked together, the robots had a sort of secret society. They talked and coexisted; they knew everything that went on in the house. "I'm looking for him, cuz I want him to come exploring with me. I need some company. Where is he?"
"Patrolling the hall to your living quarters, Miss Ana. He won't let anyone in, even to clean." one robot said. Ana's face lit up a little.
"Aww, that's sweet! But no offense, I don't want anyone else in my room, unless I'm there. I clean my own room, thanks." Ana left them to search for Roger. The robots stared after her. After a moment, one of them spoke.
"A teenager who actually cleans their room," one said.
"Who'd have thought it was possible?" said another.
"It's almost scary in a way," the third remarked. And then the 3 went back to work.
Ana found Roger pacing back and forth in the hallway in front of her door. When he saw her, he halted and saluted her in an almost comical fashion.
"Good afternoon Miss Ana. How may I serve you?" the automaton voiced. Ana regarded it with green eyes and a cocked eyebrow.
"You don't have to guard my bedroom like this. I appreciate it, but you don't have to. As for serving me, I could do with some company right now."
The robot cocked its head in confusion. "Company?"
"Yes, company." Ana confirmed. "Jack is busy and I don't think Wuya trusts me enough to handle the Wu yet. I wanna go exploring outside. And I have serious problems with being alone too long in certain settings, so you're coming along with me. I'll need a few things from my room, so lemme get them and stay here."
Roger did as he was told and let Ana through. Ana made sure he wouldn't wander off, and then grabbed a sketchpad, some pencils, and an eraser, and she slid them into a vertical, thin, green cloth bag. She slung it over her shoulder, the decorative stripes and line designs cleverly camouflaging the tiger face hidden on the front. With the bag nestled under her right arm, Ana found her shoes, cellphone, and favorite sock-cap and traipsed out the door, waving for Roger to follow.
Once outside, Ana had Roger escort her all along the property. She was introduced into a small, neatly trimmed flower garden, complete with winding paths throughout. She found the outdoor pool with the nearby hot tub and thanked the sky for sunny and warm weather. Near the back of the property, Ana was amazed to find a tennis court. She wondered briefly what else was here that was never display in the show she had watched in her home dimension.
Between findings, Ana would look around and, when she felt like it, sit down and stretch. She was in a sketching mood and filled up pages with scenes from all that she could see. She drew many different perspectives of the mansion, from different angles and distances. At some point though, as was inevitable, Ana got tired of this and spent the rest of her time goofing off by herself.
Roger watched all this with what seemed like disinterest, but her closely recorded everything Ana did and saved it all to his memory, for later review. He slowly memorized the way Ana's hands moved across paper when they sketched, smudged, and shaded her drawings. Things he didn't understand about Ana were stored in a separate place for review in an effort to change that status.
There were a lot of things he didn't understand about Ana.
For instance, why did she randomly skip and jump at odd intervals when she walked? Why did she walk funny, with giant loping steps, and why, when she slowed down, did she suddenly stop jerkily to stare at something? Why did she suddenly start dancing for no reason, when there was no music? And then stop as suddenly as she'd start? And what exactly prompted Ana to just plop down on the grass, stone, or dirt, or wherever she happened to be standing and just draw? Roger's logical processor systems could not come up with any reasons for those actions.
Still, Ana danced and drew and hopped around happily until she and Roger hit the edge of the property, which ended at the entrance to the woods. Roger led her back to the house where she would spend the rest of her day.
By the end of the day, Ana had fully explored the inside of the house, the outside of the house, and the surrounding property. She had filled up several pages of her sketchbook with drawings of flowers, vases, artifacts, stone formations, and any other things she deemed important. It got to the point where Ana would sketch the inside of the house, the corridors, and the jackbots too.
She made her lunch and hung out with the chore-bots. She was surprised to find she could actually hold decent conversations with them and they talked of many things. Ana checked up on Jack several times throughout that day and wandered around with Wuya, who at times would come out of the basement to check up on Ana.
"How's the BAND coming along?" Ana had asked. Wuya only shrugged in her ghostly way and said nothing.
When Ana's arms began to twitch slightly and Ana began to squirm, the girl excused herself and departed for her bedroom. Wuya, suspicious and curious as always, followed discretely behind.
Ana flopped onto her bed and gathered her fuzzy blanket into her arms and curled around it. She sighed deeply and snuggle it, unaware that Wuya was watching. Wuya, for her part, merely rolled her eyes and was about to depart herself when Ana's robotic servant entered the room.
"Miss Ana, what are you doing?" Ana sat up, and little embarrassed to be caught lying down.
"Uhm, I was doing...something." Wuya floated through the wall.
"And what is that something?" she asked accusingly. Ana looked stricken and stammered.
"Oh fine!" she exclaimed after a few tries.
"I have an issue. I go through a sort of withdrawal. I'm pretty tolerant of it, because the amount of time between my doses is rather longer than I'd prefer, because of my mother, but it's been a while and I get anxiety." Ana paused, face red with embarrassment.
"I need hugs. Or at least human contact. Affection. That sort of thing." she mumbled.
Wuya facepalmed.
"Don't do that!" Ana protested. "I'm serious! If I don't get what I need, my breathing goes all weird and erratic,. I can't sit still, and I get serious anxiety! And then I'll be in pain, and my chest feels all exploded, and I need someone to hold me together, or I'll get depressed and angsty."
"So you hug your blanket like a little child?"
"Better than sneaking up behind Jack and suddenly glomping him, or going in for a hug and having him shove me off. I don't know Jack on a personal level, even though I know plenty about him. And he hardly knows anything about me! It's only been a day! I can't just hug him, it'd be impersonal and awkward and embarrassing!"
Wuya sighed. "I can't believe this..." she muttered.
Ana lowered her voice. "Wuya. Back home, growing up, I was hugged by my outer family enough to create a need for it, but not my mother, which created a psychological need for affection, and that affects my body. Don't judge me for something I can't control, because this isn't my fault." Wuya regarded her blandly.
"Fine. I won't bug you about and I won't tell Jack." Ana breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank you Wuya." Ana said, and she clutched her blanket tighter to herself. Her tension and anxiety disappeared, her chest loosened up, and she was able to breathe without hurting. Her head cleared and her heart stopped hammering, and everything suddenly felt much better.
Roger added his mistress's need for hugs to his ever growing pile of things he didn't understand.