Unwelcome Guest

Authors

Celest

Cast

Erroon

Published

2 months, 22 days ago

Stats

401 1

Erroon gets a visitor at the workshop. He hates visitors.

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Erroon's hands glided smooth over the gears of the broken machine before him. It was perfect, beautiful harmony: the diagnostic tool told him exactly where the problem was; the supply chest clicked in perfect time to ready the correct size gear before he even reached for it, and his tools laid out in perfect alignment. He was a composer, and his song returned the centrifuge to life. He flicked on the power, and smiled as it spun.

---

Several days later, Erroon was elbow deep in his latest project, lost to flow. Electric synapse to synapse, information flowed freely--when the doorbell tore apart his melody. Every time someone rang the accursed thing, he regretted installing it, but the only thing he hated more than the sound of the bell pinging within his circuits was when people--out loud--banged on the door. Thrice had he moved his workshop into deeper and deeper parts of the Burrow, and yet, OI and AI alike kept showing up on his doorstep.

With a grunt, he stood and went to the door. His fingers trailed along the walls, following the hidden lines of wiring, until he arrived at the metal slab. He stood up straight. He affixed his face into something proper. He hit the button.

A large human with a head of springy curls stooped in the door. He couldn't sit still: he moved without any rhyme or reason, rubbing his hands together, shifting his weight about. Erroon dreaded the thought of all those flailing limbs in his workshop, and worse, the human was baring its teeth as it contorted its lips. An, unfortunate, smile. Erroon knew what this meant: this Player was about to beg.

"Hi," said the human. "I was wonderin, could you maybe, help with something?" He gestured over his shoulder, towards nothing at all Erroon could see. The human continued, "None of us could figure out, and its important to this friend of mine, and we've tried everything, I just..." He looked up at Erroon with particularly moist looking eyes. "It's important to me, y'know? And! I can pay you..?"

Erroon sighed and pinched his nose. Players were impossible when they got damp. "Yes. Fine. Tell me, in detail, of your concern, and do leave out anything frivolous. I am quite busy. Follow me."

Turning sharply, he headed back into the belly of the workshop, as the nervous human followed close behind.