Knux's Misc Writing Pile

[knux400]

The Bots & the Bugs - 2023

It's late evening, and it's pouring. The two of them haven't been together that long, and they both wanted to get each other something nice for the holiday. The only issue was that both of their jobs kept them out all day. Still, both of them had taken the time the last few days preparing presents for one another, each keeping to their own half of the house and exchanging playful banter with one another as they defended the secrecy of their gifts.

The barebones was the first to arrive. Relay was a Biped frame, with a sky blue plastic shell with orange stripes decorating xer exterior and a pair of fake deely-bopper style antennae on either side of their head, partially obscuring xer actual antenna. Xer torso and shoulderplates had decorative flares at the edges, giving xem a sleek, aerodynamic appearance. The large, unwieldy poncho, baggy pants, and heavy boots xe was wearing clashed heavily with their sleek and modern body, but were necessary to keep water from getting into xer casing. Relay didn't like clothing that much, finding it to be heavy and unwieldy, and so it was no sooner than xe was safely under the overhang of the walkway leading up to the house that xe quickly discarded the heavy jacket and pants, shaking them thoroughly into the lawn in a moderately successful attempt to prevent them from dripping all over the place once xe got inside. Xer mud-caked boots got left outside, to be retrieved later when they were dry.

Relay stepped inside, stopping for a moment. The lights were still out, and the only sound to be heard was the rain pattering against the roof. Xey were fairly certain Leaflet was still out, which meant it was safe to retrieve her gift from its hiding place. Leaflet seldom touched Relay's supply closet, whether it was out of respect or simply due to a lack of engineering knowledge was anyone's guess, but Relay considered it the safest place in the house to stash the gift xey had been saving. Xey reached in and retrieved a dusty, dinged-up old box- another layer of camouflage, just in case. Xey pulled open the flaps of the dusty box, revealing a far nicer package within. It was a wooden box roughly the size of a large loaf of bread, with intricate carvings of wind and leaves adorning the sides and a decorative brass latch on the front. Relay clicked the latch open and pulled out the item within one last time, checking it thoroughly for any imperfection or flaw- but there were none to be found. Xe was fully confident in xer work, but xe wanted to be absolutely certain before giving it to xer partner. Relay gently placed it back inside the box and clicked the latch shut again, closing the door to xer supply closet and walking back out into the house.

Leaflet arrived about a half hour later. The rain hadn't let up a bit, and she'd been slowed down considerably by her inability to fly in such weather. She hated public transit, hated constantly having to apologize when one of the barbs on her forearms inevitably caught someone, and hated having to awkwardly weave through near-constant crowds at every interval. The pale green dragonfly neuroth was also wearing a heavy coat, plus a thick cloak covering the delicate wings on her back. Underneath was a cheap T-shirt with a sports logo on it, and a pair of half-length cargo pants. Similarly to Relay, Leaflet wasted no time discarding her jacket and cloak as soon as she was under the overhang, flinging droplets of water every which way as she attempted to air-dry them as much as possible. Looking down, she noticed Relay's boots, still dripping and muddy, placed neatly on the walkway just beside the door. Just seeing them and thinking of her partner was enough to ease Leaflet's tension a bit, and she took a deep sigh before opening the door.

"Hi, honey, I'm home!" Leaflet called out sarcastically. Neither of them particularly liked the old-timey sitcoms that seemed to be the only thing on when either of them had the time for TV, but there was a certain joy to be found in poking fun at them.
"Welcome home, dear! How was the train?" Relay called back from the dining room.
"Hhhagh. Don't even get me started." Leaflet began hanging her jacket and cloak in their spot next to Relay's- which were still dripping slightly, Leaflet noticed. She was late, but Relay hadn't been waiting long.
"Yeah. Kind of a shitty day for rain, what with the holiday and all."

Leaflet laughed a bit at that, exhaling through her snout inaudibly. Relay was fairly accustomed to casual conversation by now, but subtly sneaking in a topic had never been one of xer strong suits.

"Please tell me you haven't just been sitting at the table this whole time."
"It's only been a half hour!"

"...and three minutes, and fourty-seven seconds."
"Right."
"...five hundred and eighty-two milliseconds..."
"Alright, alright. Let me just get something to drink and I'll be right out."
"...one hundred and sixty-five microseconds..."
"Okay, Luxson Speaking Clock, I get it! Let me just-" Leaflet yelled playfully, trying to stifle her laughter.
"...nine hundred and thirty-two nanoseconds..." Relay continued over the running faucet.
Leaflet simply made an annoyed grunt, the most she could do while gulping down tap water.
"...six hundred and fourty-one picoseconds..."
"Okay, now you're just making shit up. I know for a fact you can't measure time that precisely."
"Oooh, look who knows all about my internal clock. When exactly did I start making up random numbers, then, big guy?"
"...Shut up! All I know is you can't do nanoseconds. Definitely not picoseconds."
"The only reason you know a picosecond is smaller than a nanosecond is because I said them in order just now."
"Yeah, well... you're dumb."
"You're dumber."
"No, you."
"Definitely you."
"Nope, sorry, does not compute."
"Flesh sack."
"Tin can."

As much fun as Leaflet was having, she also used the banter as an opportunity to retrieve her gift for Relay. The rain had been good fortune in one sense, at least, as it had allowed a healthy crop of flowers to stem from the small planter in Leaflet's windowsill. Leaflet knew Relay didn't enter their bedroom that often, and she made sure the shutters were drawn anytime xe did. Quickly tying them together with a lace ribbon and gently placing them in a pink glass vase, Leaflet emerged from her bedroom carrying the bouquet. She rounded the corner and entered the dining room, where Relay was waiting with xer box.

"Happy Forge!" Leaflet said happily, placing the flowers down on the table between them.
"Happy Forge!" Relay replied, sliding the box across the table.

Leaflet clicked the box open to reveal a pair of hand-crafted goggles. For a few moments, the room was silent, each partner examining the other's gift. It lasted just a moment too long, as neither one was sure how to express themselves.

"...Thank you." Relay was the first to speak, doing xer best to sound genuine.
"Sure, thank you." Leaflet, likewise, attempted to return the favor.

Both of them knew each other well enough to see through their respective facades. The silence that followed dragged on into what seemed like hours, neither one wanting to address how the other clearly felt. Eventually, Leaflet was the one to start the conversation.

"You, uh, you didn't like the flowers?"
"No! I mean, it's not that I didn't like them, they're nice and all, it's just... They're not that useful, you know?"
"I thought they'd be romantic. You know, to celebrate the occasion, not-" Leaflet cut herself off, realizing too late what her next words would have been.
"Not what?"
"Not..." Leaflet frantically searched for a polite term. "...Ordinary??"
"I- I mean, I guess the goggles are a bit mundane, but-"
"No, I wasn't talking about the goggles! I love the goggles!"
"What were you talking about, then?"
"I... I don't know." Leaflet hung her head down. The two fell silent again for a few moments.

"Look, I just... Can we be honest here?" Relay asked. "This... This is tough for me, right now. I don't know how to say what I want to say, and I'm worried I'll upset you."
"I- you weren't upsetting me, I just..." Leaflet sighed.

"...Do you want me to go first?" Relay offered.
"No, I'll do it. I just need a minute to think of how I want to articulate it."
"Okay. Take your time."



"I... I guess I just feel like the goggles are... I mean they're nice, and I appreciate the thought, but it's not really a Forge gift, you know? It's not really..." Leaflet gestured vaguely with her claws, searching for the right word. "Romantic?"
"Romantic?"
"Yeah. You know, like..." She struggled to convey the concept. "Like, uh, hearts, flowers, kisses, chocolate..."
"I can't eat chocolate."
"No, I know, but just as an example. I know it's stupid, but I was expecting something like that, you know?"
"I... do you want me to change it? I could-"
"No, no! I'm not asking you to change anything, I'm just trying to explain why they're..."
"If you don't like them, I can fix them. It's no trouble, really." Relay reached forward for the box.
"They're fine!" Relay stopped abruptly, startled by Leaflet's suddenly raised voice. Xe slowly sat back down, withdrawing xer hand.


"I'm... I'm having a hard time understanding what you want, Leaflet."
"It's... I don't know. Did you want to say something about the flowers?"
"Would you be okay with that?"
"It's only fair."

Relay hesitated slightly.

"I... It's hard for me to value something soley for its appearance. And it's not that I can't appreciate the way these look, but the flowers, they don't... do... anything else."
Leaflet inhaled sharply, but caught herself. Getting upset wasn't going to help anyone.
"They're... They're not meant to be practical, really. It's symbolic."
"I know, and I understand the tradition, it's just... It's hard for me to look past what's traditional for me."
"...Maybe..."

Leaflet looked back at the goggles and thought for a moment.

"Maybe instead of seeing the flowers as a resource that you're obligated to use, you could see it as more of... A reading?"
"A reading?"
"Yeah. These, they're an indicator that I'm willing to take time and effort to make something you need. Something that's valuable to you. It's not the flowers themselves, but the connection they symbolize. Like... Like a network ping. The ping itself doesn't do anything, but because it's there, you know the network is up and running."
"That... makes sense."
"And the goggles, they're... You wanted to make something practical, something I'd actually use rather than just keep on a shelf. You made something you thought I'd need because you cared enough to pay attention and notice the trouble I was having. It's not symbolic, it's not romantic, but it's... direct. You saw an opportunity to help me."
"I remember that day you got a bug in your eye and almost crashed. That's when I came up with the idea."
"Right, so..." Leaflet sighed.

"We both worked hard to get each other a gift that made perfect sense to us. And I think... Even if the flowers are just an object for you, and even if the goggles are just a tool for me, we can appreciate that we both wanted to make each other happy."
"That's... that's an accurate summation."
"I will use these, for the record. As soon as the weather clears up, I'll tell you how it feels to fly with them on."
"I think I will keep the flowers. They would look best on the mantle, I think, given the angle relative to the sun."




"Hey. Bolts-for-brains."
"...Yes?"
"I love ya, ya big dummy."
"I love you too, you big bag of goo."