Lucas is still staring past Miss Calculated’s shoulder, transfixed by the recently revealed wreckage of racks, robots, ruined remnants of remodelings, promotional materials, and more. As the elevator doors finish sliding all the way open, he clears his throat before speaking up.
“Hey, uh, Marsha? Are ya gonna be busy the next few days?” Lucas asks in a deadpan voice as he slowly blinks.
“...I guess I am gonna be, now. Seems I’m havin’ a protein shake for dinner tonight. Eheh…” Miss Masher matches Lucas’s tone at first while staring past Miss Calculated’s other shoulder, but she gains a simultaneously delighted and dangerous smile when she starts chuckling. Although, the smile is hidden from sight, courtesy of her
Meanwhile, as the mannequin madness is mounting, Mark and Miss Calculated amble out of 23’s way when it reaches the clear space around the elevators.23 brings the decommissioned bot over near the boomerang pile, gingerly setting it down so it is sitting upright next to another inactive bot, which is missing an arm. Behind the two inactive bots is a modestly measured mound of a motley mix of miscellaneous machine materials in myriad magnitudes of mottled marring. At least, they’re ruined by wealthy people’s standards. Miss Calculated began eyeing the collection hungrily once she noticed it, as her eyes were previously fixed on the robot in 23’s arms without paying any attention to anything else. Mark snorts and sharply turns away, marching to the elevator. He has to circle around Miss Masher to get there, and she pivots in place to keep her eye on him while he does so.As she is tracking Mark’s path; when her gaze passes Lucas he covertly points at her and gives a thumbs up, then gently pats his chest in solidarity. Even though he can’t see her smile directly, her eyes visibly crinkle a bit from it, and she gives a small nod in acknowledgment and appreciation.Mark hits the elevator’s downward call button before turning back to look at Miss Calculated once more.“Even if you’re right, that was unacceptable. I expect an apology once you’ve calmed yourselfI'd Like to Change My Reincarnation Subscription, Please Ch184 - Educated Estimates of Scam Specifics
Mark groans as he rubs the side of his head, managing not to smudge his makeup with well-practiced ease.“Okay. Okay. I see where you’re coming from, now. Following that logic, whenever they encouraged me to decommission any bots, it was probably because the parts they’d cycle through it were no longer mainstream. Of course, a new bot is much more profitable for them than needing to actually keep out-of-date spare parts around… Since everything worked reasonably well and they never seemed to make any outrageous requests, they had enough credibility that I just believed them when they said a bot was at that point… Arg.” Once Mark finishes speaking, he heaves a deep sigh.Miss Calculated nods a few times, but before she has a chance to r
23 has all four of its hands grouped up in front of it and is looking down at them. After letting Miss Calculated delight in her crazed laughter for a few moments longer, it finally speaks up.“To accommodate storage for retractable components, I suppose I would require new, thicker arms. The power lead currently running through them may still suffice, but perhaps a new one that has the new tools directly hardwired into it would be better. Ah, the power draw of the power tools would be notably higher than what it takes to operate my current hands, so I really would be better off with a new cable, too. Adjusting to the upgraded appendages’ usage shouldn’t be an issue for me... But, If you were intending on implementing any of your newly developed, limited availability, technologies, improved durability may be necessary..? Also, I
Lucas is staring at Miss Calculated with a huge grin, even if it is covered by his mask. There are a few alarming creaking noises as he hugs the armload of mannequin limbs he’s carrying a bit too tightly against his chest.Both Miss Calculated and 23 slowly turn to stare at him. Meanwhile, Mark just snorts out a bit of laughter.Blinking a few times, Miss Calculated opens her mouth and hesitates, speechless for a few seconds before thawing enough to begin her academician analysis.“...Where
While Willy is walking over to join Jonathan and Miss Chievous in the elevator, he stops and turns around when he hears another service bot approaching the carefully curated component compilation he left behind. Before it upends its box into the gap between the two piles, he barks twice.23 immediately issues a warning beep at the service bot, and it stops in place, holding its box slightly tipped but not dumping anything quite yet. 23 looks at Willy briefly, then over at the two piles of service bot equipment. After a slight delay, it issues a series of high-pitched beeps and clicks. The service bot moves over to the side a bit and then begins a new, third, pile and walks away. Before that bot has even gone very far, another bot has come over, adding to the new pile.
While 23 is still engaged in digital dialogue with the service bot, another bot has wandered over from a nearby room. This newly arrived bot is carrying a box, much like all the others have been. However, this one contains two mannequin hands, one foot, and an arm that is awkwardly sticking up and resting against the bot’s shoulder.It walks over to the opposite side of the elevator doorway in relation to the bot component piles, then stops, standing in place. 23 finally begins approaching the elevators, smoothly transitioning from talking to the original bot to now speaking to this newly arrived one instead, and the original service bot walks away.23 gestures with each of its hands at four different points on the floor simultaneously, and the service bot begins set
Once the sluggish elevator doors crawl far enough apart for Willy to comfortably fit betwixt them, he pads his way out to the 8th floor.With the extra bit of floor space from his parting, those still within the elevator shuffle around, much akin to a sliding block puzzle, working to empty out the space directly in front of the door for both Miss Chievous and Jonathan to have a clear path out.When the gap between the slothful doors grows to a human-sized opening, Miss Chievous shoves her way past Jonathan, running out of the elevator and charging straight to the nearest service bot.She skids to a halt a short distance in front of the bot, throwing her arms up in a variant of overhead jazz hands,