Pink Rain; Part 1

“I’m not asking of you, I am demanding to know!” Akki screams at me. I am upset, not only because my panic and overthinking modules are running off the charts, or the fact my left arm has now been irreparably shattered, but also because this is the first time I see this father’s full wrath. He grasps my neck, threatening to crush it, as he bares his fangs and claws at me. A true monster, worse than what attacked us. And yet, I can’t talk back. I don’t want his pity, I just want his forgiveness.

“You damned robot- Tell me where Gua is!”

“The pink rain…” I answer meekly.

At this, his grip loosens and I fall down on my knees in front of him, unable to move, nothing more than a mannequin.

—YESTERDAY—

"Gua, what was that photo?"

"SHUT!"

"Gua, who was in that photo?"

"Not talking to you."

"Gua, why are you keeping tha-"

For three days, she didn't talk to me outside of those brief answers. For three days, I served triptobaby wings to Gua and Perretta, with Gua's father nowhere to be seen. And for three days, I continued cleaning the house. She now owed me 3 favors.

But I was also approaching a major problem. I was nearly finished with the ground floor, not counting the workshop, which meant I would soon need to start cleaning the upstairs. If I could say so myself, which my overthinking module agrees on, is that I did an exemplary job of the once hoarderly room. The living room and kitchen have been transformed into a comfortable, spacious area with large windows letting in a lot of light. Not that anyone appreciated my work, as I would always find the curtains pulled shut whenever I would walk out of the room and return.

Which leads me to the actual issue, as cleaning the upstairs on its own just wouldn’t be problematic. What is problematic are the two stubborn hoarder dragons occupying those rooms.

"Nuh-uh, you only wanna clean my room so you can peek at the photo!" Gua pouted at me when I brought it up. "Not happening, nope, not now not ever!"

"Go away," was the only answer I ever got from her father, who didn't even grace me by opening the door.

This all made for a frustrating situation for me. For one, I found myself unable to progress with my investigation of this world to a satisfactory degree. I had found several books in the workshop that I was currently analyzing the language of using my language module and the knowledge impaired to me by whatever language spell Gua cast on me. The progress is slow, as the spell didn't teach me the written tongue, but only the spoken word. However, I have been steadily decrypting it and have realized it's a book on artifices, this realm's form of draconic magic. Dragons, it seems, don't only hoard garbage, but are able to infuse said garbage with enchantments by inscribing runes upon them, unlike the platypus people, who are wholly non magical. This makes the dragons invaluable inventors, likely responsible for inventions such as the arti-tram, which I now know to be an 'artifice-tram'. A silly naming notion, but I am willing to chalk it up to Gua's magical messing with my language module. I now also understand the uselessness of the language spell. If they're only able to infuse items with magic, this spell trully would be useless aside from calibrating automatons, which seem to be the rarest type of artifice there is. In short, artifices are this realm’s programming language.

Aside from that, I’ve learned a few alarming facts by browsing some other tomes on this realm’s countries. To sum up my limited findings, although I cannot know for certain without confirming for myself, this realm is rather perfectly set up, completely unlike the post-apocalyptic world I come from. It is a peaceful kingdom bordering other peaceful kingdoms where the vast majority of the population is well-fed. This is thanks to a system of monster hunting, performed by trained arti-hunters who specialize in utilizing artifices as weaponry. Gua and Perretta are trainee arti-hunters, so they help procure food for the eastern side of the city. Sure, there are monsters, but all settlements are kept safe by special barriers whose full functionality I haven’t yet managed to decrypt, as the tomes reference a lot of magical terminology in regards to them. I also couldn’t decrypt much about the monsters due to their names and terminology being prevalent. I couldn’t even find information on triptobabies as a result of this.

I need to be able to leave for a hunt with Gua and Perretta sometime soon. But Gua barely wants to talk to me, and Perretta usually retreats with her to the workshop or her room. The two of them are currently out on a hunt as well. I would sigh if I were human, as this leaves me with only one option.

“Didn’t I tell you to go away?”

Same old. I’ve gotten used to it over the last 3 days. I’ve also gotten more used to these two dragons’ familial relationships. “She’s not home, you’re free to come out.” I say calmly, placing down a platter onto the floor. It holds the leftovers of the tripto casserole that I heated up, as well as a mug with his name printed on it: Akkuiggana. It’s a large white mug with little stars and hearts embedded around the name. It looks like a custom piece of art, if one can call it so. I’ve unfortunately never been equipped with an art module, so its appeal is lost on me. “I brought you food and some warm pork orange blood.” A favored drink among dragons, as I’ve learned in a lifestyle magazine I found among the trash. I had to get Perretta to procure me some.

The room is silent for a while as I step back. However, just as I’m about to give up and go back downstairs, I hear shuffling and a deep sigh. “Is she really gone?”

“Yes.”

The door opens almost immediately, and Akkuiggana’s large frame fills it in its entirety. Of course he wouldn’t let me peek inside either. What catches me off guard, though, is the fact his stomach immediately starts grumbling. His robes have also slid off and he seems in much worse shape than a few days back. Mainly dark circles around his eyes and his hair being even more unkempt than when I saw him last. Through the robes, I can make out his pectorals and abs. They are comparable to the world’s strongest athletes I saw in memory banks in my age, and covered in piercings, primarily round and rhomboid rings. His stomach grumbles again and I step back, letting him gaze at the food and drink. He sniffs them, gives me an odd look and a pout, before swiping the food off the floor and pushing it all into his mouth.

“Don’t get tripto juice on the floo- oh ok there it goes.” I will be the one cleaning this, of course.

Akkuiggana looks down on me. “What do you want?” He says, closing the door and putting the platter back down, pushing it with his foot as he steps forward. “You can’t have just been worried about me.” He adds, fixing his robe and running his claws through his hair.

“You’re right. I have something I want. Can you speak to Gua about letting me go on a hunt with her?” I push straight to the point, at which he raises his eyebrow. At first I expect him to shut this idea down, but he places a finger on his chin, scratching his beard, its gemstone ends twinkling together.

“I do hate her going just with that platypus girl. And your frame is sturdy…you could serve as a shield for her…”

“Excuse me, but I’m still here.”

“Yes yes,” he gestures with his claws. “But what can you do aside from that?”

“Likely some minor combat maneuvers.”

“Hmmm…” He ponders this for a moment before closing his eyes. “Very well, but you owe me, and you have to promise to keep her safe. I will impart a portion of my lightning magic to you, which should keep you powered for a short while outside.”

“Won’t Gua’s presence be enough?”

Akkuiggana looks at me, a shadow casting over his eyes. “No.”

“Why? Isn’t she a dragon?”

“Yes.”

“So?”

He taps his foot on the floor and his tail swishes behind him. He looks away, crossing his arms. “You don’t need to know everything.”

“I kind of do, for my purpose.”

“And that is?”

“It’s not for you to know,” I answer curtly, at which, he surprisingly chuckles.

“Fine, you unruly automaton. I’ll talk to Gua tonight. Be grateful, and don’t mess this opportunity up.” With that, I nod and he retreats back into his room. Meanwhile, I go fetch a mop to clean up the pink blotch of tripto juice staining the wooden floor.

—

“So your father convinced you?” I ask Gua as she puts on her boots, a pair of thick brown ones perfect for a hunt. She checks her bow and places a handful of arrows into her quill.

She does, after all that, glance at me, thankfully. “Yeah. Said it’s for your learning or whatever. Said it’ll help you become a better maid, yadda yadda. Not for me to judge his motivations.” She looks to the side, placing a hand on her other forearm, an unusually demure pose. “Can you tell me how?”

“Beg your pardon?”

“I, I mean…he’s never really spoken with me in the last few years, since it…but now that you showed up, he’s been going down out of his room every now and again, when he thinks we’re not looking. And he…well, spoke to me last night.” She turns around and grabs my hands with hers, her face getting in really close to mine, to the point my panic module tells me to back away, as I do. “So what did you tell him? How did you get him to talk to me? It can’t just be your hair color!”

Gua’s eyes meet mine, full of expectation, and I meet them with my one working eye. My malfunctioning eye has been covered with an eyepatch, to make my appearance less conspicuous, and I’m wearing a thick shirt over my maid outfit, more like a robe. It hides my robotic features well. We stare at each other for a moment before she breaks it off. I am grateful for her giving me space. “I just asked him.”

“Huh?” She looks surprised.

“Yeah.”

“That simple?”

“Well, first I had to assure him you were out of the house, but once he was out of the room, it was fairly easy.”

“Pff.” She chuckles. “So it straight up is just your hair color, that’s kinda ridiculous.” A sort of brightness has returned to her features. I am…glad for some reason. Probably because this brings me closer to my goal. She grabs my hand, perky as usual, and pulls me out of the house. “Let’s go then! Perry will meet us at the Eastern Gate! I can’t believe this, that you, a silly robot I wanted to make my maid, is finally cracking open my dad’s crusty old shell!”

“I am, after all, a master at cracking tripto skulls.”

The sky is bright, the weather is beautiful. We trot together along the street towards the city’s eastern exit. Gua even lets me ride on an arti-tram and we buy bread. All mundane experiences, but valuable nonetheless. All of this is for my purpose.

—

Or so I thought. I thought many things that were proven wrong. Like me being good at cracking tripto skulls. Or that things with the two dragons were moving in a positive trajectory. Or that I knew how to perform combat maneuvers. But as I knelt there before Akkuiggana, the pink rain slowly dropping, I realized my own foolhardiness. There was no perfect world. No simplicity. There was only ever desolation, even when surrounded by walls, food, abundance and peace, for people never grow with comfort, and eventually this will come to blindside them.