Archive of Our Own ^beta

~ “There we go, Almost there…” B told herself, holding up the orange band that she’d been scrubbing away at for the past hour, trying to brush off all the dried oil and gunk that she could. While still stained quite a bit, it was beginning to look a lot better. After another hour of this has gone by, she heard the sounds of flapping wings approaching the entrance of the den, before she felt the displacement of the building as her caretaker returned with a few worker parts full of oil for B to consume. This past week, she had been wanting to stay inside the den, taking any alone time she could to try and process what had just happened last week. The biggest existential reveal she’d ever received in her lifetime. While J had seemingly been ok with this, there were very few words spoken in between each other. She’d even started just taking off for the night without announcement, even if B was wide away. The tension and awkwardness was so thick it could be sliced cleanly with her claws. B had thought about the situation, and finally came to an idea to break this streak of silence they had developed. After their quiet meal, B decided to finally ask her caretaker,
“Hey…Mother?”
“…Hmm, yeah?”
“What…was V like? J-Just…a bit curious.”
The question certainly changed the air. J was now staring at her for the longest time it had been since who knows when, probably trying to figure out how to go about it, she was very calculated that way. Eventually, she’d seem to find a good response, her blank stare changing to have more emotion and softness to it. “Being honest, that isn’t a simple task, You ready for another monologue?” She replied with a small chuckle ending it. Intrigued, she nodded and J proceeded to walk to the front of the den and sat on the metal platform that overlooked the outside. B didn’t really mind her long way of storytelling, in fact, she rather enjoyed hearing her mother ramble, unless it was a lecture for her doing something wrong. She didn’t care for that. Taking her long tail, J patted the place beside her signaling for B to come over to sit, her getting up and doing just that. After watching the endless amount of movement that happened in Copper-9's environment, J finally began her long monologue.
“I remember when we used to work in the mansion, owned by Boss’s folks. Back when we were just weak little worker drones ourselves. I had been one of Tessa’s first to be saved, then after a while V came around. Originally, I’d notice her doing her daily assignments around the mansion. I took note of her purely because of her…struggles. She’d miss some of the flower pots when watering them, miss a dirt pile she’d made earlier, and have trouble reading certain writings unless they were a centimeter away from her face. The strange little thing she was. Eventually, Tessa formally introduced me to her, saying she’d saved her from being decommissioned for ‘vision’ defects. Made sense to me. But at least she was being given another chance instead of being thrown out into the wasteland. As a way to try and accommodate for this vision defect, Tessa gave her a pair of old glasses. Truly embracing the adorable and precious dork that she was. I-I think…that’s where it started. She caught my eye not only with her silly behaviors, but her natural beauty. I remembered that during some of the bigger galas, while Tessa was organizing her things, we’d sit together and look over the railings, kinda getting the best seat in the house to overlook the humans' weird but pretty ritual meetings. Even back then, just like with Tessa, I could tell V wanted to be a part of it all. And so did I every once in a while, But this was one of the few times I didn’t have that desire, all I had wanted was right next to me…and behind me I guess. Then we got N. Honestly, I don’t know why, but for some reason, He caught her eyes. And for a while he didn’t even notice. Just being friendly like with anyone else, honestly. I-It…hurt. I thought…I’d…lost her. And after she had malfunctioned and her system powered off…I really wished I’d said something sooner. I really thought she was gone…
You weren’t what I’d been expecting. But some of that dorkiness still seems to be there. Along with who I became more familiar with these past few years…. That feral, fearless, but selfless soldier that I’d accidentally fallen for….all over again…..
After being rebuilt as a disassembly drone, I thought I’d gotten over her. Besides, I was her boss now. And that idiot was once again there, but with his terrible performances, It was easy to see why she began to distance herself, especially forgetting our time in the mansion. He was way more pathetic now. Normally, I’d like to do things solo, but every once in a while, we’d invite each other to hunt together. As she went completely psycho on the workers we’d find, I’d get so…distracted. I guess she still captivated me, but instead of with her preciousness, it was with her admirable skills and overall chaotic nature. It was extremely attractive…A-ANYWAYS-! So yeah, I might have been once or twice caught…s-staring. So much so that she’d use her captivating ability to steal some of my hunt right out from under my nose, she was such a little brat that way. After a while, I’d kinda gotten so used to it that I’d just hunt a bit extra and bring her the best parts. But sure enough, she’d begun to indulge more in physically showing her appreciation for my…offerings. She would even nuzzle close by my own muzzle to give soft kisses…it was nice. Feeling her close to me…I…miss that the most…After being destroyed, I spent a while with Tessa until he finally returned to Copper-9. It was really nice to see her again and she was seemingly doing ok. But I didn’t have time to greet her like I would’ve liked to. We were on a mission. And before I knew it, Tessa had sent me back to her landing pod to watch it, not even giving me a chance to say goodbye…. But I did what I was told, despite my better judgment. I think I sat there for two days straight before finally getting fed up and deciding to go down there myself. They had yet to return or even contact me, I had a feeling something was off….a-and… I was right…..I p-prayed that I’d gotten there sooner…. So many things….s-still unsaid. Seeing her in such pain… all I wanted to do was stay by her side…destroy the ones who had caused this…but she insisted I l-leave, so I didn’t end up like her. There was no sign of the others, But I didn’t care, a-all I wanted was her…to be o-ok…I…I-I…”
After what seemed like an hour, her mother finally got to a stopping point, but not one where she was done with her monologue, instead she seemed really choked up. Turning her head to hide her visor from B’s sight. She honestly didn't know what to say. While she had thought she was enough for her caretaker in terms of company, she realized that V was able to give her mother a whole different sense of feeling complete, feeling loved. Something that she could definitely try and do for her mother, but she knew she obviously could never replace as she didn’t love her in a romantic way, not anymore it seemed, V had loved her romantically, B didn’t. That was the main difference the two would have. J was her mother, that’s what she’d known her own entire life. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t try to comfort her mothers obvious pain from remembering her lost loved one, something that she obviously still had such feelings of regret and guilt for. Moving closer, she leaned against her mother’s side and hugged her, feeling her body flinch to the gesture. Soon, she felt her body relax as J turned to look at her, and what she saw genuinely scared her. Tears were running down her visor as she shakily said, “I’m sorry, I-I just… I-I… I…” She then swiftly grabbed B and returned the hug with a tightened grip as their foreheads connected, hearing her mother’s heart finally burst open with the truth,
“I-I L-LOVED HER! I-I’d do just about anything to see her again even if j-just for a second, I-I-I miss her so M-MUCH! I-I don’t wanna b-believe that I-I'll n-never see h-her again!” Hearing her mother’s painful wails as she pressed her head into hers was so powerful that she swore she could hear both their cores crack. She’d never ever seen her mother this emotional, the broken sentences she cried out were so painfully strong, she had to mean every word of it. That's what really scared her. No threat on her life had ever made her feel so helpless compared to seeing her mother so broken, and over a memory and lost one. It was utterly devastating and so defeating for not just her. So allowing for her mother to have someone to hold and a shoulder to cry on, they stayed together in each other’s embrace for a long while as her mother continued on with her pouring grief, finally getting it all out of her system. So much finally made sense, why she’d even bothered saving this drone, her natural coldness she’d been shown, the instinctual protectiveness, her love. It all stemmed from this past life, this drone that her mother called her own. Someone who B was the spitting image of. All her mother had to remember her by.
Once a while had passed and her mother’s ventilation had changed back to a normal rhythm, she felt her loosening grip as she looked to make eye contact. Her mother seemed more relaxed albeit, so much more emotionally tired. Pulling her back, she rested her head on B’s, as she huffed out some steam to cool her system. Being closer to her core, she could hear the hum it made. It felt so soothing in such a time like this, so B snuggled up to have her ear directly over the comforting sound. After which, she finally heard her mother’s trembling whisper of gratitude for B’s patience, “t-thank you…I don't know what I’d do without you…no matter what happens…y-ou will always be mine…I love you BV”
Fin~