Disconnect

Chapter 6

     The two of you stay in that awkward embrace for longer than you’d call normal. You’re not sure how long a hug was typically supposed to last, but this was definitely overkill. A few minutes passed until a knock at the door sounded, at which point both you and Tessa separated immediately. You’re unsure why, but you were embarrassed to have almost been caught. Looking at Tessa’s increasingly red face, you can tell the feeling was mutual. Unlike you, however, she knows exactly why she’s embarrassed. Without waiting for permission, the door opens and the trio of drones enter the room with an unknown fourth member. She matched what you saw outside the window, hair and all. Now that you’ve seen her for more than a split second, you notice some quirks about her. She moves awkwardly as she walks into the room, and her head tilts in what you can only imagine is an uncomfortable angle. She moves her hand to steady her head to an upright position, but it falls back down after only a few moments.
     N walks towards you and Tessa, and the maid follows closely behind like she was using him as cover. He turns his head to the maid while still making his way to you, “He’s really nice. There’s nothing to worry about. He’s a lot like Tessa.”
     You smile at the display. It was like an older sibling trying to coax a younger one to meet new people for the first time. Your smile falters slightly when you look past the pair and see J staring at you with hollow eyes and a glare that could kill, a pound sign in the corner of her visor. You realize that you and Tessa are standing rather close to one another, and both of your faces are probably very red. Tessa’s was, but had lightened in color after the group entered. Your face, however, was getting quite pale at the thought of having another run in with J’s iron, er, steel grip. You push those thoughts away as N and the maid get a comfortable distance away. N tries to side step to show you the maid, but she holds onto and moves with him.
     “Aw. Little buddy, I promise everythings going to be fine. I’ll introduce you. This is (Y/N),” N gestures to you.
     You guessed that was your que to say something. You muster your most welcoming smile, “Nice to meet you. What’s your name?”
     The maid regards you for a moment before she speaks, and when she does, you notice she has a distorted, robotic cadence to her voice, “Cyn.” She further hides behind N, who seems proud that she at least put some effort into meeting someone new.
     You feel Tessa put a hand on your shoulder, which makes J gawk out of view. Tessa explains, “She’s always been a shy one. She did this when I first brought her here. I’m sure she’ll warm up to you.”
     You turn your attention to Cyn again, “I think we were going to start another game here in a minute. Do you want to join us?”
     Cyn moves from behind N just enough for you to see her head. She places a hand on the side of her head to steady herself, “Nervous nod.”
     While N and V looked pleased, J looked more annoyed than anything. You didn’t mind though, because that meant she didn’t have her attention on you. You gave Tessa a concerned look after hearing Cyn vocalize her actions. Tessa, in turn, gives a tired smile. You guess this was normal for her. It’d probably be rude to ask about that stuff, especially since you've only just met her.

     The six of you had set up this game some time ago, nearly an hour and a half now, and it doesn’t seem to be any closer to being finished. During this time though, you’ve noticed Cyn got out of her shell a little. She didn’t hide behind anyone by the time the game started, and even started to talk to people as the game progressed, though she was still mostly quiet to you and J. You even got used to her strange manner of speech. You noticed that she vocalized a lot of her actions. The way she vocalized ‘criss cross applesauce’ had to have been one of the cutest things you’ve ever seen. Coming from a 14 year old, horror obsessed teen, that was saying something. Normally you’d think of cute things as being lame, but this was different. You guessed you were just happy to have another friend. All good things must come to an end though, and soon enough, a butler drone came to the door to inform the humans that dinner would be ready in 20 minutes, and in 10, the adults would arrive to talk prior to the meal. The drone left quickly after this, and it was decided that the game would just end here.
     “Crossing arms,” Cyn vocalizes with a pout, “I wanted the yellow property.”
     “Maybe next time? You can buy those from someone if they land on it first. I’m sure, for the right price, anyone would sell it to you,” N tries to reassure.
     “Sigh,” Cyn responds.
     Tessa stands while you help the rest of the group pack the game up, “Rightio. (Y/N) and I need to get ready for dinner. Can you lot handle cleaning up?”
     Everyone agrees, and J gives her hundredth ‘on it, boss’ of the day. You stand and get your jacket on and buttoned, hoping that no one notices the oil stains, “I have to go figure out what I’m wearing to dinner. See you there?”
     Tessa nods, “As if I’d miss steak and potatoes.”
     “Heh. Good answer,” you walk to the door to her room, waving to everyone as you do, “See you guys later. We should do this again soon. I’ll see how long we’re going to be here before leaving.”
     With that being all you had to say, you leave the room. The group waving their goodbyes as they clean.
     Tessa stops mid wave as you leave the room, the door having long since closed by the time she puts her hand down. She stares at the door for a prolonged moment before a single word drips from her lips like a leaky pipe, “Leaving?”