The Better Assistant (An Inanimate Insanity Fanfiction) by Creativestream

The Better Assistant (An Inanimate Insanity Fanfiction/Oneshot)

                      Mepad softly sighed to himself on the wooden stairs of the purgatory mansion with furrowed brows, adjusting his legs so that he was sitting on the bottom of its grand steps. The exhausted sound caught Taco's attention, the hard-shelled tortilla sauntering over to him with a sombre expression. "...Hey. How're you holding up?"

"Adequately well," The tablet responded composedly, moving himself to the right for her to sit down next to him. "Although I cannot say the same for everyone else."

"Oh, really?" Taco sarcastically replied in her usual British accent, sitting down alongside him in acceptance of his company. "I couldn't tell."

The two of them looked to where everyone was huddled around in a large circle on the floor's carpet. This group consisted of both the mansion's residents and everyone else whom Mepad had managed to retrieve from OJ's hotel before they could have met a horrific fate. The mansion in itself was emanating an evident sense of gloom, mirroring each object's low spirits.

They were clearly exhausted from all that had happened to them, their tired faces a testimony to those they had lost and the adversity endured. Hushed whispers and worried confessions filled their atmosphere. Mepad believed it to be an understandable response to their grim situation.

"For what has happened to them in the span of a day, I cannot blame them for their heightened stress levels."

"Do you mean by the whole process of guarding ourselves against an invisible and unstoppable threat, or the moment when we all learned about our true origins?"

"Both. It will take some time for them to process this, but I do not know if that will be an opportunity given to us," Mepad answered with direct resolve. Taco turned her body towards him to ask a doubtful question.

"...Do you really think our plan's going to work?" Her voice gave away her lack of confidence and growing concern. "We have no idea what's happening up there, or even if Bow and Apple have been discovered yet - so many things could go wrong!"

"That may be true, but we can only hope for a positive outcome," He reassured her, only for their conversation to fall silent once more. Taco took the quiet moment to observe Mepad's features, to which she frowned at his tense and conflicted expression.

"Alright, spit it out."

"I am incapable of-"

"You know what I mean," She sighed to herself, rubbing her eyes before focusing back on him. "I've kidnapped - I mean, known you long enough to tell when there's something on your mind."

"What do you mean?"

"Whenever you're pondering something, you usually stare out into the distance with that weird gaze of yours, and you're doing it right now. So, what are you thinking about?"

Mepad hesitantly shifted in his spot, unsure of whether to admit his dilemma. He glanced back at Taco, who gave him a weak smile to coax him. He eventually gave in and confessed, opting to look away from her as he did so.

"Well...if you must know, I am currently wondering about Toilet."

"Toilet?" She mused, thumbing her chin as she recalled the memory of a loud, energetic lavatory. "I believe you've told me about him before, haven't you?"

"Yes, I have. He was Mephone's first assistant and my co-worker before he was...unjustly fired. I myself have yet to come to terms with many events today, one of them being his reappearance through the latest Mephone. Up until then, I had believed Toilet was gone for good-"

"Which made you utterly miserable because you wanted to apologize to him?" Taco interrupted, only to mutter out a hushed "sorry" before he chose to continue.