Independent Puppets

Episode 9: Slipping Under [Part 1]

3:28 PM, June 23rd 2019

In the small field that the AV club building was situated in, the atmosphere in general was tranquil, quiet and, overall, soothing to everyone in it. It was one of those Summer afternoons, the weather being a little bit warm but mostly neutral, when the most prominent noise that could be heard was the sharp but harmonious tweeting of birds; this kind of day made you glad to be alive. 

While Markus and North were sat on the bottom step that lead to the building's door and talked quietly amongst each other in the background, and whilst Connor was stood against one of the building's exterior walls and was practising his coin tricks again, Ralph was busying himself by using his knife to slice open an apple that he'd found on one of the trees in the woods and then bringing this now cut open apple over to an area of the ground a few meters in front of the wall that Connor was stood against. Ralph put the slices down next to him before utilising his knife once again, this time for the purpose of digging a small hole in the ground.

"What are you doing, Ralph?" Alice walked over to him and asked this question, looking at him with genuine curiosity in her eyes. Kara was sat on one of the steps which was higher than the one North and Markus were perched on.

"Ralph is planting apple seeds, so that he can make a tree grow." He turned around for a moment to face her as he replied happily. "He likes plants; he wants to see what a tree of his own would look like." Ralph then turned back around to face what he was doing and he finished digging the hole, the blade of his knife now covered with dry dirt and a few strands of grass, and he proceeded to pull out the seeds from the apple and place them inside the hole, Alice watching him with wonder while Kara was also observing them from where she was sat. This blonde AX400 smiled softly at the sight of Ralph letting Alice fill the hole back in after the seeds were inside, the YK500 also smiling, and then Ralph used the flat side of his knife's blade to pat it down. The pair of zoolingualist androids made the already soothing and pleasant atmosphere even more so. 

"Heyo!" The sound of Jenna's voice was heard calling out to the 6 members of the group who were all gathered here, and they all turned to see where it was coming from - she was walking across the small field towards the club building at the same time as wheeling her bike alongside her. Eve and Andrea, who were both walking with her, were also doing the same, and Arthur was there, too, although he was the only one not wheeling a bike with him. It had been 5 and a half days since Jenna's hair had been dyed, so the previous night her hair had been in need of a wash and now, as a result, her hair was currently back to being completely mousy brown. Andrea's hair, meanwhile, was still bright red at the bottom and fading into its natural dark brown colour as it went upwards because of her dye being the variant that could last for months. 

"Good afternoon." Markus greeted her and the other 3 humans amiably. 

"What're Ralph and Alice doing?" Enquired Eve, watching them for a moment. 

"We're planting apple tree seeds into the ground." The latter mentioned one responded before standing up and facing them while wearing a smile on her face. 

"Oh, nice!" Commented Andrea. "Give that about a month and it should grow into a little sapling by then." She put her bike down against one of the building's exterior walls, and so did her 2 female companions. 

"This might sound like a strange thought, but sometimes I've wondered what it'd be like do be drunk." North suddenly said, making the others abruptly look at her in confusion. 

"Where did that come from?" The human who'd previously spoken before her quirked her eyebrows. 

"It's a thought that I've been having for a while now, just something that I've been contemplating." The WR400 answered. "A month and a half ago, back at the Tower, an experiment involving ethanol was conducted on one of the other androids there, and that android seemed to be fine except for a little bit of a loss of balance, which means alcohol isn't damaging to us. So after that I've been thinking about what full intoxication would feel like."