Watching the bot organizing the salt and pepper shakers from least dirty to dirty in a symmetrical line Rorry sat on one of the old, worn, and dusty booths.

Watching him it was hard to believe how alive he felt, she hadn’t met any high-class bots, just basic scarp and tool junkies, but he was unique— it was like he had a soul.

She could scrap him, but he felt too alive to just smack him and tear him apart, tapping her shoe she sighed, what was she gonna do with this heap of mechanical bits?

“There we go! Sound as a pound!” Randy said as he clapped his hands, looking at the shakers proudly, something was off with him in a cute, dorky sort of way.

“What does that even mean?” Rorry asked, his way of speaking was rather different than her usual bot talk, usually they sounded dead and deprived of joy, like herself.

“Which part? The There we go or the Sound as a Pound?” Turning his head, he smiled, it was like a shiny ray of oblivious sunlight was grinning at her.

“Your entire way of speaking, nobody does that.” Rorry said bluntly.

Blushing, his eyes began to load as he shyly looked down. “O-oh they don’t?!”

Stunned, Rorry stood up. “Wait— you can react?”

“React? If you could explain more, that would be dandy.” Confused, Randy tilted his head as Rorry walked closer, reaching up as he grabbed her hands.

“Please don’t touch me, I prefer sanitary conditions.” Looking at her clothes, and then gloves, he turned his head and his arm began to twitch.

Promptly his wrist detached and he sprayed her with sanitizer, gasping in her mask, she closed her eyes and shook her head.

“Hey! Don’t do that!” Rubbing her face she didn’t get a chance to recover as a gust of wind soon followed from using his wrist, filtered air began to blow through her hair knocking dust and grime off.

“How did you ever get this dirty?! It’s atrocious!” Neither looking down on her nor bossy it was more like he was panicking, like a clean freak would.

His eyes spun in utter panic as he wanted nothing more than to clean her up, he could see every dirt and grain of sand on her, was it sand or dust? Oh please don’t be dust, he hated dust, it never fully went away, he could never fully rid the Diner of dust no matter how hard he worked.

“This is how everyone looks, so stop it!” Rorry hissed, smacking his arm away and ruffling her hair, it was coarse and dirty but it’s not like she could do anything about it.

“Everyone?! You’re tripping!” Randy said, more surprised than anything.

“I’m not tripping, I'm standing up straight, and yes! Non-polluted water isn’t something easy to come by, and to make things worse soap is a luxury item scrap for brains.” Sighing, Rorry scratched behind her ear, maybe it would be best to leave him behind.

“If you need soap we have some in back.” Randy said, and Rorry just turned on her heel.

“No good, unlike the metal bits, any substance and liquids have either dried out or turned into a radiated goo waiting to burn your skin to your bones.” Taking one last look around, she tapped the cupboards to find nothing but plates and old expired food that made her eyes water.

Except apparently the sanitizer in his arm….how strange….it wasn’t burning her skin at all…

“Once saw a man try and use it, he was covered in boils for weeks.” Rorry said, and Randy felt a shiver run down his spine.

This place sounded horrible….loading.

Data Analysis complete: User RANDY has been powered off for 57 years, 4 months, and 37 days.

Scanning location…..

High Radiation levels present.

“I see….well, sunshine what’s your name?” Randy said with a smile, even if he was all alone and Chef wasn’t here right now, he’d still do his job!

“My name..? It’s Rorry.” Turning to face him, she watched his eyes flash, and then a picture of her appeared in them.

“Golly! I’ll add you to my handy dandy customer register! Welcome member 1347, Rorry!” Smiling, he clapped his hands for her.

Fascination appeared in her eyes, he could take photos?

Just how advanced was he? He seemed similar to the high-class stuff she’d read in the news, but this was something different.

“Well, I’ll be heading back now, what do you plan on doing um— Randy?” Rorry said, standing near the door as he chimed.

“I’ll wait here for Chef! I’m sure he’ll be back to open up! He’s always liked to sleep in.” If a bot could force a smile it would be him, and it felt horrible, a twisting throbbing in her chest making Rorry unable to walk out the door.

Holding onto the bar attached to the door, she took a deep breath, feeling muggy beneath the mask.

His Chef isn’t coming back…..I’m sure he knows that or maybe he doesn’t…..but still….

“Hey, I’m sure your Cook or whatever you call him is pretty busy and wouldn’t want you to be alone, so if you’d like you can come back with me….I can bring you to a Repair guy to get you checked out since you’ve been asleep for so long…..”

That sure was a mouthful, and she noticed how her voice got quieter the more she spoke, but soon a soft voice responded.

“If that’s what you’d like, after all, it’s a bots job gig to serve.” Giving a soft smile, he laughed but it was a sad laugh, or at least it looked like one to Rorry.

Randy took one last look around, saying goodbye to his broom, box, and even the array of salt and pepper shakers, before walking out the door, his eyes widening when he saw the absolutely horrid state of the city.

Sunshine Ville wasn’t as Sunny as it used to be.