NaNoWriMo 2016 Fic Day 1: 1707 words

[dens_extra_pups]

It was raining the day everything began happening. That was what she would remember most clearly. Not how things actually began, oh, no. Nothing quite as important to the events that would play out. Just that the weather was the sort of rainy, dreary, deeply penetrating cold and rain that made her want to just stay in bed after piling numerous blankets on and turning the furnace on instead of venturing out on her day off to get her entire list of essential groceries for the month, a task that always took far too long and always cost far too much, because of the fact that the dollar was suffering the effects of inflation.

It was late November, and despite living in the state of Arizona, it was quite clear that winter was well on its way. Everything seemed to be that annoying, dull grey that came with the first truly miserable, cold and dreary rain of the season. Maybe that was why she noticed the sharply contrasting flash of red in the parking lot, near one of the farthest of the cart corrals. On a bright, sunny day, she was certain she would have overlooked the tiny form huddled against the trash can chained to the hollow steel pipes that made up the cart corral.

Parking her sports utility vehicle near the cart corral but on the opposite side to the tiny red shape, the woman quietly exited the vehicle after turning the engine off. She kept an eye out to make sure the minuscule form would not suddenly dart into the path of oncoming vehicles, though at this time of morning, this part of the parking lot was quite sparsely populated. Which may have explained why nobody else had seemed to notice the tiny red being huddled in the insufficient shelter that the side of the trash can provided against the wind and rain.

Thinking quickly, the woman retrieved her umbrella, a purchase she had made on her birthday a couple of months prior, after repeated incidents of being very upset about getting rained upon due to the lack of said accessory. Then, she slowly approached the red form, freezing when it moved, peeking cautiously at her with brilliant, frightened looking blue eyes beneath the black helmet accented with a yellow mark. On its shoulder was what was clearly the barrel of a microscope, a conclusion the woman swiftly came to due to the clear window on the chest of the tiny being, and what looked to be adjustment knobs in significant locations.

"Easy. I come in peace." The woman said quietly, crouching so she was not towering over the other as much. The red robot, for a robot the being was, cautiously edged closer to her, and the shelter offered by her umbrella. "I promise, I will not hurt you." She knew exactly who the being was, but introductions could wait until later, when she and the being were safely in the shelter of her home. The robot hesitated a few moments more before moving to hide against the long, dark brown maxi length skirt the woman had chosen to wear to go shopping today. Granted, crouching in the rain was not the smartest thing she had done today, but that was the sort of thing she had a washer and dryer at the house for.

A few minutes later, the woman and the robot were back on the road, heading back to where the woman lived. She could always get her groceries later today, or could go tomorrow, when the weather was better. She did, after all, have peanut butter and home made tortillas, as well as a few cans of premade pasta and sauce, among other "the weather is too nasty for me to go anywhere, so I will stay inside and chill" supplies. She would not be able to cook eggs today if she did opt to wait until the next day to go to the store... But she knew she would rather have eggs and know that she had enough food for the next month, plus Thanksgiving dinner next week, before she did any relaxing and resting indoors. "Alright. I am going to take you back to my house, and then I am changing my skirt and going to get groceries. I have WI-FI at the house, and I can get the laptop going, so if you want to surf the net, or whatever, you will be able to."

She was not sure why she was talking out loud to the robot, as he did not seem interested in conversation at the current moment, instead choosing to curl up on the passenger seat in near silence aside from the sound of his systems working. Maybe something had frightened him before she had spotted him, and that was why he was choosing to remain silent. The thought made her pause mid sentence, concern and sympathy for the tiny robot causing her words to stop in her throat. What if the robot had been involved in an incident where he had been separated from his compatriots and he had no way of knowing if they were alive, dead, or captured? She had to do her best to not begin crying as she drove, as it would make trying to navigate the already poor conditions even more hazardous. Taking a deep, calming breath, the woman squared her shoulders and focused on the road. After all, she was quite proud of not having had any traffic tickets or accidents in the past decade, and she wanted to continue avoiding altercations on the road.

It was another twenty minutes before she was pulling her sport utility vehicle into the garage of her house and turning the engine off for the second time today. "We are here. If there is anything you need, please tell me and I will do my best to find it and bring it to the house. I have a security system, even with the fact that we are pretty far out and away from the city. I mainly got it to keep my dad and mom from worrying about me, even though I keep telling them that nobody would even try to mess with me because I am about the scariest human in a five mile radius. I cannot say the same for if I were living in the city itself, but out here, yeah. Nobody would dare mess with the crazy lady who lives alone and hunts on her own land with a bow and arrow... And I am rambling. Sorry about that." The woman ducked her head a bit as she moved to input the security code, cradling the robot close to her chest so he could at least be warmed for a little while by her body heat.

"Anyway, home sweet home. I will get the laptop going for you, and leave my cell phone number, so if you need something or think of something I need to keep an eye out for while I am in town shopping, you can text or call me." The continued silence from the robot worried her and made her feel a bit anxious, even though she generally preferred quiet and the sounds of the world around her, with the occasional background noise provided by science shows or cooking shows on television. Even when she was working on drawings or costumes, she had to have the television on, and her preferences were generally on the Science Channel or Food Network, though on occasion, she would watch and listen to programs on Velocity. She was the first to admit that she enjoyed the eye candy of fancy cars, though she preferred her sport utility vehicle for things like grocery shopping, and her little orange Elio motorcar for daily driving.

The vehicles were reliable and the Elio got her to where she needed to be most days, while the sport utility vehicle was well worth investing in, as it had seen use during conventions in addition to grocery shopping. Those factors, as well as the efficiency both vehicles had in terms of gas mileage, made her feel justified in her decisions regarding them. But, that was neither here nor there at the moment...

The robot looked around cautiously once he was brought into the warmth of the house. He still seemed quite nervous, but given that he had been found in the parking lot of the nearest wholesale grocery store, it was not surprising that he was uneasy. The woman hummed softly as she moved to gently set him on the storage ottoman she had bought a few months back to use in the living room as both seating and to hold some of the things she used at various points in the year for various religious rituals and what have you. "Sit tight. I will go get the laptop and get it plugged in so you do not have to worry about draining the battery." With that, the woman went to retrieve said laptop, as well as the power cord and mouse that she preferred to use instead of the built in touch pad.

A few minutes later, the robot was situated near the closest outlet, with the laptop set up on the coffee table. On a notepad next to the laptop, the woman had written her cell phone number, and had also provided the robot with a soft blanket, fresh from the dryer. The warmth and softness of the blanket had earned the woman a small, shy smile and a quiet murmur of gratitude from the robot. Perhaps he would be feeling up to a little bit of conversation by the time she returned from her errand. She could only hope, but if not, she would not press the matter.

-----

About an hour later, the woman returned home, having stopped at one of the craft supply stores on her way back to the house. She had forgotten that she had also wanted to buy the materials to make a Christmas present for her boyfriend, as well as materials to make gifts for several dear friends of hers who she did not get to see as often as she would have preferred.


Continued here