#signed letters

Maybe he shouldn't pick up naming his coworkers. But it's too late for that, at this point. The whirs of his system powering up echoes through his ears as he slowly stands.

Its sensors flicker hazes into HD as it picks up Dave's audio.

"WA02! WA02!" It was like a little assistant or something. It hovers in its doorway as Fred smoothes out his fur where Tubbo previously laid. "Your room is a mess!" Definitely an assistant more than a guard. "What's with all this?"

"I was, hanging out, with someone." Fred answers. He wasn't sure how it would go well to tell his guard that he was on a date with a prisoner.

"Who? WB012?" Charles, it broke the coffee machine last week.

"WD026?" James, pretty sure its on a mission right now.

"Is it-" Fred places its paw over Dave's mouth. Where it would be, at least. It startled it, clearly with how quiet it gets.

"Don't worry about it." Fred instructs. "I'll clean this up, and you can tell me what you needed."

He hears Dave huff, still in his doorway as he throws empty boxes in the trash.

It walks into the room, furred fingers flopping on the switch. Faceless features twitching at the sight.

Papers and crayons scattered on the floor, a aquarium tank, a pile of pillows (so that's where all the extras went), a (quite big) dog plush toy of sorts. It was like children have lived here.

‘They did, they did. My children. My kids.’

It didn't matter, really. Perhaps it had these from previous experiments and was looking through them. It would make some sense considering it's level, especially with the lack of human management roaming as they used to it would have to have fallen to it.

Right. Cleaning.

WA02 methodically picks up papers, stacking them and putting them away in the old desk. It doesn't know why it didn't just toss them. They're useless now.

Then the pillows, it needed to put them back in storage. It was in such an odd state.

There used to be an imprint of a body there. Moving pillows and expecting to see eyes that never show up.

The aquarium is fine, what's a little decoration for whoever uses the room next? Something in its systems tell it no one will use the room. It just doesn't know why.

It find itself holding onto the plush. It recognizes the character, but doesn't understand its purpose. Why was it here? It should throw it out.

. . .

Its fingers curl around the toy just a little too much for its taste.

It sighs. Something has to be wrong with the toy, clearly.

It worked. He was busy, but he still typed messages to Tubbo.

They reassigned me to another section, I'll try to find time to see you.

Read.

Are you doing well? Are the kids doing well?

Read.

I heard the other prisoners woke up, you won't be lonely anymore right?

Read. Read. Read. Read.

What the hell happened? Where did Osito go? What is it meant to do with this sudden vacuum?

It makes a sound of frustration, its paws flexing. Sometimes being a robot had its cons, one being which when dealing with destructive emotions, it can't really tear something a part with its teeth or claws.

It paced around its office, a sense of dread made its fur stick up on edge, a mix of dread and fury really. Was this scheduled? It would have to be. It hadn't been paying much attention with a sudden influx of new responsibilities.

Its mini rage session was already shut down before it could even start as there was a quiet knock on its door.

It pauses, debating on whether or not it should just tell whoever it was to leave. However there was a large chance that it was one of the kids, and it didn't want to reject them for any capacity.

It walks over and opens the door, emptiness met it. Not a worker then. Its head turns downwards and it was surprised. It was P16, standing there with P16's dog plush toy P16 was adamant was a rabbit. They meet each others eyes for a long time before it kneels down to P16's height. "Are you okay P16?" WA02 asks, it was good enough to act like it wasn't as affected as it felt like it was.

P16 stares up at it with those same somber purple eyes, much less scared than when they first met but all the same amount of somberness. P16 shifts the rabbit toy, a dog it mentally corrects itself, in P16's arms. The toy was almost as big as the kid on its own.

Osito may have found some amusement in that.

Shit.

P16 was shoving something against its paw which it takes gingerly after returning to its main focus.

What happened to Smiley? was written on the dry erase board in blue. Which at this point WA02 assumes is P16's favorite color.

If it had the ability to swallow the metaphorically lump in its throat it would, but it was stuck because nothing was actually there.

"I don't know." It admits after a bit of silence.

P16 erases the board and writes again.

Will Smiley be back?

It wanted to laugh, and it did a little. It was stupid and it didn't know. What is it supposed to say?

"I don't know." It says again. P16 stares at it for a moment before taking a few steps forwards and hugs the bot as tight as P16 could, as if P16 was holding WA02 together.

And, as WA02 wraps its own paws around P16, maybe the kid was.

Only one thought ran through WA02's head.