It was true, the good times meant nothing without the bad. Even something as mundane as shopping suddenly became much more meaningful now that she grasped that this could be the last time she could be doing this. She had thought of shopping as nothing more than a thing her Master gave her to do. Now she understood just how important having a purpose was. Without a purpose, there was nothing to distract her from sobbing in an alleyway. She had something to do and didn’t feel caged by her own memories. There was a reason to keep moving.

She wondered whether or not to buy apples or bananas today. ‘Master likes both but last time I bought both, most of them spoiled,’ the wonderfully simple thought occurred, as she walked back and forth between the two. “Wasteful spending is unwise.” Aclysia muttered.

She thought about maybe only buying half of each to get the best of both worlds but what would happen if her Master developed a sudden craving for apples and then they wouldn’t have enough of them and then she would get scolded for not getting enough apples and then Master would get mad and then he would put her in his inventory as a punishment and then….

No that didn’t sound like her Master, he would just sigh and grab a banana. He was a good man like that. Always had something for her to do and never was too demanding in what that was. She wished she had him to herself more frequently. Doubly so now. Practically all her memories she had with her Master also contained Rave.

‘I deserve more time with him. Alone,’ the thought surfaced on its own. Aclysia hummed happily to herself as she imagined caring for him. Serving him as a maid had been her choice, John had made sure it had been. Even now she felt that was certain. Oddly, it started to feel more certain than her prime directive. ‘I should check which nutrients are most needed for a male his age and prepare some kind of plan,’ she decided as she grabbed apples and bananas.

She left the fruit and vegetables aisle and walked over to the frozen foods. Master loved pizza and that love had to be sated.

‘Note to self: learn to make pizza,’ she added it to the mental list of things to do. It was a growing list. The more she thought, the more she remembered what she was inadequate in. The amount of frozen pizza her Master ate meant that she would save money if she learned how to provide the meal herself.

Aclysia sometimes wondered why Mistress Rave didn’t learn to cook. Was it because that was just the basis of their relationship, was she lazy, did she not love Master as much as she herself did? That seemed unlikely. Aclysia hadn’t even said those words to him yet. Although, now that she considered it… perhaps she should. Another topic to contemplate, after she was done working out the cooking.

The information provided said that typically the female in a family cooked. A relationship was the first stage of a family therefore one of the two should learn to cook and Master clearly didn’t want to. She would need to ask how they were planning to go about this when she got back.

“Excuse me?” Somebody spoke to her. She found it slightly weird she wasn’t staring into the sun right now. She turned to look at a guy with a camera and connected the dots. It was the second time this had happened.

“Good day, Sir,” she said with a bow, “Do you want to take a photo?”

“If that is alright with you.” Her Master had said she had to expect such things when she headed out in cosplay. Often, she forgot to change before heading out. This appearance was her favourite. She looked cute. She liked looking cute for him.

She was on the verge of running late, however, so she couldn’t make it like the last time and end up in a thirty minute photoshoot. “I am short on time. I ask for your understanding. Please make it quick.”

The man looked very happy, they took quick photos and went on their way. At least this one hadn’t asked about why she wasn’t wearing contact lenses. The answer was of course because Master didn’t want her to.

‘No, that’s too shallow an answer,’ Aclysia realized. There was a little unsolved knot in her stomach. She had agency. She could exercise that agency. He wanted her to exercise that agency. Important was only that she remained a loyal servant who would protect him. Even that she felt she could chip away at if she wanted to. ‘I’m human,’ she thought about what Herman had told her. ‘In all the ways that matter. This is what Master must have wanted for me… to have the freedom of choice in all I do, not just what he allows me to do. The answer is that I want to do what he wants me to do. Because that is my own desire. Most of the time.’

Aclysia looked into a reflective surface. She felt that, if she just wanted to, she could have reshaped more about her than ever before. There was much about herself she could have changed now. She didn’t want to. Perhaps she hadn’t been created in the normal way, definitely she was lagging behind everyone else when it came to the details of social understanding, yet she was still happy, all things considered. She wouldn’t change where she was now. What she desired was what she had.

Speaking of desire, she desired the old lady currently paying to do so a bit faster. Aclysia wasn’t about to yell at her, that would have been very rude, but she didn’t need to know that the old lady had met Nixon. Actually, that was fascinating. If her time requirements weren’t so strict right now, Aclysia might have stayed even after paying to find out more. As It stood, however, she didn’t have the time for this. Which is why she was very happy when a second register opened.

Less than a minute later, she set foot outside the supermarket. The parking lot was busy as always - only to suddenly be vacant. It didn’t take her long to figure out what was happening as an ugly bald guy, his right eye blue, the other milky white, in armour and an even uglier guy in a warlock outfit came towards her. The warlock held a staff that ended in a skull. They both looked very stereotypical. The instinctive understanding she had of videogames made that estimation certain.

“You look sellable!” The warlock said. “A cute little girl like you will make a lot of money in the auction.”

“Correction. While I am a woman, I am not a biological human. I am an entity of metals. While this makes little difference on an appearance level it might change my monetary value. Please consider that before you bother me.” Aclysia began walking towards the edge of the parking lot. She would have to find the border of the barrier, if they didn’t let her out.

“…Good enough for me.” The ugly knight said and blocked her path.

“I advise you to walk away. I am short on time.”

“I advise you to come along without making a fuss.” The warlock behind her said, staff crackling with arcane might. A small bolt of fire was let loose. A warning shot, nothing more, but it still hit the banana at the top of the paper bag. The piece of fruit hit the ground and Aclysia looked with shock at the now inedible food.

“That is Master’s food,” she hissed, then cleared her throat. “One second, please,” she put the bag down.

The two let her. They had that bit of decency at least. Aclysia straightened back up and remembered what her Master had told her. ‘If somebody molests you, ask them to leave….’ “I want you to leave me alone,” she very clearly stated. She got laughs as her response.

“Are your ears not working? If you are not even real you can just get sold like the item you are.”

Herman had told her that she was real. John had always treated her like she was real. She decided to believe that over the actions of people who destroyed her groceries. ‘…if they don’t leave you alone you can beat them up… only as much as you need to though!’

These two looked like they would need quite the beating.

Aclysia turned to the knight. With a broad grin, the man weighed his heavy mace in both hands. The grin left him when Aclysia’s fist broke through the steel armour and dented the stomach behind. When she drew her fist back, he stumbled several steps back. “Do it,” he wheezed.

“Inferno!” The warlock shouted and Aclysia was engulfed in a pillar of green flame.

Aclysia felt the heat around her. It played over her surface, failing to do so much as warm the rubber of her surface. Aiming herself in the direction she had last seen the warlock in, Aclysia burst out of the fire at top speed. She wasn’t the fastest around but she was faster than a random warlock. Flabbergasted by his spell’s lack of effect, he didn’t react until he was grabbed by the collar and thrown several metres away.

The knight took her standing still as an opening to strike. His head was now covered in a helmet, its shape resembling a dragon. The two-handed mace came down on Aclysia, striking her head directly. The weapon came to a dead stop. The shaft bent. Aclysia tilted her head quizzically. What little damage she had taken fixed itself within a few seconds. Steelskin and the Dragonscale under her skin made her impervious to attacks like this.

The knight almost dropped his weapon, the sudden halt of his motion completely taking him off balance. Aclysia decided to help that along and grabbed the shaft of the mace. She forcefully yanked it down. Now the knight held on, but only succeeded at joining his comrade on the ground.

‘Hey Aclysia.’ John suddenly popped into her head

‘Oh, hello Master,’ she thought and put a foot on the knight’s chest. The warlock was unable to hurt her so immobilizing the knight was of higher priority. She replaced more of the silicone in her foot with steel. No matter how much the knight struggled, he could not get her to budge. ‘What can I do for you?’

‘Just letting you know that I’m on my way home. You can start cooking now.’ Aclysia’s eyes went wide. She was way behind the time table! She grit her teeth and stared at the knight, who suddenly stopped moving. ‘Understood. I will have everything ready when you come home.’ She sent back. Today’s food must be something of the quick variety. Surely Master would forgive her for preparing frozen pizza. ‘Yes, that is the best solution’ She decided and turned to the men on the ground. “Let me go, I need to make dinner.”

Unsurprisingly, they did. She picked up her groceries and hurried home. When John entered she bowed deeply. “I am so sorry, Master,” she apologized.

“What for?” he asked.

 Aclysia looked up with an ashamed expression. “The pizza will need two more minutes until it's ready. I was delayed by several factors.” She tried to keep it vague. She didn’t want him to know about her teary outburst or the fight or anything else really. He would have only worried. It was the first time she was truly thankful he so rarely reached out to her mind.

“Happens.” John just put it aside, “Also two minutes is not bad. I am very thankful that you cook anyway, you know?”

She smiled, “I am happy to be of use. Regarding cooking, might I ask a question?”

“Of course.” John said as he slipped out of his shoes.

“In a family, one is supposed to cook from what I have read but neither you nor Rave do. Why is that?”

“Well, aside from the fact that we aren’t exactly a family, we do have somebody who cooks.”

“Really?” Aclysia was confused, “Who? I have never met that person.”

John laughed leaving her just wondering. Then he pointed at her, “It’s you. I think I need to check if I raised the correct Stat earlier.” He laughed and shook his head as he stepped inside.

Aclysia kept standing there, “Do you mean that I am part of your family, Master?”

“Yes, of course you are.” John shouted over his shoulder.

Aclysia felt the remains of sadness and stress melt away. After stowing his shoes away she ran after John and hugged him.

‘Thank you.’ She thought with all of her heart. Even though she didn’t have one she finally understood what that saying meant.

Funatic

That's the end of the side story. Back to the regular program.