Lily Flower

Pure Vanilla: Mech and Magic

"Correct!"

"That's amazing. Even in the kingdom's prime, a whole team was dedicated to upkeep the bots."

The child puffed up proudly. "I can work twenty-four-seven and do it all by myself."

So they were a workaholic. He knew those kinds of people well, and although he didn't believe that he could stop them (it's quite difficult to break out of the habit of burning the midnight candle), he could check up once a day with food to make sure that Strawberry Crepe has food and drink.

"I hope you can put in some time of day to rest."

"Well maybe I could, if they don't get broken so much," they huffed.

"Really? That's unfortunate. Is something attacking them?" Pure Vanilla asked, guiding the conversation. Now they were getting somewhere.

"There are some cookies underneath my city that keep fighting my bots whenever they patrol. It's annoying. I bet they are made of boring ingredients."

"Have you perhaps considered...not sending the wafflebots to them?"

"No. They are way too close to us and pose an active threat.

"I somehow doubt that. Have you encountered them in person, or just keep sending bots their way?"

"Does it matter?"

"Of course it does. You can't be attacking innocent people on the basis of an imaginary threat!"

"What's this about?" they asked suspiciously. "You're pushing the topic. What, are the cookies under the clouds your friends or something?

Pure Vanilla decided to be honest. Though he found the child's words toward him to be rather callous and geared to hurt, Crepe did not strike him as someone who liked to harm others, at least not in the way that the wafflebots had wrecked upon Raisin village. They may have caused the Raisin people pain, but Crepe was still a kid with the capacity to learn.

"If I'm being honest, yes. I resided in the village under the city for a while. They live there, Strawberry Crepe, and don't have the resources to move. They spend more time defending against your wafflebots in what appear to be unnecessary scuffles than bettering their own lives."

The child was at a bit of a loss.

"There's only one proficient fighter among them," the healer pushed, "and she only seeks to protect the village's residents. They are no threat to us."

"But if I had made their lives so miserable...what if they try to get revenge? I can't just suddenly stop sending bots." They seemed shaken. Perhaps they had never registered the village as people, but rather as enemies to fight. With Pure Vanilla suddenly forcing reality on them, they had no choice but to accommodate.

"I'll ask them not to use the teleporter into the city, so don't be afraid. There's no need to meet them in person"

"What, are you going to throw them a letter from above and have them receive it like some divine prophecy?" they sneered.

"If that were the case, we need a prophet," he noted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Are...are you sure this will work?" Strawberry Crepe regarded him as though he were mad.

"The village's guardian won't attack it on the spot. She'll try to figure out what's going on first."

"Sure she will." They said sarcastically.

The wafflebot beeped. Its diamond was wrapped (to the best of Pure Vanilla's ability) with bandages, and it sported the ragged robe he used to wear as a scarf. All in all, it looked like it was trying to emulate him, badly.