"Another long day in the garden," Mericlou sighed, pressing her hand to her apartment door's locking panel. "It's too bad Aldrec didn't show up today; I could've used the company."
It had been an entire year since they first met. And she was grateful, more so than she ever could have imagined. Aldrec was a spark of variety; a whimsical, smiling friend who could always make her laugh, and satisfied her android curiosity in ways she never dreamed, with his limitless bounty of knowledge. And he shared with her a shockingly profound understanding of people that never failed to amaze. She had lost count of the number of odd passerby whom he lifted from a bad mood, or children he had helped just for the sake of helping.
Her time spent with him rekindled her faith in the decency of beings everywhere, invigorating her with a new zeal for life. As a matter of fact, had it not been for him, she believed that the monotony of her life would, in the end, have ground her beneath its heel. Juggling her family and jobs in the daily rat race, she would have drowned underneath her own priorities long ago. During their time together, whether tending the garden in Skainhart, strolling beside the Selisna, or their infrequent excursions to Berengard, Nibra, or Sakar, she learned that she could put her heart into her work, and still have time to actually stop and smell the roses.
The locking spell broke, and she pushed the door open.
Strange … There was no light inside. She figured at least Alaema would be here.
She closed the door behind her, shrouded in near-total darkness. Where was everybody?
She moved her hands by memory to the light switch.
The lights came on to a familiar, smiling face.
"Big sister, welcome home!" The other android said. Hurriedly, she placed a package down upon the coffee table.
"N …Noroa?" Mericlou stammered, nearly falling back from the unexpected sight of the sister that she had not seen in over two years. Her face broke into a broad grin and she ran into her outstretched arms.
It really was her!
Noroa had lived with Skori and Sedriil since before Mericlou had arrived. Though Mericlou was short, Noroa, another Alerian model, was even shorter, with long brown hair, large, expressive blue eyes, and a more youthful face. Overall, her appearance would have been child-like, had it not been for her pronounced female physique and mature voice. Though pretty, she was not as strikingly beautiful as other female types of her model.