Pat looked up and waved at his father. The man walked straight to his room, not even waving back, and OB-7 went back to the kitchen. Pat flinched a bit as he heard the door of his father's room close violently. He then took the book back, carefully, and opened to the page he stopped at previously. OB-7 placed a teacup on the table next to the human and slowly poured tea in the cup, then placing the teapot on the table gently, to not disturb Pat's reading. The human stopped reading suddenly as he felt a presence behind him, and he closed his book and turned around, sighing.
“OB-7… Don't you have something better to do? Go make dinner or something.” he asked the creature, who was trying to look over his shoulder
The Gemoid gasped and ran back to the kitchen. “Y-yes master!!”
A few hours passed, and Pat heard the door open again. OB-7 ran to it and bowed in front of a blonde woman. The woman nodded, then smiled as she saw Pat, walking up to him and kissing his cheeks. “Ooohh, hello honey!” Pat smiled softly. “Hello mother.”
She sat next to him on the table and took out her tablet and pen. “So how was your first day of school today, hon?”
Pat closed his book and looked up. “It was nice. This school seems like it is just like we heard about it. It's a perfect school.”
Pat's mother smiled. “That's good to hear!” Her tablet lit up and she sighed. “Apparently, they change the trackers at the beginning of the year, so we'll have to go to the store and change it ourselves.” She looked at OB-7. “Him too. He also needs a trim, his hair is getting long, makes him look like a girl.” She grimaced. “He's really scrawny too. Are you sure you're feeding him correctly? I don't want to waste money on a new Gemoid if this one breaks...”
Pat shrugged. “Well as long as he works correctly, I don't think it matters what he looks like.”
A light “ding” was heard, announcing that dinner was ready, and Pat and his mother placed their tablets to the side. Footsteps went down to the dining room and Pat's father sat on the table.
OB-7 walked around the table and placed the plates filled with purple and orange goop on the tables, then walked back to the kitchen and brought tea to Pat's parents.
Pat's father opened his tablet and started reading in silence, and his mother turned around and looked at him happily. “Hey, honey, did you hear? Patrick has had a great day at his new school!”
The father nodded in silence. “That's nice.” he then said, not taking his eyes away from his tablet.
And that was the last phrase that was uttered by one of the family members.
The rest of the dinner was done in silence, the only noises being the clinking of the spoons on the plates and OB-7's footsteps as he walked around the house, cleaning up.
Pat finished his plate and stood up, taking his bag and motioning towards the stairs leading up to his bedroom.
“Ep, ep, not so fast!”
Pat stopped in his footsteps and turned around. He moved back downstairs.
“I told you we'd go get new trackers today, didn't I?” Pat's mother said. Pat sighed and nodded. He really wanted to finish his book and study a bit, but his parents didn't trust him all alone in the house, like they didn't trust him to have a car or go out late at night. “We'll be bringing the Gemoid with us so you can't stay here.” She smiled gently. “Don't worry honey, this won't take very long, I promise.”
Pat nodded reluctantly and sat down, removing his uniform jacket and placing it on the chair behind him. It was getting a bit hot in here. He tugged on the collar of his white T-shirt and sighed, scratching his head and passing his fingers through his blonde locks.
****
The doors of the shop opened and the whole family walked in. Pat's father had asked for Pat to look after their Gemoid, in case he broke free of his leash. Leashes were mandatory when taking a Gemoid outside for a reason that wasn't the Gemoid's work (such as getting groceries or clothes), because it had been known that a few had tried to escape, and even though the trackers in their necks made it very easy for the masters to find them again, it was much safer to keep them close with a leash.
The man at the counter stood up from his chair and gave the family a bright smile. Pat's father walked up to the counter and slid his card on the smooth black surface. “Yearly tracker change?” The man said as he looked at the card. “I assume the kid already got his changed?”. Pat's father nodded and the man at the counter replaced his glasses and snapped his fingers. A green haired female Gemoid came out from the back of the shop and silently walked towards him.
“PERI-65, two human trackers, and a Gemoid collar, size…” the man contemplated OB-7's neck for a moment. “Size 5.”
The female Gemoid nodded obediently and walked inside the back of the shop. She quickly came back with two trackers and one collar. “There's been a few updates to the trackers and collars. The mic turns off when it senses that the person is in their bed or in the bathroom, for more… privacy”, he winked and wiggled his eyebrows. “And for the collar only, there's now an option for electroshocks, in case the Gemoid misbehaves.” The man turned around and took out a small remote from under the counter, showing it to the father. The remote was fairly small, big enough to fit in a pocket. It had a greyish blue tint to it, painted over the metallic object, two accessories on the front of it, and a small sensor at the tip. The first accessory was a small round dial with numbers all around it, and the man pointed to it. “It's very simple to use, there's a dial here to adjust the pressure and electricity, if your Gemoid is acting a bit cocky or disobedient, you simply press that red button below” he pointed to a small rectangular button underneath the dial. The man turned to face his Gemoid and lifted the remote up, pointing it towards her collar. “Here, I'll do a little demonstration.” He turned the dial to 2 and pressed on the button. The Gemoid flinched slightly as a very silent buzzing noise was heard. The man turned back and smiled, giving Pat's father his own remote. “Do you want me to put this in a bag?”
Pat's father nodded and the man placed the new trackers in the bag. The family walked back home and Pat's father and mother went to their room to install their new trackers. “Hey, honey, do you mind putting on the Gemoid's collar? I don't really want to touch that thing's neck, and he's your Gemoid after all.” Pat's mother said as she was standing outside his door with the leashed Gemoid at her side. “Sure.” Pat said, shrugging. “I don't think you need to use the leash thought, mom, he can follow you by himself.”
Pat's mother shrugged. “It feels better when he's on a leash.” She pushed the creature inside of Pat's room and closed the door behind him. Pat pointed to his chair besides his bed. “Sit here, don't want you going on my bed.” He didn't want that thing touching his bed. Who knew what kind of parasites he had on him. OB-7 sat quietly on the chair and Pat took out his collar. He took out some rubbing alcohol and dampened a tissue with it, gently rubbing the holes on OB-7's neck. The collar wasn't changed very often, so he was doing this to clean up any bacteria that could've accumulated. He then took out some water and washed away the alcohol, then dried the Gemoid's neck with a dry tissue. “Alrighty, now where's that new collar…” Pat looked around and found the object lying on his bed. He took it and looked up, and frowned when he saw OB-7 looking out the window at the night sky. His chest felt slightly cramped for a fraction of a second, then he grabbed the Gemoid's head and turned him around, before closing the curtains and hiding the beautiful star-filled spectacle outside. “What the fuck are you doing? Daydreaming???”
OB-7 looked down “S-sorry..”
Pat scoffed and quickly placed the new collar on the Gemoid's neck. “If that was you trying to make me feel bad, that totally failed. Why are you even interested in the stars? I bet you think they're magic or something, stupid like you are…” the collar turned on and beeped, and Pat moved his hand around. “Now go, I have to install my tracker.”
OB-7 got up and bowed. “Y-yes master.” He walked out of Pat's room and the door closed, leaving Pat alone.
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