The Scrybe of Curiosities (Inscryption, P03 x Reader)

🛠Chapter 2, Maintenance

-Y/N point of view-

"Welcome back."
P03 didn't even look up at Y/N, clearly focused, but, something was off.. it's screen was dim and flickering, and the tubes that transported glowing cyan fuel throughout its body were spotted with dark, murky splotches. It sat by a growing mount of cards, each haphazardly tossed behind them in the general direction of a recycling bin. With every bot the conveyer belt brought them, their screen twitched in annoyance, before adding it to the trash pile.

Y/N stepped closer, standing tall above the metal desk.
Upon closer inspection, it's screen had some small hairline cracks along the edge, and the lever that was their left arm was dripping some of the cyan fuel, albeit slowly.

"For f@&! sake, are you done gawking?" Y/N couldn't help but chuckle at the way system censored their speech. "Sorry, sorry, just.. are you okay?" Y/N asked, "No. Those idiotic bots keep sending me trash.
It's voice was cold, but the fiery anger that lay beneath was obvious, Y/N could feel the heat rising off its metal body, despite its fans best efforts.
"No, not like that." Y/N told it, "Like, are you physically okay?" Y/N dared to reach for the tube on the back of its head, but was quickly swatted away by its metal arm. "Well, with all the garbage I'm getting, we've been running a bit off schedule. I have no time for maintenance. And come to think of it, I have little to no time for you." P03 looked at them, irritation clear in its voice.
"I'm sorry, just, don't you think you would work better with a little.. fixing?"
The bot glared at them.
"Elaborate."
It's tone was strict and impatient. "Your fuel tubes have gunk in them, you have cracks in your screen, and-" they noticed something, the tubes connecting their chest and base were so clogged, fuel couldn't reach the base, leaving it unable to float.

Y/N glanced at P03,

P03 averted its gaze.

"Let me guess, this is why you haven't maintained yourself?" Y/N looked at it, deadpanned.

"...perhaps..."

Y/N sighed, this was far from the first time P03 had neglected their well-being, but they'd never seen it get this bad. Y/N, without another word, lifted P03 into their arms, lucky that it had cooled off. "HEY!" P03 squirmed in protest, but given their current state there wasn't much it could do as Y/N walked towards the maintenance table in the next room over. "I don't need your help!! I can take care of myself, thank-you-very-much." It said crossly. "I beg to differ." Said Y/N, smugness taking over their attempt to be 'professional'. P03 gave up, simply crossing its arm and pouting like an angry child as it was set onto the maintenance table.

🛠 starts here
-P03's point of view-

P03 was more irritated than worried, which was fair, given how many times Y/N had insisted on fixing them up in the past. They were good at it, P03 couldn't help but admire the calm, surgical movements they seemed so experienced in. It was something P03 attributed to well-made bots, not inferior organics.
"Would you like to be, uh, out for this?" Y/N questioned. "I'm not wasting more time on the boot up process. Just get to it already so we can be done." 'I am NOT dealing with those stupid updates right now.' P03 thought to himself.
Y/N laid them down on the table on their face, giving them access to the start of the tube. Y/N had positioned themself above the bot on his left, grabbing a pair of long latex gloves. Anxiety washed over the bot as they felt them disconnect the tube, a spurt of fuel came out from the change in pressure. P03 couldn't feel pain, at least, not in the way organics could. But the feeling of Y/N putting a long, metal tool through their fuel tube gave them a pretty good equivalent.
Dread.
The feeling of something being dragged along the inner tubes was uncanny, like a blood clot being removed. As it was finally gone, and all was checked, Y/N tapped the glob of dark blue gunk onto a sterile metal tray. The tube on the back of his head was reconnected, and they were flipped onto their back. "Alright, so, I can't really disconnect these tubes," Y/N gestured to the tubes connecting their head and neck. "so I'll need to make an incision riiight..." they tapped an area around the middle, between to clumps of gunk. "here. You'll lose some fuel, but I think we'll need to flood out all this fuel anyways, since it seems like a defective batch." Y/N's demeanor was simultaneously the same, with their more relaxed attitude, and completely different in how sure they were. P03 always saw Y/N as lackluster, but when they were like this, so tactical and intuitive, it was such a juxtaposition.
He liked it. Somewhere, deep inside their conscious, it gave them hope that maybe you didn't have to be emotionless to achieve those things. Although he'd never admit that to themself.
"Just.. just get it over with." P03 said, 'wanting' to get back to work. The feeling of a sharp scalpel cutting through the tube of his neck was.. uncomfortable, to say the least. He hated anything touching his neck, and going into emergency backup power didn't help. As their mind dulled, they felt the metal tool slipping into one side, pulling out the strange substance, then going in the other side to do the same. "Alright, half way done!" Said Y/N, reassuringly, and putting some duct-tape around the fuel tube to keep it from bleeding everywhere. Y/N's clothes were a neon mess, with cyan splotches, and that same fuel coating their forearms. All P03 could manage was a small beep in response, battery running low already. 'Just stay on, it's not that bad. You can recharge later.. just...'
The last thing P03 felt was the scalpel digging into one of their lower tubes, connecting their chest and their base. Their vision was flooded by a 'Powering Off' screen, and everything went away.