Angela had been lying on the ground for a while now.
Once she had calmed down a bit,
She stood up and started patting off the layers of dirt on her body.
Angel watched her silently and then smiled.
"Hey, you look like a dirty rat. You know that, right? Everything is messy."
Angela looked at her.
"I could say the same thing to you. You're just as dirty as me."
They both laughed.
After a moment of silence,
Angel looked up and signaled toward Camera 435,
Who she had personally nicknamed Bobby.
"Bobby, can you come down here for a second?" Angel called.
Bobby flinched at the sound of Angel's voice,
But needing to follow orders,
He slowly made his way down.
Angel noticed the reluctance and walked toward him,
Clearly intending to tease him.
She reached out to grab his metal body,
But Bobby swiftly flew back,
Just enough that she missed him by a hair.
When Angel realized that,
The smile on her face disappeared,
And she returned to a serious expression.
"Well, Bobby," she said, "we need a mirror to see what we currently look like."
Bobby, clearly confused, scanned Angel.
Bobby paused.
He scanned Angel again,
Slower this time.
Angel was someone who really appreciated cleanliness.
She was precise, controlled, and disciplined.
On missions, getting dirty was normal, and she never complained about that.
But outside of missions, she strongly preferred to remain clean and put together. It was one of the many small rules she lived by.
Yet right now, she was covered in dust from head to toe, her clothes dirty, her hair messy, and she was not reacting at all.
She was not angry.
She was not irritated.
She was not even complaining.
Bobby did not understand.
Based on Angel's personality profile, she should have been at least somewhat bothered by her current state.
She should have been demanding a cleaning unit, new clothes, or at the very least showing visible annoyance.
But she did none of that.
Instead, she was calm.
Relaxed.
Even laughing.
Bobby's lens shifted slightly toward Angela.
Then back to Angel.
He paused his scan for half a second longer, as if processing something.
Conclusion:
The reason Angel was not reacting to her current condition was most likely Angela.
Bobby did not say this out loud.
Instead, he finished the scan and projected the mirror.
But while he was doing that,
Angel reached out again and grabbed him swiftly,
This time before he could move away,
Pulling him into her embrace and making him dirty as well.
Bobby, who was clearly not happy about this hug, tried to escape from her arms.
Angel just patted his head, the smooth silver surface hard under her hand.
Angel and Angela then both walked over to the mirror.
They both stared at their reflection and realized they really did look like a pair of dirty rat siblings.