An infinite number of hours later you and Keith headed back to the car.
“So”, you ask, then gesturing back towards the college behind you, “Find anything good?” You already suspect the answer was no, the college was quite unimpressive in person with small classes and aging facilities. You ran your finger over the keys in your pocket pensively wondering if they could work on large conceptual things or only on smaller discrete things.
Keith looks back at you with a sad face, “Nah, all the courses I was interested in are already full and they have a waiting list for next semester already. Well... there was the one guy from the robotics department who tried to get me to sign up but I really didn’t like the way he looked at me” Keith shuddered.
“Sorry to hear that dude... at least you tried. What do you want to do now?”
“Huh... I dunno” At that point Keith’s stomach grumbled loudly. “I.... I guess I’m hungry?”
“Can robots eat?” Keith shrugged and looked at you blankly. “Android persona, do you need to eat?”
Keith’s eye’s flashed and he responded in a flat voice “Yes, this unit utilizes consumed materials to synthesize extra mass during transformations and also as fuel for the internal fusion reactor”. Keith gave an impressed nod.
“Damn.... and all packed into a tight little package wearing literally skin tight jeans. No wonder that robotics guy was into you... He couldn’t know could he?”
“I don’t see how” Keith’s stomach grumbled again. “I wonder what counts as food for me now.” Keith’s eyes flashed again “This unit can process almost any form of matter, though biomass is required for accurate recreation of the epidermis and hair as well as byproducts such as liquids excreted..” “What the .... Who asked you.... me.... shut up... me... Look at me... talking to myself. Clearly I’ve gone insane... right?”
You smiled at Keith’s take on a monolog but truthfully you were getting pretty hungry by this point too. You pull out your wallet. Inside you have five dollar bill and a stick of gum. “Hmmm.... see anybody?” You and Keith both looked around.
“Coast is clear”
You put the gum on the ground and aimed the keys at it, “Here goes nothing”. As you pressed the unlock button and the gum elongated and turned orange with a leafy green bit on top. A carrot.
“It’s a carrot”
“I can see that” You picked up the carrot and handed it to Keith, then put the five on the ground “Attempt number 2”. You pressed the button again and the bill exploded into two halves “Aww fuck”
The wind caught one of the bill fragments and Keith jumped after it and inspected it, “Ooh good actually actually. A voucher for a free dinner at the ...Cool Cat Fence Cafe?”
You grabbed the other voucher and smiled, you’ve been there lots of times. Marcus. One of the wait staff, gorgeous eyes, and a big beautiful smile.... and mostly oblivious of your existence beyond the limits of his duties. He’d probably be working by the time you guys got there too. “I know it, it’s back near my place. Good food.” You smiled thinking more of Marcus's ass than the foot.
“Lets hit the road then”.