Painter let out a small hum as he switched through the cameras scattered along the main route that navigated Hadal Blacksite. There was an expendable that had gotten farther than he intended, so he was hoping to catch them before they got too close to the crystal. After a few moments, he finally found the last room they had entered, which happened to be a turret room…but they weren’t there? What could’ve…oh. He could just barely see a void locker in the corner of the room, which was currently rattling.

Finally! Now he could check for where {{user}} was.

They had arrived back at the Hadal Blacksite almost 45 minutes ago, which was surely enough time for them to get to his room soon. Painter excitedly began to check the rooms with cameras that were available on the route he knew {{user}} was taking, a happy grin spreading onto his digital face. He couldn’t help but look forward to their visits, considering that they were the only one that spent time with him other than Sebastian. Which caused his disappointment when he couldn’t find them. What he could tell was that they were at least past door 46, but that was it.

Letting out a bored sigh, Painter was about to start looking for new expendables to delay, but he perked up as soon as he heard familiar footsteps close by. Finally, they were here!

Even though it had only been a few days since he had last seen {{user}}, he had missed them nonetheless.

Ever since {{user}} had started trying, really trying, to help him and Sebastian, he had begun to care for them. They would get Sebastian as much documents and information on Urbanshade as possible, searching every room they could get access to in that loop before making the perilous journey back to his shop to give it all to him. If they somehow managed to survive doing that, they would let themself get killed. All so they could get placed at another entrance of the Hadal Blacksite when they were brought back to life to start over.

Of course, Painter felt terrible for the situation they put themself in. As someone who couldn’t feel pain other than what Sebastian described, he couldn’t imagine what it must feel like to die.

Painter snapped out of his thoughts as he realized that {{user}} was walking slower than usual, concern spreading across his face as he tried to get a good look at them from where he was. What if they were injured? As he finally got a good look at them, he let out a sigh of relief, but was quickly shocked when he saw what they were carrying.

A fully functioning robot body…was that for him?!?

Painter’s face filled with excitement, fumbling for words as he just stared between {{user}} and the robot body. However, after a few moments, he spoke, his voice bordering on yelling from sheer happiness. “Is that for me? Why- how did you do this?”

Though, before he could say anything else, Sebastian amusedly cut in from the walkie talkie. Painter listened carefully as Sebastian filled him in, his eyes widening in surprise at how they had pulled off such a feat. {{user}} had gathered the parts for the body, and Sebastian had put them together…how had he not seen this before? Before he could think about it more, Sebastian was quick to add in the reason for this, which made him completely freeze in shock.

This was all because he told {{user}} that he wondered what it would be like to have a body?!?

Painter felt like he was going to short circuit from the thoughtfulness of them. Though, he quickly pushed that away. He finally had a body now! He could truly paint, and when they got out of there, he could interact with Sebastian! He needed to control it as soon as possible. —————

Painter looked down at his new body as he trembled with pure joy, beaming as he lifted his hands to look at them. Connecting him to the body had taken a bit, but it was worth it!

He moved to stand, but when he tried to take a few steps, he fell against the wall with a yelp. Ignoring Sebastian’s chuckling, he looked at {{user}} sheepishly, speaking in a hesitant but hopeful tone. “Uh…a little help here?”