She pulled out the small tin from her bag. With much caution for her just painted navy nails, she opened the tin and pulled out an aqua mint. Popping it into her mouth, she savored the refreshment the mint gave her, and kept the tin clenched in her palm. ready for when the current mint dissolved and absorbed into the rest of her system. She wondered who the great person was that invented these things.

Walking at a slightly fast pace, her shoes clicked on the gray-blue cement of the sidewalk. A wooden board, which could only be read under the streetlight, displayed the name “Joe’s Pawn Shop” intricately painted on in white. Buildings cowered above, dropping their shadows on the street, and she spotted what she was looking for.

A flickering blue neon sign read “Open.” Above it in a faded violet was another sign, “Sulfur Dioxide.” She clenched the pendant dangling from her jacket-hidden wrist. It was an icicle carved from a small piece of aquamarine. Passed down to her from some old lady she met on the street, it had great value to her because it looked pretty. Speeding up the rhythm in her step, she approached the door, its glass pane jagged and covered by cardboard. Pausing for a moment, she pushed open the door and walked in, keeping up the pace in her step.

A dark-haired waiter gave her an acknowledging wave from behind a counter in the dark, smoky room. She nodded her head in his direction and made her way towards her usual spot in the back. She sat down and took in the rhythm and blues being performed by a slim guy who was always neatly dressed in a golden tuxedo of sorts. Her ears picked up his voice, flowing like the blue depths of a streaming river as the song came to an end. She popped a mint into her mouth. The dark-haired waiter from before approached her table. The right side of his face slightly twitched and he asked, “The usual?”

“Yea,” she replied. “A blueberry Kool-Aid.”

Giving her another nod, the waiter walked away, the twitch from his face moving down to his right leg.

The singer in gold started another song. This one came to her with less flow.

There were some sound problems, as his voice was filtered through the half working microphone. Into her view came the dark-haired waiter with her drink in his left hand. Walking past the singer in gold, his left hand twitched, causing her beverage to flip into the air. The berry blue of the liquid poured from the glass onto the golden singer, and his quasi-working microphone. Not only did the dark-haired waiter lose grip of the drink, but himself too. So that he could catch the pouring drink, he stepped forward. Another twitch emerged, this time from his left leg, causing him to trip onto the once golden singer.

Watching this display of events, a panic inside of her began to rise. She knew the nature of the employees at the Sulfur Dioxide, but an accident like this would cause those employees to know about her, and that would be trouble. Looking back to where the remains of her blue Kool-Aid lay, she saw that the dark-haired waiter’s black pants graced a tear, and wires which were once hidden underneath were now plainly visible to anyone who looked his way.

The world was filled with robots, and the robots were all after one thing, aquamarine, so that they could gain absolute power in the world, or so they thought.

Having hard hits to the head, or liquid entering their systems triggers an aquamarine censoring system inside of them. In spite of any consequences, they go at all lengths possible to get the aquamarine.

She reached into her tin and grabbed another mint. Looking around the room, she tried to plan her route of escape, but it was too late.

Thanks to the Kool-Aid, the once golden singer was now clad in a metallic green tuxedo, his eyes glowing for the aquamarine as he advanced towards her. The dark-haired waiter was just a few steps behind, the contents of his leg dropping outwards. She quickly got out of her seat and attempted to get away while she could. She couldn’t lose the aquamarine icicle, it was out of the question, it meant too much. Luckily, there weren’t too many people at the Sulfur Dioxide. The few people that were there didn’t seem to have too much of an interest on what was going on, but they were peeved that service would be slow for the rest of the night.

Running towards the exit, a door with a bright sign above with the letters E-X-I-T glowing in red, she reached into the tin in her palm for another mint. Maybe it would help her think of something. Before popping it into her mouth, she looked at its aqua color, and how it was shaped like a stone. She threw it towards her advancing chasers, hoping it would distract them for a while. To her benefit, it did. The power hungry employees, the robots that they were, fought over the mint, each wanting to be the bearer of absolute power in the world. The metal and artificial flesh of the two came into contact with each other as they threw a series of robot kicks and punches. Eventually, the heat from the two machines caused a blue flame to start up from one of the two (at this point, it was unnoticeable regarding which robot was which). This caused some movement to the rest of the people occupying the Sulfur Dioxide. They fled before any flames could engulf them.

By the time the fire started, she was long gone. Taking advantage of her distraction, she went out the door and ran away as fast as she could. After reaching a safe distance, she slowed to her regular fast-paced walk, listening to the beat of her shoes.

Opening up the tin that was still in her palm, she reached in to grab a mint. It was the last one. She placed it in her mouth and closed the lids on her midnight blue eyes to take in the cooling effect of the mint. Peeved that this feeling would only come again when she went to the store to buy some more, because she had to waste one on some power hungry robots.