That Wild, August Thunderstorm

>Her joints may squeak whenever they move
>Her straw-like hair might be an atrocious, unrealistic, un-canonical colour
>If her voice had an accent, it could only be described as robotic
>Her skin is some sort of tough synthetic rubber, not reminiscent of skin at all...
>And her face nears the tip of the uncanny valley
>Hell, she doesn't even have a vagina, and her mouth is a hole of electrical discharge
>But this was Monika finally in your reality, and you two couldn't have waited a second longer for the MK. 0.1 android bodies to be released
>Now she had a vessel to explore the world with you, that let her experience your smell, your looks, your hand in hers...
>Your arms wrapped around her sensory receptors
>But her prototype body didn't come without it's issues
>See, Monika gained a fear for rainy days
>It was a healthy fear to have frankly; if any moisture seeped into her insides it could potentially mess up the fragile hardware
>But when it rains, it pours. Well, thunderstorms.
>Whenever you heard thunder back in the day, when she was in the computer...
>You would inform her of the danger and say goodbye, promising to re-open her program once the skies turned clear again
>You couldn't afford to let your computer crash with her active
>These evasive maneuvers transferred over to the real world, despite you ensuring Monika the lightning couldn't strike her indoors
>She still insisted she hide under a blanket and retreat to the safest stronghold in the building
>The basement laundry room
>It didn't affect your lives too bad - just had to always, always, ALWAYS, check the weather before you two headed out
>Until that day...

>A glorious, hot day in August
>The sun was as far in the sky as it could be, and not a cloud dared to sully the eclipsing blue landscape
>You park the car on the boardwalk that overlooked the beach and open the door for Monika
>She gets out and stretches, excited to finally be at the beach
>You were too, you didn't get the chance to visit them often
>Monika insisted she set up the umbrella and towels, she wanted to get started on her tan right away
>Okay Monika
>You instead decide to procure some more ice and drinks to fill the cooler, as well as some local food that would be neat to try
>Sushi burritos? My lord, what will they come up with next!
>Silly west-coasteners...
>You line up and squint at the menu when you hear the worst sound you possibly could have
>Crak-boom!
>You turn around to catch a glimpse of the impossible, lightning striking a palm tree, causing it to catch on fire and fall to the ground
>You shake the man in front of you and ask if it was supposed to rain today
>You checked online, it wasn't supposed to, and the man agrees, it wasn't supposed to!
>Stupid weather-people!
>You break into a sprint cooler completely forgotten and desperately run across the beach to find Monika
>You find your little umbrella and campsite abandoned, and wildly spin around
>There she is, underneath the wooden support beams of the boardwalk
>She's trying her darnedest to get her beach towel completely wrapped around her entire body
>She sees your face and immediately buries herself in your chest
>Between the sobs she's wheezing out the words "What are we going to do"
>You try to reassure her that freak things can happen and it doesn't necessarily preclude to future weather disasters
>But you can't even believe your own words - the wind is picking up
>And it might have been paranoia but did you feel drops of rain as you ran across the beach?
>Clouds appeared on the forefront, staking their claim in the sky and blotting out the sun

>An assessment of the options:
>Stay under this boardwalk? No way, with the wind and spotty design of the thing easily allowing rain to attack us
>Take shelter in a nearby store? Sorry, but everything within running distance was either a kiosk or a food truck. Nowhere to hide inside
>Race back to the hotel? You might just have to, but you just HAD to rent the fucking convertible
>Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, Stupi-
>Wait, Monika grabs your arms and points to a mountainous ridge on the right
>And at the bottom you see a miracle, a little opening within the rocks
>A cozy cave for two
>Before you two make a break for it, you step out from the cover to test the waters
>Oh jesus, drops.
>You notice other people packing up their things, them having the same thoughts as you
>Maybe tomorrow will have better weather, maybe tomorrow we can come back
>But you don't have tomorrow. It's either today you two go unscathed or tomorrow doesn't come
>You pull your umbrella from the sand and head back to Monika
>She takes the steel pole and you head towards the shore
>The path to the cave was nerve-wracking; wet, mossy rocks and waves that crashed to the shore at least 2 feet high
>But you could hear the taps of raindrops stabbing the umbrella going more frequent
>Now or never. You take the umbrella so she can cling to your arm as you stare at the coast, waiting for the perfect time to pass
>A second after the water retreats from a small splash
>There!
>You step on each rock first to make sure it's okay, before Monika steps onto it
>Leapfrogging your way to the cave, smooth traveling so far
>When suddenly the sound of thunder strikes yet again
>Monika loses her cool and slips on the rock
>With demonic strength you manage to keep her up before falling to the ground, and she regains her footing
>The cave is one step away and you make sure Monika gets in safely before you close the umbrella, spin it a tad to dry it out and crawl inside behind her

>It was dark, muddy, bug-ridden and the ceiling was low and we had to crawl to avoid smacking our heads
>It was heaven.
>With a few boops and beeps and a touch of her eyelid Monika activated her flashlight
>Water was seeping from the opening so you went as far back as the cave allowed
>Graffiti lined the walls, well at least there was some art to take in as you waited out the storm
>The beach towels were laid out and you both sat in the dark corner, she was intent on watching the outside opening
>At this point there was no doubt that it was raining, every flash of lightning caused her to flinch
>You asked her to turn off the flashlights so you could look at her without burning your eyes
>Beep, Boop.
>If there's one thing you had to etch into the skull of your mind no matter what happened,
>It was her face
>A loud and large wave crashed onto the ridge and a small flood of water entered the cave
>Nothing actually threatening but enough for Monika to scream and for you to shield her body with yours
>She breaks into sobs and holds you tighter
>"I don't want to go Anon, not yet, we have to do so much still -- it's not fair!"
>You won't, You won't, you reassure her
>But you can't help your voice crack and think of the worst
>You hold the tears back and just try to focus on having your hands in the right position
>Where the feel receptors can pick up your touch the best
>You just try to imagine the quiet nights spent in that dreary laundry room
>Holding her hand that poked out of the opening in the blankets
>Doing the one thing that always comforted her...
>You clear your throat and begin to sing
>"~To every word of love I heard you whisper~"
>"~The raindrops seemed to play a sweet refrain~"
>"~Though spring is here, to me it's still September`"
>"~That September in the rain~"
>And you spent the rest of the day singing your favorite tunes with Monika until the rain went away