Chapter Text
Sam feels a bit like a chicken as he runs about the castle. He’s fluttering between tasks that were put off in lieu of working on his project Sam Nook. He can’t help it, he’s an engineer at heart, he couldn’t control his mother being the Queen! It’s times like this where he regrets not paying more attention to his tutors as a child, the ones that were trying to teach him how to run his castle.
Currently, he is talking to one of his servants about making sure Dream and Tommy’s rooms are ready. It is thankfully one of the last things he needs to do before they arrive, whenever that is.
“I know, I’m sorry for checking in so late Hannah, but I was up all night and forgot.” Sam rubs the back of his neck sheepishly, and Hannah sighs fondly. “It’s alright Your Highness, I know how you can be.” She grins at him and they start walking to the castle entrance. “Besides, I already had it prepared, because I knew you were in your lab. You’re not the best at remembering things when you go in there Your Highness.”
Sam grins at her as they get to the entrance to the castle. “Again, thanks so much Hannah. I swear, sometimes I think you run this place better than I do!” Hannah waves the suggestion away with a laugh. “I’m not so sure about that, Your Majesty. I think you do a fine job!” Hannah starts to walk away, but turns back around to say “But without me you would certainly do a lot worse.” And with that, she runs off giggling.
Sam moves outside the door and waits for the two royals to arrive. He feels his mind drifting as he stands idley. First he thinks about Sam Nook, and how he wishes he could get it to work. He can’t figure out why it won’t work, and he feels like he’s tried just about everything he possibly can.
Then, he thinks about his other redstone machines, and how he can improve them. But as he stands there thinking about general lab things, he feels himself drift off a bit. He’s so tired, he hasn’t slept in days because he’s been too busy trying to fix Sam Nook. It would be ok if he just… rested his eyes for a minute, right?
Tommy and Dream are led out of the stables by Hannah, whom Tommy has only really met once before. Sam doesn’t usually have any business with the Antarctic Empire, so it’s not really a wonder why.
She takes them to the front door of the castle, where Sam is waiting. As they get closer, Hannah calls out “Your Majesty!” and Sam seems to jolt for a second. He just shakes his arms and walks to meet them in the middle.
Sam thanks Hannah, and she runs off to go run the castle probably. From what Tommy remembers, she’s basically Sam's right hand man behind the scenes. Tommy hopes he can find someone as helpful and loyal as her if he can manage to run the kingdom. Maybe Dream would be willing-
Tommy is forced to zone back in when he feels the clap of Dream's hand against his shoulder. Tommy looks around and realizes it’s time for them to follow Sam into the castle. With the help of Dream's hand on his shoulder to guide Tommy, Sam leads them into his home.
He takes them to his lab seemingly without meaning. He is just talking about the thing Dream wants him to build (it seems like some kind of surveillance robot, but Tommy is too tired to care) and they end up in front of the door to his lab.
Sam seems just as surprised as Tommy, but shrugs it off saying “Well since we’re here I might as well show you some of my other works as proof of my skills, huh?” Dream takes his hand off of Tommys shoulder, and Tommy takes that as a sign that he’s allowed to wander.
He meanders about the room, dragging his feet as the world moves around him. The past couple of nights have been rough (and all the horseback riding has really not helped.)
Tommy ends up stopped in front of a hulking machine that looks startlingly like Sam, but with raccoon ears that Tommy sometimes harbors. The chest seems to be made up of four plates which are currently open, exposing all the redstone and wires hidden behind the cold metal.
Tommy stands there for a while, admiring Sam’s work. Sam has always been a great redstoner, and the times that Tommy and him crossed paths, he was always excited to show Tommy whatever new thing he was working on at the time. The last time they saw each other, Sam was making some kind of long distance communication device.
As Tommy looks closer at the redstone, he notices something odd. To him, it looks like all the redstone leads out from some kind of power source in the middle, traveling throughout the limbs. But the one that’s supposed to lead up into the head is… different. From the looks of it, there’s something blocking the redstone. It would be difficult to see, because it was nearly hidden behind a bit of tubing.
Tommy reaches into the bot and grabs the thing in the way. As he does so, the redstone glows a small bit, and Tommy hears a very faint whirring noise. Moving the thing to his face, he can see it’s just a small bit of plastic, about the same colour as the tubing in this bot.
Suddenly, Tommy is jerked back by his shoulder, dropping the piece of plastic onto the floor under the robot. Tommy can just barely see it roll into the robot's feet before he’s spun around, facing a panicked Sam.
“TOMMY! What are you doing?! I’ve been trying to fix No- the Robot all day! What if you had broken it?!” Sam says as he pushes him away from the bot.
“I was just looking when I noticed something Sam, honest! There was-” Tommy is cut off by Dream, who shushes Tommy. “Hey Sam? Why don’t you let me have a chat with Tommy. Take a walk and clear your head. We’ll continue this talk over dinner, how’s that sound?”
Still fuming, Sam walks out of the room.
After he leaves, Dream gives Tommy a look. “Honestly Tommy, how could you make the same mistake twice? I thought you would’ve learned that when you visit someone, you should just sit there and be still. I can do all the hard work, since I actually know what I’m doing.”
“But Dream! There was something in the-” Dream cuts him off again with the shake of his head. Tommy looks away in shame.
Dream’s right. We came here for him, and I messed it up again.
Tommy gives a small nod. “I’ll do better next time Dream.” Dreams' eyes crinkle in what Tommy can only assume to be a smile, and Tommy feels a bit of relief.
“Good. And I’ll be here to help you. You still have so much to learn, and that’s what I’m trying to do. You make it a bit difficult, but I can see that you’re trying. Why don’t you go have a small bite to eat, and then head to bed. We’ve gotta get up early to get to Bad’s castle with enough time to be presentable for the ball. I’ll finish my talk with Sam, alright?” Dream at least doesn’t seem mad, so Tommy figures he’s ok to leave without doing any damage control.
With that, they head out of the room.
Unfortunately for Dream, neither of them noticed that the eyes on Sam’s robot were glowing a faint red.