The droplet did not announce itself.
It did not tremble with ominous music or glow with the kind of suspicious ambition that had already gotten them into trouble twice this week. It simply lingered in the seam where freezer met gasket, small and round and minding its own business in the way that things absolutely do when they are not, in fact, minding their own business.
For a while, no one noticed.
This was largely because Rico had declared a "strict, legally binding emotional cooldown period," which meant no one was allowed to acknowledge anything that might potentially be described as "a vibe." The Kitchen, somewhat traumatized but also deeply committed to the illusion of normalcy, complied.
