towerofanimus | Ever since the first time I opened my eyes

Entry tags:

Ever since the first time I opened my eyes

Characters: The Spine and YOU
Setting: Room 03-20, elevator, and the floor three library.
Format: Prose, brackets, whichever!
Summary: The Spine arrives in the Tower and is displeased.
Warnings: None

Room 03-20

The letter crumples in The Spine’s hand. What it has to say is as impossible as it is concise. He is quite certain that he would have noticed the world ending; a catastrophe on that scale would force him out of stasis, surely. His external sensors exist for a reason. No, far more likely that this is the work of another ambitious mad scientist stealing a Walter automaton to find out what makes them tick.

…Which, while plausible, doesn’t go very far towards explaining how he had gone into stasis in the Hall of Wires and come back online in this strange room, wearing a white coverall—leotard--not his normal clothes. Factor in the letters and the evidence that there are other occupants of this room and it becomes even less likely. Then there’s the fact that he had been able to move after thirty seconds of paralysis and had not been strapped down as he had initially feared—the facts were beginning to skew in the letter’s favor.

Not thinking about it. It has to be a case of kidnapping (stealing, kidnapping is for people, not robots classified as heavy machinery) because the alternative is... Everything, everyone, being gone. Six, QWERTY, his brothers--

No. Nope. Not thinking about it.

He frowns and sets the letter aside, then picks up the second piece of paper. Well… might as well read all of the provided material. Then see if there’s anything useful in that trunk at the end of the bed, and after that…

…Find the exit.

Elevator

Waiting for the elevator is a tall, thin, silver-faced robot. His clothes are nicely tailored and predominantly black, and there’s a black fedora on his head. He seems rather irritated by the collar around his neck, occasionally tugging at it and venting steam before dropping his hand back to his side.

Floor Three

Floor one ought to be where a building’s exit is located, in a well-ordered world. Evidently this wasn’t one, as The Spine had found himself in a large cafeteria. One perplexed look around and he had turned right back around and found the stairs. Two flights took him into a library. As soon as he found it he decided to stay holed up with the books until he had learned everything he could about this strange place he's found himself held captive in.

If only it were that easy.

The Spine sits with books piled around him, long legs folded. None of them are useful. Not a single one. He's on the verge of giving up entirely, face resting in his hands in a very human expression of defeated exhaustion.

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He would hope that would have changed things, but he still did kind of bring it on himself. He could have not made that challenging announcment to the airwaves and brought down that kind of punishment on himself. He'd broken some protocols in order to defend himself, and the result was a lot of headaches and a great deal of guilt.

Even if the guy had deserved it.

He raised a hand to rest it on one of The Spine's, squeezing back for a moment.

"I-I-I dunno. I hit stuff, I know that bu-but... but I dunno if I st-st-stopped him. He could d-d-do stuff, Spine. Crazy stuff. Frag grenades outta n-n-no where an' all this other st-st-stuff." It still hurt, really. He'd taken a lot of damage.

"He got away."

Frag grenades out of nowhere sounded like blue matter gone wrong... or Hatchworth during wartime. What it didn't sound like was something anyone in this place ought to be able to do, which just went to show that The Spine was absolutely clueless about his situation. He gave Rabbit a searching look, the thought that perhaps something had gotten knocked loose crossing his mind again.

Even if something had, did it matter?

No. Not really. Rabbit believed it, he'd obviously been knocked around by something, and that was enough for him.

"If he tries it again he'll have both of us to deal with," he said firmly. There was no way in hell he was letting Rabbit face something like that on his own again, now that he was here--and he'd be reduced to a boiler and a collection of bolts before he'd let anyone kill kids if he could help it. On that they were of the same mind. "Now c'mon. Let's go find some tools. You're not gonna be able to stop him next time if you're fallin' apart."

Edited (what is punctuation) 2013-05-17 22:48 (UTC)

It was almost stranger than blue matter, if only because there was none to be found at the time, save for Rabbit. It literally just seemed to be out of nowhere. Or rather, out of blood, but that was one gruesome detail he'd neglected to share. He would, in his own time, but it was still so hard to believe he wasn't sure if The Spine would buy it, even from him. Especially with all those searching looks he was getting. He might not have been the best at reading people, but he knew the strange look and what that meant.

Of course, he'd defend himself until his grave on this matter. It happened, it was real. And it had hurt too. He could only hope The Spine wouldn't run into him either, he didn't want his sibling getting blown up the way he had.

"R-r-right. Both o' us." He mumbled, rubbing a dent on his face gently. If it ever came to that again, which he kind of hoped it didn't. He didn't relish the idea of leaping back into combat with anyone any time soon. There was a hiss of steam at the idea of getting himself repaired though, and he shifted around where he was. "I-I-I'm alright. I ain't fa-fallin' apart. I've ha-had worse after all." It wasn't Vietnam again.

If it came to a show-down, chances were The Spine's incredulity would come back around to bite him in the ass. Hopefully he'd have a strange encounter or three of his own before then and would be prepared to deal with blood grenades.

It'd give Rabbit the opportunity to say "I told you so", if not? ...Yeah, not much of a consolation.

"Rabbit." An exasperated puff of steam accompanied the words. He couldn't argue that they'd both seen worse damage in their time. What he could argue was that it was bad enough that it warranted fixing. "Your eye is fritzin'. I'm not gonna fix anythin' else if you don't want, but you've gotta at least let me look and see if I can get that workin' right. Maybe hammer out some of those dents, too. You wanna look good for the ladies, don't you?"

It was a long shot, but it just might work. Maybe. Honestly The Spine would be surprised if for the ladies was a good enough enticement to budge Rabbit's stubbornness.

Hopefully. Rabbit had run into blood grenades right off the bat so he didn't have much weirdness under his belt in order to deal with it. Right out of the starting gate and he was messing with people who could blow him to smithereens. It wasn't his fault, he was protecting a kid!

'I told you so' wasn't much of a consolation though. He kind of didn't want to have to say anything at all about the matter and just have Spine believe him about it. That would have been much better.

"Spine." He huffed back, puffing out a cloud of his own steam. And then whacking the side of his head again to get that eye to stop blinking. He'd dealt with it for almost an entire month now, and though the constant whacks upside the head kind of stung, wasn't it still kind of better than having the wires behind the eye looked at? Well... it was The Spine, better than some person in the tower who had no idea who or what he was. But still, even The Spine was going to see some trouble getting the stubborn copper bot to comply with repairs.

"I th-th-think it ma-makes me look kinda ru-rugged. Like havin' a b-beard 'r a s-scar kinda." He defended the fritzing eye, half heartedly, knowing full well it had to be repaired, but detesting the idea all the same.

Yep, just as he'd expected. The Spine gave the copper 'bot's shoulders another squeeze before drawing his hands back. He crossed his arms over his chest and drew himself up to his full height, chin cocked. If this was going to turn into a battle of wills, so be it. He'd just have to out-stubborn the master.

...This might take a while.

"It doesn't make you look rugged," he insisted flatly. "It makes you look like you got into a fight with a trash-compactor and lost." All right, that might've been a bit harsh, but dammit. "Can you even see outta that thing?"

Edited 2013-05-18 04:17 (UTC)

Rabbit had a lot of stubbornness to go around, they both might be here for a while. The copper 'bot huffed again, straightening up to his fullt height (just under The Spine) and puffed out his chest. It seemed silly, to argue when he so clearly needed the maintenance, but it was always a sticking point for the automaton. It wasn't about to change any time soon.

"N-n-n-no, I'm not sm-smashed enough fer that." He insisted back, pouting slightly at the harshness of the comment. Sure he'd lost the fight and didn't much want anyone else knowing that, but he didn't want the maintenance! He didn't need it!

"Wh-when it's on, sure I can! I ca-ca-can see ya ju-just fine, Spine!"

Honestly Spine would be worried if that sticking point had changed. Rabbit going along easily with maintenance would surely be one of the signs of the apocalypse. Or at the very least, that something was very, very wrong with him. As it was, a small, secret part of him was almost enjoying the argument. It was reassuringly normal.

That pout was met with an arched brow. "Oh, is that so? And what about when it goes out, huh? What then?" He'd be half-blind, that's what, but he knew he'd have to convince him that it was enough of a hazard to get it fixed. "What if it goes out when you really need it, Rabbit? What're you gonna do, bang your head and hope it comes back online?"

And Rabbit always loved to argue. It was nice to have someone familiar to argue with, especially over something so normal. After a month of strangeness, this one little tiff was something he was taking solace in. Which was why he was determined to draw it out for as long as possible.

"Uh.... Y-yeah." As if that was the obvious answer to an obvious question, the older bot arching a brow right back at him. "W-w-worked every ti-time I've done it so far. Should work again e-every other time! I'm fi-fine! I put myself back together an' e-e-e-everythin', it's ju-just one eye!"

Oh, for--The Spine rolled his optics and let out a jet of steam. Wasn't that just typical. He wouldn't be surprised to find out the older 'bot had slapped himself back together with duct tape and superglue under his clothes. "It's one massive blind spot if you get in trouble," he insisted. Or... Well, it was a cheap shot, but it just might work. "I'm relyin' on you here, Rabbit. I'd feel better if you could watch my back with two workin' eyes instead of one and a half."

Yeah ha ha blind spot he gets it. Rabbit wasn't budging on this matter though, not no way not no how. And he had a proper wrech and screwdriver to put himself back together, smart guy, how about them apples? Rabbit just crossed his arms and glared, defiantly puffing out his chest.

"I'll b-b-be fine!"

But then Spine had to make it about Spine and... And Rabbit deflated, all that fight going out. Well that wasn't fair. But.... but he didn't want anything bad happening to Spine. And... he would need both eyes to watch out for him.

".... B-b-but we d-don't even kn-know what's wrong!"

It'd be a lie to say that The Spine wasn't expecting that puffed-up stance and refusal. He most certainly was. It was met with a level stare and a pointedly arched eyebrow.

...Which lowered slowly with a surprised expression when the stubborn 'bot appeared to give in. That dirty little trick had worked? Well, then... His stance shifted and his arms uncrossed. There was no need to dig his heels in any longer, was there? He clapped Rabbit on the shoulder and offered a lopsided smile.

"That's why you let me look at it, Rabbit. It's probably just a loose wire or somethin'... if it ain't easy to fix I'll leave it alone, okay? Promise."

One thing Rabbit caved to, it was emotional blackmail, and using himself as a reason to get fixed, rather than attempting to appeal to Rabbit's vanity or over inflated ego, was a sure fire way to get him to relent. The copper bot looked somewhat torn, not entirely giving in on the matter but certainly unsettled.

He'd need both his eyes to watch out for The Spine here. It's what any older brother should do. Would do. He just frowned at the taller 'bot, giving his head one more whack as the blue eye flickered once more.

"If it's s-s-s-somethin' more serious, ya l-leave me alone about it. Ain't nobody he-he-here who works on robuts anyway."

The Spine held up a hand. "Scout's honor." He lowered it slowly to adjust his tie, frowning slightly. "Well. Never was a Scout, of course, but I'd like to think I would've made a darn good one."

Aside from the whole being a robot and never having had a childhood.

"...Anyway. Point is, I'm not gonna go rummagin' around where I don't know what I'm doin', don't you worry. Just want to take a look and see if it's somethin' simple. There's gotta be some tools around here somewhere."

He glanced up the hallway, down the hallway, at the elevator, and then back to Rabbit. He had no idea where he was going. "... I guess down is as good a direction to start the search in as any."

"Don't worry, Spine. You'll a-a-always be a b-boyscout ta me." The copper 'bot giggled. Spine was such a boyscout. Would have made an excellent one really. Oh well for always being a full grown man.

"Y-y-yeah. They pu-pulled tools outta s-somewhere. Talked about a f-f-floor that was a w-w-work shop. Never did see it though. They ju-just brought me the stuff." He rubbed at a dent on his face, frowning again. "Real he-helpful sorts here. Even got pi-pieces o' me that fell off."

Rabbit didn't know where he was going either. He just kind of shrugged, before heading over to the elevator.

"We-we-we'll pi-pick th' next floor down an' s-see whats in it! Might as we-we-well explore!"

Somehow he got the feeling that it wasn't exactly a compliment when Rabbit called him a boyscout. The giggling was a definite clue.

Not worth arguing over, really, so The Spine maintained his silence as he followed Rabbit over to the elevator. He started to absently nod as he listened, already listing the things that he intended to fix just from what he'd seen. That faceplate was definitely going to be getting the dents knocked out, and--

Waitaminute.

Forget exploring, there was something more important to focus on. "What do you mean, they?" Had Rabbit... actually allowed someone to help him put himself back together?

Maybe the world really had ended.

Spine could take it any way he wanted to. Rabbit just knew he was a definite boyscout. Not even Superman was as boyscouty as The Spine was.

Rabbit hopped on in, just picking the next floor down on the buttons and waiting for The Spine to follow him. He rubbed at a dent again, tracing over the crater in his face. It still kind of hurt, of course it would the pain just didn't fade. He got used to it. He didn't like the dents being there...

"Uh..." Well that was something to explain. Best better explain it fast.

"We-well... I was k-kinda... all over the hallway." He stared at the buttons, rubbing an arm.

"An'... I n-n-n-needed help p-picking up all the p-pieces..."

"What do you mean, you were all over the hallway?" All right, yes, evidently the damage was fairly bad and frag grenades never meant anything good, but up until now The Spine had assumed Rabbit had just... been caught on the edge of a blast and thrown into a wall, or something. Dents, some loose wires, maybe a few lost screws--somehow it sounded like it might have been a lot worse than that.

That clinched it. If he had his way Rabbit wasn't getting out of his sight for more than a couple minutes at a time. That ought to keep him out of trouble, right?

... Ha. Ha. All kinds of things could happen in the space of a minute or two.

"...We've gotta find a way out of this place."

"Uuhhhh.... E-exactly th' way it sounds." Rabbit gave a lopsided smile which he kind of hoped was reassuring. Even if what he was saying was so obviously not. Well it wasn't like he was asking to be blown up! It had just happened! He played dead until the offending person had eventually headed away or else he would have been in even worse shape. But no, he had panels up and down the hall way, stripped down to his frame work in several areas.

Of course, after not seeing The Spine for well over a month now, he was inclined to let the bot have his way. For a little while. Then maybe he'd wander off to cause some trouble but for now? For now he didn't want to be anywhere The Spine was not.

"Aw I'm s-s-sure there's a wa-way out somewhere. There's go-gotta be! I mean, if there's a wa-wa-way in, there's a way out!"

His smile was met with a flat stare. So much for reassuring. Then The Spine took a deep breath and sighed, sending steam curling into the air. It was for a kid. He couldn't really lecture Rabbit about putting himself in the line of fire when he'd do the same thing himself, now could he? Well, he could, but it would be terribly hypocritical. "Guess I just have to be happy it didn't turn out worse than it did."

Silver hands lifted to adjust the collar around his neck again. What were they even for, other than to serve as reminders that they were under someone's control? "Yeah. Yeah, of course there is. We'll just find someone in charge and ask'em where the exit is."

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Ever since the first time I opened my eyes

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