towerofanimus | Glamour Failure

Yotsuba walked over to Rabbit, not feeling brave at all. Her face was scrunched up, like it was trying to cry, but couldn't, and her 'teddy bear' was being held rather tightly.

"But...Yotsuba's scared! What's going on? What did the bad people do? Why.."

And, if Rabbit would allow her to, she would give her honorary big brother a hug, with one hand looping the teddy bear around him.

Of course Rabbit would let her, that's what big brothers were for. He held her close, before scooping her right up and carrying her close to him. It wasn't quite the same, being a wire frame construct instead of having a real body, but the comfort could still be there. He could, somehow, still feel everything the way it was supposed to be.

"I k-k-know it's scary... I know. I'm sc-sc-scared too. I don't know wha-what they did or why they di-did it, but... I'm g-gonna be brave. We ca-ca-can get through this..."

He'd been through two world wars. This broke reality but he could still handle this kind of fear. What was unfair was bringing a little girl into this as well, and he hugged her close, patting her back gently.

"It's all g-g-gonna be alri-ri-right, Yotsuba. Don't you w-worry. I ain't gonna le-let ya get hurt."

Yotsuba was used to calling him just Rabbit, but she never forgot that the robot was her honorary big brother. She let him scoop her up and carry her, and while she was still pretty spooked the action did help her out a bit. While she wasn't sure if they could get through this, she did know that she had to be brave too, even if it was just a little. After all, she would be sad if anything more happened to Rabbit or her teddy bear, and he would be sad if anything more happened to her.

So, as Rabbit patted her back, she nodded. "O..okay. I'll try to be brave too then..I won't let you get hurt either! But..how can we find out what's going on?"

Rabbit was just going to wander aimlessly, try and see who else was stuck like this. Was it everyone? He knew something had gone horribly wrong. He knew that everything up until this point, everything he'd ever seen, had been false. How was he to share it with a little girl? That her teddy bear was an illusion, that everything she ever looked at here wasn't even real? He couldn't. He wouldn't. He would no sooner tell her than then hurt her.

"W-w-we look around a-a-an' see wha-what's goin' on. We ma-make sure everyone is okay an' doin' alright... We he-help other people, tha-that's what we do. An'... An' we might fi-figure out what's goin' on. Bu-but it's more important to make sure everyone is okay."

He wished she had hair to ruffle right then and there, so he settled for cuddling her up close, sighing. No steam. No hiss. Just a sigh.

"An' w-w-we'll look out fer e-each other. Like family does."

Sadly, Yotsuba had been woefully under-informed and misinformed about the Tower and it's Administrators, so she didn't know that her Daddy was dead, that everything was an illusion here, or that her body was fake. However, while the truth would help, some parts of it would make her feel like crying even more. As Rabbit spoke, Yotsuba nodded and cuddled up close to Rabbit.

"Okay..we can do that! And..Enoch or Diarmuid might know something..and Yotsuba can use a sling..so we can help people..and we'll help each other out. I don't like it when Daddy's hurt..so I'll help out my brother!"

Rabbit was honest as far as he'd think it would do good. In this case... he didn't see a single thing good about telling her the truth. Rather like cheating in poker, it left a bad taste in his mouth. So to speak. He just carried her, trying not to think about the gravity of everything he just learned.

"Ri-right, we'll he-he-help everyone an'... an' everything will be okay. They'll fi-fix it." Bring the illusion back, make everything look alright again. Even if he knew the truth, the lie was... preferable over this.

"An' nu-nuthin' ba-bad's gonna happen. Everything is gonna be o-okay, kiddo."

At that moment, a horrible thought entered Yotsuba's head, and her stomach turned and twisted into more knots. She was going to help her friends and family, and Rabbit was going to do the same. That would help..but..

"But..what if they decide to not fix it?"

Oh no. Oh no he didn't want to think like that. He held her a little closer, wishing for all the world that he was The Spine right now. The Spine would know how to answer this question better than he would.

"Th-th-they wouldn't l-leave it like this. It.... it's wrong. It's all w-w-wrong! They wouldn't leave us all l-l-lookin' l-like this, sweetheart, d-d-d-don't you wo-worry. They'll fix everythin' an'.... a-a-an it'll be like it ne-never happened. An' yer b-bear will be okay an' you'll be o-o-okay an' I'll b-b-be okay..."

Yotsuba had only met Spine once, so she didn't know if he would be able to answer this question, but that reaction didn't help calm her down at all. Her urge and need to cry increased, and she tightened her grip on Rabbit.

"But..most of the people who run this place are bad! They..they might like this..so..what if we don't go back to normal? What will happen to Daddy when he finally comes here?! What will they do? He'll be so sad.."

Rabbit was starting to panic himself, and he was never very good at hiding his emotions. He clutched her tightly, rubbing her back and trying to think of something to say to that. Because in all honesty the people who ran this place were bad, and Rabbit didn't know if they really would turn everyone back to the way they were supposed to look.

"Th-then... then we'll fi-fi-find 'em an' ma-make 'em change us back!" He had nothing else for it. Even if he didn't have all of his weapons anymore, he still had his mind, wasn't that good enough?

"We'll ma-make 'em change everyone ba-back to the way it's s-s-supposed to be! An' everthing w-w-w-will b-be back to normal!"

This, along with the rubbing, helped Yotsuba calm down a little, and as she put her head on Rabbit's shoulder, she remembered something. Not all of the kidnappers here were bad. One of them was nice.

"Okay..we could do that! We're mostly good guys here! And one of the kidnappers here are nice, so he might be able to help!"

That seemed to be the right answer to the question. Whatever answer would make her happy and alleviate Rabbit's worries was the right answer. He couldn't bear to say anything other than that. He didn't even know where to start looking for these mysterious people. Where they are, what they looked like. If they were effected by this strange change as well.

"Y-y-y-yeah... We'll ge-get his help an' ge-get 'em to change us ba-back if they d-d-d-don't do it. We'll f-f-f-fix this. We can fix this."

Sadly, Yotsuba didn't know either, but she thought that someone else might know, which was why they had to ask around while they were helping people get through this. While they were helping each other get through this.

"We will..then we can go back to normal."

Someone else had to know. As much as Rabbit loved and cherished his big brother status, it hardly elevated him to father. He just didn't have the wisdom for it, or the emotional calm required for the job. The most he could do was just be there and hope for the best, it seemed. Hope someone else had some kind of clue as to what to do.

"Y-yeah. All back to n-n-normal. Ju-just gotta fi-fi-find the right p-people..."

The concept of older brothers was a bit new to Yotsuba, but even she didn't expect Rabbit to be like Daddy. However, she would help him out, and he would help her out, even if they were scared and puzzled.

"Right.." With that, Yotsuba would nod and, with another squeeze, try to smile. "Yotsuba will be brave until then!"

Hey the concept of a little sister was new too. He only had a little brother before this, and he was not like Yotsuba at all, but that was fine. He knew how to be an older brother... Even if he was frightened and confused. Part of his job was acting like everything was going to be okay, so that was what he was going to do.

"We'll b-b-both be b-brave, kiddo. Ain't n-nuthin' gonna stop us, right? We're an unbe-beatable team."

At that, Yotsuba nodded and, trying to push the thought of dying again aside, replied as happily as she could.

"Right! You're a robot, so you're strong, and Enoch showed me how to use a sling! We'll be fine!"

"Y-yeah, real strong. We-we'll be fine, sweetheart. Ju-just fine." No dying here, no sir. Not with the two of them around. It almost seemed impossible that they could die, considering they were just wire frame works.

"An' we-we-we'll fi-find Spine an' everything will be A-Okay."

Sure, it seemed impossible here..but a lot of seemingly-impossible things had happened here, so Yotsuba wasn't ruling it out.

"It will be! Oh! Yotsuba met Spine awhile ago..did you find him? I tried to bring him to you, but I couldn't find you!"

Well yeah, Rabbit had come back from the dead, that was pretty impossible right there. He wanted to be able to rule it out though. Death just seemed impossible right now.

"I f-f-found him, ye-yeah. Ga-gave him a big hug. Like this!" And he squeezed her just a little closer, giving a nice little spin to top it off. Just because he didn't look like himself, didn't mean he couldn't act like it.

Well, so had Yotsuba, but..even she wasn't going to rule it out as they were now. However, at the hug and the spinning, Yotsuba couldn't help but laugh a little.

"That's great! You missed him, and he missed you, so that's good!"

All he needed to hear was that laugh. He hoisted her up onto his wire frame shoulders, and continued down the hall, a little bit cheered up now. At least she wasn't acting sad or scared anymore, that was good enough for him.

"Y-yeah, of course I mi-missed him! We're family, that's wha-what family does! So, where d'ya wanna go, kiddo?"

Well, it was hard to stay sad or scared for long when a trusted family member was with you and helping you plan things out. Yotsuba's smile grew a little as Rabbit put the girl on his shoulders.

"It does! But family always find each other again! And..Yotsuba wants to go down and look around!"

There now everyone was safe and happy. That was all he could ask for. He was sure as long as she stuck by him, everything would be just fine. Down she said? Well that's where he started heading, right for the stairs of the floor. May as well explore and see what's going on.

"That's ri-right, family always does. We stick like g-glue. Alright lets go down an' s-see what's goin' on."

At least, for the moment, they were. In the future, Yotsuba would become quite depressed, but for now, all was well. However, as they moved down the stairs, Yotsuba was puzzled by something.

"Okay! But..what's glue?"

Glamour Failure

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