lifenet | voice ⚙Oct 19th

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voice ⚙Oct 19th

Huh-za-what? What-what-what is this?

[The mechanical voice to stutter over the network is riddled with clicks and whirrrrs as the unseen automaton inspects her new device curiously. There's the briefest huff of steam hissing as it spills from her crooked mouth, but then she's continuing.]

Th'Spine? Is this some k-kinda joke, big guy? [Her voice drops down for an impossibly low and robotic HA. HA. before returning to normal.] I thought humor had been left outta yer programmin' co-completely. Pappy had to m-make room for that s-shinin' stick-in-da-mud personality of yers, didn't he?

...Spine? [Nope, if her brother were here, that would have gotten a response out of him for sure. Rabbit lets out an irritated huff at that realization.] Th' backbone on that guy...

Okay, so if it ain't you on th' other end of this t-t-telefone conversation, then just who is?

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And you're the other rabbit!

[The nongodly metal one. A good Rabbot.]

That dream nonsense always happens to us before new people show up, don't ask me why. The talking stones let you chat with whoever you're thinking of if they have one too. Or everyone, like you're doing.

That's me! Th' only R-R-r-r-R-Rabbit ya need!

[Not as fluffy and cute though.]

G-g-geeze! Finally I get some straight answers here. Feel like all th' other humans have been t-talkin' circles round me when all I n-needed was a lil' info!

There's definitely room for two good rabbits, there's a whole island of room.

[Nothing soft or fuzzy about him either. Cute, maybe. Huggable?? Perhaps.]

Oh, I know. We've got plenty of nice people, it's just that some of them can't give a decent answer to save their lives. About anything. [Hmm.] I don't even know where to begin explaining everything else...

[A match made in heaven.]

Sounds 'bout right. Human-y types are always g-g-goin' on an' on without really s-s-sayin' anythin'.

[Rabbit is forgetting that, one, she's dumb and doesn't know what she's talking about, and two, Héctor was not born a skeleton, but a human himself.]

Waaaay too focused on kissin' an' cryin'. Typical h-h-h-h-yoomans

[There's a twitching clink of her copper fingertips against the stone in her hand, unseen steam hissing out from her mouth.]

So what I've got so far is, we're all kinda trapped here, yeah? Until someone or other d-d-decides it's time t' go home.

[Wow, how dare she.]

Hey! Hold up there! [He sounds far more amused than actually offended. Because he's not, really.] Firstly, nothing wrong with kissing or crying. Secondly, I'm human too, so... well, okay. Guess I just proved your point, hah.

[Anyhow.] We're stuck, that's right. I wouldn't stay one minute longer than I had to.

Lived with humans my whole life, p-p-puh-puh-pal. I know how they w-work! Humans express themselves through fluids. They-they-they squish an' cry an' smooch.

[Rabbit is in such disrepair that it's not an exaggeration to say he'd hear her faceplates shifting into a wide grin. She's both amused and charmed at the thought.]

Peoples got real messy emotions. Robut life isn't nearly as complicated.

[Her brother may long to be human, but Rabbit is perfectly content to be the way she is.]

What's waitin' for ya b-back home? Where ya from?

Hate to say it, but I can't argue with a word you said there. Squishing and crying and smooching our whole lives away. [He's trying not to laugh as he's saying that.] Worth it, for all the good times we have.

Family, friends, everything. Normal life. I'm from Mexico--uh, are you from Earth? I swear half the people here aren't.

[If you laugh, she will never leave.]

Shore am! I'm f-f-from s-sunny San Diego, Californ-iiiia! Lived there my whole life with my f-family. We've d-d-done some tours outside America, b-but ain't ever been t' Mexico! Guess there ain't much demand for musical automatons down there, huh.

Hah, that's great! We're practically neighbors compared to the other robot who's some kind of alien.

[Yeesh, what is his life that he's glad when someone's from Earth at all.]

Well... why not? We like music as much as anyone else. Since when have robots been a real thing though? No one told me that.

Ya m-mean that Legion guy? Guess that explain's why they're l-l-like that, but I've m-met other robuts from space an' they ain't half as weird.

[She's met One (1) Robot from Space and they were plenty Weird.]

M-maybe Pete's just couldn't get us all passports. We're k-kinda a lil' big t' sneak in. [She thoughtfully hisses out a burst of steam, head clickclickclicking to the side on the other end of the call.]

And hey! We've b-been around for a hundred plus years at this p-point, fella! M-maybe you just haven't been lookin' hard enough for us.

They're weird, I'm with you, but they like to play games! Video games and the regular sort of games too. Silly stuff. They dropped a bucket of ink on my head once.

[Which is the absolute best way to convince this skeleton you are totally harmless and kind of funny.]

Eh, not really my fault, I've been dead for a hundred years and we're always behind the times. How old are you...?

[he said the Bad word]

Wait-wait-wait-wAAAAIT - [her vocalizer whines out in a brief glitch, just a little stutter before she gives her head a quick shake to continue on]

Ya've been d-d-d-dead for a hundred years? S'really long time! No wonder yer all bones, fella! How's that even w-w-work for ya?

[Rabbit's always more than happy to talk about herself, but he's opened up a whole new subject the automaton wants to hear everything about.]

Where I'm f-from th' dead kinda s-stay that way.

[Whoopsie, there he went and assumed it was obvious again. It's. Apparently not?? Shame on him, he's met Papyrus and everything, he ought to know better...

A short nervous chuckle.]

Haaa... well, where I'm from, the dead stick around in the spirit world as long as someone in the living world remembers them. Two different worlds, I'm not running around in the land of the living creeping people out or anything. Not until now.

[Funny thing about living skeletons, people just kinda gently side-step the whole 'being dead' part of it.

Héctor may chuckle, but for the briefest moment, for her first time in this new place, Rabbit falls into uncharacteristic silence, just the soft hissing steam through her vents acting as a nice background track to this moment.]

S-so th' dead just kinda hang out together in th' afterlife? L-l-like, their own world? Are they all skeletons? Y-y-you think my Pappy's there too? I'd never f-forget him! Not for a second!

[He's... softer, when he replies. Not the least hint of silliness in his voice, soft, gentle.]

I don't know. He's somewhere, I know that. There are plenty of different afterlives, I hear. Because we're all from different worlds. Mine's just one out of... who knows, millions? Trillions?

So you keep on remembering him and he'll be fine. He'll wait for you.

[There's not much fact or evidence in his words, but there doesn't need to be. Héctor speaks with a sincerity that even a robot can recognize, and beyond that, it's the answer that she needs to hear. That these seventy-two years since his death haven't been as empty as they sometimes feel. That would mean his sons that she helped raise would be with him in that afterlife too. And their children as well.

Funny how much time passes by when you don't age.]

Great! That's r-r-real slifty. Betcha he's b-b-bb-bored outta his mind without ol' Rabbit there t' keep him on his toes! S-Say! If you popped in over f-from that place, maybe he will too! I dunno if I'd recognize him as a s-skeleton. People types kinda all l-l-look th' same after awhile. M-maybe it won't be so bad with skeletons.

[Funny indeed. One day you wake up and realize your little four year old darling is now one hundred years old, singing with grandchildren of her own...

And you keep on waiting, because it's all you can do. Cling to what sanity you have left, and wait.]

Hey, maybe he will. And he'll recognize you! He's your... papá? What's his name?

[yo thanks for making a girl cry up here in this thread

Maybe there's a lot more in common between the two than occasionally falling to pieces. Héctor may end up being a good influence on this bot. Just having someone to talk to who understands her situation would be such a breath of fresh air. Not that her brothers aren't going through the same situation too, but they don't quite get it the same way Rabbit does. They've grieved and moved on forever ago, but she's still so eternally stuck in the past.]

Pappy! My Pappy! He created me! B-b-built me up outta spare parts an' everythin'! All o' my clockwork internals are handm-m-mm-made by him, which is why I'll n-never replace 'em! [take that, the spine] His name's Colonel P-P-Peter A. Walter th' First!

[He's aching for Coco--he's always aching for her, but more than the norm, just thinking about it. Daughters and their papas. Damn this island, honestly. Thought it's not all bad, for some people.]

Sounds like a smart guy. Me, I can screw in lightbulbs and turn on the radio and that's about it. [He... shouldn't and can't be trusted with technology. Ever.]

I don't think he'd want you to wear out, though.

[A girl desperate for the reunion with her father and a father waiting to see his little girl. What a pair they make.]

Oh shore! S-s-smartest guy I know! I'm shore ya'll get along with him j-just great when he f-finally shows up!

[The rest is easy enough to brush away. Her father made her the way she is for a reason, right? Why change his original work? She's good enough as is.]

Don't worry s-so much, pal! I'm good as new! R-right as rain! [There's the slap of her hand against her chest, thudding loud enough to he heard.] Runnin' poifectly. If anyone needs a tune up, it's you! D-don't wanna lil' dragon t' take off with yer head or anythin'.

No, don't worry about me, I'm fine! [It's not a lie, right?? He'll be getting better once he's off this island, where time seems to stand still. No one ages. No one stays dead. He's not recovering, though he had been since that eventful night.]

We're supposed to fall apart, it's what skeletons do. And I know how to make it hilarious. [Or incredibly disturbing according to some!] I'd miss being able to if I had to quit being a skeleton.

...wait, wait, you still have the dragon?

Hey! F-f-fallin' apart like we do? That’s part of havin’ character! We're r-r-rollin' in character!

[people who don't fall to pieces as easily as they do clearly could do with a little more character]

An' I ain't seen her around, but she couldn't have gone too far, r-right? I'll find her.

[He's snickering on the other side.] Of course! The island can't take much more character!

But, ah... [Gotta break some bad news, he hates that.] I'm not sure that was real. I think we might have been dreaming.

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voice ⚙Oct 19th

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