Of Realisations and Naked Diplomats

Otto watched on from outside the great metal arch in to the kitchen. He didn't like it very much. He never did. Well maybe he didn't care at first. But as he got used to it, the more he couldn't stand it.

"I can NOT have the same conversation with you!" sounded the voice of a big, burly man.

Now how many times had little Otto here heard that same one before?

"Oh it's always about YOU, isn't it? Isn't it at all possible that you just try to let go of that disgusting ego of yours?" Larry had his hands on his hips.
"Is it possible that blah blah blah!" Tuddrussel imitated Larry.
"Oh how childish!"
"Oh how blah!"
"The nerve!"
"The blah!"
"Oh poo."
Larry saw it coming. A blow to the head. A blow to the chest. A few more of them, and he collapsed to the floor. Tuddrussel, the bruiser that he was, lifted Larry right off his little bum. Larry snapped back into consciousness, his system rebooting only to gaze down at the blurred torso of the time cop who had him dangling by his waist.
"Not again."
But he wasn't a subservient idiot to this brute. He knew he wasn't. He didn't want to be.
"Oh let go of me, you boob!" arms and legs flailing, trying his luck for a swipe at the man. But oh how he knew! Resistance was futile!
Otto watched as Larry soared through the air, thrown almost effortlessly to the wall.
BANG! Metal against metal.

Otto cringed. So desperately did the little boy want to help right now. To do something about it! He was always the voice of reason between the two. But his fancy words weren't
going to stop anything from happening in this situation. He had run out of ammo. Tuddrussel WAS impossible. But Otto didn't care now, looking at Larry lie dizzy slumped against the wall while Tuddrussel strode forward to deal more damage.

Otto jumped out in front of Tuddrussel. "What are you DOING? Stop it, Tuddrussel!" he stretched out his arms as wide as he could to stop the man from getting any closer.
"Rust-Butt had it coming!" as Tuddrussel waved Otto out of his war path and continued his march.
Otto clung on with full might onto the rampaging officer's beefy arm. "What did HE do?"
"He done insulted my integrity!" Tuddrussel said, stopping in his tracks.
"WHAT?"
"Look!"
Tuddrussel picked something of the floor and shoved it right in front of Otto's face.
"Hey wha?"
Otto refocused his eyes onto a mere teddy bear. He was all too familiar with Tuddrussel's Mr. Binky.
"Well what about it?" Otto asked bewildered.
"Look!" Tuddrussel said as he drove his teddy into Otto's face again. "Just look at what Larry did to him!"

This time, Otto noticed. The previously undone stiches had been sewn up neatly, Mr. Binky had been given a spanking new pink bow tie and well frankly, he looked a whole
lot cleaner than before.
Then came a facepalm. "Oh brother!..."

Tuddrussel was the most predictable thing on earth. Otto turned his attention to Larry, still slumped down against the wall. He looked well in pain. Pain? Does Larry actually feel
pain? Otto pondered for a brief moment; He's... A robot...? Yes. But so what? He's Larry. Off course he did.

He always did.

Oh Larry felt pain alright. Right there and then. A whole lot of pain. Often times, even Larry himself couldn't explain quite properly how. His body ached. The dents in his frame
beckoned for repair.

But his body wasn't the only part of him that hurt...

Then he noticed through hazy eyes, the little boy they had "adopted" (as he strangely preferred calling it) slowly advancing towards him.
"Larry? You okay?"
"I'm fine Otto," he said dusting himself off. "Just fine," he continued meekly. Everything is always fine! It was an age old code of etiquette!... But he wasn't. Not one bit. And at the
back of his head. Something snapped. (Not quite literally, I might add). He made up his mind. For too long had he resisted the urge. But he sure wasn't going to continue that any
longer.

"Excuse me," he stated in an unusual monotone, picking himself up off the floor. And for a moment, he stopped to stare at the child. Otto returned the gaze and noticed the way
his eyebrows dipped at he ends. He looked sad. And Otto mirrored his expression. Larry made his way down the hallway without another word.
"Larry? Where are you going?" Otto called out.
"A... A little breather Otto. A little breather."
Larry hated to lie to the boy. But at least there was some truth to it. More or less... And he continued to silently limp out of view.

Over the course of time, Otto had realised that Larry never walked away from a scene without either getting the last word or… Well… Screaming in fright. But he did just that today.
Now Otto was rather upset. Freud was right. Literally. He turned to stare irritably at the man who was still obsessing about his Mr. Binky.
"Aw, now look at what you did, Tuddrussel."
"Huh? Uh… What now?"

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Larry entered the cold, damp room. Boxes upon boxes of spare parts pilled high over one another, most of which had already been damaged. Oh, he was no stranger to the place.
Making his way inside, stepping over to a box, he rummaged for a head.

"Ah."

Staring at his own face in the palm of his hand, Larry replayed all the scenarios in that internal hard drive of his which ended up with him having to pay the room a visit. He winced
at all the horrid memories he had on board this satellite.

"No more, ol' boy." he told himself. "No more."

He had himself fixed in a jiffy and carried a large crate out the room.

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"Yeah right! Like i'm gonna say sorry to that worthless tin can."
"Stupid robot!"
"What did I do anyway?"

Tuddrussel. In a state of denial. Typical.

"That robot was never good with anything 'round here anyways!"
"Go ahead and try talk to that piece of scrap metal, Otto! Just so you know, you're crossing over to the dark side! The daaaaark side!" he hollered, fist clenched tight in the
air.

...and the monologue goes on...

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