amazing another update so fast im definitely in my element
The next morning, Rhapsody awoke with a start, immediately reaching for her glasses and shooting up in bed. When she found nothing out of the ordinary, she momentarily breathed a sigh of relief, convinced that last night was in fact a dream. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and checked her clock: ten am. Marina should be at piano practice by now and Julian would be downstairs playing one of his video game systems. Her mother would have left for work by now and her mamá said she was going to get groceries that morning yesterday, so she had some time to herself to play with her new normal software and guitar. Yes, everything was totally normal and nothing weird or unexplainable was going to happen to her today—
"Oh, she's woken up. Good morning, Rhapsody!"
Scratch that. Scratch all of that.
"Thomas?" She said his name hesitantly, as if she were still dreaming. "Guy-Man? Where are you two?"
"We retired to your computer system," Thomas answered, her laptop screen brightening up and showing a red, pixelated exclamation mark. "After you... after you collapsed, we decided to not make ourselves look suspicious. We apologize again for startling you upon first meeting. How unprofessional..." The last bit was muttered, but Rhapsody could not help but feel guilty for her reaction.
"Are you rested, now?" Guy-Man asked, and realizing that the two could not see her nod, she walked over to her laptop.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, thanks. And sorry for, uh, passing out on you. I must have been really tired." Or really freaked out. "Can we start over?"
A chirp from her laptop was her answer, and through a much less dramatic entrance, the two stood before her again. Thomas extended his hand for her to shake, as did Guy-Man. "Nice to meet you, Rhapsody," both said in unison, "we are Daft Punk."
The teen shook their hands carefully, as if her touch could break the tiles that lined their hands. "'Daft Punk'? You mean that's what DP stands for?"
They nodded, and Rhapsody could not resist asking, "But how did you two— how are you two in the program but, you know, here?"
"We are not entirely sure ourselves," The taller of the two admitted, "All we remember is that on September 9th, 1999, at specifically
9:09 am, we were created due to an explosion in our creator's studio. We possess musical talents as well as the means to create it easily."
"So you can play instruments and stuff? And mix them up like electronic music?" This was slowly beginning to sound like an actual present. Two robots that can help her make actual, professional music? Her parents would be convinced in no time with their help, she thought, and her career could kick off easily. "That's— That's so cool! This is gonna fix everything, thank you so much!"
Her excitement may have confused the two, but nonetheless, they appeared to be willing to oblige if it meant it would "fix everything". They were still unused to human emotions, and Rhapsody seemed to be the perfect example of how easily they can change.
After putting her hair back up into a bun, she peeked over the banister outside of her room to check if Julian was in the living room as predicted, and to her relief, he was lounging on the couch with a controller in his hands. Before Thomas and Guy-Man could see what she was up to, Rhapsody shut the door to her bedroom (not purposely in their faces, they concluded) and descended down the stairs, calling her brother's name all the while.
"If I had a nickel for every time you just said my name..." The brunette groaned, pausing his game to see what his sister's problem was this time. Compared to Rhapsody, the two could be twins: deep brown hair, bright emerald irises and tanned skin— he was only an inch taller than her and two years younger than her. "What's your deal now? Marina already gave you our present—"
"That's exactly what I want to talk to you about," she interrupted him, yanking his arm and pulling him from the couch to follow her upstairs.
"What's wrong? You didn't like it, did you? Look, I did a shit ton of research, you know—"
"I know how much effort and time you put into it, and I really really do appreciate it, but do you know what you bought?" They stopped outside of her room, and she let go of his arm. "Like, did you read the terms and agreements?"
"No one reads that stuff, D, you know that." He huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Can you tell me what your deal is? You're starting to freak me out."
She grabbed the knob to her bedroom door. "Well...it'd be easier to show you."
It would seem that Thomas and Guy-Man were listening intently at the door, and when Rhapsody opened it, Guy-Man's helmet was the first to get rattled. Thomas stepped back in time to avoid the collision, thankfully, while his golden counterpart was now cursing angrily in his native tongue and rubbing the side of his helmet.
"You should have stepped back in time," Thomas made an chirping sound equivalent to a laugh, and attempted to pat the other's back comfortingly.
"Were you two listening this whole time?" Rhapsody asked, an eyebrow raised. As if she needed more eavesdroppers in the house. "Actually, it doesn't matter. Guy, are you okay?"
"Just fine," he shook his head, apparently flustered. "thank you."
Julian reached for his sister's shoulder, shaking it gently, "D-D, who are these guys?"
It was as if the two bots had finally realized his existence, and Rhapsody turned to faced her younger brother. "Julian, this is Thomas and Guy-Manuel. They're the...well, they're the software you and Marina had gotten for me. Thomas, Guy-Man, this is my younger brother Julian."
Thomas was, of course, the first to offer his hand. "Nice to meet you, Julian. Thank you for purchasing our software."
The brunette hesitantly shook his hand, then Guy-Man's, still stunned by the two. "L-Likewise..."
"They call themselves Daft Punk," Rhapsody added, having gone into her room to retrieve the floppy disk. "'DP'— That's what it stands for. Did you know about this?"
"No way! I just read online in some forums about this program and how it's really cool and shit and so I actually managed to find it and get it shipped here," he answered, running a hand through his chocolate curls. "But, D, you gotta admit this is pretty fucking cool. I mean, two robots? And they're french? This is like something from a sci-fi movie!"
Damn his weakness in sci-fi movies, Rhapsody cursed mentally as she rolled her eyes. "Yeah, okay, I agree with you and all, but what am I gonna tell mom and mamá? I know you can keep a secret, but I'm not so sure anymore about Marina after she spilled my secret about wanting to be a musician."
Julian waved her off, "Oh, please, Marina can keep a secret. She just messed up yesterday. We were both wondering when you were gonna tell them anyways."
"I was planning to tell them when I actually had something to show them, like a piece of music or something, you know? Not just spring it up on them and have a repeat of what went down yesterday." The brunette sighed and walked into room past the Thomas and Guy-Man, waving Julian to come inside.
She grabbed her laptop from her desk and sat down on her bed, Julian sitting on the edge while the remaining two simply stood, still unsure as to where their places were in this picture. "But Thomas and Guy-Man said they could help me make music. So I'm pretty sure after we have at least one song, I can show it to mom and mamá and get them on my side."
Thomas was hesitant to speak up, but Guy-Man nudged his arm to speak, "E-Excuse me, but what is your problem regarding music making? F-From what we can gather, you're having trouble convincing your parents?"
"They don't think I can make it as a musician," Rhapsody murmured, pulling up the mixing program. "So that's why I need your help so bad. You can help me convince them otherwise."
"Well, we were made to make music," Guy-Man said, nodding. "We can help you, yes."
"Hey, maybe you'll get to DJ for our school dances," Julian suggested. "That would be a pretty neat gig to start you off."
She hummed in response, drumming her fingers against her chin. "Then we need dance-y stuff. I've never actually dealt with electronic music, I only listen to it."
"You'll be pleased to know that we specialize especially in electronic music," Thomas stated quite confidently, "we have sample tracks listed on the software, if you so desire to listen to what we have done in the past."
"D, this is actually happening, you're gonna make it." Julian grinned towards his sister, and Rhapsody could not help but give an excited laugh at the gravity of the situation. Was this actually happening, was she really going to make it as a musician and let the world know her name? Would her parents finally be proud of her musical talents, would they praise and cheer for her? Hell, all of this attention could even get her a boyfriend or girlfriend.
That possibility made her very eager to get started.
After introducing a very stunned Marina to her new allies, Rhapsody produced a contract that stated no words of her plan was to be said out loud in this household when their parents were around. Thomas and Guy-Man could not leave Rhapsody's room unless the house was safe and they were out of sight from the eyes of Rhapsody's mother and mamá.
Also, since their parents would not be home until later that day, Rhapsody decided to show the two around their new home, seeing as they had as much right to use whatever rooms they so desired when alone. A proper tour of the living room, kitchen, study, garage, formal dining and backyard was conducted, which proved rather fun to the new guests, surprisingly. It was not everyday that they get an actual "home", so they were delightfully pleased with the situation, even if they were only allowed to go out when it was deemed "safe".
"You're more than welcome to just chill wherever when my parents aren't home," Rhapsody said as they returned to her room once again, Julian and Marina leaving to start on lunch. "And we'll all be at school for most of the day, too, so it's mainly on weekends that we'll be home all day."
"It was very kind of you to show us around," Thomas replied, a pixelated check mark appearing on the screen of his helmet. "It was quite a... new experience."
"It's the least I can do, I mean you two are basically living in the same house as us now. Not to mention you're helping me out with my parents and stuff." She grabbed her laptop and opened the mixing software, adjusting her glasses on her nose. "While we have some time to kill, I wanna listen to those tracks you were telling me about." When she noticed the two standing (albeit awkwardly) near the door, she couldn't help but laugh. "You guys can sit down, you know. I won't bite."
"L-Like we said, we're not very good at interacting with humans..." Thomas replied, following Guy's lead as they both sat on the edge of her bed. "Sorry if we come off as a bit...awkward."
The brunette shook her head, "Nah, it's okay. I wouldn't expect you guys to be super cool with people yet, anyways. You don't look like you've been outside of...a computer, I guess, for a while. But that's okay! As your friend, I'll help you guys out."
They stayed quiet, but both Thomas and Guy-Man shared a glance. This— or rather, these humans were not like the others they had met. What drove them to be so friendly towards them, despite not knowing what and who they were? And how can Rhapsody place so much trust in them so soon, deeming herself their "friend" just like that?
Humans are strange, Guy-Man commented to Thomas through their separate communication route, especially this one.
Don't be rude, Guillaume! Thomas chastised as Rhapsody began looking over their track names. She's just... unlike the rest. Maybe we could learn a few things from her and her siblings, don't you think? They use a different slang than we do, it would be interesting to add words like theirs to our music.
I suppose you're right. However, I am curious to see what she is capable of doing music-wise. She appears to be serious about it.
Only time will tell. I think I am "excited", if that is the correct word, to work with her. Her upbeat attitude will possibly have a positive effect on our music.
"These tracks are fucking gold," their private conversation was cut off by Rhapsody's sudden remark, and they realized that she had been playing their tracks in the background during their entire conversation. "Did you come up with these all on your own? I freaking love your sound— the club slash dancing vibe I get is really getting me into it."
"Yes, we composed all of the music on the track listings." Thomas answered, a bit thrown off by her praisings. "I take it you are into the 'dancing' type of music?"
"Oh, yeah. I just wish I knew how to make stuff like this— I mean, I've messed around with that kind of stuff before, but not with an actual program like this. I do like the older kind of music, too, like disco and pop and stuff like that, you know? I kind of wanna incorporate that kind of feel with electronic music, to make some diversity and make stuff that will make people wanna dance."
"That's...actually a very good point," The taller of the three said, nodding slowly. It would seem that this human had some big ideas for music.
"Then, it's decided," Guy-Man stood suddenly, "Rhapsody, we will help you in your musical career. Given our musical talents and your ideas, I suspect interesting results. We should begin immediately, non?"
Thomas made a chirping sound that could only be described as a laugh and stood as well, "He is obviously eager to begin. Shall we go to the recording studio?"
"R-Recording studio?" The teen stood hesitantly from her bed, "What do you mean?"
"Well...it would be easier to show you."