[A/N i'm going to use feminine pronouns for Auto, my FC, in this fic and tbh it's bc i have 20 years of backed-up jealousy of this cat. Ngl, this one is overly-wordy, and i gave up after exactly two years bc jdbfjd like how do i finish this and have it be decent?? I can't, and i'm owning that.
I've been jealous of Robot's love interest since the series started, lmao. Sooo here i finally am doing something about Shannon, ahaha. I'll try to be civil. I initially wanted Auto to be more sad than angry, but ahahhaha, ME.
TW/CW: embarrassment, frustration, anger, jealousy, upsetedness, malice, scheming/plotting, deceit, mischief, teaching/learning/studying, causing pain/being hurt, electricity, confusion, dental stuff, disabled character, prosthetic limb, teeny tiny bit of sadness]
Auto was waiting patiently for her friends outside of the arcade. Ever since first being invited to do this, she's showed up every day to meet them. Sometimes they would get there later, but they almost always showed up at some point. Auto didn't have much to do besides this, so she didn't mind.
They showed up about an hour later than usual. She wasn't disappointed, she was just very happy to finally see them. She grinned wide and made an electric tone and skipped over to meet them. "Hi guys!!! How are you all today???"
They all smiled at her. "Hey Auto!! What's up?" Socks answered first.
"We're doooin' gooood, bro!" Cubey leaned backwards and shot finger guns. Auto grinned and parroted the motion.
"Anything new in the arcade today??" Mitch led the way into the building.
"Not that i saw. Iiii was mostly just sitting outside as usual." Auto chuckled shyly.
Not but a few seconds later did Robot spy something that made him stop in place. He was staring at it, and it took his companions a few moments to realize that he wasn't with them. They all looked back at him. "Oh, what's wrong???" Auto walked back over to him.
Socks looked around. He saw what Robot was stuck on. "Oh, yeah, just as i thought. Shannon is here today." Auto grew attentive, having heard of Shannon before, but never having an opportunity to actually meet her. She tried to follow their gazes.
She spied the tall girl with most of her body turned away. The light from the cabinet that she was standing in front of bounced off of her braces, making them even more noticeable than usual. She didn't seem too special otherwise, but Auto (and everyone else in the world) knew well that Robot was lightbulb-over-bolts for the girl. "Oh, she is!!" This was the first time that Auto had encountered her in person, and she was excited to finally make her acquaintance.
Auto was almost all the way over to the game that Shannon was playing before Robot snapped back to reality. He shook his head and panicked, knowing that Auto can get really chatty, really fast. He didn't want anything embarrassing to happen, so he rushed over and got between the two of them so that he could lead the interaction.
Auto had already gotten Shannon's attention by saying hello, and Robot butting in between surprised them both. He grinned nervously at Shannon. She said, "oh, hey Robot. Is this a friend of yours?"
He sputtered. "He-hello, Shannon. Yes, this is my friend Auto Maton. He is also a robot, as you can see. We met only a few months ago, actually."
He didn't turn his head or really indicate that Auto could talk, but she did anyway. "Hello! It's nice to finally meet you! RJ has told me so many wonderful things about you!!!"
"Oh, really??" Shannon sighed. Robot blushed at being exposed like that, but Auto was trying not to be weird for his sake. She thought she was on the right track, but frowned when she got those reactions.
She flipped her mouthpiece to a smile and continued. "I can assure you, everything he's said has only been fantastic recountings." She went on, even though Robot looked at her with a desperate expression on his face. "He tells me that you are one of his dearest friends." She nodded, and Robot facepalmed.
"Oh, that's nice i guess." She seemed bored with the conversation. Auto didn't know what to add to keep it going and got a little upset about that.
Robot did something he wouldn't have if Auto wasn't there: he decided to cut off the interaction. He turned his head to Shannon and his body to Auto with his arms held up to push her away. "It was nice to see you, Shannon. But i believe that Auto and i should get going."
Auto wasn't expecting Jones to touch her. She looked down at his claws on her chassis, and then again at Robot with a furrowed face. She thought it was a little bit rude that he just did that, but she didn't really mind being touched. The two of them turned their heads back around when they heard Shannon speak. "That's okay. I was gonna head home now, anyway." Auto didn't know how to feel. "I'll see you two around." She sighed and waved as she exited the building.
They both watched her leave. When she was gone, Auto looked over to Robot, who had a visibly upset expression on his face. Auto made her own that masked most of the frustration with confusion. "That's who you have a crush on???!" He glanced at her and seemed to get a little bit angry. Auto blinked as she realized that she had embarrassed him. She shrunk back. "S… sorry…"
53 6b 69 70
On her way home, Auto replayed the meeting. She studied everything about what she saw of Shannon: from her appearance to her body language to her choice and tone of words. She tried to look deeper, to see what there was that was appealing about her. She was definitely not as rude as some of the other people that Auto knew, but she sure wasn't friendly. That personality combined with her looks really didn't make an attractive picture, even for human's standards. Auto thought about it over and over, trying her hardest to see what Robot saw in her.
But she really couldn't. She considered that her inability and maybe even some projection of faults were because she had a crush on Robot herself. She figured that those silly crushy emotions probably did that kind of thing to someone and that she wasn't any different; though she was still surprised that she was able to feel romantic interest at all. An idea of running a diagnostic for that as a glitch passed through her mind, but it was fleeting because she liked how it felt.
Instead, Auto started to think about what she could do about Shannon. She thought about befriending her genuinely, but then she remembered how bold of an idea that was for herself in general, seeing as how she did only have Robot and his companions as actual friends. And also that she really didn't want to be Shannon's friend.
She thought about how she would be able to become someone's friend. She thought that it might be easier to try and get through to Shannon because, in her opinion, her status would make her undesirable to other humans as well and that she could use anything she could get when it came to friendship. She'd just have to try a little bit harder than she usually did with everyone else and she should have a pretty good chance at getting close to her.
Then she came up with an idea: what if she became friends with Shannon to make her undesirable to Robot as well? He told Auto that he liked Shannon because she had a lot of metal in her body, which made her "more efficient" than other humans. If Auto was able to replace the metal of her artificial leg with plastic; and fix her teeth so that she didn't need braces; then she wouldn't have any more metal on her than any other human. Auto was impressed with the idea, and she felt devious and naughty about having come up with it. It felt absolutely amazing.
Now she'd actually just need to get to Shannon…
53 6b 69 70
Auto had managed to get across town from her own middle school to Polyneux before it was released. She waited by the front door, hidden so that nobody would see her if she didn't want them to.
She was overwhelmed by how many people were coming out of the building at once. It was really hard to tell where one student ended and another five began. At this rate, it seemed like Auto wouldn't be able to even get a glimpse at Shannon. But then she had an idea to scan everyone that came out of the doors with her metal detector. That would point her out like a sore thumb, or whatever it is that the humans say.
She watched as students kept pouring out: very few with much more than a couple of pieces of jewelry or a zipper somewhere or a set of house keys. She saw one short student light up her radar fully, and she ducked out of the way quickly so that Robot wouldn't see her here. When he was out of view, Auto looked over the students that she had just skipped, happy that she didn't accidentally miss who she was here for.
A few moments later, Auto spied somebody with a fully metal left leg. That was who she was looking for, and she smiled. She crawled out of her hiding spot and scuttled over to where Shannon was walking. She approached her quickly from behind, but remembered that even her own school "friends" hated when she surprised them like that. She slowed her pace to a casual walk behind her, and quietly beeped a tune so that she wouldn't be as surprising when she greeted her.
She walked close from behind and tried to seem sincere. "Oh, hey Shannon!" She turned her head. "It's nice to see you again!"
Shannon was confused. "Uhh, you go to this school, too???"
Auto's electric voice cracked somehow. "Y-eeeaah!" She smiled. "What are you up to this afternoon? Have any fun plans???"
Shannon thought. "No, not really. Just watching some tv, i guess."
Auto nodded. "I see. What kind of shows do you watch?"
"Usually whatever is on. I don't really have a favorite show or anything."
'How riveting,' Auto tried to hide her true feelings. She responded: "i understand that. Sometimes there is, like, literally nothing good on. And then other times, i can't decide what to watch!" She lowered her motioning hands. "Tv can be so unpredictable sometimes."
"Yeah, it kind of can be. At least there are, like, tv guides to look at, though."
Auto giggled. "Haha, oh yeah. I forgot about those." She grinned and attempted to seem a little embarrassed. She considered what she would ask next. "Um, what kind of video games do you like? I don't usually see you at the arcade, do you have a home console???"
Shannon was leading them through the neighborhood. "I do, actually. I don't really like going to the arcade because i know that geek Robot Jones goes there. I'm not usually in a mood to deal with him, especially after school."
Auto cocked her head, not expecting that she'd bring him up. "Oh, why not? Is he mean to you or something??" She was lucky that she didn't have teeth, because they would be grinding by asking that.
Shannon frowned. "No, he's just such a dweeb! He's so embarrassing to be around! I swear it's like he tries to be awkward on purpose to make me look like an idiot."
Auto also didn't expect to feel the sadness that she did about what Shannon said. She knew first-hand what it was like to be the embarrassing one in situations, as it seemed like that was always her assigned role. Her tone wavered a bit on its own. "Oh, i see… iiii'm sure he doesn't mean to be: he probably just wants to impress you." She stopped talking about herself. "He always talks so fondly of you. You're probably his best friend."
"Oh please!" Shannon rolled her eyes. "I knoooww he has a crush on me. It's the way that he shows it that makes it unbearable!"
Auto blinked in surprise. She didn't want to spill any beans out of place, but apparently Shannon was already well aware. "Oh!" Auto tried to calculate a proper answer. "Oh, i guess he does." She feigned that it wasn't obvious. "That does make sense, actually…" She touched a finger to her chin as if she were thinking. "Ehhh, uh, well, how do you feel about him??" She got sheepish, "oh, i mean, if you don't mind me asking. I wasn't planning on telling him that we were talking…"
Shannon blew out her tongue. "He's fine, i GUESS." She crossed her arms. "It's really hard to get past his dorkiness most times…" Auto scanned over her thinking face. "But i guess he does help me with my homework sometimes."
Auto knew that she shouldn't have gotten as jealous as she did at that. She cringed back the feeling, "oh yeah?? Have your grades gotten better??" The pitch in her voice was definitely too high for the question.
"Yeah, a little." She guessed that Shannon didn't notice. "At least in homework. I like it better when he gives us all the answers to the tests. My parents really care about my grades on those."
Auto's jealousy turned into anger. This girl was admitting that she was using her best friend for her own gain. It came out in a low pitch: "really."
Shannon was facing ahead and didn't see that Auto's grin had flipped. "Yeah, it's waaay better for me. Honestly, i'd spend more time with him if he did that all the time. Then at least we'd BOTH get something out of this 'friendship.'"
Auto was seething. It took her a massive effort to not blow up in Shannon's face about it. "HMMmm, maybe i should do that for my friends." She grinned her mouth again. "It would be easier to GIVE them the answers than try to help them lear-stuudyyy." She fluttered her eyes.
Auto finally managed to shelf her emotions then. "Hey, maybe i can help you study! We don't have any classes together, so i can't exactly give you the answers, but i can help you remember what they probably will be." She smiled and flopped her hand, "who needs to know all of that extra stuff, anyway??? They only test about very specific details and never anything else, and i'm pretty good at picking those things out."
Shannon looked over at Auto. "Wow, really?? Do you think you could really help me get the right answers for tests???" Auto nodded, and Shannon smiled. "Oh wow, that sounds really helpful! Okay, i'll let you know when we can get together to do that. Um, we're actually at my house right now." She pointed her thumb at it. "I'll call you??"
"Suuuure!!!" Auto gave her phone number and said goodbye to her partner. When she saw her close the door behind her, she let all of the emotions storm around in her circuits. She walked out of sight of the house before letting her face and body actually react to it all, screaming and flailing and grinning and growling and laughing and kicking. She paused and shook her fists, trying to pin down one idea to focus on as she walked home.
53 6b 69 70
Auto knew that this whole idea was going to be a huge effort, but she convinced herself that it was worth it if it had even a small possibility of getting her crush away from his crush. Even if Robot would never return her affection for him, she would be able to rest easy knowing that he wasn't going to allow himself to be used as easily as he was because of some trivial feelings.
The month since offering to help Shannon study had borne fruit enough to improve her grades, and consequently, her trust in Auto. Now the android was called over any time that there was an upcoming test, and they even shared a few other friendly encounters beyond that. It was such a shame that Auto was so disgusted with Shannon: otherwise this would have been an overwhelming success in finding companionship in humans.
Now they were in the girl's living room, going over some science information. They sat at the coffee table with a few extra books about plant biology that Auto brought along "in case there were diagrams that she could understand better."
"So the photosynthesis products are used in the regular cellular cycles," Auto pointed to the little arrows on the drawing of the leaf; "and the regular cell cycle products are used in photosynthesis. That's why plants don't need to eat like animals do, and why they can live in little terrariums!" She smiled.
"Okay, that makes sense." Shannon nodded and looked at the picture again. "But they still need light, right???"
"Exactly!" Auto pointed a finger at her. "You can remember it because the 'photo' part of 'photosynthesis' means 'light.' The plant 'synthesizes' food out of 'light,' alongside the other fuel that it gets."
Shannon thought it over. "Oh, alright. Yeah, i guess that is what that means."
"Uhuh! It's not too bad when you can think about things in a few different ways at once." Auto closed her eyes in a happy expression.
Underneath it, though, she was building up enough emotion to get a good amount of excess electricity flowing through her body. She was frustrated at how much effort it took Shannon to understand things, and she was angry that she had to spend so much time with her in order to even get here to put this plot through. She was excited at the prospect of this plan actually working, and used her passion for a result to get her sparks really flowing.
"Thanks again for helping me out with this biology stuff, Auto. I didn't think that you'd know so much about iiii--!!!"
Auto channeled all of the electricity into one of her feet. She innocently wagged it back and forth on the ground next to her partner and coyly touched it to her metal leg. She watched with a sinister smile as Shannon reacted to being shocked, and held the contact for a very calculated few moments longer than would have been if it actually were an accident. She relished the pettiness that swirled up in her chest and her face, glad that she was able to do it after Shannon's slick attempt at reminding Auto that she was a robot.
In a second, Auto put on her best acting skills to pretend that she didn't do it on purpose. "Oh gosh!! Shannon, i am so sorry!!!" She curled her body up. "I-i didn't mean to shock you!!! Oh my goodness, i feel so stupid for forgetting about your leg there!!!" She patted her forehead as if she really cared.
Shannon shook her head back to reality, her hair now a big frizzy mess. "Th-that's o-okay, Auto," she touched a hand to the side of her face. She closed her eyes and leaned on the table.
"Oh, i feel awful about it!!!" She squeaked, "i-is there anything i could do to make up for it??"
Shannon grunted. "Uhhhg… could you get me some aspirin from the kitchen??"
Auto shot up. "Of course! I'll be right back!" She scampered into the kitchen and found the medicine and got a glass of water to go along with it. She felt lucky that nothing that she touched was also made of metal: it provided her the suggestion that she absolutely needed at this moment.
She returned to the living room and rushed back to the table. She handed the items to Shannon. "Here you are, Shannon. I hope i didn't keep you waiting." She put on an apologetic face.
"It's okay…" She drank up a couple of pills and set the glass down. She ran her fingers through her messy hair with a grimace.
Auto stood a few feet away from her, curled up against herself shamefully. "It… probably won't help much, b-but…" She had to say this just right, with the precise amount of pause between words to make it as genuine as she could. "Th… there wasn't any m-metal that i touched in the kitchen. M-maybe… if your leg was…" She knew that a lot of humans were sensitive about not having the 'correct' amount of limbs; "s-something like p-plastic, it…" She couldn't imagine that Shannon got shocked from it often. "It wouldn't react like that to things???"
Shannon might have still been a little dazed, but she considered it. "Plastic???"
"Y-yeah." Auto guessed that she had to explain that as well. "M-metal is conductive: electricity goes through it. Stuff like plastic and even glass doesn't do that. That's why wires have little plastic jackets on them: so people don't get hurt when they fix them."
It looked like Shannon was registering it. "So plastic won't let me get shocked??"
"Yeah. A-and it's not magnetic, either. I don't know if you have that problem…" She had to make it seem like the whole spiel wasn't already thought up. "Um, but it is something that can be shaped easier. I know that there are a lot of different shapes for artificial legs, but plastic ones can be molded to fit one person specifically so that it matches seamlessly…"
Shannon looked down at herself. She had accepted how weird it looked on her, but if there was a way to make her look like a regular teenager, then she was definitely interested. "They can make it match, huh??"
"Yeah. They can even get the same skin tone that you have if you wanted, and have a more realistic foot so that you can wear two shoes at once."
She touched her chin. "That does sound nice. I can't tell you how many times i saw a pair of shoes that looked better together than apart."
Auto knelt down on the opposite side of the table so she wouldn't be able to touch her again. "I-if you want, i can help you look for somewhere so that you can get it done. I'll even make sure that it's something that won't cost you your other leg to get, eheheh." She was never good at determining what would count as 'funny.'
"That's really nice of you, Auto. Let me know if you find anything that could work."
Auto nodded excitedly. "I will!! I definitely will! It would be my absolute pleasure!!!" She reached for the textbook. "Um, did you want to go over anything again??"
53 6b 69 70
One of two of the hardest parts of her problem was over now. The rest of that one would be simple: she was good at researching things. Now all Auto needed to do was find a way around those monstrous chompers.
It's not a wildly rare issue that Shannon had. It was called an "overjet," which meant that her front teeth were too far out. Being so frustrated, Auto thought of an easy way to handle it, but being so violent toward a human could mean horrible things for her future: the most certain of which her panicky brain convinced her was being shut down and permanently decommissioned. So she was absolutely going to think about getting Shannon's jaw fixed without socking her and breaking it herself.
She found ways that people were fixing that sort of thing. Convincing them to use something like tiny skull anchors may be a tad out there, especially considering her other recent suggestions. And she would be rusted if she allowed them to use some other crazy metal doodad in her face: the LAST thing she wanted was to just make the alloys about her into different shapes. That would not do at all!
She thought back to the destructive idea for it. There was always a possibility that she really could just go up and wallop her and make it seem like an accident; or she could conceive of a way to get Shannon into an "accident" that didn't directly involve Auto farther than scheming and setting it up. The only problem with such haphazard methods was that they had a high chance of causing more damage to the human than only something that doctors could use to reset her teeth. She already didn't want for the metal that was there to be where it was, and risking adding any more screws or plates to her skull was more counterproductive than she was willing to risk.
She did consider cutting out the middleman in other ways: she would be more than able to gather enough information about human dental biology and practices to perform such an operation herself. But she knew that trick with the electricity already put a damper on the trust that Shannon had in her, and hoping for something like a sleepover alone wouldn't be enough to carry out that plot either. Auto cursed that humans had nervous systems that let them feel pain at every little thing instead of just the ones that were convenient.
She dwelled on the alternatives that there were for the headgear that Shannon had right now. Rubber bands were common enough in other kids with braces, she's seen it herself. But if it turned out that they had already considered that before, and that going for the external skull anchor that she was using was the only thing that would help; then Auto would be more or less out of luck completely.
It took her a while to fully accept that as a possibility. It seemed like there was nothing that she'd be able to do to get rid of that ugly contraption on Shannon's head. Auto thought about what her crush would think if Shannon started showing up with just that and not also a metal prosthetic leg, but the daydreams weren't suggesting much change in his behavior. If she was going to do this, she knew that she would have to do it all the way: and she had already put the ball into motion.
53 6b 69 70
Auto seemed to mindlessly gaze at the photos on the mantle from where she sat on the couch, but this would probably get her where she wanted to be. "Your mom is pretty, Shannon." She continued to stare off in the same manner.
Shannon looked over at Auto. She followed her gaze to the picture that she was looking at. "Uh… yeah, she kinda is." She thought it was a weird observation to come from nowhere.
"You look a lot like her." Auto looked over and smiled. "I wonder if even i would be able to tell you two apart from old photos of her!"
"We say that sometimes, too." She sighed. "Of course, there is always one dead giveaway."
"And what's that??" Auto gazed at her. A few planned moments later, she 'realized' what she meant. "Oh you mean the, uh…" She waved her finger to point at a theoretical headset that she herself was wearing. "I thought that kind of thing was genetic, though..?"
Shannon nodded. "It can be. But the closest thing that i know about in my family is my dad's dad just having big teeth."
"Oh! Oh, i thought it was just genetics. I guess i… no maybe…. Huh, maybe I overlooked something when i was researching it."
"What do ya mean??" Shannon's face seemed less interested than her voice did.
"Oh, i did a little bit of research about orthodontic stuff a little while ago. Uh, actually around the time that i started researching prosthetics for you. I wondered 'why is Shannon the only person that i know with orthodontic headgear?' And the answer that i came up with was 'overjet.'" She made a face that was upset that she didn't research well enough, even though she absolutely had. "But i thought i only saw genetic reasons for that kind of thing occurring."
"Why were you looking up that kind of thing???" Shannon looked a little annoyed.
"Because i'm just a curious little guy!" Auto grinned nervously and shrugged. "I like to learn as much as i can about things, but they can be kind of random sometimes. Like, did you know that human babies are born with most of the teeth that they'll ever have sitting right inside their skull?! The image is wild! And did you know that snails have what are basically little chainsaws in their mouths called radula?? Snails are so cute!!" She smiled wide.
"Really??? Babies are born with all of their teeth???" Shannon looked confused.
"Yeah, or at least most of them! The deciduous, or, um 'baby teeth' are smaller than the permanent teeth so that they can fit inside of a child's jaw. That way, they can still chew food while their little heads grow into adult-sized heads, that can fit adult-sized teeth in their mouths!" She closed her eyes tight and grinned wide at her.
"Huh…" Shannon was thinking, and Auto felt like she could hear the hamster wheels turning on rusty coasters. "So how come some people grow bigger teeth than others???"
"That probably is just genetics, i would think. Deoxyribonucleic acid and its effects on living things is truly amazing, in my opinion. You're lucky to have so much of it in every single cell in your body! Me, i have to deal with mass produced parts, and only minor errors in something like a rubber mould or strange welding is all i would ever get to be unique from others of my model." Shannon didn't need to know that Auto was independently created.
It was clear that the only thing that got through to Shannon was that words were being spoken. Auto almost felt bad about not feeling sorry for how confused she looked, but it was pretty funny. "Um, i guess i mean to say: i think that something like the size of each tooth that you have is something that comes from the way that your DNA makes you individually. It seems possible that people can have tiny traits that the rest of their family doesn't have just because they're unique."
"Huh…"
"Are, uhm…" Auto figured that she threw enough at her for the moment and shouldn't be so rude and blunt with her question. "Is the size of your teeth why you developed an overjet???" She looked at Shannon bashfully.
She blinked because she finally registered something that was said. "Um, yeah. Or part of it, anyway. They said that sucking a thumb or pacifier too much as a baby can also change the shape of your jaw, and that was what made mine so bad."
"Oh, i'm sorry to hear that." Auto nodded once in apology. "But, you said that your teeth were big, too?? Couldn't they just remove a couple of your teeth, or at least part of them??? You're probably still too young to have your wisdom teeth come in yet, and even people with normal-sized teeth have problems with those. Have your doctors ever said anything about that stuff???"
Shannon glanced away to think properly. "Not that i remember. I think all they ever talk about are my big teeth and thumb sucking, and that i need this big thing on my head in order to fix it." She paused. "Wait, did you say something about wisdom teeth??? Because i think about them sometimes and worry how much worse this is going to get when mine grow in."
"I would be worried too, and i can't conceive of what teeth even feel like!!!" It actually was an interesting concept for Auto, but that wasn't the point right now. "As far as i know, most people get their wisdom teeth removed: sometimes even before they begin to break through. They can rub up against raw nerves in your head!!! That's gotta be awful!!!"
"Yeah, i hear that some people have their wisdom teeth in really bad positions. There was a word for that, i think…"
"'Impacted???' I read that could happen to other teeth, too!" Auto shook her head. "Goodness gracious, i hope that you don't ever have to deal with impacted teeth!" As much as she disliked her, that was probably a genuine sentiment. But actually realizing that made her snap back into why they were talking about this. "I hope that any teeth that you have now don't have any issues with the nerves."
"Hmm. They don't really. I just get some pain in my actual jaw sometimes, but it doesn't happen a lot." Shannon's face seemed distracted, but Auto wasn't sure if she was thinking at all.
Auto tried to put together a thought in a concise way that Shannon would understand. "Hmm… i'll look more into the options that your dentists might not have told you about. Like i said, you could get a pair of your top teeth taken out, or even get the area between some of your teeth shaved down just a tiny bit; and either of those should help fix your overjet at least little bit." She looked Shannon in the face. "You deserve to be as beautiful as you can be. Other people shouldn't try to keep you from being there if there is a way to make it better."
Shannon looked at Auto and seemed to consider what she said. Auto couldn't determine what she was thinking, but she didn't care much of what it was besides getting those enormous chompers taken care of so she could get that ugly nasty thing off of her head.
"You're right, Auto. I think i am going to talk to my dentists the next time that i see them. There has to be a better way to fix my teeth than to wear this big thing all the time!" She smiled. "Thank you, Auto."
"Of course!" She smiled back. "I'd do anything to get you to be a normal, beautiful teenage girl!" And she meant it, but not in as nice a manner as Shannon took it.
53 6b 69 70
It seemed like it took years to get here. So much work and effort put into this thing, this silly idea. But finally, finally it seemed like it paid off.
Auto could see him walking in her direction from a ways away. She approached him so that he wouldn't have to go so far for them to start talking. "Hello RJ! Are you doing okay???"
His vision was turned down toward the sidewalk in front of him. He looked up when he heard Auto, but his eyes seemed sad. "Hello Auto. I've been trying to troubleshoot why i'm feeling so… downhearted."
"Oh no, 'downhearted??!' Are you feeling bad, RJ??? Is there anything that i can do to help? I'm here to listen if that's all that you need from me." She hated seeing Robot feeling anything negative, and would do everything that she could to prevent or repair such a thing.
He sighed. "It's about Shannon. It's really… i don't know how you'll take it."
"I'm prepared for whatever you need from me, RJ."
He stopped walking. Auto took a step further than he did, but turned to look at him. "She seems different…"
Auto became nervous, hoping that she hadn't mentioned the time that they spent together. "Oh, how so??"
They continued walking. "She seems… even more distant than usual. She would normally respond to when i spoke to her, even if it occurred at inconvenient times. But she hasn't all week. She just ignores me or walks away." His eyes were glancing around at things as he kept thinking about it. "And, well… the times that she had been…" he turned his head away; "less-than-cordial to me had her speaking of how lame or dorky i am. But now she says only a word or two about it before going on her way. And that's on top of not seeing her as often as i did. I don't believe that anybody's school schedule has gone through revisions recently."
Auto tried to remain very calm. "So she's acting… less nice than normal??"
Robot sighed again. "It feels like it. I think she… or, maybe… she seems to have a different air about her. I, um…" Auto paid attention, catching Robot's eyes when he glanced at her for a brief moment. "Th-this is just speculation, like i'm thinking out loud and can't determine for certain, but…" They looked at each other. "I-i think it's her new prosthetic leg."
Auto nodded once. "Her prosthetic, yes. It has some plastics on it now, right??"
"I think it's mostly made of fiberglass now. I can detect some regular metals in there, like in the joints, but it's mostly just plastic. It, uh… it doesn't look as fake now, i guess."
Auto felt a twinge in her chassis. "Well, that's a good thing, right??? Now she looks a little more… uh… 'completely human.' Doesn't that make her happier??"
Robot must not have fully considered it that way. "Yyeeaahhh, i suppose. It seems like she has more confidence in herself now."
"Oh, that's good, i'm glad to hear that."
"Right. But i think part of that is because of how she has her dental braces now, too."
"Oh, how did those change??? Was this recent???"
Robot motioned to his head. "Yeah, she's not using her external headgear anymore. She said that she's using rubber bands inside of her mouth right now to see how they work out."
"That also sounds like a good thing. She was the only human i had ever seen with a device like that. I'm sure not having it on her right now makes her feel a little less alienated from the people around her." Auto tried to choose her words carefully.
Robot thought about it. "Y-you're right… i… i must sound so selfish speaking about this…"
Auto tried to cheer him up. "It's nothing to worry about. We're just talking casually right now. Besides, most people are more concerned with superficial things than anything else about others. It's completely fine to have an opinion about appearance as long as it doesn't interfere with how you treat them as a person. It's just an opinion, after all." Robot turned his head again. "N-not to say that you're superficial! I mean that these are just opinions about something visual."
Robot stayed quiet for a moment. "Yeah…" He seemed to put together the right words to describe how he felt. "But…" He turned back to Auto. "I'm not too sure if that's all of it."
Auto cocked her head. "How do you mean???"
"I mean…" He was hesitant. "I… i don't know if like her anymore…"
Auto felt like she had been hit by a baseball. "Y-you don't like her anymore??? Why not???"
"She… i… it's just…" Robot was clearly debating himself about how to say it without looking bad. "She was so efficient before…"
She was getting close. "...Maybe on our terms." They locked eyes. "We're robots. What we look for to determine efficiency is what we're made of, which is metal for you and me. To a human, having even plastic parts is less humanly efficient than being made of 100% organic material. We're different than they are, and we can't always see the same things in our own perspectives." She put her hand on his shoulder for a moment. "Shannon is still efficient. She's just more humanly efficient now than she is robotically efficient. It makes her more confident around other humans, people like her, and that's a good thing." She hoped it sounded convincing. "Perhaps it's expected, coming from me, but i think it's fine if you don't like her romantically anymore. As long as you can appreciate that she's happier now, then you've done your job as a friend."
Robot took it all in, and he nodded when he absorbed and processed everything. "You're right. This does make her more efficient, on human terms." He looked at her again. "I am glad that she's happy now. I want her to be happy. I want to be a good friend… Thank you, Auto…" She nodded.
"Perhaps…" he continued, "perhaps it's for the best. Maybe…" Robot touched his claw to Auto's hand, and she glanced down at it. "Maybe i should focus my energy on other things. On…" He scanned her. "On things that are more robotically efficient." He held onto her hand, and she shrunk her head back. "On more… logical beings…" He leaned closer to her. "On… automatons."
Robot leaned his head in towards Auto's. Auto felt her chassis wir hard at the prospect. She leaned her head towards Robot's. It's what she had wanted so badly for so long. She finally managed to complete this thing, that took extraordinary amounts of effort and setup, and was going to be sealed with the sweetest reward of all.
Before the two could kiss one another, a loud sound came from somewhere. Another followed right after it, and another few after that. It felt environmental, like it was coming from all around. Auto blinked, and was back home in her room. The door opened to her brother. "Auto, wake up! It's time for school."
Auto almost didn't understand. How did she get back here??? What happened in between??? Come to think of it, what happened before all of that??? And why was she fully charged???
She blinked again. She realized it. It was just a dream. That didn't happen. It was just a figment of imagination. Her demeanor deflated. She sighed, and stepped out of her closet-sized room. It stirred in her mind as she prepared for school.
When she stepped outside, she examined the state of the universe. It was bright and sunny, and all of the things around seemed to be happy. She thought about the words she spoke in her dream. She could appreciate that it was happy here, and she could appreciate that Robot was happy with the way that Shannon was. And she thought, "maybe someday, the universe will be happy for me, too."
[Post a/n: um wow, that last paragraph went somewhere else lmao. Sooo, that was terrible ahaha. But i guess any vent is good enough.
It should go w/out saying, but i'll give this disclaimer anyway: i don't mean to make fun of disabilities at all, and i don't mean for this to be construed as something like "races shouldn't mix" or something like that (bc i can totally see people saying that about this/me at some point. I'm freaking paranoid and people hate me.) This was solely something that went into stuff like personalities despite those things, and maybe some other shit that i have yet to iron out with myself. But like i said at the beginning, this is just stuff welled up for over 20 years that took at least two to get written down completely. I'm always finding the "hidden meaning" in my own work, but know for certain that, in this piece and all others, i don't mean to make light or fun of anybody with disabilities. I will let you know when i mean to make a comment about races whatsoever, but that this was not one of those instances. It's me venting that i hate my childhood cartoon crush's love interest, okay?! I know i'm a fucking loser, leave me alone!!! *weeps*
At the same time, i'd be open to doing something about Shannon independently, like how she thinks about things. Could be interesting, but like…. I don't like her, obviously. I'll do it if you want, though.]