audio;

[fuckinstoplights]

... how long have people been trapped here?

[It's a very quiet, hesitant question. Almost as if the speaker is loathe to actually open his mouth and say something.]

[Because hahaha public speaking.]

Hasn't... anyone tried to go home? To get back to where they belong?




Where they have someone to live for?

Comments

[fuckinstoplights]

So that's why you're different.

... my friend made me happy.

[alley_kit]

Yeah. That's why we're all different; we all come from other worlds besides this one.

[Slight pause. Oh.]

...The friend who's still back home, right? Yeah... my brother's kinda like that. I mean, all my friends here are great and everything, but... it's just not the same thing.

That doesn't mean you can't find other things to make you happy while you're here though. Like your friend who fights candles. Or finding out what kinds of things you do like to do.

[fuckinstoplights]

Like the other robots?

Yes. [He almost continues, but... stops himself. Maybe it's too personal.] No, it's probably not the same thing.

How am I supposed to do that if I have to worry about touching all the time?

[alley_kit]

Uh-huh. They're from a world called Cy-ber-tron, where everything is made of metal, like them. Which really doesn't sound that nice to me, but I guess it's probably great if you're a robot.

The only way to find out what you like and don't like is to try different things til you find something that works. And the touching doesn't have to be deliberate. Or even gentle.

Like, if you were reading a book or watching a movie or something, you could kinda lean against your friend or let him lean against you while you had something to distract you. Or if you don't like sitting around, maybe you could wrestle, or spar with each other? He sounds like he might like that sort of thing, and that counts as touching too.

[fuckinstoplights]

... Yes. They've said that. I've heard about it.

Then I would have to bother him a lot more.

[alley_kit]

If he's your friend, wanting to hang out with him a little more and do stuff with him won't bother him. That's the kind of thing friends do. I mean, you and your friend back home must have done stuff together sometimes, right?