Post by Raki on Apr 25, 2007 12:37:20 GMT -5
(One shot)
Somewhere, somewhere on Earth (not Mobius, of course), a certain robian tenrec sat in awe of a very wide assortment of technological oddities that now surrounded him. So amazing he had trouble, almost, believing it all.
Then again, he had trouble believing any of today had actually happened. Had anyone told him that today he’d meet a parallel universe version of his worst enemy, and that said version was actually a rather nice type of guy, and that he’d become free of Robotnik (and said previous enemy) because of the bloke, meet someone who could help him get deroboticized, meet HIMSELF from the other reality (who seemed rather… off), and then travel to said parallel universe to be derobotized…
Well, he’d call them crazy, to put it at it’s lightest form.
And yet, that’s precisely what had happened to him so far today.
And it’s only gotten weirder. Whoever this … benefactor was, was apparently extremely obsessive compulsive when it came to cleanliness, as Dash hadn’t even been able to step past the ship’s threshold without more or less being turned inside out in the pursuit and elimination of any type of filth.
This led to a few interesting discoveries.
One, the metal Dash was made of was in fact, coloured, and not a dirty brown grey through and through as he’d come to believe.
Secondly, there was a dead something or another jammed inside his chest compartment.
Thankfully, Bogert did not ask. The explanation would have been very awkward anyway.
After that, the second order of business for Dash was to have his arm reattached, as it was of course extremely awkward to wander around with one’s limbs detached, not to mention a bit psychologically discomforting.
Which brought him to the present.
“Bogert?”
”Hmm?”
”Where exactly… uh… is this? I mean… we sorta… walked through a door in thin air to get here.”
”It’s a spaceship.”
A long pause. Yes, Dash was definitely having a hard time digesting the events of today. “… I … guess that’s no weirder then what’s happened the rest of today. … Where are you? You said that little… floaty thing wasn’t you…”
“Oh… right, yes, just a moment.” And, as promised, a moment later an oddly dressed young man walked into the room, a wide smile set across his face, and hands clasped behind his back, and excluding a confident and yet friendly feeling. If he weren’t dressed like a colour blinded hippy, he’d almost have a competent, sophisticated air. But, he was dressed like a colour blind hippy, so therefore, he just looked like an eccentric loon. A battle for fashion has been lost, and there were no survivors.
“Is this better?”
Dash found himself taking a step back. An Overlander? He hadn’t really… been expecting that. Had his stomach still been in its original organic condition, it might have churned.
“Yeah… I guess.” An uncomfortable pause, in which he the mechanical tenrec tried to find something else to focus on, rather then species related biases. “So, uhm… you said this was a spaceship?”
The young man continued to smirk. “Yes, that’s what I said. I’m already working on the deroboticizer, by the way, but it’ll still take awhile. Feel free to have a look around in the meanwhile, though I don’t know if you’d find anything that’d entertain you”, he shrugged, “but it can’t hurt to look.”
The robian fidgeted a bit, casting another look around the room. Several passages ways seemed to lead to other areas, and dome-like area where he was standing now could possibly be considered the hub… or maybe it was just the front room? Just observing he couldn’t really tell, and probably wouldn’t be able to tell unless he took his host’s invitation. But more interestingly, the walls themselves seemed to faintly buzz and click with various electrical going ons. For a moment, the robian’s mind wandered while observing his surroundings, until he snapped back to reality. “How can you be working on it if you’re here talking to me?”
“Remember the droid of mine you saw in the forest?” His smile widened, but only be a mere tish. “It’s like that.” How much like that, or in what way it was like that, he didn’t mention. Instead, he imply tilted his head to the side. Had he went into it, he might of went on to explain that the ‘human’ that was now standing before the robian was not human at all, but a machine, just like every incarnation and part of him was. And that, like the droid in the forest, it was being simply puppeted, and that the real him was… well, the spaceship that there were both standing in. But that’d all of been terribly awkward to explain, so instead… “Want me to show you around?”
“… I … guess.” It felt awkward for Dash to put so much trust into someone he’d barely knew whatsoever. But, so far, he really hadn’t given him any reason to worry. He’d even reattached Dash’s arm for him… besides that, if this ‘Bogert’ fellow did mean harm, it’d probably be too late to do anything about it now that Dash was here in this guy’s apparent base. He hadn’t any clue went around here.
Still smiling, Bogert nodded his head in the direction of one of the passageways as Dash’s response, leading the way about the maze of paths that made up the ship.
For a good long while, Bogert showed the robian several different works and works in progress. He only showed however, and barely, if at all, explained any of it. Had this been someone such as Resson rather then an ‘average Joe’, Bogert would not of been so free in showing his work around, in fear that it may be picked up upon and mimicked. But he doubted highly that Dash knew very much of electronics, as, well, otherwise he’d probably of at least of been able to reattach his own arm. But he hadn’t been able to do even that much, so Bogert felt quite confident that no real solid knowledge would leave here. Besides, the robot tenrec’s reactions to his creations interested him, though the most common reaction was confusion. If he could bring Resson here… or maybe Metal (though, he’d brought the metal hedgehog around before, but not actually shown him around), maybe then he’d have appreciation for his work rather then… befuddlement. Regardless, the largest reason he was doing this was to fill time and keep his guest entertained while he worked on the deroboticizer he had promised in the background, not to have his own ego stroked. With a few finishing touches, it’d be done. And good too, as he’d just about run out of things to show the robian.
Regardless, Dash seemed to notice something without Bogert actually showing him.
Wandering over to a small nook he’d noticed a bizarre, lighted orb- it looked almost like an oversized snow globe (oversized, it should be noted, to the point that if a grown man curled up into a ball, he could fit quite snuggly inside). However, while a snow globe was filled with clear water and bits of snowy, white stuff of questionable origin, this orb seemed to be filled with what seemed to be light pink syrup which churned in the light not unlike a very lethargic lavalamp, with a large piece of coral like rock sitting center at the bottom. Dash pointed to the globe and turned to his host.
“Your snow globe seems to of gone bad.”
Bogert didn’t even bother going over to investigate. “No, that’s how it’s meant to be.”
Dash turned his attention back to the orb and inspected it more thoroughly. Paying more attention, he could see small white… specks… moving about in the syrup. “… are you sure? What is this supposed to be anyway?”
“Very sure, yes. It’s an aquarium.”
“An aquarium… filled with pink gunk?” He continued to look closely though the glass, his attention turning from the flitting white specks to the apparent lava rock at the bottom. He hadn’t ever really seen coral quite like that before, but it sure seemed lively enough. Veiny flower blooms jutted from various locations on the stone, their petals twitching on occasion in the artificial current, and thin, wormlike tendrils writhed from a crack in the stone, one tendril or another suddenly darting outwards from the others before suddenly recoiling backwards, among various other strange life forms. Was this normal for this place or…? “Bogert, you said this was a spaceship?”
“More then once by this point, yes.”, he replied, leaning slightly on one of the walls.
“… so these” he pointed at the creatures in the globe, “aren’t necessarily from THIS planet, right?”
Once again Bogert smiled. Not in a condescending way, but in a genuinely warm way. He wondered if the robian would realize that he himself was not of this planet? “No.”
“Okay. I was starting to worry about how bizarrely different THIS place was from Mobius… I mean, a spaceship is sorta stretching it already. I mean, the ancients apparently had plenty of them but… there’s not really all that common these days…” he trailed off a bit, “specially now that Robotnik is in charge and all…”
Ah. Apparently not. He only considered the aquarium to be out of the world, not everything else that went with it. He’d been prepaired to tell the mechanical tenrec all about the globe, and how it was a tiny version of the ecosystem back from the planet he’d originated from. Of course, by then, all the needed time was filled up. “SPEAKING OF WHICH!”, he started suddenly with a joyful tone, “The deroboticizer is done! Come on, then!” He waved to the mechanical tenrec and walked jauntily down another of the halls in the mazelike ship.
Smothered with everything else that Bogert had shown him, Dash had almost forgotten entirely about that. But hearing that it was done, and so soon, his metaphorical heart leapt into throat. “What? Already??” But, this was not a complaint, but rather an exclamation of astonishment and glee. Could it be, that finally, he’d be back to his normal self again? As much as he tried to stifle these feelings of hope (as, often times, it’d turn around to bite him in the ass), he couldn’t help it. He quickly followed after Bogert, wanting of course to see for himself as soon as possible to confirm that these hopes weren’t in vain.
After a bit of walking, Bogert arrived at his destination, pausing and waiting for his guest to catch up as he stood beside a device that, for all intent and purposes, appeared to be a rather bizarre souped up table of sorts. “Here we are, Dash!”
The robian paused in front of the table, looking it over before tilting his head quizzically to the side. “… this is it?”
“That it is!”
“… and it works?”
“There’s certainly no reason to believe it won’t.”
“… you haven’t tried it?”
“I just finished it.”
“But then how do you know it works??”
Bogert frowned. “Well, everything else I’ve made works… or at least only has minor bugs. I have no reason to suspect that won’t be the case here. Besides that, I was very cautious. I know how dangerous this could be if done wrong.”
“…it could be dangerous??” Apparently, that thought hadn’t occurred to him yet.
“Well, yes, for example if only some parts of you deroboticized and others didn’t, I could probably say you wouldn’t last for long in that case. But I’ve been very careful, very very. Trust me, I wouldn’t really endanger someone’s life! It’s against everything I stand for.”
Dash gave an uneasy look at the table, considering his options. He could just call it quits now… and go back to Mobius… and risk being recaptured and re-enslaved, or he could take this chance here for what could very well be a brighter future for himself. Choices, choices.
“… okay… so how does it work.”
Bogert gestured to the table. “Well, for you, quite simply. All you need to do is lay down on the table, and I can take care of the rest. The only thing I can really think of to worry about is how you’ll react once you’re organic again… I’m sure by now you’re forgotten how to actually breath…”
At this point, the robian was already climbing onto the table and taking his place, grinning at the thought of once again being his normal self, “… well I’ll relearn it then!”
Bogert shrugged, and took a step back. “Alright then… just lay back and relax…”
Dash did as he was told, up until the ‘relax’ part. Had he still had a heart, it’d have been beating a mile a minute at the moment. Normal again… all he could think of. Normal again! Damn the consequences! If this were dangerous, then the worst that could happen to him was death! And better dead then to live forever as a tin can like this, having given up what may have meant returning normal!
He wasn’t even aware that the machine had been activated, as it made not a single sound, but he did notice a strange feeling suddenly appearing in a flash.
A feeling. An actual feeling. The numb pins and needles sort of feeling you got when your foot or hand feel asleep… that sort of feeling. Not the best sensation in all the world, and quite an annoying one, actually, but at the moment, it was the best thing Dash had ever felt after so long with feeling nothing at all. It surprised him how much he forgot what feeling… felt like.
He also felt… cold. A very, very solid all encompassing cold…
But both sensations faded extremely quickly, and he found them even more quickly replaced with many more sensations. He could feel the warm, slightly humming table beneath him, the cool air playing across his fur and skin, and as he blinked in surprise, he could feel that as well. After so long, it was just too much for him to take in, and he found himself dizzy with it all. Well, dizzy with excitement… and lack of air. He paused, realizing that he’d yet to take a breath, and took a quick gasp, delighting at how wonderful it was to actually breath again. Once he’d caught his breath, he laughed.
“… are you alright?”
The tenrec… no longer mechanical, grinned in absolute mirth and nodded. “You were right.”
“About?”
“I did forget to breath.” And again, he laughed, unable to contain his joy at once again being himself, and delighting in the very feeling laughter gave him. And it wasn’t a simple chuckle either, but a full laugh, the type which shakes your body and makes you squirm, then has you gasping in its wake. He gripped his stomach as he did so, clutching at the sharp pain of laughing so unbridledly was causing him, but he couldn’t stop as kicked his legs and rolled on the table, tears streaming from his eyes as he did so.
… Bogert… simply… seemed to stare from his place across the room, his expression unreadable… to the point he smirked a slight bit. Joy was, after all, a contagious sort of thing.
And as he kicked and writhed, he noticed something. Something being, mainly, his own foot. His laughter abruptly died, and he hastily went to pulling his shoe off with a few rough tugs, followed by his sock. Once his foot was free, he stuck it straight in the air, and with what is possible the most determined expression ever to be seen at any time in the history of the world… wiggled his toes. After a few moments, his expression changed back into a wide smirk, and he once again digressed back into wild laughter.
Bogert continued to smirk from his side of the room, though he couldn’t participate fully in the tenrec’s joy. While, yes, it did make him feel quite good to see someone so happy, it pained him to know that this person was the only one he’d be helping. There were so many other people on Mobius that his creation could bring joy too… but it’d cross the lines of what he was allowed to do. As, he was, after all, and maybe regrettably… only a visitor. Their affairs were not his affairs, as fond as he was for them and as much as he wished he could do something for them. Even for this one, he helped purely for his own sake. The only reason Bogert had helped him was only to test out his deroboticizer, which, in itself, he only created to understand the roboticization technology so that he’d be able report to his people, oh so very far away…
It’d be difficult to explain to the tenrec, if he asked, that Bogert had created this machine only to be used once, and that despite that the tenrec’s people so desperately needed this device, and that it now existed, that he could not give it to them.
Sometimes, he regretted the rules his people had laid out. But at the same time, he understood that they were created by ones much more wise then he…
But he had many other things to worry about as well, smaller ones and larger ones. One of the small ones being… now that Dash was deroboticized, what is to be done with him.
He waited until the tenrec ran out of breath and had apparently calmed down before asking his question.
“Now that you’ve returned to your original form… what would you like to do?”
Dash wheezed a bit, having more or less used up every ounce of strength he had at the moment for his fit. After a moment of ponderment though, he replied with another smirk. “Eat.”
Bogert smiled back, “Excellent idea. I think I know just the place. I’ll go with you for now as well, just to make sure you’re alright…” He paused, and rubbed at his chin. “… I think we need to get you some clothing though. You look like someone who it’s not so good to look like at the moment… a hoodie or something along those lines should cover that fact well enough however.”
“I’m not complaining.” He paused, snickering again suddenly, “As long as I don’t end up looking like I raided your closet.”
Somewhere, somewhere on Earth (not Mobius, of course), a certain robian tenrec sat in awe of a very wide assortment of technological oddities that now surrounded him. So amazing he had trouble, almost, believing it all.
Then again, he had trouble believing any of today had actually happened. Had anyone told him that today he’d meet a parallel universe version of his worst enemy, and that said version was actually a rather nice type of guy, and that he’d become free of Robotnik (and said previous enemy) because of the bloke, meet someone who could help him get deroboticized, meet HIMSELF from the other reality (who seemed rather… off), and then travel to said parallel universe to be derobotized…
Well, he’d call them crazy, to put it at it’s lightest form.
And yet, that’s precisely what had happened to him so far today.
And it’s only gotten weirder. Whoever this … benefactor was, was apparently extremely obsessive compulsive when it came to cleanliness, as Dash hadn’t even been able to step past the ship’s threshold without more or less being turned inside out in the pursuit and elimination of any type of filth.
This led to a few interesting discoveries.
One, the metal Dash was made of was in fact, coloured, and not a dirty brown grey through and through as he’d come to believe.
Secondly, there was a dead something or another jammed inside his chest compartment.
Thankfully, Bogert did not ask. The explanation would have been very awkward anyway.
After that, the second order of business for Dash was to have his arm reattached, as it was of course extremely awkward to wander around with one’s limbs detached, not to mention a bit psychologically discomforting.
Which brought him to the present.
“Bogert?”
”Hmm?”
”Where exactly… uh… is this? I mean… we sorta… walked through a door in thin air to get here.”
”It’s a spaceship.”
A long pause. Yes, Dash was definitely having a hard time digesting the events of today. “… I … guess that’s no weirder then what’s happened the rest of today. … Where are you? You said that little… floaty thing wasn’t you…”
“Oh… right, yes, just a moment.” And, as promised, a moment later an oddly dressed young man walked into the room, a wide smile set across his face, and hands clasped behind his back, and excluding a confident and yet friendly feeling. If he weren’t dressed like a colour blinded hippy, he’d almost have a competent, sophisticated air. But, he was dressed like a colour blind hippy, so therefore, he just looked like an eccentric loon. A battle for fashion has been lost, and there were no survivors.
“Is this better?”
Dash found himself taking a step back. An Overlander? He hadn’t really… been expecting that. Had his stomach still been in its original organic condition, it might have churned.
“Yeah… I guess.” An uncomfortable pause, in which he the mechanical tenrec tried to find something else to focus on, rather then species related biases. “So, uhm… you said this was a spaceship?”
The young man continued to smirk. “Yes, that’s what I said. I’m already working on the deroboticizer, by the way, but it’ll still take awhile. Feel free to have a look around in the meanwhile, though I don’t know if you’d find anything that’d entertain you”, he shrugged, “but it can’t hurt to look.”
The robian fidgeted a bit, casting another look around the room. Several passages ways seemed to lead to other areas, and dome-like area where he was standing now could possibly be considered the hub… or maybe it was just the front room? Just observing he couldn’t really tell, and probably wouldn’t be able to tell unless he took his host’s invitation. But more interestingly, the walls themselves seemed to faintly buzz and click with various electrical going ons. For a moment, the robian’s mind wandered while observing his surroundings, until he snapped back to reality. “How can you be working on it if you’re here talking to me?”
“Remember the droid of mine you saw in the forest?” His smile widened, but only be a mere tish. “It’s like that.” How much like that, or in what way it was like that, he didn’t mention. Instead, he imply tilted his head to the side. Had he went into it, he might of went on to explain that the ‘human’ that was now standing before the robian was not human at all, but a machine, just like every incarnation and part of him was. And that, like the droid in the forest, it was being simply puppeted, and that the real him was… well, the spaceship that there were both standing in. But that’d all of been terribly awkward to explain, so instead… “Want me to show you around?”
“… I … guess.” It felt awkward for Dash to put so much trust into someone he’d barely knew whatsoever. But, so far, he really hadn’t given him any reason to worry. He’d even reattached Dash’s arm for him… besides that, if this ‘Bogert’ fellow did mean harm, it’d probably be too late to do anything about it now that Dash was here in this guy’s apparent base. He hadn’t any clue went around here.
Still smiling, Bogert nodded his head in the direction of one of the passageways as Dash’s response, leading the way about the maze of paths that made up the ship.
For a good long while, Bogert showed the robian several different works and works in progress. He only showed however, and barely, if at all, explained any of it. Had this been someone such as Resson rather then an ‘average Joe’, Bogert would not of been so free in showing his work around, in fear that it may be picked up upon and mimicked. But he doubted highly that Dash knew very much of electronics, as, well, otherwise he’d probably of at least of been able to reattach his own arm. But he hadn’t been able to do even that much, so Bogert felt quite confident that no real solid knowledge would leave here. Besides, the robot tenrec’s reactions to his creations interested him, though the most common reaction was confusion. If he could bring Resson here… or maybe Metal (though, he’d brought the metal hedgehog around before, but not actually shown him around), maybe then he’d have appreciation for his work rather then… befuddlement. Regardless, the largest reason he was doing this was to fill time and keep his guest entertained while he worked on the deroboticizer he had promised in the background, not to have his own ego stroked. With a few finishing touches, it’d be done. And good too, as he’d just about run out of things to show the robian.
Regardless, Dash seemed to notice something without Bogert actually showing him.
Wandering over to a small nook he’d noticed a bizarre, lighted orb- it looked almost like an oversized snow globe (oversized, it should be noted, to the point that if a grown man curled up into a ball, he could fit quite snuggly inside). However, while a snow globe was filled with clear water and bits of snowy, white stuff of questionable origin, this orb seemed to be filled with what seemed to be light pink syrup which churned in the light not unlike a very lethargic lavalamp, with a large piece of coral like rock sitting center at the bottom. Dash pointed to the globe and turned to his host.
“Your snow globe seems to of gone bad.”
Bogert didn’t even bother going over to investigate. “No, that’s how it’s meant to be.”
Dash turned his attention back to the orb and inspected it more thoroughly. Paying more attention, he could see small white… specks… moving about in the syrup. “… are you sure? What is this supposed to be anyway?”
“Very sure, yes. It’s an aquarium.”
“An aquarium… filled with pink gunk?” He continued to look closely though the glass, his attention turning from the flitting white specks to the apparent lava rock at the bottom. He hadn’t ever really seen coral quite like that before, but it sure seemed lively enough. Veiny flower blooms jutted from various locations on the stone, their petals twitching on occasion in the artificial current, and thin, wormlike tendrils writhed from a crack in the stone, one tendril or another suddenly darting outwards from the others before suddenly recoiling backwards, among various other strange life forms. Was this normal for this place or…? “Bogert, you said this was a spaceship?”
“More then once by this point, yes.”, he replied, leaning slightly on one of the walls.
“… so these” he pointed at the creatures in the globe, “aren’t necessarily from THIS planet, right?”
Once again Bogert smiled. Not in a condescending way, but in a genuinely warm way. He wondered if the robian would realize that he himself was not of this planet? “No.”
“Okay. I was starting to worry about how bizarrely different THIS place was from Mobius… I mean, a spaceship is sorta stretching it already. I mean, the ancients apparently had plenty of them but… there’s not really all that common these days…” he trailed off a bit, “specially now that Robotnik is in charge and all…”
Ah. Apparently not. He only considered the aquarium to be out of the world, not everything else that went with it. He’d been prepaired to tell the mechanical tenrec all about the globe, and how it was a tiny version of the ecosystem back from the planet he’d originated from. Of course, by then, all the needed time was filled up. “SPEAKING OF WHICH!”, he started suddenly with a joyful tone, “The deroboticizer is done! Come on, then!” He waved to the mechanical tenrec and walked jauntily down another of the halls in the mazelike ship.
Smothered with everything else that Bogert had shown him, Dash had almost forgotten entirely about that. But hearing that it was done, and so soon, his metaphorical heart leapt into throat. “What? Already??” But, this was not a complaint, but rather an exclamation of astonishment and glee. Could it be, that finally, he’d be back to his normal self again? As much as he tried to stifle these feelings of hope (as, often times, it’d turn around to bite him in the ass), he couldn’t help it. He quickly followed after Bogert, wanting of course to see for himself as soon as possible to confirm that these hopes weren’t in vain.
After a bit of walking, Bogert arrived at his destination, pausing and waiting for his guest to catch up as he stood beside a device that, for all intent and purposes, appeared to be a rather bizarre souped up table of sorts. “Here we are, Dash!”
The robian paused in front of the table, looking it over before tilting his head quizzically to the side. “… this is it?”
“That it is!”
“… and it works?”
“There’s certainly no reason to believe it won’t.”
“… you haven’t tried it?”
“I just finished it.”
“But then how do you know it works??”
Bogert frowned. “Well, everything else I’ve made works… or at least only has minor bugs. I have no reason to suspect that won’t be the case here. Besides that, I was very cautious. I know how dangerous this could be if done wrong.”
“…it could be dangerous??” Apparently, that thought hadn’t occurred to him yet.
“Well, yes, for example if only some parts of you deroboticized and others didn’t, I could probably say you wouldn’t last for long in that case. But I’ve been very careful, very very. Trust me, I wouldn’t really endanger someone’s life! It’s against everything I stand for.”
Dash gave an uneasy look at the table, considering his options. He could just call it quits now… and go back to Mobius… and risk being recaptured and re-enslaved, or he could take this chance here for what could very well be a brighter future for himself. Choices, choices.
“… okay… so how does it work.”
Bogert gestured to the table. “Well, for you, quite simply. All you need to do is lay down on the table, and I can take care of the rest. The only thing I can really think of to worry about is how you’ll react once you’re organic again… I’m sure by now you’re forgotten how to actually breath…”
At this point, the robian was already climbing onto the table and taking his place, grinning at the thought of once again being his normal self, “… well I’ll relearn it then!”
Bogert shrugged, and took a step back. “Alright then… just lay back and relax…”
Dash did as he was told, up until the ‘relax’ part. Had he still had a heart, it’d have been beating a mile a minute at the moment. Normal again… all he could think of. Normal again! Damn the consequences! If this were dangerous, then the worst that could happen to him was death! And better dead then to live forever as a tin can like this, having given up what may have meant returning normal!
He wasn’t even aware that the machine had been activated, as it made not a single sound, but he did notice a strange feeling suddenly appearing in a flash.
A feeling. An actual feeling. The numb pins and needles sort of feeling you got when your foot or hand feel asleep… that sort of feeling. Not the best sensation in all the world, and quite an annoying one, actually, but at the moment, it was the best thing Dash had ever felt after so long with feeling nothing at all. It surprised him how much he forgot what feeling… felt like.
He also felt… cold. A very, very solid all encompassing cold…
But both sensations faded extremely quickly, and he found them even more quickly replaced with many more sensations. He could feel the warm, slightly humming table beneath him, the cool air playing across his fur and skin, and as he blinked in surprise, he could feel that as well. After so long, it was just too much for him to take in, and he found himself dizzy with it all. Well, dizzy with excitement… and lack of air. He paused, realizing that he’d yet to take a breath, and took a quick gasp, delighting at how wonderful it was to actually breath again. Once he’d caught his breath, he laughed.
“… are you alright?”
The tenrec… no longer mechanical, grinned in absolute mirth and nodded. “You were right.”
“About?”
“I did forget to breath.” And again, he laughed, unable to contain his joy at once again being himself, and delighting in the very feeling laughter gave him. And it wasn’t a simple chuckle either, but a full laugh, the type which shakes your body and makes you squirm, then has you gasping in its wake. He gripped his stomach as he did so, clutching at the sharp pain of laughing so unbridledly was causing him, but he couldn’t stop as kicked his legs and rolled on the table, tears streaming from his eyes as he did so.
… Bogert… simply… seemed to stare from his place across the room, his expression unreadable… to the point he smirked a slight bit. Joy was, after all, a contagious sort of thing.
And as he kicked and writhed, he noticed something. Something being, mainly, his own foot. His laughter abruptly died, and he hastily went to pulling his shoe off with a few rough tugs, followed by his sock. Once his foot was free, he stuck it straight in the air, and with what is possible the most determined expression ever to be seen at any time in the history of the world… wiggled his toes. After a few moments, his expression changed back into a wide smirk, and he once again digressed back into wild laughter.
Bogert continued to smirk from his side of the room, though he couldn’t participate fully in the tenrec’s joy. While, yes, it did make him feel quite good to see someone so happy, it pained him to know that this person was the only one he’d be helping. There were so many other people on Mobius that his creation could bring joy too… but it’d cross the lines of what he was allowed to do. As, he was, after all, and maybe regrettably… only a visitor. Their affairs were not his affairs, as fond as he was for them and as much as he wished he could do something for them. Even for this one, he helped purely for his own sake. The only reason Bogert had helped him was only to test out his deroboticizer, which, in itself, he only created to understand the roboticization technology so that he’d be able report to his people, oh so very far away…
It’d be difficult to explain to the tenrec, if he asked, that Bogert had created this machine only to be used once, and that despite that the tenrec’s people so desperately needed this device, and that it now existed, that he could not give it to them.
Sometimes, he regretted the rules his people had laid out. But at the same time, he understood that they were created by ones much more wise then he…
But he had many other things to worry about as well, smaller ones and larger ones. One of the small ones being… now that Dash was deroboticized, what is to be done with him.
He waited until the tenrec ran out of breath and had apparently calmed down before asking his question.
“Now that you’ve returned to your original form… what would you like to do?”
Dash wheezed a bit, having more or less used up every ounce of strength he had at the moment for his fit. After a moment of ponderment though, he replied with another smirk. “Eat.”
Bogert smiled back, “Excellent idea. I think I know just the place. I’ll go with you for now as well, just to make sure you’re alright…” He paused, and rubbed at his chin. “… I think we need to get you some clothing though. You look like someone who it’s not so good to look like at the moment… a hoodie or something along those lines should cover that fact well enough however.”
“I’m not complaining.” He paused, snickering again suddenly, “As long as I don’t end up looking like I raided your closet.”