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malfunctionbot) wrote2013-07-04 06:13 pm
malfunctionbot) wrote2013-07-04 06:13 pm
APP IN PROGRESS YO
Name: Meygan
Contact Info: Plurk - Meyggy; AIM - MeyganJelly
Other Characters Played: N/A
Preferred Apartment: None
Character Name: Rabbit Walter
Canon: Steam Powered Giraffe
Canon Point: From the most current event, the Walter Robotics Expo - July 2013
Background/History: Official Rabbit Profile, Official backstory, Official Timeline, and SPG Wiki for Rabbit
Personality:
"I always thought I was sorta the big brother of the band. Or was it more like great uncle? Or half aunt? Or step sister…. THIS INTERVIEW IS OVER." [proceeds to flip table and stomp away]
--Rabbit, Steam Powered Giraffe: The Quest for The Eternal Harp of Golden Dreams
Compared to the stoic Spine, the sometimes shy Jon, and the just plain awkward Hatchworth, Rabbit is an unrestrained whirlwind of high energy and terrible jokes (he is a pun champion), somehow managing to appear absolutely everywhere at once to make sure his all too valuable opinion or irrelevant pop culture reference is always heard. He is constantly in motion--especially his voice box--hopping from here to there, dancing and shaking his hips, his energy supply seemingly unending. Despite his easily excitable and friendly nature, Rabbit is most often remembered for being crazy and boisterous and just plain weird.
Also those puns. Those damn puns.
Though many a human passerby may scoff away the belief that a man-made creation with an artificial brain could possibly be built to feel or have any real understanding of the complexities of human emotions, Rabbit and his siblings are the absolute proof that that line of thinking is very false indeed. Due to the mysterious blue matter energy that powers them, the Walter robots have been imbued with rich personalities, all of them possessing both the ability to feel and free thought. Though they may often deny just how human they are, the phrase 'more humane than most humans' absolutely applies. Rabbit himself is an automaton who experiences the entire spectrum of emotions very vibrantly, from sweet infatuation to debilitating depression to shaking with red-hot rage. Though he is generally quite upbeat for the most part, he can most often be found causing playful trouble or joking around with his brothers, Rabbit is prone to moodiness after fights with The Spine or a particularly bad malfunction, choosing to sulk for days and days until someone finally manages to knock the persistent sadness out of him and get him back to his all too happy self.
Under that infectious copper grin and booming laugh, however, Rabbit holds a large amount of hidden guilt and lingering sadness over the various events that have been unjustly thrust into his long life. The death of his creator and longtime best friend, Peter A. Walter the First, has always stuck painfully with him, even after all of these decades that he has been dead, a loneliness and tightening inside his chassis that the 'bot never has been able to fully shake, enough so that those gifted goggles never leave his sight. Then there is his unwilling participation within the wars and the nightmares that still haunt him from that traumatic time. Combine that with the heavy guilt he still feels over the death of his human brother at his own hand (indirectly, of course, but Rabbit will always blame himself) and it is easy to see why the bot is so prone to fits of sulking. For an 'artificial' life, Rabbit truly understands the pain that comes hand-in-hand with living, and it isn't something he will ever be able to forget or simply shove aside. All of this weighs on his conscience often, but he just chooses to keep living on with a smile and a corny joke on his lips for the sake of his family and his own sanity.
For an automaton, Rabbit tends to fall in love rather frequently, though unlike The Spine, the objects of his quick affections are just that: objects. His torrid love affair with Jenny the Toaster lasted a good eight minutes after purchasing her at Sears before his joints froze up and he dropped her, shattering the toaster to pieces. It is a generally accepted rule throughout the Walter manor that Rabbit is not allowed to use any of the kitchen appliances, but nothing will stop him in his quest for true love!Keep your appliances locked up, folks. That being said, the 'bot does have experiences with real love (aka a sentient being that can actually love him back), but since the heartbreak of Honeybee, he seems to prefer to throw his affections upon things that can't break his clockwork heart again.
"And if my marks weren't good enough, he'd make me sit in the corner with a dunce hat. But the joke was on him, I would just pretend I was a tyrannosaurus rex. ..With a dunce cap."
--Rabbit, Steam Powered Giraffe: The Quest for The Eternal Harp of Golden Dreams
Though he may not often act like it, Rabbit is the oldest of the robots and titles himself as the 'big brother of the band'. He takes his responsibilities as 'big bro' quite seriously, despite his usual teasing and carelessness, always stepping up to protect or stand up for his younger siblings should they end up in any kind trouble, whether it be their own fault or not. With The Jon and Hatchworth, Rabbit is both a playmate and a source of strength. He acts every bit as silly and full of energy as the two youngest 'bots, but is always there to lend a copper shoulder to cry on when life's usual unpleasantness pops up. With The Spine, Rabbit is always taunting and pestering and coaxing, doing all that he possibly can to pull his titanium brother's lightheartedness out from his usually reserved and distant nature.
No, Rabbit may not often act as mature as a being of his age should and he really shouldn't be trusted with any real responsibility, but when the occasion does present itself, he can step up to the plate and do what needs to be done.
Due to his undying loyalty and love for his creator, Rabbit has refused to have his metal structure and inner workings upgraded in any way since Colonel Walter's death seventy-one years ago. The world around him has changed drastically in the last one hundred and seventeen years, but Rabbit stubbornly refuses to change with it. He lives his life by the adage 'Things just aren't built the way they used to be', truly believing that it would be a slap in the face of what his father had created to allow another to tamper with his work. Because of this, he still possesses many of his old victorian pieces, which means that he quite often finds his circuitry shorting out or his joints locking up. Rabbit is prone to malfunctions of all sorts, glitching and stuttering while his limbs jerk out at odd angles.* Still, despite how scary the moments of losing control may be, Rabbit continues to ignore his problems and hope his body and programming will just fix up on their own.
Spoilers: His condition only continues to worsen.
Though built with the specific purpose to be a master musician and lyricist that would win the heart of his creator's lady love, Rabbit has taken to other forms of entertainment as well and has come to find some amount of expertise in most of these areas after over a century's worth of practice. Dance, comedy, mime - as long as there is a crowd to shower him in either glowing applause or uproarious laughter, he'll pick up any talent he can to garner more attention. One can only assume that, if he could move more fluidly like his younger brothers, he'd have picked up juggling or some other type of clowning antics, just to expand that already impressive repertoire, but thankfully, that is far outside of his area of movement. As a musician, he plays the melodica, the accordion, and the kazookaphone, which is basically a regular kazoo just with an attachment that makes it ten times more annoying.
It should also be noted that Rabbit is clearly very intelligent, he just simply chooses to not act like it.
* Terrifying examples of Rabbit's on-stage malfunctions: Example 1 and Example 2!
Abilities/Powers: Being a man-made automaton, Rabbit has all of what could be considered the average robot abilities:
* Inhuman strength
* A metal structure that can take quite a beating
* Breathing and eating are both completely unnecessary
* Immunity to poisons, the effects of alcohol, and both biological and chemical weapons
* Lighted eyes that can see further into the dark than a human's
* Advanced hearing
* Can be ripped to pieces and put back together (by an experience mechanic only please!) with little consequence
* An extended lifespan that is not limited by an organic body
Along with those abilities, Rabbit also has a flamethrower nozzle stuck down into his throat for fire-breathing capabilities should the need ever arise. A leftover from previous warfare
The strange goggles he possesses are actually an advanced particle accelerator lens device that are activated when alined properly with Rabbit's eyes. The telescopic section, when positioned in front of his green optic, will emit what can only be described as a 'death ray', which obviously means that if Rabbit were to ever actually wear those inherited goggles, destruction would ensue, which is precisely why they remain safely atop his hat. Absolute emergency situations only, like a war-zone. For all of his immaturity and zaniness, the copper automaton is not the type to cause pain or destruction of that extent upon anyone.
Rabbit also has detachable gatling gun and buzz saw accessories that fit on his arms, retired and hidden away since his last brush with war in the 70s where all Walter robots took up a Vow of Peace that has been upheld to this very day. It would take a quite great deal to get them to break this Vow, so it isn't at all likely these weapons will ever see the light of day again, though they are there.
As stated above, Rabbit has a certain affinity for music and being a performer. It was what he was built to do and he is quite thankfully very skilled at it. He can mime, sing, dance, and play both the accordion and the melodica.
Items/Weapons: Rabbit's goggles, his accordion, and an extra faceplate!
Sample Entry: Huh-za-what? What-what-what is this?
[The mechanical voice to stutter over the city's network is riddled with clicks and whirrrrs as the unseen automaton inspects his own phone curiously. Steam puffs from his crooked mouth straight into the receiver, giving his audience a quick round burst of static in their ears before he continues.]
Th'Spine? Is this some kinda joke, big guy? [His voice drops down for an impossibly low and robotic HA. HA. before returning to normal.] I thought humor had been left outta yer programmin' co-completely. Pappy had to make room for that stick-in-da-mud personality o' yours, didn't he?
... [Silence.] Spine? Spine! Are ya ignorin' me now?! [Rabbit releases an irritated huff at the offense of being ignored.] The backbone on that guy...
[Another pause. Nope, The Spine sure would have leapt on him for that pun, so his must be someone else entirely.]
Okay, so if it ain't my brother on the other end of this t-t-t-telephone conversation, then just who's there?
Sample Entry Two: It was unspoken rule among the Walter Manor residents that Rabbit was not to be disturbed during his daily visits with Colonel Walter the First.
Though privacy had never been an issue among the other robots and humans that resided there - the lack of doors took care of that silly notion - it hadn't taken very long for newcomers of the family to understand the importance of an exception when it came to Rabbit. One too many times of accidentally stumbling upon the copper automaton in a vulnerable position, the sight of oil slicked down his man-made face and staining the red trim of his vest had taught the others quickly enough to give the robot space when he was conversing privately with his creator.
So Rabbit was inwardly grateful for the distance. He told the others he enjoyed feeding the ducks and they never had the heart to correct him.
But today was different.
Rabbit was planted unceremoniously under the tree that kept his creator out of the bright California sun, leaning against the trunk with his spindly arms crossed over his chest. There was a constant stream of steam rising from the vents on either side of his face, his gaze focused firmly on the lake beside the family cemetery. Usually he preferred to kneel during these encounters, to physically touch the cold stone and the hard earth and the damp grass, as if the deceased form beneath him could feel his metal fingers and know that his creation was desperately attempting to make some form of contact with his departed soul. But decades upon decades of routine were coming to a close.
The times were changing and as much as he stubbornly attempted to fight it, Rabbit was changing along with them.
The copper robot's creaky, aching knees were no longer able to bend or carry the full weight of his clockwork body as they once could. They went out without warning now, jerking violently and stiffening up at the most inconvenient of moments, leaving Rabbit in awkward positions until someone more able-bodied could come to his rescue. What had once been crowd-pleasing tics and stutters had transformed into into very real, terrifying malfunctions, moments in lost time where Rabbit felt trapped within his own out of control, glitching body.
And simply finding the balance and leg strength to stand up from a seated position? That had become practically impossible without The Spine's steady hand supporting him through the motion he had once managed to achieve with ease.
Yes, Rabbit was one hundred and sixteen years old, the same as his two brothers, but unlike them, he felt every single year of it.
When he finally spoke aloud, voice unnaturally soft and thoughtful for such a usually boisterous and upbeat personality, Rabbit tore his glowing eyes away from the ducks with a puff of steam, finally looking to the ornate tombstone in front of him. His gaze still avoided the words that were carved deeply into rock.
"I miss ya, Pappy." A deafening pause. Reaching up to adjust the brim of his hat, Rabbit's fingers brushed the goggles that had once been given to him so long ago by the same man. The memory was searing, his metal hand quickly retreating as if actually burned. He continued on: "Seventy years you've been g-g-g-gone-" An unnatural twitch of his head as his voice box stuck briefly. "-and it still hurts. It's never gonna go a-away, is itttttt?"
Of course it wouldn't, he rationalized with a mechanical whirr, a touch of bitterness at the edge of his thoughts. If seventy years hadn't been enough to ease the emptiness in his chest or the heavy weight pressing down upon his hunched copper shoulders, what difference could another decade possibly do? Or a century at that?
His father was dead. His best friend of forty-six years had passed away in his sleep while Rabbit had been on the other side of the world, away from his side. The man who had given him life, patiently taught him to speak, put up with his terrible puns, had lovingly called him 'son' alongside his own biological children, who had wept pained tears when Rabbit had been enlisted to war...
The robot quickly pushed those thoughts aside before oil could begin leaking from his optics again. Best to change the conversation topic to something that wouldn't leave his face stained for their big performance that evening.
"We got another gig tonight. Real fancy place. We'll be rubbin' elbows with b-big Hollywood types! Well, not literally, but, uh..." Another pause filled only by the soft turning of his internal gears. "Ya know, Th'Jon hasn't changed in the slightest. I'm beginning t' think he never will. Still seein' t' world like a-a-a little kid. You'd think livin' a h-hundred an' six-sixteen years would'a taken some of the curiosity outta him, but nope. Still runnin' from here t' there, always askin' questions, always s-smilin'... An' Th'Spine!" The copper automaton huffed in irritation. "Still livin' with that s-s-ssssstupid idea of wantin' to be human! Got his heart stomped all over yet again by another c-c-c-cold, fleshy dame. I keep tellin' him-" Rabbit's metal chest puffed out. He was created to entertain, after all. The performer in him never would quit. "-'Th'Spine, you gotta leave these thoughts behind ya! Be proud of what you are, of how P-Pappy made you! Ain't nothing wrong with being a robut'!"
His posture deflated at the end of his imitation with a literally creak, neck snapping to the side violently. Reaching up, Rabbit adjusted his head with a nonchalant twist before continuing.
"But, you remember h-how he is. Just as stuck in the clouds as Jon sometimes, I swear. It's kind-kind-kinda funny how so little has changed with the two of 'em. Even after all this time." Rabbit felt a familiar presence in the nearby vincity and a swift glance back to the manor confirmed his suspicions: a pair of glowing green eyes watching him through the kitchen window. Well, it must be time to wrap this visit up.
Rabbit pushed himself away from the tree, limbs jerking shakily as he found stable footing. Approaching the tombstone with a clank, he allowed his fingers to drop down and touch the stone. His tone lowered even further, keeping the one-sided conversation between father and son out of The Spine's inhuman hearing range.
"They miss ya too. Even if they don't visit as often as me-me-me, I can tell." Rabbit heaved a final sigh, steam flowing from his mouth as he gave the tombstone of his creator a fond pat.
"Love ya, Pappy. I'll be back t-tomorrow."
Contact Info: Plurk - Meyggy; AIM - MeyganJelly
Other Characters Played: N/A
Preferred Apartment: None
Character Name: Rabbit Walter
Canon: Steam Powered Giraffe
Canon Point: From the most current event, the Walter Robotics Expo - July 2013
Background/History: Official Rabbit Profile, Official backstory, Official Timeline, and SPG Wiki for Rabbit
Personality:
Compared to the stoic Spine, the sometimes shy Jon, and the just plain awkward Hatchworth, Rabbit is an unrestrained whirlwind of high energy and terrible jokes (he is a pun champion), somehow managing to appear absolutely everywhere at once to make sure his all too valuable opinion or irrelevant pop culture reference is always heard. He is constantly in motion--especially his voice box--hopping from here to there, dancing and shaking his hips, his energy supply seemingly unending. Despite his easily excitable and friendly nature, Rabbit is most often remembered for being crazy and boisterous and just plain weird.
Also those puns. Those damn puns.
Though many a human passerby may scoff away the belief that a man-made creation with an artificial brain could possibly be built to feel or have any real understanding of the complexities of human emotions, Rabbit and his siblings are the absolute proof that that line of thinking is very false indeed. Due to the mysterious blue matter energy that powers them, the Walter robots have been imbued with rich personalities, all of them possessing both the ability to feel and free thought. Though they may often deny just how human they are, the phrase 'more humane than most humans' absolutely applies. Rabbit himself is an automaton who experiences the entire spectrum of emotions very vibrantly, from sweet infatuation to debilitating depression to shaking with red-hot rage. Though he is generally quite upbeat for the most part, he can most often be found causing playful trouble or joking around with his brothers, Rabbit is prone to moodiness after fights with The Spine or a particularly bad malfunction, choosing to sulk for days and days until someone finally manages to knock the persistent sadness out of him and get him back to his all too happy self.
Under that infectious copper grin and booming laugh, however, Rabbit holds a large amount of hidden guilt and lingering sadness over the various events that have been unjustly thrust into his long life. The death of his creator and longtime best friend, Peter A. Walter the First, has always stuck painfully with him, even after all of these decades that he has been dead, a loneliness and tightening inside his chassis that the 'bot never has been able to fully shake, enough so that those gifted goggles never leave his sight. Then there is his unwilling participation within the wars and the nightmares that still haunt him from that traumatic time. Combine that with the heavy guilt he still feels over the death of his human brother at his own hand (indirectly, of course, but Rabbit will always blame himself) and it is easy to see why the bot is so prone to fits of sulking. For an 'artificial' life, Rabbit truly understands the pain that comes hand-in-hand with living, and it isn't something he will ever be able to forget or simply shove aside. All of this weighs on his conscience often, but he just chooses to keep living on with a smile and a corny joke on his lips for the sake of his family and his own sanity.
For an automaton, Rabbit tends to fall in love rather frequently, though unlike The Spine, the objects of his quick affections are just that: objects. His torrid love affair with Jenny the Toaster lasted a good eight minutes after purchasing her at Sears before his joints froze up and he dropped her, shattering the toaster to pieces. It is a generally accepted rule throughout the Walter manor that Rabbit is not allowed to use any of the kitchen appliances, but nothing will stop him in his quest for true love!
Though he may not often act like it, Rabbit is the oldest of the robots and titles himself as the 'big brother of the band'. He takes his responsibilities as 'big bro' quite seriously, despite his usual teasing and carelessness, always stepping up to protect or stand up for his younger siblings should they end up in any kind trouble, whether it be their own fault or not. With The Jon and Hatchworth, Rabbit is both a playmate and a source of strength. He acts every bit as silly and full of energy as the two youngest 'bots, but is always there to lend a copper shoulder to cry on when life's usual unpleasantness pops up. With The Spine, Rabbit is always taunting and pestering and coaxing, doing all that he possibly can to pull his titanium brother's lightheartedness out from his usually reserved and distant nature.
No, Rabbit may not often act as mature as a being of his age should and he really shouldn't be trusted with any real responsibility, but when the occasion does present itself, he can step up to the plate and do what needs to be done.
Due to his undying loyalty and love for his creator, Rabbit has refused to have his metal structure and inner workings upgraded in any way since Colonel Walter's death seventy-one years ago. The world around him has changed drastically in the last one hundred and seventeen years, but Rabbit stubbornly refuses to change with it. He lives his life by the adage 'Things just aren't built the way they used to be', truly believing that it would be a slap in the face of what his father had created to allow another to tamper with his work. Because of this, he still possesses many of his old victorian pieces, which means that he quite often finds his circuitry shorting out or his joints locking up. Rabbit is prone to malfunctions of all sorts, glitching and stuttering while his limbs jerk out at odd angles.* Still, despite how scary the moments of losing control may be, Rabbit continues to ignore his problems and hope his body and programming will just fix up on their own.
Spoilers: His condition only continues to worsen.
Though built with the specific purpose to be a master musician and lyricist that would win the heart of his creator's lady love, Rabbit has taken to other forms of entertainment as well and has come to find some amount of expertise in most of these areas after over a century's worth of practice. Dance, comedy, mime - as long as there is a crowd to shower him in either glowing applause or uproarious laughter, he'll pick up any talent he can to garner more attention. One can only assume that, if he could move more fluidly like his younger brothers, he'd have picked up juggling or some other type of clowning antics, just to expand that already impressive repertoire, but thankfully, that is far outside of his area of movement. As a musician, he plays the melodica, the accordion, and the kazookaphone, which is basically a regular kazoo just with an attachment that makes it ten times more annoying.
It should also be noted that Rabbit is clearly very intelligent, he just simply chooses to not act like it.
* Terrifying examples of Rabbit's on-stage malfunctions: Example 1 and Example 2!
Abilities/Powers: Being a man-made automaton, Rabbit has all of what could be considered the average robot abilities:
* Inhuman strength
* A metal structure that can take quite a beating
* Breathing and eating are both completely unnecessary
* Immunity to poisons, the effects of alcohol, and both biological and chemical weapons
* Lighted eyes that can see further into the dark than a human's
* Advanced hearing
* Can be ripped to pieces and put back together (by an experience mechanic only please!) with little consequence
* An extended lifespan that is not limited by an organic body
Along with those abilities, Rabbit also has a flamethrower nozzle stuck down into his throat for fire-breathing capabilities should the need ever arise. A leftover from previous warfare
The strange goggles he possesses are actually an advanced particle accelerator lens device that are activated when alined properly with Rabbit's eyes. The telescopic section, when positioned in front of his green optic, will emit what can only be described as a 'death ray', which obviously means that if Rabbit were to ever actually wear those inherited goggles, destruction would ensue, which is precisely why they remain safely atop his hat. Absolute emergency situations only, like a war-zone. For all of his immaturity and zaniness, the copper automaton is not the type to cause pain or destruction of that extent upon anyone.
Rabbit also has detachable gatling gun and buzz saw accessories that fit on his arms, retired and hidden away since his last brush with war in the 70s where all Walter robots took up a Vow of Peace that has been upheld to this very day. It would take a quite great deal to get them to break this Vow, so it isn't at all likely these weapons will ever see the light of day again, though they are there.
As stated above, Rabbit has a certain affinity for music and being a performer. It was what he was built to do and he is quite thankfully very skilled at it. He can mime, sing, dance, and play both the accordion and the melodica.
Items/Weapons: Rabbit's goggles, his accordion, and an extra faceplate!
Sample Entry: Huh-za-what? What-what-what is this?
[The mechanical voice to stutter over the city's network is riddled with clicks and whirrrrs as the unseen automaton inspects his own phone curiously. Steam puffs from his crooked mouth straight into the receiver, giving his audience a quick round burst of static in their ears before he continues.]
Th'Spine? Is this some kinda joke, big guy? [His voice drops down for an impossibly low and robotic HA. HA. before returning to normal.] I thought humor had been left outta yer programmin' co-completely. Pappy had to make room for that stick-in-da-mud personality o' yours, didn't he?
... [Silence.] Spine? Spine! Are ya ignorin' me now?! [Rabbit releases an irritated huff at the offense of being ignored.] The backbone on that guy...
[Another pause. Nope, The Spine sure would have leapt on him for that pun, so his must be someone else entirely.]
Okay, so if it ain't my brother on the other end of this t-t-t-telephone conversation, then just who's there?
Sample Entry Two: It was unspoken rule among the Walter Manor residents that Rabbit was not to be disturbed during his daily visits with Colonel Walter the First.
Though privacy had never been an issue among the other robots and humans that resided there - the lack of doors took care of that silly notion - it hadn't taken very long for newcomers of the family to understand the importance of an exception when it came to Rabbit. One too many times of accidentally stumbling upon the copper automaton in a vulnerable position, the sight of oil slicked down his man-made face and staining the red trim of his vest had taught the others quickly enough to give the robot space when he was conversing privately with his creator.
So Rabbit was inwardly grateful for the distance. He told the others he enjoyed feeding the ducks and they never had the heart to correct him.
But today was different.
Rabbit was planted unceremoniously under the tree that kept his creator out of the bright California sun, leaning against the trunk with his spindly arms crossed over his chest. There was a constant stream of steam rising from the vents on either side of his face, his gaze focused firmly on the lake beside the family cemetery. Usually he preferred to kneel during these encounters, to physically touch the cold stone and the hard earth and the damp grass, as if the deceased form beneath him could feel his metal fingers and know that his creation was desperately attempting to make some form of contact with his departed soul. But decades upon decades of routine were coming to a close.
The times were changing and as much as he stubbornly attempted to fight it, Rabbit was changing along with them.
The copper robot's creaky, aching knees were no longer able to bend or carry the full weight of his clockwork body as they once could. They went out without warning now, jerking violently and stiffening up at the most inconvenient of moments, leaving Rabbit in awkward positions until someone more able-bodied could come to his rescue. What had once been crowd-pleasing tics and stutters had transformed into into very real, terrifying malfunctions, moments in lost time where Rabbit felt trapped within his own out of control, glitching body.
And simply finding the balance and leg strength to stand up from a seated position? That had become practically impossible without The Spine's steady hand supporting him through the motion he had once managed to achieve with ease.
Yes, Rabbit was one hundred and sixteen years old, the same as his two brothers, but unlike them, he felt every single year of it.
When he finally spoke aloud, voice unnaturally soft and thoughtful for such a usually boisterous and upbeat personality, Rabbit tore his glowing eyes away from the ducks with a puff of steam, finally looking to the ornate tombstone in front of him. His gaze still avoided the words that were carved deeply into rock.
"I miss ya, Pappy." A deafening pause. Reaching up to adjust the brim of his hat, Rabbit's fingers brushed the goggles that had once been given to him so long ago by the same man. The memory was searing, his metal hand quickly retreating as if actually burned. He continued on: "Seventy years you've been g-g-g-gone-" An unnatural twitch of his head as his voice box stuck briefly. "-and it still hurts. It's never gonna go a-away, is itttttt?"
Of course it wouldn't, he rationalized with a mechanical whirr, a touch of bitterness at the edge of his thoughts. If seventy years hadn't been enough to ease the emptiness in his chest or the heavy weight pressing down upon his hunched copper shoulders, what difference could another decade possibly do? Or a century at that?
His father was dead. His best friend of forty-six years had passed away in his sleep while Rabbit had been on the other side of the world, away from his side. The man who had given him life, patiently taught him to speak, put up with his terrible puns, had lovingly called him 'son' alongside his own biological children, who had wept pained tears when Rabbit had been enlisted to war...
The robot quickly pushed those thoughts aside before oil could begin leaking from his optics again. Best to change the conversation topic to something that wouldn't leave his face stained for their big performance that evening.
"We got another gig tonight. Real fancy place. We'll be rubbin' elbows with b-big Hollywood types! Well, not literally, but, uh..." Another pause filled only by the soft turning of his internal gears. "Ya know, Th'Jon hasn't changed in the slightest. I'm beginning t' think he never will. Still seein' t' world like a-a-a little kid. You'd think livin' a h-hundred an' six-sixteen years would'a taken some of the curiosity outta him, but nope. Still runnin' from here t' there, always askin' questions, always s-smilin'... An' Th'Spine!" The copper automaton huffed in irritation. "Still livin' with that s-s-ssssstupid idea of wantin' to be human! Got his heart stomped all over yet again by another c-c-c-cold, fleshy dame. I keep tellin' him-" Rabbit's metal chest puffed out. He was created to entertain, after all. The performer in him never would quit. "-'Th'Spine, you gotta leave these thoughts behind ya! Be proud of what you are, of how P-Pappy made you! Ain't nothing wrong with being a robut'!"
His posture deflated at the end of his imitation with a literally creak, neck snapping to the side violently. Reaching up, Rabbit adjusted his head with a nonchalant twist before continuing.
"But, you remember h-how he is. Just as stuck in the clouds as Jon sometimes, I swear. It's kind-kind-kinda funny how so little has changed with the two of 'em. Even after all this time." Rabbit felt a familiar presence in the nearby vincity and a swift glance back to the manor confirmed his suspicions: a pair of glowing green eyes watching him through the kitchen window. Well, it must be time to wrap this visit up.
Rabbit pushed himself away from the tree, limbs jerking shakily as he found stable footing. Approaching the tombstone with a clank, he allowed his fingers to drop down and touch the stone. His tone lowered even further, keeping the one-sided conversation between father and son out of The Spine's inhuman hearing range.
"They miss ya too. Even if they don't visit as often as me-me-me, I can tell." Rabbit heaved a final sigh, steam flowing from his mouth as he gave the tombstone of his creator a fond pat.
"Love ya, Pappy. I'll be back t-tomorrow."