#holly won't be needing the glasses and coat anymore
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Day 14 – Looking Into Things
Sketch and Heather were at home, casually watching TV, when there was a knock at the door. They went to answer it and found Broom waiting outside.
“Hey, Broom,” Sketch said casually. “What’s up?”
“Hey, you two. I know this is probably an out-of-nowhere thing to do, but…would you guys like to come over and play games with us?”
“Us?” asked Heather. “I’m guessing Copper’s with you too.”
“Him and Bits,” Broom replied. “...Wait, did you guys meet Bits?”
“The little green rabbit?” Sketch nodded. “We met him, along with Dr. Raz. I guess you got to meet them the other day.”
“Yeah. They’re both at my house, actually.”
Sketch and Heather looked at each other. “I didn’t think Dr. Raz was the type to play video games.”
“She’s not playing with us,” Broom replied. “She actually asked if she were able to use my computer for something, so she’s busy with that.”
Sketch scratched his chin. “I see…”
“What do you think she’d need the computer for?” Heather asked Sketch.
“I’m not sure,” he responded. “I may have to look into that.” He then turned to Broom. “Sure, we’ll come over. If you don’t mind, though, I’d like to meet with Dr. Raz first and see how she’s doing. When we first met, she wasn’t in particularly good spirits.”
Broom sighed. “I don’t know what to think of Dr. Raz. She’s very serious and doesn’t like to talk about herself… I almost feel like she hates being near us.”
“Well, I don’t know if that’s how she really feels,” said Sketch. “She’s only been here about two days, and barely knows any of us beyond our names. I wanna see if she’s at least feeling any better; she might be more open to talk.”
Broom shrugged at this notion. “I doubt it. As soon as she came over she asked where the computer was, and she’s been glued to it since. But I wish you luck all the same.”
With that, they made their way to Broom’s home. Broom showed them in; he directed Sketch to where Dr. Raz was, while Heather followed Broom to the game room. When Sketch arrived at the computer room, he was a bit surprised at what he saw – Dr. Raz had what seemed to be an exact duplicate standing next to her by the desk; she only lacked the glasses and the lab coat, which were set aside the desk. They both heard him come in and turned to see him.
“Hello, Doctor,” said Sketch.
“Mr. Tucker,” Dr. Raz replied.
“I…wasn’t aware that your twin sister arrived here.”
Dr. Raz took a deep breath. “This is not my sister. She’s actually a robot of my own design. Model #6, actually.”
The duplicate nodded. “You can call me Holly.”
Sketch raised his eyebrows. “Pleased to meet you, Holly.” He turned to Dr. Raz. “Is she something you put together all of yesterday? If so, I’m impressed.”
Dr. Raz sighed. “No, Mr. Tucker. Holly arrived here yesterday through a dimensional rift.”
Sketch suddenly understood. “That makes more sense now. I wish I was there to properly greet you, Holly.” He approached the two and noticed a wire running from Holly’s back to the computer. “So what are you two doing exactly?”
“I’m looking through files that had been stored inside of Holly’s memory storage,” said Dr. Raz.
“Anything specific you’re looking for?”
“At the moment I’m trying to find Holly’s latest blueprints and update notes. From what she’s told me, she came here from about 200 years in my future, and I wanted to see what’s been modified since I first built her.”
Sketch looked surprised. “200 years?! That’s quite a jump!”
“Indeed,” said Dr. Raz. “I wish that she had holograph technology installed so I wouldn’t need an external computer to access her files, but alas I’m not so lucky.”
“Holograph displays came about after the doctor passed away,” Holly said to Sketch, “so I never got one installed.”
“I suppose I’m at least fortunate that Holly had a way to connect to this machine,” Dr. Raz continued, squinting at the images on the monitor. “Unfortunately, this old thing isn’t very quick to respond, and the monitor’s resolution is so small I can only see a postage stamp’s worth of these blueprints at a time.”
“Can you zoom the image out?” asked Sketch.
“Yes, but doing that muddles up the small text and details, making it almost as difficult to analyze. Neither option is more convenient than the other.”
“I’m sorry, doctor,” said Sketch. “Anything I can do to help?”
“Not unless you know where I can find a better computer.” Dr. Raz adjusted her glasses and turned back to the computer. “Until then, I have to deal with this frustrating layout, so I’m really not in the mood to talk.”
Sketch . “Oh…” After a moment of quiet, he turned to Holly. “What about you, are you in the mood to talk?”
Holly smiled. “Certainly.”
Dr. Raz sighed.
Sketch smiled. “Sweet! So, you’re ‘Model #6.’ What were the other models like?”
Holly looked a little confused. “If you mean personality-wise, there’s not much to say. I’m the only one that had artificial intelligence; the other RazBots were more or less silent assistants who did whatever the doctor said.”
Sketch scratched his head. “RazBots?”
“It’s a term that Bits made up to describe Dr. Raz’s robots. To be fair, they all looked just like her.”
“I’m surprised Dr. Raz didn’t try to inject artificial intelligence into the others.”
Holly shrugged. “Dr. Raz told me one was enough.”
Dr. Raz looked over to Holly as she said this, then turned back to the monitor.
“Besides,” Holly continued, “she preferred to have her other RazBots work as obedient helpers; they were very efficient, and I guess AI would’ve affected their performance.”
“I guess that makes some sense,” Sketch replied.
“Naturally, after Dr. Raz retired, she donated those RazBots to a special museum, and I ended up being her lone helper from that point on.”
“A museum?”
“As it so happens, Dr. Raz and her inventions were eventually noticed by the rest of the scientific community. The RazBots were unlike any other robots anyone had ever seen, and the tech that she put together to make them work was revolutionary. They had hoped she could offer her talents for a number of major scientific projects. She initially wasn’t interested, though I think she was just untrusting of everyone at the time.”
“I kinda get that vibe from her,” Sketch siad, nodding.
“I’m right here, Mr. Tucker,” Dr. Raz said in response, looking a little miffed.
“Oh, sorry.”
“Anyway,” Holly continued, “the day came where a major organization wanted her help in engineering for space exploration. They figured the tech that made the RazBots fly could benefit potential new spacecraft. And even though she was initially hesitant, she eventually agreed, and became part of their space program, designing various stuff like spacecraft, satellites, and even a powerful space telescope – the same one that discovered Keshly’m! Dr. Raz was quite the hero to those scientists, and her help became well-known enough to inspire a small museum in her hometown dedicated to her accomplishments.”
Dr. Raz started blushing, but her eyes did not break away from the controller.
“Well, that’s wonderful to hear!” Sketch said with a smile. “I’m glad things went well for her. But I’m curious…she did eventually pass away, right? What have you been doing since then?”
Holly looked down to the floor. “Well, since then I just kinda kept her old lab running. Even if I wasn’t using it for experiments or whatever, it was essentially my home. And, well, Bits was there too. You have no idea how heartbroken he was when Dr. Raz left us…he missed her terribly, and as much as I’ve done to take care of him, I feel like I could never really fill that hole in his heart.”
Sketch’s ears drooped. “Oh…”
Dr. Raz sighed. “That’s enough, Holly.”
Holly turned to Dr. Raz. “Oh, are you done?”
“...Almost. I noticed this computer has a printer connected to it. I’m hoping we could print out the most recent blueprints of both my lab and your schematics.”
Holly looked confused. “At their full resolution? That won’t fit on the paper.”
“I’m aware. It probably sounds stupid, but I’m willing to assemble those papers together for a better view of it all. Let’s do it.”
Holly paused for a second. “Very well, doctor…but the estimated time of completion is about an hour.”
Dr. Raz crossed her arms. “Then I suppose I’ll have to wait.”
Sketch thought for a moment. “You know, doctor, I was invited here to play games with Copper and Broom. Perhaps you’d like to join us? It’ll at least be something for you to do.”
Dr. Raz thought for a moment. “...I’ll just watch.”
“Fair enough,” Sketch said, shrugging. “Are you gonna come with us, Holly?”
“I can’t, I need to stay connected to the computer if the printing is to be properly completed. But don’t worry, Mr. Tucker, I’ll be fine here.”
Sketch nodded in understanding. “Alright then. Oh, by the way, you can just call me Sketch.”
Holly smiled and nodded. “Alright…Sketch.”
Sketch turned to Dr. Raz. “You’re welcome to do the same, Dr. Raz.”
“I don’t know you well enough to accept it,” she replied. “But I’ll keep it in mind.”
Sketch was confused by her response. They both left for the game room, where Broom, Copper, Heather and Bits were all playing together. They all noticed Sketch and Dr. Raz enter and greeted them.
“Hey guys,” Sketch said with a smile. “Did I miss anything major?”
“We were just looking into this game,” said Broom. “It’s some kind of co-op team adventure, where two players help each other navigate the stages and overcome different obstacles. Copper and I did pretty well on our run, and Bits and Heather were about to try beating our time.”
“Interesting,” Sketch replied, looking to Heather. “You think you can pull this off, Heather?”
Heather looked to Bits, who seemed perplexed. “You wouldn’t mind if Sketch were my partner for this run, would you?”
Bits looked to Sketch, then back to Heather. “No problem!” he said with a smile. “I need a break anyway…that last game we were playing made me a little dizzy.”
With that, Bits walked away, and Sketch sat beside Heather. He grabbed the controller and studied it for a few seconds. “I hope I can do this…”
Heather smiled. “You’ve got me to help you, so don’t worry!”
Sketch smiled back and nodded. “Alright. Let’s see how good our teamwork is in-game.”
With that, they began their run. As they played, Copper and Broom watched in amazement – Sketch and Heather were working together almost seamlessly, facing each obstacle and enemy efficiently. Dr. Raz was watching this, and she started to become fascinated. When the run ended, the two Tokarus managed to beat the two aliens’ time by more than 15 seconds.
“Whoa,” Broom said in response. “That was crazy…you sure you guys hadn’t played this before?”
Heather shrugged. “I mean, I watched you guys during your run.”
“Yeah, but Sketch wasn’t here,” replied Copper. “And you still beat us handily.”
Dr. Raz was very confused about what she saw. She took out her notepad and began writing furiously. Sketch noticed this.
“Everything alright, Dr. Raz?”
“Mr. Tucker,” she replied, “how did you manage to pull off that exceptional teamwork with her without saying a single word?!”
Sketch and Heather looked at each other, and they both glanced back at Dr. Raz with a smile. “We’re just that good at working together!”
Dr. Raz didn’t look satisfied with that response.
For the rest of that session, the two teams would take turns playing through each stage. Amazingly, Sketch and Heather consistently performed like a well-coordinated unit, even when they had no idea what the stages would have in store for them. During all of this, Dr. Raz was perplexed at these displays.
Bits looked to Dr. Raz and noticed her puzzled expression. “You okay?”
“...How are they doing this so well…?”
#malamite#the blocks#sketch tucker#heather britannia#copper#broom#dr. raz#bits#holly#tokaru#teijru#syr'l#holly won't be needing the glasses and coat anymore
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A question for 🖊. And 🌈 for “you set sail alone, there is no crew.” please?
If anyone is curious, this anon is asking about this ask game!
🖊 Post a snippet from a current WIP.
Hm... Well, I'm gonna post for two. One of which won't be posted for a long time out (It's the DG au I mentioned in my last post about my WIPs, so I won't explain much of what's happening) and one of which is a rarepair. Just a warning, I included a lot for both, and for your other question!
The first one needs a TW for alcohol and past addiction. It's a bit dark, so... Stay safe!
The room they found themselves in was welcoming, yes, but it was dimly lit, and an old song crooned from a jukebox-- Some old love song, Hollis assumed from the lyrical snippers she bothered to catch. A duo of game tables spanned a third of the room, their chairs bumping it up to almost an entire half in the center of the room. And there, at the other end of the room, sat something she hadn't expected.
A bar.
Bob's hands shook, and he stumbled back, his face going as pale as Truman's had been just a bit ago. Truman hummed a little tune as he opened a bottle of liquor, pouring a glass.
"Tru, put that away right now."
"I'm grown, uncle. I can drink if I want to."
"I'm telling you to put that away. You know why I say that. So put. The drink. Away."
~
The second one is much more fluffy.
“I mostly know it from muscle memory anymore-- The actual room slips my mind. But you know the project?”
“I know a bit about that. You wouldn’t believe the amount that Mr. Johnson complains about you six.”
“Trust me, I’d believe anything but the best from him.” Though his words were serious, she couldn’t help but smile.
“Thank goodness for someone here being sane.” She set her work down on the table, and he took a few off the top.
"...Sane's quite the strong word."
"Right. I mean, all of us took jobs here after all."
His smile was strained, but she barely noticed. Instead, she took it as merely a fact of life at Aperture.
As you can tell, I love me a good conversation where someone's hiding something.
~
🌈 What inspired you to write [insert fic here]?
Well, let's be honest-- A big section of it was seeing the Iced Bobby au by @aquato-family-circus. I already had the idea before seeing it, and I'd already named it "Jarswap" before seeing it, but the instant I saw that someone else had the same idea, I panicked that if I didn't do something with it, people would think I was just stealing the idea from others. I ran for writing it, and I kept going. The first idea for it can be found on 9/16, where I wrote ""haha. au where swap between bob and helmut" to Asher. The first scene I wrote for it was one that never showed up in the story, and one that since has been dummied out by the facts. I'll still include it. TW: Alcohol.
Helmut returned to the gulch with heavy footsteps and a heavier heart, still clutching the flower pin on his coat. It was too bright, too lively for the world around him, especially when everything tasted like bitter minor sevenths. The unresolved chord echoed in his ears as he approached the greenhouse, the plants moving aside as if they recognized an old friend. A vine opened the door for him, but it stopped when he alone entered.
"... it's just me," he admitted. "Bobby..."
His throat felt like the smell of smoke. He could feel the tension of an unresolved chord, the echoing noise of bitter loneliness, the scent of the freezing cold overtaking his taste buds as he tried to find the words to speak. The world was all jumbled up, without Bobby there to set it right again. He pulled off his heavy coat, standing in the greenhouse, and he approached the plants. Their green was the sound of a gentle guitar strumming, the same guitar that would never be played again. He felt so alone, and he could feel tears welling up, the tears that felt like light violet skies. Something nudged his shoulder, and he turned to find a vine holding a bottle of booze, offering it to him. A sticky note on the label read "for emergencies only," but Helmut still pulled out the cork.
It smelled like gym socks.
He still drank it.
We have since decided one very clear fact about this au: Helmut is pushing himself extremely hard to avoid drinking at all costs. Therefore, it's not gonna show up. The first scene that was actually completed for this au? The start of his story, I'll Make My Way Back to You.
No joke, the scene of Helmut and Bob reuniting in this au was the very first bit we had.
#ask response#ask game response#writing ask game response#the owl writes#thanks for the questions!#anon#alcohol tw.#addiction tw.
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