Wanting for mentions of child abuse.
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It was past midnight already. Everyone, was sound asleep in their rooms, everyone except for Test Tube, and probably OJ. The clacking sound of keyboard keys was the only thing that kept Test Tube company as she furiously typed at the dusty laptop Baseball had stolen. She had been trying to figure out the computer password for hours. It was a 14 letter code, but for the life of her she could not figure it out. It felt like she had tried everything, the passcode hint leaving her mind grasping for straws. She glared at the lettering at the bottom of the screen, "Passcode hint: Your Greatest Work." Greatest work? She had already tried every Meeple related answer she could think of.
Test Tube groaned and leaned back in her chair. She stretched, her muscles sore from laboring over the frustrating machine for so long. She glanced at the thick file and blueprints. She had already looked over the blueprints, but she hadn't even touched the file. She rolled her chair over to the file, she read the tape for what felt like the hundredth time. "Project: Shimmer" It had something to do with the Prime Shimmers, she was sure of it. She knew Cobs had hunted the Shimmers for their power, but she still had no idea why. She felt like banging her head against her desk, she was so frustrated. At first she was excited to dig through the layers upon layers of info, but now she just wanted to go to sleep.
She hit the table and buried her face in her arms. Her body felt stiff and uncomfortable, her head buzzed in a confusing swarm of frustrated stubbornness and exhaustion. She leaned back in her chair again, took off her glasses, and rubbed her tired eyes, the chair slowly turning with her momentum. She put her glasses back on, opened her eyes and yelped in surprise, almost falling out of her chair. In the small doorway the glowing eyes of Mephone stared back at her, a surprised expression on his face. Test Tube breathed, her surprise subsiding. "Oh! Mephone! It's just you." Test Tube sighed in relief. Mephone just stood there awkwardly. She laughed nervously, "jeez, I didn't even hear you come in, you surprised me!"
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Mephone apologized. "I know you're a workaholic, but why are you up so late?" Mephone leaned against the door frame, arms crossed. Test Tube paused, she couldn't help but notice the dark bags under his eyes, it looked like he hadn't slept properly in weeks. She shook the thought from her head, deciding to save that conversation for another time. She sighed, "I'm trying to unlock this godforsaken laptop, but so far I've been... unsuccessful." Test Tube glared at the desk of work. "But enough about that, how have you been feeling? Did you eat anything?" Mephone rubbed his arm nervously, he had not, infact, eaten anything all day.
But instead of saying that, Mephone replied with his own question. "You do know I don't need food to live, right?" Test Tube rolled her eyes. "Obviously, but you eat food all the time despite that, your body must be used to it by now." Mephone shrugged, she was right. All day he had been feeling a phantom pain in his chest. Not quite hunger, but close enough for him to recognize it as the cause. Despite the distant pangs, he still had zero appetite. "Also don't lecture me on being awake after midnight when you're awake too. What are you doing up anyway?"
Mephone rubbed his neck and winced, "I uh... couldn't sleep..." Test Tube was inclined to believe him. He glanced at the still open laptop, the password still awaiting to be entered. "Have you figured out anything about the passcode?" Test Tube rolled her chair back over to the computer and Mephone followed her. "Only that it's 14 characters and it's whatever Cobs's greatest work is." Test Tube looked at him. "You're his son, do you know anything?" Mephone grimaced at her wording. "First off, he created me, but he is not my father. Second, how would I know? The guy hated me, he wouldn't tell me. Maybe 4S, but not me..."
Mephone stared off into space, bitterness and a latent sadness bleeding into his voice. Test Tube gave him a sympathetic look, but didn't pry. Walked over to the file and stared at if for a moment, he felt like he had seen it before. He gasped, a memory resurfacing in his mind. He could practically feel the memory gem lighting up in his mind.
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He had only existed for a few months, but being a machine, he already had the mind of a preteen. He sneakily walked through a computer lab, his father leaving just moments ago. He saw an open folder on a desk, being the curious kid he was, he reached for it. His smaller stature made it difficult, but eventually he was able to pull the folder off the desk and onto the floor, it's contents spilling out all over the ground. Mephone rushed to pick them up, sloppily piling the papers back into their place, too panicked to read any of the words.
He closed the file and picked it up, "Project: Shimmer" read clear on the cover. He sighed in relief, thankful he managed to clean up the mess before his father saw. He considered the file for a moment, he hesitated, but curiosity eventually won over his decision. He went to open the file, but a calloused hand painfully gripped his wrist. "What on Earth do you think you're doing?" The cold voice of Cobs broke the calm silence of the computer lab. Cobs gripped his wrist so hard he thought it would break. Cobs ripped the file from his hands, making Mephone's hand burn.
He looked over the file, making sure nothing was out of place. Cobs slammed the file on the table. "Do you even realize how much you could have cost me if even one of those papers went missing?!" Cobs raised his voice, but didn't yell. There was still employees in the building after all. "I-I'm sorry father I didn't-" "Mephone4, you will refer to me as sir, only. I told you not to come in here and look what you did." Mephone tried to pull his arm away, Cobs just held it tighter. "I'll deal with your punishment later, but you will not set foot in this room Ever. Again. Do you understand me?"
Mephone was too focused on how much his wrist hurt to notice. "Do. You. Understand. Me. Mephone4." "Yes! Yes I'm sorry sir- it won't happen again." Mephone hurriedly said. "Good, now get out of my sight." Cobs roughly let go of his wrist, and Mephone ran off. Mephone slowed down once he got far down the hallway, fear jittering in his mechanical heart. He leaned against a wall, and rubbed the brand new ring shaped bruise blooming along his wrist.
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The memory receded and Mephone blinked the pixels from his eyes. He looked down and noticed he had been gripping his own wrist. The old bruise had long healed, but somehow it felt as if it were still there. He read the cover, and then looked to the computer. "Wait..." He went back over to Test Tube and leaned next to her, turning the laptop towards him. "Hey- what are you doing?" She leaned back, confused. "I think I figured it out." With bated breath, Test Tube watched as he carefully typed in his answer.
".P.R.O.J.E.C.T.S.H.I.M.M.E.R."
The laptop dinged and the interface opened, Mephone sighed in relief. "You did it! You actually figured it out!" Test Tube jumped out of her chair in excitement. She typed something at the computer, it responding perfectly. "YES! yesyesyesyesYes! Thank you Mephone you have no idea how frustrated I was getting with this thing!" Mephone put his hands up and backed away slowly, slightly perturbed by Test Tube's extreme reaction.
"Thank goodness that is finally over with! But, how did you know the password? I thought he didn't tell you." Test Tube asked, her excitement finally calming down. "I just uh- remembered him mentioning it, that's all." Unease was clear in his voice, but Test Tube didn't seem to notice. "This is great! Now I can start digging through the data on this computer! I'm not even gonna touch that file unless I have 2 other sets of hands to help me clean up the paper explosion once it's opened. But in the meantime, I can finally get some work done!"
Test Tube messed around with the computer, a new determined grin on her face. Mephone couldn't stop himself from smiling, her excitement was contagious. Mephone thought he would just check on Test Tube, then go back to lying in the infirmary bed waiting for a calm sleep that would never come. Instead he sat on the desk and made surprisingly good conversation with Test Tube the rest of the night. He was... actually enjoying himself. Test Tube happily ranted on about what they could find in the computer, and Mephone resided himself to listening and just enjoying the company of another person.
Occasionally his mind would wander, Test Tube's voice would fade out and flashes from his nightmares would dig themselves an unwelcome home in his mind. But as Test Tube's voice fuzzed back in he would ignore it and focus on listening. She didn't need to know about the constant nightmares, what Cobs did to him, how, despite everything, a messed up part of himself missed his. "Father." He didn't say a peep about any of it. He decided to enjoy this small moment of peace before his nightmares consumed him once again.
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1638 words, I felt bad about making Mephone suffer so much in the other chapter so I made him a little happier here. What he's doing is not the healthiest, but at least he's not social distancing anymore :')
This was actually rly fun to write. A late post cause I'ma be busy as hell all of this week. (I wrote this while listening to Do It All The Time by IDK HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME on repeat :) )