fandomhigh | Applied Inventiontronics, Period 4

Today, Inventiontronics was in the Danger Shop. Said Danger Shop looked a lot like a rural 1950's American town. Nice, normal little town, except for that creepy floating dude, and the fact that all the people were robots in various states of disrepair.

The zipperheaded man responsible was standing under the welcome sign, notes in hand, waiting for everyone to gather around.

"Hello, class!" Gosh, he was cheery. "Today, you're going to be repairing the good folks of Milltown. They're all ready and able to tell you how to fix them. Think of it as a walk-through. Ask them whatever questions you need to, they don't bite ~~no matter how angry they look in the icons~~ and are waiting with tools over there."

Glitch pointed over to the main street where six robots, counting the weird floating one, were scattered on steps and porches. Each one had a toolbox sitting near them.

"You can work together, if you like, or work alone. It's up to you. They'll let me know how you did when everyone is finished. Now go on," he started to herd them towards the robot people, "start working!"

[ooc: ~~Wait for the~~ OCD of roboty doom is up!]

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There was a non-committal grunt and some whirring as he turned to A.J. and nodded.

Why, yes. It was a very fine hat. If it was in his programming to be proud, he would be just that for his hat.

A.J. frowned a little, scratching the back of his head. This whole thing about fixing would be a lot easier to deal with if they didn't look like people. He was an artist-slash-mechanic over here, not a doctor. Nor did he ever want to be a doctor; way too much responsibility.

"Uh, so. How are you feeling?" Was that even the right word? "Anything been amiss or not....working properly?"

Another little grunt.

"Don't feel, boy. Could make yourself useful and work on this elbow, though."

He held out his left arm and rolled up the sleeve. The casing was already removed from it, his arm going from whole to skeletal metal to whole again. Some of the wires looked frayed and others were disconnected completely.

Right. Robot. Didn't feel. Which was just...weird, especially since A.J., as an artist, felt way too damn much.

And once the elbow was revealed, A.J. was feeling a rush of relief. An elbow wasn't bad at all, and, by the looks of it, it looked like the workings of it were something he was familiar with well enough. He looked at the old man before he took a light hold of the arm, as if asking for permission first, and took a closer look to consider what he might need.

"So, how'd you do this?" he asked, making a mental list of tool before going to get them. "If you don't mind me asking...er....what's your name?" Did he have a name? Serial number?

Robots were creepy.

Yet another grunt as he kicked the side of the toolbox. "Everythin' you need is in there, boy. Gotta re-connect 'em by color, them that need it, and tape up the insulation on those that need that."

A whirring moment.

"Worker Unit, 13-80. Call me what you want, boy."

It was A.J.'s turn to give a little grunt. "I know how to do it," he said, a bit defensively. "Apparently, you do, too, so maybe I should just leave you to it? I didn't ask how to fix it, I asked how it happened..."

But, since even cranky old men robots couldn't bug him much today as he got the right tools, he decided he didn't exactly think Worker Unit 13-80 had a good ring to it so he offered, "How do you like Frank?"

Because he figured it would be funny to name him after the one member of ZZ Top without a beard. Whose last name was Beard. He didn't expect Frank to get the joke, though, of course.

"Go ahead, boy. Don't mind it."

He didn't get the joke. Didn't seem the type to have programming to get jokes at all, even if he was aware of the references.

'Frank' did wiggle a whirring arm, a signal to get busy.

With a light shake of his head, A.J. got to work. It was interesting, really. It was the same kind of electrical damage that the sign at Empire had. "You're just a no nonsense, straight-forward kinda guy, aren't you, Frank?"

And, yes, for reference, this didn't have anything to do with the fact that Frank looked like a person. A.J. had been in the habit of talking to the sign at Empire, too. That sign knew all of his deep, dark secrets.

"Suppose."

He was.

He also was standing very, very, eerily still as A.J. worked. Kind of like a sign, though he wasn't programmed to keep secrets. He was kind of a bastard like that.

"Still haven't told me what you did to mess up your elbow like this, Frank," A.J. said, conversationally, as he worked on patching up the wires. And, like he did when he talked to the sign, he only half expected an answer.

"Happens as it happens, boy. Older the model, faster the wear."

He was not much for stories, especially when they ended in him needing to get fixed on by some kid.

"Yeah, well," A.J. commented after taking a moment to quietly concentrate on a particularly tricksy wire, "let's hope I can get this so that it doesn't wear too fast next time, yeah?"

'Frank' grunted and fussed with his beard, keeping his other arm steady.

It was as approving a grunt as he could make.

Applied Inventiontronics, Period 4 - Week 5

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