“Not that I know of.” Penny said. She looked back in the direction of
the light. “But for some reason, I don’t think whoever’s here is up to
any good.”
She paused for a moment, then decided what to do.
“I’m going to investigate.” she stated. “You have two choices. Stay right there or follow me.”
“…Well, then,” the Repairman replied, looking uncertainly at the light. Granted, he had a job to do, and she was apparently a plucky girl genius, but then, the job could wait, and neither one of them had any idea what was over there.
“…Let’s see what it is…”
Quickly, he tucked his tool cart into his hammerspace. He would have tiptoed towards the light, but seeing how he lacked legs, it looked more like he was shuffling and stopping to a cartoonishly sneaky rhythm.
“Okay, here goes nothing.” Penny gulped, tiptoeing towards the light source.
She sneakily peeked her body in the doorway and from the corner of her eye saw…
“Mike?!”
The karaoke robot turned to face Penny. His eyes flashed a bright red.
“Hey! What are you doing here?” He asked.
“I was going to ask you the same thing! Aren’t you supposed to be helping grandpa with his new project?” Penny shouted.
“What does that matter? You shouldn’t be here at this time! You’re fourteen!”
“You’re younger than me!”
Penny and Mike stared at each other.
“I’ll… keep this a secret if you will.” Mike said sheepishly.
“Okay, but what were you doing?” Penny questioned, looking very irritated.
“I was downloading Melody’s background music.” Mike confessed.
“–!” the Repairman exclaimed, spotting a tall, red-eyed robot. How much security did a game company NEED?! Or was this some kind of front, or…?
Wait, why was Penny bickering with him like he was a relative…? Oh, “grandpa”? That explains that…
He wasn’t sure if he was seen yet. This Mike character seemed more interested in Penny staying up late than a small, inky intruder.
He cleared his throat.
“…A-actually,” he began, “She was just making sure I didn’t do anything…Sorry ‘bout all this…”
“Not that I know of.” Penny said. She looked back in the direction of
the light. “But for some reason, I don’t think whoever’s here is up to
any good.”
She paused for a moment, then decided what to do.
“I’m going to investigate.” she stated. “You have two choices. Stay right there or follow me.”
“…Well, then,” the Repairman replied, looking uncertainly at the light. Granted, he had a job to do, and she was apparently a plucky girl genius, but then, the job could wait, and neither one of them had any idea what was over there.
“…Let’s see what it is…”
Quickly, he tucked his tool cart into his hammerspace. He would have tiptoed towards the light, but seeing how he lacked legs, it looked more like he was shuffling and stopping to a cartoonishly sneaky rhythm.
“Thank
you. I can’t believe I forgot about the coffee I spilt right as I
said…” Penny yawned again. “Is it obvious why I’m forcing myself to
drink this stuff?”
She then smiled.
“It’s worth it, though. So don’t worry about me! I mean, I get to spend time with a new friend, right?”
Suddenly the lights in a room across the hall went on.
Penny froze. Wasn’t she the only one still here (apart from Repy)? She suddenly got very nervous.
“Heh, yeah,” the Repairman chuckled sympathetically. He was no stranger to sleep deprivation. “You want me to brew up another?”
He beamed at the “new friend” comment as he helped her up.
“Well, I’m glad that–”
And the light suddenly turned on in somewhere down the hall. If Penny was nervous about that, what of the inkblot who knew too little about Diamond City? He only had her to gauge off of, so seeing her nervous expression left him oddly pale.
“W-was there anyone else working now?” he asked, hopefully.
“Wow! You can travel to other universes effortlessly? That’s so cool!” Penny wanted to learn more about Repy.
After a while, she noticed his body language and realised she was probably being creepy.
“Uh, so, anyway, I’m gonna get another cup of coffee so I’ll be right
ba-” she started to say in an attempt to change the subject but didn’t
notice she was walking right into the coffee she spilt and slipped on
the spill.
She landed on the floor on her back. She didn’t know which pain felt
worse, physical or emotional. How could she forget about the spilt
coffee right as she said she was going to get another one?
The Repairman realized there wasn’t much of her that screamed “mad scientist,” but then, a lot of Toons were subversive these days. Her expression was looking pretty close to that a crazed doctor might have…
“I-it is?” he stammered. He never really thought about it, but he guessed it was novel for many.
He sighed in relief as she seemed to calm down a bit. Of course, this relief was short-lived, as he saw Penny slip and fall. He winced a bit.
“You okay?” he asked, rushing over to her prone body. He seemed to forget all about his minor neuroses as he rushed to lift the kid up.
Maybe he remembered that a lot of eccentric scientists weren’t evil. Maybe he recalled that this was just a child. In any case, he noticed her mortified expression. He smiled sympathetically.
“…Happens to the best of us,” he softly said, recalling incidents with oil slicks, banana peels, soap bars, and more. It was embarrassing the first few times for him, too.
“That… that was amazing! How do you do that?” Penny exclaimed. “I’ve
never seen anything like this firsthand! I’ve heard stories of people
doing stuff like this but I’ve never seen it with my own eyes!”
Penny
was so excited to see something like that that she completely forgot
about being extremely tired. She grew from just being mildly intrigued
by the Repairman to suddenly very interested.
“Oh,” the Repairman shrugged, “that’s just Toon physics.”
He noticed her taking a strong interest. He couldn’t help but smile a little at the attention. He was a Toon, after all. Still, something about the way she looked at him made him…uneasy after a bit. Like he might be strapped to an operating table or something if he wasn’t careful.
What, her? No, that wouldn’t happen…
He shuffled back a little and cleared his throat.
“Uh, yeah, never really thought about it. I just go towards the other universe, and then I’m there.”
He hoped that would satisfy the kid. He wanted to stay intact, thank you…
“Why can’t we have a soda machine? Why does the only thing that can
keep me awake here have to taste so horrible?” Penny muttered to
herself, taking a sip of coffee.
She then looked around. The Fourth Wall Repairman was nowhere to be seen.
“Huh? Repy? Where’d you go?” she called out. No response.
She looked around again. Nothing.
She assumed he had just left for a moment.
Not even a Goodbye? she thought when suddenly the machine started making noises.
This shocked Penny so much she spilt her coffee. Luckily, she was wearing her pink coat, so she wasn’t hurt.
She looked at the machine carefully and saw Repy on the screen.
“What?!” she shouted. She didn’t know what to do. She’d never seen anything like that before. All she could do was stare.
Okay, so he might have to fix something here…not here, though…
He was taking a look at the foreground of a Duck Hunt-looking place when he noticed Penny gawking at him. Gosh, she looked huge from this side of the screen.
He sighed. Clearly, he was gonna have to stay here to fix the Wall, if only for this.
“Heh, sorry,” he said, rubbing a hand behind his head. “Just…thought this would be easier than playing them.”
He already had a trowel ready for the break that happened there.
The inkblot wasn’t sure how to admit he mainly did this so the kid could go home and sleep. It obviously didn’t work. The Repairman had an even better view of her tired eyes now. He thought for a moment, before snapping his pseudo-fingers in realization.
“Hang on a sec,” he called out, moving offscreen and appearing some distance behind Penny.
“Great! Now you can just choose the microgames one by o-” Penny was
cut off by her own yawn. Oh, yeah. It was late and she was going to go
back home to sleep.
But as much as she trusted Repy, she couldn’t leave him in the building alone.
She’d have to stay there as long as he was there. Even if it meant staying up all night.
Luckily, there was a coffee machine nearby. Penny hated coffee, but if it meant it would keep her awake, she’d take it.
“I’m gonna go make some coffee.” Penny said, making her way to the coffee machine.
The Repairman nodded, looking at the menu. He was getting odd vibes from some of the portraits depicted. The strongest ones, however, game from that image of a kid in some kind of…future construction helmet.
He looked back, seeing a fatigued Penny occupied with a coffee maker. Poor girl. He was probably making her stay up way too late.
After a moment of thought, he ducked behind the machine. And walked onto the screen. Maybe she wouldn’t notice, and thought he left. At least, that’s what he hoped as he began to act in each microgame.
“Oh, that’s easy!” Penny said enthusiastically. “All you have to do
is press “quit” and it’ll lead you into a menu. You can then go into
the “Microgames” section and play them all one-by-one, Repy.”
It had been a while since she had gotten to explain something to
someone. She was so happy to finally get a chance to do that again!
She then realised how silly her nickname for him sounded and
apologised. “Sorry, I’m not good with nicknames. I hope you don’t find
it too stupid.”
A couple of selection sounds later, the Repairman was in the Microgame selection.
“Ah, this is easier. Thanks!”
He turned to look at Penny.
“Hmm…? Oh, didn’t notice. It’s not that dumb a name…”
He turned back to look at how the Microgames section was sorted.
Siblings-a-Fixin' 