Needless to say, The Spine was not at all impressed with gaining a new baby brother.
Especially with how easily Rabbit warmed to him, after the way that he'd had to fight for his older brother's affection. It wasn't fair! So he spent more time in his room, more time away from the rest of the family so he didn't have to see how easily the beaming bot had fit in, or how readily the family accepted him.
When he heard the bot in question calling him, he hunkered further down in his chair with an irritated huff of steam, optics dimming slightly.
Sorry Spine, no such luck. Soon enough, Three's strange smokestack (steamstack?) of a head peered around the doorway, a hopeful, bright smile on his golden face-plates.
"Found you!" he chirped. "You were hiding in your room this whole time? I thought you'd hide in one of the closets, or maybe the lab. I guess the room's a good hiding place too, since it's the last place I looked!"
He trailed off, and that cheery expression went momentarily blank. "... Are we playing hide and seek?" Whoops, somebody still wasn't quite lucid yet...
Horsefeathers, the little bot hadn't gotten distracted on his hunt. The Spine just sunk lower into the chair he'd settled in, raising his book a few pointed inches, letting the brassy bot ramble on unimpeded with a frown.
The Spine's blunt tone and distinctly unfriendly body language sailed clear over Three's brassold head, although it took a few confused seconds for his usual spacey grin to click back into place. Subtlety wasn't really a concept that Three understood at this point, and anything less than a totally direct answer would have him pestering Spine for ages.
"Do you want to? I'm really good at hiding! I already found you, so it'd be your turn this time. Or... I guess if we weren't playing before, and we started playing now, it'd be my turn to look again..." He trotted inside the room and rested his arms on the back of the armchair, then settled his chin in his arms. Steam wisped out of his head, drifting thoughtfully up towards the ceiling. "... Or we could play something else, if you want."
... Maybe The Spine didn't like playing hide and seek. That was probably it.
It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair, it wasn't fair, it wasn't fair!
Why did this brassy little interloper instantly get accepted and loved by Rabbit? Why did he get to so easily charm the family, be fawned over? With an irritated snort of steam, he pulled the book up a bit higher.
That was certainly direct enough to get through to him.
Three's smile slowly faded, the edges of his face-plates tilting downwards in a confused, hurt expression that made him look a bit like a robotic puppy that had just been kicked. It wasn't just the hopscotch - apparently he'd been right about Spine disliking him after all.
"... 'Kay," he mumbled softly. Three stepped away from the chair, turned around, and walked out of the room entirely, letting the door swing shut behind him with a light click. If Spine wanted to be left alone, then he wouldn't hear a sound from Three for the rest of the day... maybe even longer. This was something that Three wouldn't be able to forget so easily.
Of course Rabbit finding out about this sparked one of the biggest fights between the titanium bot and his elder that anyone in the family could remember. They both shouted, Rabbit threw things, and finally, The Spine stormed out, slamming what few doors there were in the manor behind him.
No one thought much about it.
At least until dinnertime rolled around, and the silver bot was stil nowhere to be found.
If there was one thing that Three had learned in his short existence, it was to stay out of the way when his older brothers were fighting. This latest row had him hiding inside the nearest wardrobe, half-buried in a nest of fur coats with his spindly hands clamped over his ears as he tried to muffle the shouting. He hadn't meant to let Rabbit know what had happened, but with Three wandering the halls looking so lost and dejected, it hadn't been hard for his eldest brother to guess, and if there was one thing that Three was worse at than subtlety, it was lying.
This was all his fault. His fault that The Spine didn't like him, his fault that his brothers were fighting again, his fault that The Spine had left and hadn't come back yet. What if he was gone for good?
Gradually, Three crept out of the wardrobe, and managed to edge out the back door unnoticed while the other family members began preparing to search for his missing brother. It was his fault, so he should be the one to fix the situation. Maybe if he found The Spine first, he'd be able to apologize properly.
"... The Spine?" He called out across the backyard, as quietly as he could manage. Calling somebody's name while trying not to be loud was hard, okay?
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timeasmymeasure
WEH BABBY ROBUTS
Date: 2013-08-29 03:11 am (UTC)Especially with how easily Rabbit warmed to him, after the way that he'd had to fight for his older brother's affection. It wasn't fair! So he spent more time in his room, more time away from the rest of the family so he didn't have to see how easily the beaming bot had fit in, or how readily the family accepted him.
When he heard the bot in question calling him, he hunkered further down in his chair with an irritated huff of steam, optics dimming slightly.
Maybe if The Jon didn't see him he'd go away.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-29 03:33 am (UTC)"Found you!" he chirped. "You were hiding in your room this whole time? I thought you'd hide in one of the closets, or maybe the lab. I guess the room's a good hiding place too, since it's the last place I looked!"
He trailed off, and that cheery expression went momentarily blank. "... Are we playing hide and seek?" Whoops, somebody still wasn't quite lucid yet...
no subject
Date: 2013-08-29 07:02 pm (UTC)"...Nope." Whoops, someone wasn't very sociable.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-30 02:18 am (UTC)"Do you want to? I'm really good at hiding! I already found you, so it'd be your turn this time. Or... I guess if we weren't playing before, and we started playing now, it'd be my turn to look again..." He trotted inside the room and rested his arms on the back of the armchair, then settled his chin in his arms. Steam wisped out of his head, drifting thoughtfully up towards the ceiling. "... Or we could play something else, if you want."
... Maybe The Spine didn't like playing hide and seek. That was probably it.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-30 02:39 am (UTC)Why did this brassy little interloper instantly get accepted and loved by Rabbit? Why did he get to so easily charm the family, be fawned over? With an irritated snort of steam, he pulled the book up a bit higher.
"Go away."
no subject
Date: 2013-08-30 03:17 am (UTC)Well.
That was certainly direct enough to get through to him.
Three's smile slowly faded, the edges of his face-plates tilting downwards in a confused, hurt expression that made him look a bit like a robotic puppy that had just been kicked. It wasn't just the hopscotch - apparently he'd been right about Spine disliking him after all.
"... 'Kay," he mumbled softly. Three stepped away from the chair, turned around, and walked out of the room entirely, letting the door swing shut behind him with a light click. If Spine wanted to be left alone, then he wouldn't hear a sound from Three for the rest of the day... maybe even longer. This was something that Three wouldn't be able to forget so easily.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-30 03:22 am (UTC)No one thought much about it.
At least until dinnertime rolled around, and the silver bot was stil nowhere to be found.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-31 03:22 am (UTC)This was all his fault. His fault that The Spine didn't like him, his fault that his brothers were fighting again, his fault that The Spine had left and hadn't come back yet. What if he was gone for good?
Gradually, Three crept out of the wardrobe, and managed to edge out the back door unnoticed while the other family members began preparing to search for his missing brother. It was his fault, so he should be the one to fix the situation. Maybe if he found The Spine first, he'd be able to apologize properly.
"... The Spine?" He called out across the backyard, as quietly as he could manage. Calling somebody's name while trying not to be loud was hard, okay?