When your in the Constant, you can't be picky on who your surviving with. This is an unfortunate thing for our maniacal robot friend, WX-78, who has a pure hatred for basically everything. How is it unfortunate? Well, when they noticed a green gem f...
we are back in business bb, just in time for New Years 👉😎👉
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[DAY 42]
Wormwood stared at their elbow in awe. Atop it sat a beautiful pink-green flower, more beautiful then anything the plant ever seen. They hadn't even noticed when it first blossomed - they had been tending to the gardens and farms, which had been blooming under springs influence. They had been reaching for a shovel when it first caught their eye. Wormwood hesitated, yet waved to it with their other hand. It gave no response. Didn't seem much for talk.
Wormwood had been noticing a few small changes over the last few days; an extra leaf here, a small bud there, but it wasn't uncommon for this to happen. This flower, however, was new, and way prettier then anything else they'd had before. They were very excited but also quite confused, so they decided to consult Moon. Their robot friend was very smart about a lot of things, so the plant assumed they would perhaps know what was happening.
With winter being officially over and the Deerclops being god knows where, the pact the two had made to always stay together was null until the next major threat made its mark, so Moon was off doing something. They hadn't told Wormwood what though. The plant was giddy to tell their friend about this new pretty flower, so they ventured off to search for them.
—
The tiny birchnut saplings, no more then a few days old, suddenly flourished to the size of a crowbar as Wormwood walked past, making their way through the crowded forest. Plants of all ages and sizes were attempting to communicate with them, making it sort of distracting to get through. Wormwood, not wanting to be rude, was greeting them politely, waving and smiling. After a minute or so of walking (all the politeness slowed them down a bunch) the plant eventually made it back to base. They figured the best first guess for Moons whereabouts was their home, but looking around their friend didn't seem to be around. Since they had no specifics about where there friend was and didn't feel like wandering the world and getting lost, the plant grabbed some pumpkin cookies out of the icebox and plopped down on the hollow log they had near the fire, which was left unlit. Wormwood didn't know how long they'd wait, but there wasn't very much left to do, as much as they hated that. Not doing things not only bored them, but also made them unreasonably anxious. What if there was something important to attend to that they should be doing but weren't?
Wormwood shoved a cookie into their mouth and sighed, trying to push the anxiety out of their mind. They looked around the base for something to distract themself, but that didn't matter as they immediately noticed more leaves and flowers quickly make themselves prominent across Wormwoods viney skin. Now that was entertaining to watch happen, and the plant spent what seemed like a short amount of time but was really quite a while doing so.
—
WX raised their pick axe high before slamming it down into the rock before them, the satisfyingly loud crack echoing in their hearing modules. As they took another swing at the stone, their pick broke, the end popping off and hitting the ground, snapping like a twig. WX mechanically sighed, and reached into their backpack for the materials required to build a new one, to find they were out of grass. They decided they had gotten enough of what they needed for the day, packed up and began the trek back to base. For the first time, the robot had spent quite a lot of their day excited to go back to where they stayed. Not to rest or perform a specific action there or anything, but really they wanted to see Wormwood. WX tended to assign themself to gather a specific material(s) every day - today had been rocks and gold. As efficient as this task was, with their now semi-functioning empathy module they found these repeating jobs rather boring. Of course it's what they were programmed to do - work and be efficient nonstop - but their suddenly working empathy module brought emotions other then positive. They, obviously, felt empathy - not as much as you'd expect, but for Wormwood and occasionally other robotic beings, such as the clockworks. They felt sadness or anger when things didn't go right, and now they seemed to feel boredom and drain. It had taken them a while to come to this conclusion, but they eventually found out all of these emotions, as wonderful as they could be, were overall set backs. The feelings could end up playing into their decisions and cause them to make a big mistake.
Like a fleshling would.
Never the less, they allowed the excitement of seeing Wormwood to fill them, no matter how confusing or angering it could be.
—
Wormwood set the finished plate of pumpkin cookies aside and looked up to the sky in slight worry. The evening had now dawned and Moon was yet to show a sign of returning back to base. The plant tried to not let it get to them but it was a little difficult; they seemed to have no control over their anxieties as times, and this was one of those times. Of course their fears proved to be futile as they noticed their robot friend returning, still a little far from the base. Wormwood jumped up at once and waved excitedly. They could see WX smile from the distance. They didn't even seem to notice Wormwoods slight changes at first.
"Moon!!" Wormwood shouted happily, taking off running towards them.
"NO WAIT-"
Wormwood clashed into WX-78, sending them toppling to the floor ensnared in a hug. WX's backpack came off and opened, rocks flying out like miniature projectiles. The two slammed onto the ground, plant on top of robot. WX let out a mechanical "oof" as the mixture of force from the ground and weight from Wormwood set in. But after the second of slight panic, WX couldn't help but smile as their empathy module activated. Yup - it was still the same old Wormwood. Great to see it.
"HELLO, WORMWOOD. I SEE YOUR FORM OF GREETINGS HAS YET TO CHANGE." WX remarked, succumbing to the hug and wrapping their arms around their plant friend, who only giggled in response. A few seconds passed, but Wormwood didn't show any signs of letting go of WX or getting up.
"ARE.. ARE YOU GOING TO GET OFF ME?"
"Just.. few more moments.." Wormwood replied softly. None of their plant friends were very good huggers - if they wanted affection, Moon was their only source, and the plant had gone an entire day without seeing them. WX realized this, and allowed Wormwood to stay attached to them for a while longer.
After a few more seconds, Wormwood eventually rolled off and the pair got up. WX opened their mouth, about to say something, but stopped, staring at Wormwood with wonder.
"YOU LOOK DIFFERENT."
Wormwood smiled. "Don't know what's going on either. Pretty though!" They lifted their arm to watch a few more buds of flowers grow across them. WX had to admit the arrangement of flowers and leaves on Wormwood was recognized as sort of pretty by their sensors, but their pride would never let them admit it.
"WELL I SUPPOSE IT WOULD ONLY BE NATURAL FOR YOU TO BLOOM, GIVEN THE SUPPOSED TIME OF YEAR."
"Oh! Will happen every year??" Wormwood asked excitedly, smiling broadly. WX nodded, and the plant let out a cheer, twirling around.
Once that was all said and done, WX made sure Wormwood had eaten, made a meal for themself, and the two spent the rest of the evening chatting about their days before going to sleep.
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w o w that was a semi long chapter
aight my life is crumbling around me as it does s o I don't know if my posts will be consistent or not. I'll try to post once a week but god knows 🤔🤔
