[action..ish] lost: one robot

[vianca]

[Well, it had been about two months. When there was still no stream of words chattering at her through the library, Vianca decided it was time to try one last thing. He had said he was going to go ~find himself~, but honestly what did that even mean when it came to Wheatley? AND SO, a few flyers started to go up around FDC and campus:]





[Maybe you caught the creator hanging some of them up!]

Comments

[awakeningwill]

[Zero was patrolling the halls when he noticed Vianca putting up posters with a very familiar looking robot.]

Wheatley's missing?

[monotreme_101]

Hey.

[It had been a while since Knuckles had seen his little Pikmin pal. (Still with pink hair. Maybe the white had been some kind of dye or bleach and pink was her normal color instead of the other way around? Who knows.) He gave her a cheerful wave before stopping to read the poster.]

Huh. He's a robot - you sure Eggman's got nothin' to do with it? Guy's kinda a jerk and stealing tech is somethin' he's done before.

[trustycrowbar]

Hmm.

[That's Gordon's contribution, as he spies her walking away from a poster she'd just put up, hand on his chin. He waves her down quickly. That core was a walking disaster sometimes, and ironically that's why his sudden disappearance is alarming.]

Hold up. How long has Wheatley been missing?

[vianca]

[She had not needed to look to know who had approached. Vianca had begun to be familiar with Zero's footfalls. After smoothing out an edge of the poster, she took a step off her footstool and nodded.]

[awakeningwill]

[Zero glanced back at the poster one more time. Maybe it was nothing, but... maybe it was something to look into.]

How long has he been missing?

[vianca]

[After simply glancing at Knuckles by way of greeting, Vianca tilt her head, giving it a moment of consideration.]

I do not think he'd tolerate him.

[Which... could really go either way, honestly.]

[vianca]

[This question was never going to stop being awkward to answer. Vianca gave the teacher a long look.]

Since May.

[vianca]

[Vianca stared at the poster for a few long moments, hesitant to answer.]

May.

[planking]

[Oh no. That guy.]

That thing shouldn't be left on its on. Where's the last place you saw it?

[vianca]

Around the library, before he walked off into the sunset.

[She paused.]

I believe he was trying to be prolific.

[trustycrowbar]

Oh. [Since MAY?!]

I, ah, haven't seen him in my lab? That's really all I have to offer at the moment.

[The only reason he knows this, is because no part of the metallic mess of unbilicals and ducts along the ceiling has demanded that he decrypt his hard drive or asked for the password to his Wiibay account.]

I'll keep a lookout, however. He's not exactly the kind of, uh... personality that we should lose track of.

[monotreme_101]

Really? Robot's that annoying?

...then again, it's really not hard to get Eggman riled up and angry. Guy has some issues.

Where'd you last see him? I could go look around, if you want?

[planking]

So... he wasn't all plugged up into a big machine or anything?

[He's MOBILE, but at least he can't trap Flint in a room and make him do tests.]

[vianca]

[Vianca tilt her head.]

Do you mean his chassis?

[And then after a beat, she continued with:] His extra body with legs. [She was not certain cowboys had a use for such words.]

OH I think I remember you saying tiny text is not ideal, let us pretend the rest of her text is tiny

[vianca]

[Vianca nodded once, then twice, at what Gordon had to say. A minute frown touched her lips.]

Thank you.

I know he is not... a popular companion by any means, but he's...

[vianca]

Wheatley is rarely not speaking.

[Which probably made it weird for the very quiet person to be looking for him.]

We were near the library. He said he was going on a personal quest but he's... simple, so I had expected him back well before now.

[planking]

There was a really big one, that was stuck on the ceili- wait, you mean t' tell me he's got more than one?

[We're all doomed.]

[monotreme_101]

Hmm. I get the whole Personal Quest thing. But if he's inexperienced, that could mean trouble.

[Simple could mean that walking to the other side of campus and back could count as a quest. It could also mean that you got in over your head way too quickly. He'd been through his periods of being inexperienced - couldn't be helped when you had no parents. It could end either way.]

He didn't say anything about what his quest might be? Or was there a place or a thing or an idea he talked about a bunch that could give a clue?

[vianca]

No, I believe it is just one.

[vianca]

[Vianca frowned slightly, giving it some- a lot- of thought. With someone that spoke as much as Wheatley did, there were a lot of one-sided conversations to ruminate about.

After a long while of contemplating, Vianca shook her head. ]

No... There was not anything that he spoke more of than others that I can recall.

[monotreme_101]

Huh... that makes things a little trickier.

[Knuckles had a penchant for finding things. But even he had to have a starting point.]

I'll try the science wing first. He's a robot, so, maybe he's looking for other tech. If I don't find him there, I'll go and track down Eggman. Because it's most likely Eggman's fault.

[It's usually always Eggman's fault.]

[vianca]

I suppose it shouldn't be ruled out.

[With Wheatley, there were a lot of possibilities that couldn't be ruled out. Including the one that Vianca had been in most denial over, despite the very real chance.]

Though...

[She hugged the pile of posters a little closer to her chest, dropping her gaze elsewhere.]

... He might have just left.

[monotreme_101]

[Aw man. She looked pretty sad - this robot must have meant a lot to her.

Knuckles never really much knew how to deal with sadness. It wasn't something he felt a lot and not being around other people for most of his life left him with the impression that sadness in general was just kind of Way Too Tricky.

Well, he'd fight it on his own terms.]

Hey. Don't give me that! Maybe he did leave. But we don't know that for sure, right? He might just be someplace waiting to be found. I'm good at finding things - I know I let you down with that flower you needed to find and I'm real sorry about that. But if this Robot guy can be found? I'll find him. I'm a Treasure Hunter, after all!

[Robots were not treasure. But the general principles of finding them had to be somewhat the same.]