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Vee tugged one at the left end of her bowtie. It stretched for a second, before snapping back into place. Whether it hurt or not didn't concern her, obviously she still felt pain like the Toon she was. It was just a coping mechanism Vee had accidentally coded into herself. Strangely, habits kept long enough eventually became inscribed into her programming. What was this feeling? It was eating into her metallic exterior, she'd felt horrible and faulty for hours now. Delilah wouldn't care, Veronica wasn't here, and she felt like if she stood up she'd fall and never get back up. Besides, asking for help? Completely out of character. Maybe even out of reach...
It had been happening for a while now. Not even Vee herself understand it wholly. She just knew she hated it. The only way she could explain it, was that there was little to no room in her programming for character development. Whatever her creators had chosen her to be, she would stay. Trapped in a personality for ever. Vee liked her personality, though. She was popular. Honest. Or-
was she?
Nobody had ever given her their opinion on her except Delilah, which she completely disregarded. How could she be exactly sure what she was if she hadn't even chosen to be that? Did she even like herself? What was going on?
Whatever was happening, it didn't feel good. It felt evil. Vee scanned her hardware for a malfunction, a simple error even. Nothing. Or was there? Vee didn't trust her decision at the moment, her vision was too blurred. All she could hear was the whirring of her internal fans and gears going into overdrive. All she could see were moving blobs dancing across her field of vision, but she knew her locked, enclosed room like the back of her grey, cold hand! All she could smell was... nothing. Had she really believed for a second she had a working nose? Something must be wrong... All she could feel was her chest, lurching with every artificial heartbeat and heavy breath. And all she could taste was blood. Ichor. In her mouth. Round her body. Relying not on air, but electricity.(SYNCABLADE MENTIONED WITH THAT HEADCANON)
Then, a blob made of pale blues and purples began to get closer and closer. Who on Earth? Her room was locked! Wasn't it? A toon? A child? A handler? Put in your answers now for the chance to win Vee's gameshow!
"Vee? Vee...?"
All of a sudden, the intensity of everything faded away. Vee could hear something in close proximity to her now. It was soft, caring... distressed? When she was sure everything was as it should, she slowly turned to face the blue blob.
Astro. Weren't their positions swapped now!
"Oh. Hi," Vee didn't smile. She tried to look unfazed, in fact. It did not work.
"Come on, Vee. You do this all the time. But it's no use today because I saw, with my own eye, what just happened."
What did just happen?
She opened her digital mouth to speak. Something snarky. Vicious. Rude. Uncaring. Spiteful. Nothing. Instead...
"I don't know anymore," was all Vee could bring herself to say. Atleast that was what she'd wanted to say. Meant to say. Right?
That was another complaint. Due to her code, Vee sometimes wanted to say one thing, and something completely different would actually come out. Sometimes it was close enough and therefore satisfactory to her, though she hated ambiguity. But sometimes it was completely different and, especially if it was with Astro or someone she treasured and viewed valuable, even brought a sense of guilt to her. Regret? Imagine that!
"I've changed."
"I know."
"I'm going to get replaced."
This seemed to surprise the crescent moon, "Why would they do that?"
"Because I've changed."
"We're not going round in circles. Look..." he sighed, stared at the floor, then brought his gaze back to her. His features were so gentle. Hers were so vibrant and bold. She knew that at least. Nothing about her was soft. She dressed with sharp angles, she was often described as sharp-tongued and eyed, but most of all she was just sharp. Feature-wise, IQ-wise and personality-wise. Oh God.
"You can definitely be blunt sometimes. Maybe a bit harsh. But when you get to know the Vee underneath all that, I really enjoy your company," he continued, a slight smile creeping up on his face, "so...I want to do my part in preventing that upgrade."
"Because to me.... you're perfect."