|
|
Post by Carro Hofferson on Aug 15, 2020 20:38:07 GMT -6
THE GREATER GOODCARRO's PL: 100 (ANTISENSE) || LEO: 200,000 (NOT PRESENT)
Crop Co's workday had ended hours ago. The towering, pristine headquarters' lights had long since turned off when its dutiful employees had headed home with their jobs well done. Central City's summer night was starless, and the moon was covered my murky clouds that blended in with the rest of the sky. The only sounds remaining in the Crop Co courtyard were the chirping of crickets, and a lone set of metallic footsteps.
Carro was incapable of rest, both as a machine that had no need for sleep and as a President whose work would never be done. He could hardly remember the last time he'd laid down. His legs were tucked close to his body as he sat against the sleek walls of the building, a clipboard pressed against his knees as he scribbled away at some blueprints, flipping between one of several neatly stacked folders full of notes beside him every now and then as well. The night brought with it an odd sense of peace to Carro, a slight respite from the paranoia that gripped him. Here, it was just him, the grass and the skies, his duties, and nothing else. If he could, he'd surely be enjoying the fresh summer air as well.
There was a lot on his plate, and finishing up the prototype for the design of the ki-projector he was making for Zriracha now was just the start. After he finished up a beta design for its wiring he'd have to try and get into contact with Kayen again, create some more structure to the defense system he was working on, and that was just the start of things he had to do today. The pressing weight of what the hell to do with the Dragon Balls never stopped weighing on him... Carro sorely wished to rest one day. But he couldn't, that'd be selfish. He knew his friends were worried for him- even though they shouldn't be, he had to worry about them, not the other way around! He could never close his eyes until Earth was surely safe and sound.
The android gave a breathless sigh, momentarily taking his pen off of his papers to look up at the skies. He was very tired.
|
|
|
|
Post by Garon on Aug 22, 2020 19:52:27 GMT -6
Garon moved towards his destination with his hood flipped up, blending into the nighttime cityscape around him. These were the late hours of the night: when PM shifted to AM, and the lobbies and halls of Crop Corporated’s headquarters had long since transitioned from bustling hubs of busy work and office duties to dark, barren corridors. There was only one person who’d be working this late after hours- a perfect time to confess and apologize. He understood the risks of trying to talk with Carro again. His former boss was the President, after all; the person responsible for upholding the law. If Carro wished, he could call the police, and that would be the end of it. With LEO presumably lurking around in the basements somewhere, even armored resistance would prove to be a futile effort. But still, Garon needed this. He needed some kind of closure, even if it’d end with him getting what he ultimately deserved. Even from a distance, the courtyard felt entirely different, like looking at an empty school during summer break. After everything he’d been through, even looking at it just felt wrong. And yet, Garon found courage in himself (a first, in his eyes) to keep pressing forward. He stepped into the grass, and... There he was. Carro was just as tired and busy as Garon imagined him to be. He nervously grasped the back of his neck with his hand. Garon began to mentally prepare himself, walking towards Carro ready to regurgitate an essay's worth of an apology. But as soon as Garon approached and opened his mouth, nothing came out. He just looked at Carro with regret, anger, sorrow, and despair in his eyes. What was there to say? Where was he supposed to begin? Garon gulped, looked down at his android friend, and muttered the only word he could think to say. “...hey.”
Carro Hofferson |
|
|
|
Post by Carro Hofferson on Aug 23, 2020 18:12:45 GMT -6
THE GREATER GOODCARRO's PL: 100 (ANTISENSE) || LEO: 200,000 (NOT PRESENT)
"AAAAAAA-"
Carro jerked his torso upright with a startled yelp at the sudden sound of a voice which he at first thought was a vengeful ghost come to punish him for being a bad leader for taking one break the other day, completely taken off-guard. Clutching his chest as if he still had a heart, he looked up to see... "G-Garon?!" He spoke in disbelief, pixellated eyes wide with shock, like he actually was looking at a ghost. To his own surprise, he completely tossed aside the blueprint that he'd just been working on. He stood up, uncaring of his fleece jacket's hood flopping off of his robotic head.
"W-where have you BEEN, y-you--- I- I was w-worried sick! I was starting to think that- that something awful might have happened to you!!" All of his emails had gone unanswered, all of his calls straight to voicemail, and all of his worry and concern finally breaking free from its bottle as he spoke. Garon was one of his first real friends. He'd grieved and beat himself up for his friend's first death once before, the thought of bearing that again a second time made him feel sick to the stomach he didn't have anymore. "U-ugh!! Don't ever w-worry me like that again! I...!" What to say eluded him now. His shoulders trembled slightly as he opened his nonexistant mouth again, but was too overwhelmed to say any of the hundreds of thoughts buzzing in his head. He barely suppressed the instinct to just tackle the poor Doragon with a hug, his own respect of personal space and the fact that his own freakish body wasn't very good for comfortable hugs- there was a reason why most people were uncomfortable around him.
|
|
|
|
Post by Garon on Aug 23, 2020 22:24:10 GMT -6
As his former boss scolded him for his lack of presence the past few months, Garon just stood there in a nervous sweat. While the relatively amiable, if not reasonably anxious reaction to his presence was surprising, Garon couldn’t hope to match Carro’s enthusiasm. Between the topic at hand and seeing Carro’s robotic body for the first time in person, the knot in his stomach was far too tight to release any of his worries. There was an awkward silence before Garon began to stammer some kind of explanation. “I--” he stuttered, subconsciously grasping his hair with one of his hands. “I got nothin’. No fucking honest explanation. No excuses. No bullshit, I just…” He didn’t even notice that he was on the verge of tears. “I fucked up, man! I did some messed up shit for some messed up reasons, and now I'm no FUCKING better than villains I’m trying to stop! I virtually disappear off the face of the goddamn Earth, leech off of you behind your fucking back, ghost all of my friends, get caught up in some stupid ass plan for revenge- and WHAT do I have to show for it all?! Some kid’s broken legs!” Garon couldn’t stop himself from hyperventilating.
“I hid the Dragon Ball from you and the rest of Crop Co. for some stupid, selfish wish, only for it to get stolen by some asshole Saiyan who could’ve killed me with his fucking pinky finger! I’ve neglected EVERYONE here, and whenever I didn’t, I was a complete jerk to anyone and everyone I dared to open my mouth to! And do you wanna know the worst part? The cherry on top of everything?!” He started to grip his hoodie with his free hand, panicking. “I ripped the hopes and dreams out of some little girl’s hands! She was just trying to revive her dead parents, and you know what I did? Do you know what I fucking did, Carro? I shot her with a goddamn energy blast! That kid’s on fucking crutches because of me, and that… that’s been messing me up. Constantly. I should’ve known an apology isn’t worth anything anymore, but-- but you’re you! If anyone knows how to fix this, it’s you! So please- even if it’s something I don’t wanna hear- even if this all ends with me getting locked up like I fucking deserve- answer me!”
"What the hell am I supposed to do?"
Carro Hofferson |
|
|
|
Post by Carro Hofferson on Sept 1, 2020 2:35:44 GMT -6
THE GREATER GOODCARRO's PL: 100 (ANTISENSE) || LEO: 200,000 (NOT PRESENT)
The tiny android seemed to quickly detect Garon's own discomfort. Carro stepped back, quickly flipping his hood back up over his head to hide as much of his freakish face as he could- surely some of that discomfort had to have been from the sight of his condition.
And so began his first friend's stutter and pain-filled tirade. Again, Carro found himself quietly thankful for the silver lining of his robotic body, rendering him incapable of showing most human signs of discomfort and anxiety that he would surely be sporting if he was of flesh and blood, but no nervous beads of sweat or glassy eyes were to be seen. He tilted his head in growing concern, the pixellated brows on his facial screen furrowing with each of Garon's words.
"Garon, please--" Carro tried to speak up in the middle of the Doragon's tirade, now propped atop a nearby bench to be at eye-level. "Garon." Another failed interruption.
"GARON!!" He finally raised his voice when his employee was finished speaking, cutting him off successfuly this time, reaching forward with his three-fingered, cold and metallic claw to grip his friend's shoulder in an attempt to try and somewhat bring him back to his senses. His beady white eyes stared silently for a moment as he seemed to take a metaphorical deep breath before spitting words out of his speakers. He remembered the day Belle came to him, crippled and politely asking for a home. He remembered the rage, the hurt and the sting of betrayal he felt when he learned of her attacker. He felt none of that now. "I already know."
"Well, I mean... about Belle, at least." He glanced astray. "Though I'd like to assure you she's made a full recovery. She, uh, has been staying at King's Castle under my watch for the past few months since she's had nowhere to stay on Earth." Carro affirmed, hoping to provide even the littlest bit of good news before anything else.
"Firstly," He narrowed his gaze. Before anything else, there was some scolding that he hadn't had the chance to do for months. "Both you and Belle are extremely lucky to still be breathing. Had either of you encountered anyone else that was looking for them..." Carro instinctively gripped at his chest, feeling the ever-present lack of a heartbeat beneath his three splayed digits. The thought of what the "asshole saiyan" would have done to Garon given provocation made him feel sick to his nonexistant stomach as he recalled his own final breath. "I don't know what you wanted to wish for, but promise me you will never look for those cursed things again. They're more trouble than they'll ever be worth." The President's corpse straightened his posture, his unblinking, pale eyes staring right at Garon. "Trust me. I. know."
A breathless sigh escaped the android's vocalizers as he sat down on the bench. "As for what to do..." His fingers clenched. For being the charismatic leader of Earth that was supposed to be the man with a plan and an unparalleled way with words, he'd found himself at a loss for what to say a lot in the past months. "...While, uh, I still seem to be lacking some more of the-- er- specifics about your other ventures... I mean, you don't have to talk about them if you don't want to, of course, let's take one t-thing at a time!" Carro raised a hand defensively and scratched behind his floating head. "B-but even though it'll probably sound stupid, uh, starting off with some easy little steps to fixing things can go a long way, you're undermining how much an honest apology can do... and definitely some anger management or a hobby."
"I'm gonna be honest with you, I..." Carro found himself glancing off again. Even his metallic body couldn't hide the thousand-yard stare in his trembling eyes. "...I also did something I'm not proud of in front of Belle. Something worse. E-even though I didn't have any other choice, I thought, I-I--" He shook his head, as if trying to physically shake off the emotional pain. "I apologized. That's it. And, uh, we're chill again now! So that's swell! And even you coming up to me to talk about things is good progress! I'd imagine you probably weren't, er, looking forward to it. Maybe you really thought I'd lock you up or fire you or something." A Carro from six months ago would have fired Garon. But even though he was no longer stupid enough to offer unconditional forgiveness to his enemies, he was stupid enough to offer it to his friends.
"I-I'm very glad you finally came to talk to me, really! I'm serious when I said you worried me sick! I'm not even supposed to be physically capable of being sick anymore, sheesh!" He quipped in an attempt to lighten the mood a little bit. Carro was still Carro regardless of if he was made of flesh or steel, he'd always be the same dorky nerd Garon met two years ago. "Whatever you've done, I forgive you. Honest. Just, uh... don't worry me like that again or do anything hasty, obviously."
Carro scratched his chin after his reassurance. "Uh, as for other stuff to do to help yourself, hm..." He was getting a few ideas.
|
|
|
|
Post by Garon on Sept 12, 2020 20:13:12 GMT -6
Garon wasn’t expecting to be cut off like that. Once Carro raised his voice, he zipped his mouth and went silent. Here it comes, Garon thought. This was it- everything that he deserved. There was nothing more to do but remain quiet and let Carro speak his mind. His mind descended into a nervous wreck as he anticipated disaster. … But it never came. It didn’t actually occur to him until later on in Carro’s rant. First it was the news that Belle was, at least apparently, ok. Then came one- a single sentence about never hunting for the Dragon Balls again. Carro didn’t need to tell Garon twice. But then, as his former boss went on and on, his voice slowly became static. It wasn’t until Carro trailed off in thought that Garon had the courage to speak up. “You’re not…” he stuttered, his brain still trying to process everything as it was coming out of his mouth. “You’re. You’re not mad,” He was genuinely confused. Garon’s mind was in such disarray that he could hardly piece Carro’s kindness together. “You’re not mad? Upset? Even a little vengeful? Don’t you hate me?” His hands curled into fists and stared right at Carro’s LED eyes. Tears rolled down his cheeks. “W-What the hell's WRONG with you?! Are you insane?! Did you lose part of your fucking brain when you turned into a robot?! I’m…” “I’m a god damn criminal now! I’ve hurt people for my own selfish fucking gain! It doesn’t matter how much I try to get rid of that, it’s gonna be stuck as part of me! I-I mean, who’s to say that any of your suggestions are even going to work, huh? Who’s to say that I won’t end up right back here- at the bottom- where I’ve ended up every single time I put that damn power suit back on! Face it- it’s your JOB to deal with people like me, right? Y-You won't get this kind of opportunity again! Deal with me while you can!” “I-I’m not sure what you’re trying to do, but stop playing these fucking mind games with me! I’d be fine if you just told me that I’m going to Hell, or that I’m the irredeemable piece of shit I am, but... *this*? W-What the hell am I supposed to do with THIS?! You're lying! Why the hell are you LYING, Carro?!” Resignation is far easier to deal with than rehabilitation.
Carro Hofferson |
|
