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“Machine I’d Like to Fornicate.”
😭
“We’re not going to sacrifice you,” Vic said. “Today,” Nurse Ratched said ominously.
“Because all beings deserve a chance to find out what life could be when they don’t have to serve others.”
“The A probably stands for ‘angry,’” Rambo whispered, nudging against Vic’s leg. “Hysterically Angry Puppet.”
LOL
Hap was an asshole. That was clear immediately.
“What is n-normal?” Hap asked. “Something you will not find here,” Nurse Ratched said.
“It’s okay, Vic,” Rambo said, bumping against his foot. “I promise. I know it seems hard, but we have to be brave. Your brain is telling you that you can’t, but you don’t always have to listen to it. Sometimes, it tells you white lies. I know it does to me.
You’re not w-weak. You’re V-victor Lawson. Inventor. Creator.”
“I love humanity. I love their grace. Their faults. Their idiosyncratic ways. They loved, they hated, they destroyed, and yet there has never been anything like them in all the world.”
“He’s a Hysterically Angry Puppet, but he’s our Hysterically Angry Puppet.”
If there is no such thing as fate, and the world exists as a collection of random chances that could potentially create an infinite number of branching timelines, how are you not consumed by the fact that we met? I can’t think of anything but. It has to mean something.” He paused. “Doesn’t it?”
“That’s at least a part of my happiness, I think. Knowing I’d be found.”
“It is not a flaw, Victor. There must be no greater feeling in the world than to know that this isn’t forever.”
And so there they stood, one man and one machine under an infinite field of stars, the desert flying by in front of them as they hurtled toward the unknown. Behind them, the road led back into darkness, the ashes of their home. But home didn’t have to be a place.
There is nothing more powerful than a heart. I wish I could know what it’s like. It appears to be more transformative than I ever thought possible. Hold on to it, the pair of you. Never forget what beats in your chest. It will be your guide, and with a little luck, you’ll find what you’re looking for.”
There have been countless stories of a merry band of adventurers such as yourselves going up against much larger forces.” “Do those stories end well?” Rambo asked. “Sometimes!” the Coachman said cheerfully.
“This is going to end badly,” Nurse Ratched said. “I cannot wait.”
Why is Hysterically Angry Puppet looking as if smoke should be pouring from his ears?”
Rambo, stop being weird.” “I don’t know how not to be weird,” Rambo said. “That’s like asking the birds to stop flying.”
It was as if Vic was the center of the universe and Hap couldn’t bring himself to look away.
🥺❤️
But in the center of it all, in the eye of the hurricane, stood Victor Lawson. Hap always watched. Hap never looked away. No matter what he said, no matter how much he scowled or growled, snapped or snarled, it was Vic he looked to.
❤️❤️
“I don’t know you, and you’re kind of scary, but I also want to be like you when I get older? It’s very confusing.”
real lol
Do not bother me unless you are on fire. Even then, I will do little to help you.”
“I am making my own choice. I don’t have strings.”
“I d-don’t sleep,” Hap whispered as if revealing a great secret.
“You have been damaged. Your skin. Your voice.” “I am h-how I’m s-supposed to be,” Hap said.
To fix what is in disrepair sometimes means breaking it completely and starting over again.
“You g-gave me life. You gave me friends. You gave me p-purpose. My strings have b-been cut, and it’s because of you.”
❤️😭
“Hello. Hello. Hello. I do not know what I am. Can you tell me?” “No,” Nurse Ratched said. “You may leave and find out for yourself.”
this line hit me hard for some reason
“It’s tied to the head and heart but in the end, if there is a war between the two, the heart usually wins out, even to its own detriment.”
“I found you. I fixed you. I saved you, but you did the same for me. You love music. You love butterflies. You are a protector. You help. You save. You exist. You are real.”
Be it man or machine, Victor thought, to love something meant loving the ghost inside, to be haunted by it. Humanity—that nebulous concept he didn’t always understand—had lived and died by its creations. Perhaps Victor would too, one day, a final lesson in what it meant to exist.
Last—but certainly not least—to you, the reader. Humanity is awful, angry, and violent. But we are also magical and musical. We dance. We sing. We create. We live and laugh and rage and cry and despair and hope. We are a bundle of contradictions without rhyme or reason. And there is no one like us in all the universe. Don’t you think we should make the most of it?
“Forever is a long time. How can I appreciate it if I always have it for the rest of time?”
“I don’t understand how the world works, but I think if there are people like all of you, it can’t be so bad, right?”
