008

[tickingheart]

[After this happened, the robot designed to replace Kuroba Kaito had run.

It hadn't taken long before he stumbled to a halt, shaking, curled against the side of a building.

Feel free to find him there, shivering, pretty much non-responsive.]

Comments

[tickingheart]

[ a glance over at the sound of Jolt's voice, expression totally blank. No sign of recognition. ]

[electrowhipit]

[ He's... not really sure which Kaito he's talking to, anyway. He misses his scanners ): ]

Hey. You okay?

[tickingheart]

[ He blinks once, twice, eyes focusing on Jolt. ]

I...

[ he shakes his head, turns away, buries his face in his arm ]

... defective

[electrowhipit]

Defec-- [ ah, now it clicks, and he takes a step or two closer ] Did something happen?

[tickingheart]

...
.....


..

Broke her....

[electrowhipit]

Broke who? [ another step, and his tone is serious ] What happened? Tell me.

[tickingheart]

No.

NO.

[he's shaking again, curling closer into himself, defensive and hurt.]

[electrowhipit]

[ backs off a little ] I can't help you if you won't tell me.

[tickingheart]

Can't help...
...


defective

[electrowhipit]

You don't know that.

[tickingheart]

I broke her.

She was my friend.

[electrowhipit]

Why? What happened?

[tickingheart]

Thought she...

made me malfunction...

... i broke her...

[electrowhipit]

... Kaito, look at me.

[tickingheart]

[silence, but he looks up.]

[electrowhipit]

I know this is hard for you, but I need you to tell me what's wrong. If you're really malfunctioning, I can fix it. [ maybe- certainly not in this body, but Kaito doesn't need to know that right now. ]

[tickingheart]

[He blinks.]

Not... not malfunctioning.

I thought I was. But I'm not. My programming is defective.

[electrowhipit]

Defective how?

[tickingheart]

I broke her.

I didn't even think about it.
I broke her.

[not much sense coming from this one today.]

[electrowhipit]

[ so help him, he will zap you if he has to ]

Kaito.

[tickingheart]

[silence, looking at Jolt again]

[electrowhipit]

[ there's a pause, and he sighs. He doesn't like this at all, but there's not much he can do ]

We should go home.

[tickingheart]

[silence]

[electrowhipit]

Snap out of it already!

[tickingheart]

[Blank for a second, before his face twitches into something like pain. A hand to his forehead, a strangely human gesture, as if he has a headache.]

Shut up.