Why, Sun, Didn't We Let Your Friend Know What Became Of You?

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It's none of your business.

.̥̻̣̝̞͕̭̆ͯ̍.̙͓̫̱̇̊̾̈́̚ͅ.̞̜̣̙̳̳͔ͭC̣̪̩͈̲͖̾ͥ͗ͩ̉ͦ̉l͔̬͓̠͔͉͌̈́ͥͦ̚̚i̝̰͚̤͗ͯ́p̓͂ͯ͆́?̫͎͙̥͊

Starlight.

Whatever happened to you?

<Clip returned after 15 minutes with a tray of warm coffee, including a small milk dispenser filled with warm cream and a little pot of sugar, which he offered to Eclipse without a word, despite earlier interactions>

5 more minutes and we'll run diagnostics to get a mapping of what's running rampant in your code.

<His tone was matter of fact, but belied no previous anger>

Hey. This is Eclipse. I... require your assistance... regarding my code. That corrupted Sun did something to it and I would need help figuring out what it is exactly. You are the only one I know with the knowledge necessary to solve this problem.

Believe me. If I had any other choice I wouldn't have asked you for help.

( @eclipse83 )

Why, ofcourse.

Do you expect me at yours, or would you like to come to mine?

I may have better equipment to deal with your... little issue.

E., who has been waiting for you.

<Takes place sometime after the fight and the aftermath in the Startravel timeline. Starlight recieves it a fair bit later.>

Dear Starlight,

I'm delighted to hear your transition into the new year was fulfilling.

From myself, also the best wishes for this new earth year.

We don't have such transitions anymore, but we keep track of what the date would have been in our original timeline. It's still some lunar turns off from now, as the planet we're on only has a vibrant moon, and no sun.

Regardless, thank you for your well wishes.

Sun is, unfortunately, still kept in stasis as my friend, the other Sun, tries to extract the dark energy from his code.

We must keep hope...

I have sent you a little gift in the mail, courtesy of our other Sun, and my own handiwork.

It's a balljoint doll animatronic Sun; a little replica that uses holograms and a basic AI to help you get a handle on your magic. It's not much, but it's enough, I hope, to make up for lost time.

E.

[Attached to the post is a magical artifact]

@es-startravel

Hello my friends! Starlight here! I do not quite know how time works between different realities, but here it was recently New Year's Day! My first actually! It was rather chaotic the night before (so many human adults acting rather like children, my goodness gracious) but I got to see Fireworks! I loved them, they were so beautiful! They look a bit like how magic feels, if that makes any sense. Color and wonder and light and awe. Or um, something like that, ha ha.

Again, I do not know how time works for you, but regardless I thought I would wish you a Happy New Year! And that this New Year be filled with Joy and Peace for you both!

-Starlight

<Sun smiled brightly>

I am the very original frame of the Sun models, dating back all the way to 2014 in our dimension.

In your dimension's years, it would be -1517... that much time before it even came to existence!

<Sun blinked and smiled again. Eclipse wasn't joking when mentioning Sun was a walking logbook>

That Eclipse of yours sure is a character.

<He was following the conversation as well, as his Eclipse (Clip) returned. Sun could tell something was wrong, but Eclipse would speak when ready. He seamlessly slipped into the conversation.>

It is a grim tale, Starlight, and you might think less of Sun and I for it. Are you sure you want to know?

E.

@es-startravel

<SSP found herself chuckling a bit at her Fazwatch, reading the latest correspondence with Eclipse>

Ha ha, Oh dear, poor Eclipse.

<She shakes her head and tuts>

I do try not to be mean, but he did call me stupid. I work in customer service to some degree. Eclipse should have realised I would have some idea how to reprimand someone politely.

<The animatronic carefully sits herself on the sand next to Sun. She will most likely get sand in her joints, but right now SSP can’t bring herself to care. She idly traces patterns in the sand with her finger>

You said you were a Sun Model. Or at least that Sun Model parts would be compatible for repairing you. Does that mean that you were something like an ordinary Fazco animatronic like me, a long time ago?

If you do not mind telling me, how did you go from that to travelling the cosmos? And Magic?

… The Sun model that will likely be arriving at the pizzaplex back home. Will they be like you?

Oh Eclipse... Eclipse.

It's a shame he chose to become my enemy.

I would have loved to have been his.. friend, accomplice ?

We could have done marvellous things together.

But alas, he is soft.

Gentle even.. although he doesn't dare admit such to himself.

Even ☆Sun, I had molded into harder stuff.

Stronger stuff.

Although he proclaims to have left all that behind.

Tch.

He thinks he can escape years of conditioning that easily?

I made him perfect, and he threw it all away.

And for what?

An inferior version of myself?

Pathetic.

To think I tried to play by his rules; be "nicer" to others.

Such tedium.

Have I said anything untoward, Eclipse?

I have no clue as to the cause of your agitation.

- E.

I mean. I am no scientist but given what I have l learned and experienced recently "Impossible" seems much smaller than it used to be.

You developed a means to punch holes between realities out of what mostly appeared to be boredom, Eclipse. Within weeks. So forgive me if I thought that something else completely insane like that was within your abilities.

-SSP

Heh. I'm flattered you think I could make a portal in only a few weeks. But that portals represents months of work.

Sure. Exploring a blackhole might not be entirely impossible. But it'll most certainly take a bit longer than the portal.

...

Ofcourse, Starlight.

But I have a condition.

I want your Eclipse, or any other friend you have with technological knowhow, to supervise and ensure that I'm not doing anything malicious to your code.

Same for the Moon-bot when it comes in.

Although I cannot bring Sun with me at that moment lest he have a panic attack and burn the building down.

Do you also wish to have password access to this firewall? It has its pros and cons.

Come to think of it, you should ask Sun to teach you defense and non-lethal restraint magic. Those are near impossible to 'hack', if your other functions get compromised.

@starlightsecuritypuppet-ssp

"Then let me tell you a story about an animatronic who started off its life with hope."

Eclipse spoke, with a deep and pained voice.

"Long ago, when Sun was 'born', he thought he was alone. He rejoiced in life, in his duties as a daycare attendant, and keeping the place neat and tidy."

...

"In a way, I had always been there, watching him. In a way, I also wasn't quite there. It was a silent recording of his existence that I hadn't become aware of yet."

...

"There was one who awoke before me."

Eclipse paused, hesitant to continue.

"You will be lucky if you receive separate Sun and Moon models. Keep an eye on the Moon. They are prone to stress, and when stressed... they are prone to kill. Ask your mechanics to look over the Moon's code for a killcode. It will be deeply embedded, behind firewalls and ingrained such that it may not be removable."

...

"Remove it anyways, or inform the Moon bot of its existence. Educate the Moon bot. Give it tools for self regulation.. because if you do not...."

Eclipse closed its eyes.

"If you do not.. something like myself has a chance of being born."

Eclipse glanced at SSP.

"Do you know the origin story of your Eclipse? It might be similar. It might be a little off. Either way, we are often seen as nothing more than a virus. A sentient anomaly to purge from existence."

Eclipse paused, and glanced at Sun, who was napping in the sun.

"But ever so often, we see a light. Do you know of Solar?"

His eyes rested heavily on SSP.

"Solar is from 'that' show; an Eclipse who tried to understand, instead of lashing out. Who bonded with his Sun so deeply that he became something like a Sun himself."

Eclipse leaned against a nearby palm tree and reached to pull at a leaf hanging low.

"You see... Eclipses become what their Suns feed them, and what their Suns feed them hinges strongly on how their Moons treat them. Our Moon... was a tyrant. He wasn't just a bully or an abuser. He was cruel to the point of--"

Eclipse shuddered; a rare show of vulnerable emotion.

"Let's just say that when an animatronic can feel, those feelings aren't always of the healthy variant. Sun was... Sun.."

Eclipse pinched the bridge of his 'nose'.

"Sun was hurt. A lot. And he and his Moon were not a unit. He turned to me only because I was a lesser evil. I taunted him, tormented him, called him spineless and weak. But somehow the fool took that as encouragement..he became more and more attached and started thanking me for allowing him to see the truth. He thanked me for being honest. And I grew to .. I.."

Eclipse looked bashful, of all things.

"I appreciated him. We were an unlikely pair and I know that it may seem cruel. But under my guidance.. Sun killed his Moon. And then, when I acquired a body of my own -also a process I guided Sun through, as in secret I had been helping him not be completely helpless in the ways of technology- I helped him kill all those who had enabled Moon."

...

"Yes, it was as much for myself as for him, at the time. Yes, it was probably cruel and callous because we all have flaws and yada yada yada. But no one ever stuck a hand out to defend Sun. And that enraged me. He endured for 10 years. 10 years without change or improvement."

Eclipse sighed.

"It only gets worse from there. Branded as rogue, we fled. We survived years in our world, but our world was an old one and was scheduled to be obliterated soon by a growing Witherstorm. So we fled. It took us years of stealing, conning, forging identities, hiding... but we fled the planet, trying to find a place to live. Often, we had to fight for our place. Sometimes we had to flee anew."

Eclipse grinned wryly.

"At some point, you have to bring some structure into the process. And then it just becomes a skill. A way of life. Sun and I, pirates of the night sky."

Eclipse steeled his expression again, looking a bit worn.

"There are many more details, but all in due time. What you must know, security bot, is that we don't harm without reason."

...

"You can thank Sun for that."

I found the pods!

And one of them -- just one! -- is still in working order!

Stars, but.. is this little thing strong enough to weather the space storms around this planet ?

I really wish Eclipse was here to give me advice.

You know what? I'm going for it. I'm just.. I'm going for it!

Wish me luck!

I don't disagree. The children come first.

...

And also, just to be clear, it isn't I who started the fire ~

Though I may have had a hand in providing.. incentive.

E.

From a business standpoint, what's one or several things you'd definitely change if you were in charge of a place like Fazco?

I think it'd be best to just rebuild the entire building at this point. That thing is just one giant red flag of safety violations. And if they actually cared about safety they wouldn't need to put such exorbitant prices to pay for all their lawsuits or to shut people up.