Netbug's Story Puppies

That was awesome, Netbug! :smiley: I love ā€œDebateā€! Sorry Iā€™ve not been keeping up with your little ā€˜slices of lifeā€™ vignettes, but all I can say is, Iā€™ve been missing out on a lot!

I like the incredulity and the cynicism of the humans upon hearing the ā€˜impossible loveā€™ between Wall-E and Eve.

This quote is my favourite:

ā€œHuman skepticism had few bounds, apparently. And few things made one more skeptic than the idea of supposedly inanimate objects falling in love.ā€

Nice how you ended the stare-off with the passenger being shocked but nevertheless respectful of McCreaā€™s conviction.

Very good, the idea of love being present in beings other than humans is an interesting philosophical area to explore, which is one reason why I enjoy Wall-E on an intellectual level. Am I making sense? Good. :wink:

OH HAY LOOK. A forum. Didnā€™t I used to post my fanfics here? xD

Sorry Iā€™m behind guys. I havenā€™t written as much lately, but time to catch up anyways. ^^

Extraction

Itā€™s all fun and games until somebody loses an eyeā€¦ unless youā€™re WALL-E. In that case, you can just replace it.

Usually.

WALL-Eā€™s working eye winced as he looked at the empty shelf. How could he forget to keep his normal part surplus? Okay, bad question, suddenly having EVE (oh, and all the humans) around gave him a plethora of possible distractions.

ā€œWALL-E?ā€ He flinched when EVE came up to him, seeing the damage and lack of replacement. ā€œOoh.ā€ She thought for a moment, then offered her assistance.

Never in a million years (all of which he dreamed of spending with EVE) did WALL-E think heā€™d want to refuse an offer from EVE to do something together. And yet, now he wondered if this was a good idea. She didnā€™t know where he got the parts, after all. Wait, had he really never told her before? He hadnā€™t shared something about himself with EVE?! Inwardly, he felt as if heā€™d created some major gap in their relationship. But all the same, what if it hurt her to know? He looked at her optics, imagining them with a depressed look. Heā€™d already seen them that way once and never wanted to again.

Currently, however, he couldnā€™t roll in a straight line, much less go get replacement parts on his own. There was always asking the humans for spare parts but, between how busy they were and their inexperience with his model, that could take a while. Was there really another option to get parts immediately?

No, there wasnā€™t.

Darnit.


Sans the mechanical babies made for home economics classes, it is physically impossible for a robot to vomit, as it would be quite superfluous for them. Then again, the same could be said for having emotions. EVE felt like she could throw up at any moment, or at the least hug WALL-E and not let go for a good year minimum (something that a robot could do.) She hid all of this quite well though, for his sake. This was how heā€™d gotten new parts all those years?! Not that it didnā€™t make sense, but itā€™d never crossed her mind as a possibility. She could have seen miles and miles of half-salvaged WALL-E units if sheā€™d dared to look up again from taking the eye off this one. WALL-E stood behind her, clanking his shovels together awkwardly and a tad guilt ridden. As predicted, EVE was hurt. He could tell by how slowly she moved. A moment later, EVE turned to WALL-E with the salvaged eye. ā€œThanks,ā€ he said, going to take it.

EVE pulled it away. ā€œNo,ā€ she said, oddly sternly, then pointed to herself. ā€œHelp.ā€

WALL-E didnā€™t dare argue as EVE carefully removed his damaged eye and connected the new one, only removing her hands long enough to not interfere with his vision resetting. Up. Down. Up. Down. Up down. Up down. She placed her hands back on his optics gently, moving some of her fingers to make it seem like she was checking something when she was really just staring at him. WALL-E could tell. ā€œEvahā€¦ā€ he said worriedly.

ā€œAlright,ā€ EVE replied, letting go. She really was alright compared to how it must have been for him. He seemed pretty numbed to it be now, but what about the first time? The first times?

WALL-E, with his vision back in order, didnā€™t need to be carried home. He also didnā€™t need to be held protectively close during the flight. EVE did both of these things anyway.

dusts off old forum a bit Oh, hey, look, itā€™s been updated! xD :smiley: Nice to see your writing again, Netbug009!

I like how you chose to begin Extraction. The first line is quite clever. The story is a cute way of expressing EVEā€™s care for WALL-E. I like how it ended, too. I just pictured thatā€¦dā€™awwwā€¦ :smiley:

I canā€™t believe I didnā€™t comment on Debate all this time! If you hadnā€™t updated right now and reminded me of this thread, I would have always forgotten!

Debate was well written as well. Though a short story, its simple debates echo in my mind as Iā€™m reading as a sort of reflection of real life conversations, if you know what I mean. The little conversations seem very real and believable, and I especially like what Captain McCrea stated at the end, leaving the conversation at that, making the passenger speechless. Great story!

Thank you! :smiley: I appreciate the thoughtful feedback.

WALL-E
Sunday

He never had learned where Yonkers was, but he had a feeling that he wasnā€™t there now. Various greenery sprung up all over the hillside, surrounding the old city and quickly replacing any parts that were demolished to reuse for a new town; a utopia. Even inside the concrete mass, dandelions impatiently pushed through the sidewalks, giving hope to anybody forced to take the dismal walk through the otherwise lifeless metropolis.

But more important to him was she, amazing him every single day more than it would if a rose had burst through that concrete. She seemed to embody freedom, randomly looping about the sky whimsically yet with such skill and grace, always holding an expression that would be called a smile if she had a mouth. Indeed, her eyes always showed that happy expression, and he was amazed the most by that, not realizing that it was because he was there to watch her.

Every morning he would roll out of his truck merrily to charge, the sun shining down to greet him directly instead of hiding behind the cloudy skies that were nothing but memory unless it rained, and even the rain was an amazing sight. Still, it was all a backdrop when she followed him out, making herself known by the spark passing through him that sang ā€˜good morningā€™ in a way that made his favorite songs on his recorder sound like fingernails to a chalkboard in comparison.

His eyes would lift with enthusiasm.

It was forever Sunday.

New stuff, yo!

WALL-E
2105
K+
Spoilers

All through WALL-Eā€™s work day, he would see nothing that went against the deep brown tint of his binocular lenses. Pure dismalness. Nothing would even move without his forcing it to. Save Hal, who many would later speculate was the reason he hadnā€™t gone crazy after so long. They were wrong, though. Truthfully, he just never really noticed. He didnā€™t know much else aside from the dull sky and mounds of trash.

Still, heā€™d get home every day, heā€™d see his collection of strange objects, and heā€™d start to feel. Something inside of him would emerge that made him think beyond the trash and the dull sky. When he tried to probe it, however, it felt incomplete. Eventually, he started to feel incomplete too. A fragment of whatever this was and whatever he was.

Butā€¦ where was the rest?


WALL-E
WALL-E (Lame title, I know. Itā€™s based on the song. ^^; )
K+
Spoilers

First they tried tilting their heads sideways.

Then they tried looking at him upside down.

Then they simply stared for a bit and hoped heā€™d change like one of those optical illusions the Captain had found a book of.

It didnā€™t work. The EVE units really didnā€™t get where their sister One was coming from when sheā€™d gushed to them about this creature. More specifically, sheā€™d said that she thought he was attractive. Now, none of the units disliked WALL-E, all of them knowing the story behind him, but he was dented. And covered in dirt. And short. And- Oh crud, EVE was coming. The group zoomed behind one of the nearby building. WALL-E, whoā€™d been too caught up in the watering of a baby tree he seemed to care a lot for, finally heard some of the noise and turned too late to see his observers. He did, however, spot EVE coming up to him.

The sisters blinked.

WALL-Eā€™s entire disposition changed in an instant. He hadnā€™t been miserable before or anything, but you could have thought so in comparison. His expression lit up with joy and enthusiasm. A quick look over to EVE and the sisters found a similar change. The two just didnā€™t even really do anything. They just stayed thereā€¦ talking? There was little if any exchange of the robotic language, but somehow they still seemed to be having some riveting conversation.

The sisters, however, did need robotic for a conversation of their own.

[i]ā€œIs it possible that One could have a critical error?ā€

ā€œShould we peruse One about said error for her own good?ā€

ā€œShould we force One to give us a full system report?ā€

ā€œIsnā€™t One by far the most skilled of us with an ion cannon?ā€[/i]

There was a long pause after the last one.

[i]ā€œā€¦Donā€™t we have some organic life to tend to?ā€

ā€œOh, yes, I have a patch of dandelions that need constant attention!ā€

ā€œI recall the captain assigning me to a very important thorn bush!ā€

ā€œIā€¦Uhā€¦I have other things to do as well!ā€[/i]

EVE and WALL-E looked to one of the nearby buildings in confusion when they heard what sounded like several robots fleeing. Seeing nothing, they shrugged and continued their conversation.

Netbug returns with more goodies!

2015 is a nice slice of Wall-E realising heā€™s missing something in this life, and that thereā€™s more to it than cleaning trash every day. I think if you intended the title to be the date at which the story takes place, thereā€™s a chronological error. If Iā€™m not mistaken, the starfleets left Earth somewhere around the 22nd century (2105), so just a minor time mistake there. Other than that, very poetic as usual! :slight_smile:

I take it you mean the Wall-E track from the soundtrack? I can imagine it playing in the background while reading thisā€¦ I liked how the Eves couldnā€™t comprehend Wall-E and Eveā€™s love, and just returned to their directivesā€¦ very nice contrast. Theyā€™re really like nosey siblings, arenā€™t they? :laughing:

Thanks! And yes, I meant the song. ^^ Andā€¦ ahhhh I typed the title wrong. xD FAIL. Yeah, uh, I meant 2105. xD;;;; Iā€™ll fix that after this post here.

(Nice new icon/sig BTW. 9 was great. 8D)

A few more to catch up on hereā€¦


WALL-E
Answer
K+
Spoilers

She floated atop his home, completely still and quiet aside from a flashing light and beep to match. She didnā€™t move an inch as he rolled away, deflated.

And he slowly went back to his work, the same work heā€™d been so proud to show her a few days ago, staring at each square and remembering that EVE was more like a circle. Staking each cube haphazardly, despite the foundation being the most important part. He knew this, but he still acted as if the someday looming tower could fall on top of him for all he cared. Stopping, he pulled a lighters, no, the lighter, simply staring. The flame danced for him like it had for her. The connection it brought was horribly nostalgic.

For the first time, WALL-E questioned why he was on that brown, dusty planet.

The ground shook, and his pathetic cube fell to the ground. The familiar sound of rockets boomed, and his eyes shot upward to catch the sight of the worst possible thing he could have.

No.

There was no answer to the question of why he was here. Not without her.


WALL-E
Error
K+
Spoilers

To help save Operation Cleanup funds, WALL-E units must try and not let themselves be deactivated or destroyed.

And then there was a list of ways to not get killed. Run away from falling trash buildings, donā€™t try and swim, donā€™t set self on fire, etc etc. Taking parts from an off-line brother unit, however, was not on the list. But, somehow, heā€™d known it was an option. Had WALL-Eā€™s spirit been more developed, he may have realized that heā€™d had an idea.

He also didnā€™t realized that he had procrastinated on this for a long time, now in a sub-par condition to what BnL guidelines said to try and keep a unit at. But eventually, one of his tread gears started to slow, and it became do or die. He began to remove a gear from the dead unit he stood before. With few other units around at the time, the sound of the part snapping off echoed through the streets.

He froze up. Another unit saw and looked to him, noting to report another deactivated unit at the base truck. He left before he could see the unit more again, perfectly functional, wondering why it had froze in the first place, and noticing a strange sensation in his frame.

He began the repairs. He had to keep going. To keep compacting trash. To keep doing his directive. There had been a small malfunction. An error.

An emotion.

Several emotions.

Sadness. Grief. Guilt. Heartsickness.

But he didnā€™t know what that was yet, so he simply rolled away.


WALL-E
Start
K+
Spoilers

Sky.

It was a word sheā€™d only heard once or twice, spat out as a flat description by a simulator. She could barely define it, or understand it, as her directive was in the soil that rested beneath her. Suddenly, it was real, and it was before her eyes. Where did it begin? Was she in it simply because she wasnā€™t in the ground, or was there a gap between the two? She reached a hand up higher. It felt no different. If she went higher, would it? Was there a barrier at some hight for her to crash into by mistake? Was the brown simply a backdrop and sheā€™d rip through it to find space?

WALL-E was not the only one first defined by curiosity.