Open the box, puppet

Ryan was sitting on the front porch of his house when it came in. He was sitting in a rocking chair, with a cigarette between his fingers. He watched through half closed eyes, as the men carried the big box onto the porch, they gave him a dirty look and turned around immediately. He didn't move but continued to look at the box. He clenched his jaw. He could hear someone tapping on the window from inside. Mae stood in the window, her brown eyes were piercing the box. Ryan smiled, Mae was a doll-sized robot, she reached him to his knee, disregarding her size, she was quite fierce. She couldn't talk, but that didn't stop her from having her way with things, or letting one know she wasn't happy.

Ryan stood up and walked over to the door, he opened it up so Mae could join him outside. She huffed at him as she walked out on the porch. ''Calm down, Mae, I admit I'm not the flash, but give me a break,'' he said and yawned. He looked at his watch. 7:19 AM. He sat back down in the chair, ''Is Camille awake yet?'' He asked the little bot. Mae lifted her hands up to her ear as a pillow and shook her head. ''Ah, we'll just let her sleep.'' Camille was his oldest bot out of the two. He valued her almost like a little sister, and he knew that it was her time soon. She lacked several updates, and it was obvious. Her eyes had shut down a long time ago, and she was somewhat deaf.

Mae was scanning the box, making sure it wasn't dangerous. She gave Ryan a thumbs up and started picking at the paper. He watched as the bot quickly made her way to the content of the package. He held his breath as his eyes scanned the bot inside of it. He cleared his throat, ''Was there a card?'' Mae nodded and waddled over to him, with an envelope in her small hands. He picked her up and sat her on his lap, she opened it. Ryan started reading it. It was a gift from his parents, for his 20th birthday. A huge sigh escaped his lips. ''Guess I have to call them later,'' he groaned and let Mae slide down his legs. She ran over to the bot with a giggle, she started looking for a boot button, it didn't take her long to find it. ''You can boot him up, it's okay.'' She sent him a teethy smile and pressed the button.

Connor was fresh out of high school, barely passing with straight Cs and Ds. Many of his teachers didn't have high expectations for him and thought he wouldn't amount to anything. And Connor knew they were right. Why should he care about himself if no one else did? His adoptive parents had wanted him for the monthly payments and spent it on their alcohol addiction. They never supported him, so he never cared about himself. There was only one person who cared about whether or not Connor was still breathing: Jess. Since middle school, Connor and Jess had been best friends. Connor was the social outcast, whereas Jess was the computer geek. They were thrown against lockers and into the garbage together on a daily basis. Connor probably wouldn't have been around anymore if it hadn't been for Jess.

One night, Connor was walking back from to his house from the liquor store. His parents sent him to buy alcohol from the one place in town that never carded. By then, the cashier already knew Connor's face and suspected he was an alcoholic but never said anything. The money was worth more than the trouble. The streets were deserted with only the cicadas to keep him company. That was when a black van pulled out of an alleyway and started to trail him. Connor began to walk faster, hoping to push the lingering suspicion away. However, the van continued to follow him until a pair of hands grabbed him before they made it to the end of the street. The last thing Connor could remember was the smell of chloroform as the darkness settled in.

---

Slowly, Connor blinked his eyes open to adjust to the sunlight streaming into the room. Two figures came into view: a boy and a small girl. The boy had fire red hair that almost seemed to burn in the sunlight while the smaller one had enormous brown eyes. Who were these people? "Who?" He croaked. His voice was cracked and hoarse. Although he wanted something to soothe it, he didn't know how to. Connor swallowed hard before trying once more. "Who are you?" Connor asked with a little more strength in his voice. Despite all of his attempts, he was unable to remember anything about himself. "I.. where." There were too many thoughts in his brain to be able to express them clearly. "Who am I?" His cerulean blues shifted back and forth between the two hoping to have some answers.

@ Dandy Darling;
//I love the flash back //

Ryan watched as all the technic insides of the bot started to awaken, and gave the robots fake skin a sort of glow. He stepped in front of the robot, portraying as a male, perhaps late teens. He searched for mistakes, imperfections, but failed. He jumped a little when he opened his eyes, and started talking. He would never get used to that, ever.

''I'm your new master,'' Ryan softly said, ''you're mine now, and I'll take care of you.'' He held his hand out, so the robot could use him as support. All robots had to go through this new-born stage, even Mae and Cam had been like this, although that was a lot easier to handle rather than a robot with a body of a human. He watched as the robot's throat made a swallowing motion, he raised an eyebrow. It looked flawless.

Mae made big eyes and started inspecting him, tugging at the standard clothes models like this came with. Ryan laughed, ''I know, Mae. We'll get him out of that when we've learned some more about him.'' He looked the boy in the eyes, somewhat answering his question. He gestured for the robot to take his hands so he could lead him into his new home, ''Could you grab the manual, Mae? Just leave the box, I'll throw it out later.'' The little girl grabbed the book and ran into the house.

Ryan didn't speed after her, but took his time with the bot, making sure none of them got hurt as he guided him into the house, step by step.

(Thanks! )

Connor was little hesitant to take the stranger's hand, still adapting to the entirely foreign environment. Should he trust this man? Despite his reservations, he reached out for the help and took his hand. There was a kind, gentle aura about him that Connor trusted. "What is a 'master'?" He asked with a furrowed brow. What did it even mean to be owned by another person? At least he promised to take care of him. As he stood, Connor felt himself wobble and reach out for the stranger's shoulder to steady himself.

He watched as the little girl buzzed around his feet, tugging at anything she could get her fingers on. Although he tried to shoo her away, she only seemed more curious about him. "Who is she? Why is she doing that?" He questioned and was almost afraid of the little girl until the man laughed. 'Mae' is what he called her. What were they going to get him out of? He quite liked these clothes. There was something about them that he couldn't quite place but made him feel at home.

Looking up at the entrance to the house, he noted the rising platforms to get to the door. "Uh," He mumbled, unsure of how he would get up them. With his master's guidance, he placed each foot on a step and shifted his weight before placing the other. Connor stumbled a few times along the way and leaned onto the man for support until getting the hang of it. Within five steps, he was walking up them with no trouble as if he had done them before.