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[evilgrows]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, DR. ROBOTNIK. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 905.77.247.37 *** DOCTORROBOTNIK has joined 905.77.247.37 <DOCTORROBOTNIK> You've reached Doctor Robotnik. Leave only one message, and I'll get back to you if I find it necessary.

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[evilgrows]

[Despite the fact that Robotnik's still a little miffed about the whole situation, seeing the major difference between how he'd been acting before and now is still interesting enough, and the way his eyes display emotions seems like something worth studying all on their own.]

You're in jail for the crimes of not listening to me and causing inordinate and unnecessary damage to myself and a number of my machines. I didn't know if you could be trusted with crayons.

[Of course he always has a number of mirrors around to make sure his mustache is impeccable, so he brings a small one over to give Sonic a look at himself.]

Frankly, I wouldn't call it bad. [Of course he wouldn't. He certainly wouldn't complain if he was a machine.] There's a definite resemblance to your pre-human self.

[endlesspastability]

Wh.... what? I don't... [he holds his head in his hands] I don't remember that... I remember... I remember coming here, and then the liquid metal and the monitor talking about... something.... then... then what happened? [he shakes his head and snatches the mirror.

His irises constrict, giving the impression of widened eyes. He touches his face, his mouthless muzzle, the conical nose, the cable quills. It does look a lot more like his true self... but in the bottom of the uncanny valley sort of way. As he stares, silently, his eyes flash from green to blue, then dim. He puts the mirror face down on the floor and scoots to the back of his little cell, expression indistinct]

[evilgrows]

Oh, would you stop moping?

[Now that it seems like Sonic's back to being himself, it's time to let him out of his cage. With an unseen eyeroll, he starts taking it apart.]

You made it. You survived your programming taking over. I survived your programming taking over. You made a pretty big mess in here, you know. [He gestures towards a nearby table where one of his security bots is undergoing heavy repairs.]

Be glad all I did was put you in time out.

[endlesspastability]

[He just sits there, knees drawn up to his chest, expression still unreadable. He picks at his pants, which are pretty well burnt to a crisp by his little self destruct sequence. He finally looks up at Robotnik, his eyes still blue and dim]

.... I'm sorry. I-- I don't want to hurt anyone, not even you or your bots. [Sonic looks over at the remnants of the monitoring machine] My "programming"... is that who was talking, before?

[evilgrows]

Yeah, yeah, I get it, you like to play hero. [He, of course, doesn't sound like he approves.] But for lack of a better way of describing it, yes, that was your programming talking. It's pretty similar to what happened to the guy who used to own this place during his robot stint. Of course, with him I sort of accidentally shut him down and had to... forcibly reboot him, but it's a similar situation.

[Less jail involved, though.]

It's understandable that your base program would take over while undergoing large amounts of stress.

[endlesspastability]

[He "narrows" his eyes, a line creating a brow line] It's not about playing hero, it's about being a half decent person. But fine, next time I won't apologize!

[he stays seated, but picks up the coloring book. So childish. He's not five....

... Oh wait, that's a cool dinosaur]

Stress, huh. Well I guess turning completely into the world's weirdest roomba is pretty stressful.

[evilgrows]

Apologies are little more than words and certainly aren't going to fix the kids. I don't care if you apologize to make yourself feel better or not.

[He jostles one side of the cage free and leans it over on another one. Sonic is free.]

Oh come on, you're far more complex than a Roomba. Give yourself some credit. That kind of complexity is, of course, a lot both physically and mentally. I liken it to when my other arms came in. I didn't have the specific connections to control them with much precision at first. For you, it's the inorganic equivalent of instincts kicking in.

[endlesspastability]

[Well, that response earns an eye roll at least. It's not just to make him feel better... but whatever. It's not worth arguing about.

Sonic stands up and exits the little jail cell, then remembers the coloring book and grabs it]

Instincts... Not sure why a robot needs instincts, but you're the expert. [said a bit sarcastically. He's familiar with instincts at least! He still has a few of his hedgehog ones -- curl into a ball for safe, holes in the ground are good, bugs are tasty. But robot instincts??? He finally looks down and notices... a few things]

.... Who put my pants in the toaster and what are these? [he says, grabbing his now limp and dragging the floor feeding cables] What even.

[evilgrows]

You're a complex machine with a complex AI derived from a complex organism. Do you think you'd know how to do particular robot things if they weren't programmed into you?

[Duh. Besides, from what he can tell, the fog god seems real big on giving people stuff they have to fight against.]

You decided to start sucking the juice out of all of my machinery and myself, then toasted yourself in an attempt to electrocute me. Those appear to be what you use to feed. And to make a giant mess. [He points at an exploded machine.] Be glad I'm not making you pay for the damages.

[endlesspastability]

Well....! No... I guess not. [he pouts. In the end it's just like growing a new pair of legs or wings... your body has to know how to do things. Not that Sonic knows how different this body is from any of the ones he's had before -- he just knows he can tell his legs to walk or his arm to lift and it does, just like he always has.

He grumbles and starts clawing off the destroyed pants. They come off in... several pieces. But hey, he was expecting this. It's why he wore crappy pants]

I did that? That doesn't sound like me. Well... actually, the part about me accidentally electrocuting myself does sound like me. [he shakes the cable, then jumps in surprise when all four retract back into his spine] ... Hokay, that was freaky.

[evilgrows]

More convenient than having them flopping around all the time, I'd bet.

[But also definitely interesting to watch. A small robot with a dustpan attached to the front wheels out to collect the pants pieces once Sonic gets them off.]

From the limited experience I've had with others who've turned into machines here, your personality tends to run as an overlay to your base programming. With your personality off, you're bound to do things you wouldn't normally do. And, of course, still accidentally do things you'd normally do. Now that you've clearly stabilized, you shouldn't have to worry about that for the time being. Just try not to turn yourself off. I can't follow you around everywhere to make sure you don't have any programming mishaps.

[endlesspastability]

Where did they go?! [Sonic spins around, trying to look at his butt] Did they go.... are they in my butt?! I don't want to eat with my butt!!

[but then he spots the little cleaning robot and OH. what a cutie. He crouches down and helps it sweep up the pieces, placing them gently in the dust pan. His eyes turn into sparkling red hearts for a moment, then he looks back up at Robotnik, eyes normal again]

Um... I can try.... but don't I need to like, sleep? Is this gonna happen every time I take a nap?

[evilgrows]

[Robotnik's about to say something disparaging about the concept of eating via butt, but Sonic goes to help the robot and, well, people who aren't himself don't usually have a heart-eyes reaction to his machines.

He'll allow it.]

I doubt it'll effect much. Sleeping is a much less traumatic experience than your body going through a complicated series of changes. It shouldn't be enough to override the personality systems. I can monitor you for a few days to see if anything needs to be addressed, and because you do still need to be studied, but I think you'll be in the clear for normal use.

[endlesspastability]

[well maybe if all the bots you made were as helpful and adorable as this one!!! Sonic also thought the tiny little explosive drone was cute until it lasered the roof off Tom's truck, too]

Mmmm.... [he looks at the little bot again, then pats it a bit while he thinks] ... I think that'd probably be for the best. As weird as it is for you to study me, I'd rather not hurt anyone.

[the implication being that Robotnik can handle him if things DO go South... not that he doesn't care if Robotnik gets hurt. PROGRESS]

[evilgrows]

[The cleaning robot makes a few happy-sounding beeps, then rolls off with the trash to dispose of it.]

It's just basic monitoring, don't expect me to start disassembling you or anything. Yet.

[He lets that hang in the air for a second before he laughs.

And decidedly does not say that he won't ever do it.]

The last guy I studied only had a temporary stint in the land of the artificial, so we had to speedrun the whole thing. I can afford to take my time here. Nothing big yet.

[endlesspastability]

[So cute... He stands up and stretches when the robot rolls off. The laugh SOnic gives Robotnik's "joke" in response is awkward, to say the least]

Ahahaha... well... even if you weren't kidding, I'm not sure my "programming" would be too happy about that.

[he's only just met that guy but he's pretty sure he would attempt to murder anyone who took their body apart]

I guess I don't have anything better to do anyway. So... bring it on, Bugnik.

[evilgrows]

I can handle rogue programming, especially when I'm prepared for it. Well then.

[He laces his fingers together and stretches his arms out in front of him, all six of them.]

Let's get this party started.

[And while he does keep it slow with the usage of machines, and a lot of it is just observation, there is a treadmill involved.]

Just to get some readings.

[endlesspastability]

["Programming". Sonic is going to have to give that guy a name... but what can you even call your evil robot instincts...? He'll have to workshop it.]

This is a pretty boring partEEEEE IS THAT A TREADMILL?!

[sonic is ON THAT SHIT like white on rice. whatever else happens, he's happy as long as he can run.

And run he can. Full tilt. For hours. Without breaking a (figurative) sweat]

aaaa i thought i posted this before work but i forgot to hit submit aaaaa

[evilgrows]

[Full disclosure, Robotnik wasn't really expecting him to take to the treadmill so quickly. Sure, he knows he's big on running (despite how bad it obviously is for you), but under surveillance, in one place? Kid's full of surprises.

He doesn't intend for Sonic to take so long on the thing, but since he's clearly willing to... well, his endurance keeps him busy enough for Robotnik to work on other stuff, so it works out.

He's in the middle of fixing one of the machines Sonic's programming pal broke when he glances over at the readings again, and then over at Sonic.]

...You are really into that thing. No fatigue whatsoever? Battery drain? Joint issues?

dklasj no worries!!!

[endlesspastability]

[lbr he's one of those weird people who just fuckin loves running. One of those "Runner's high" types.

Maybe some of the influence of the nonsense outside is seeping in, or maybe he's just that bored, but Sonic is singing some song quietly with a bit of... autotune??? It sounds like a Portugal the Man song. Of course he'd be into Portugal the Man. ]

Oooooh la, la, la, let's live in the mooooo-meeent.... Huh? Oh. Uh. Nope. Not tired. [he does hop off the treadmill and turn it off, though] I mean, I'm bored. But I DID write a whole telenovela script about anthropomorphic airplanes in my head!! Gotta make sure to write that down. [Spoiler alert, he won't remember to]

[evilgrows]

...That's gonna be a pretty hard sell. I can't even imagine the demographic of that one. And do you even know Spanish?

[Time to make a note of the autotune function at play here, though. He scribbles a few things down with one hand while he continues working on the machine with the others.]

You certainly appear to be functioning normally. No concerning energy spikes, no change in personality, pace is even despite frivolous distraction. So far so good. I'm hoping that little outburst of yours was just an anomaly.

[endlesspastability]

... I have to know Spanish?

[Well that's a dealbreaker. He hums thoughtfully, then starts stretching, easily able to put his hands flat on the ground in front of him]

I hope so too!! I don't like not being in control. That's.... scary... [He stands back up, doing some shoulder stretches now] So... what next?

[evilgrows]

You ran for so long I did manage to get a lot of information that I wasn't entirely expecting to, so that's pretty efficient. I think I should still at least keep you overnight for potential non-traumatic sleep mode observation and safekeeping, and if nothing out of the ordinary happens you're probably cleared to go... do whatever it is you do.

[Stupid things, he's sure.]

If you do cause trouble, then you're stuck here for a while, so if I were you I'd be on my best behavior.

[endlesspastability]

[Definitely stupid things. Especially by Robotnik's exacting standards]

You don't have to worry about ME, Doc. I'm not gonna break anything, I promise! But I can't promise anything for when I'm unconscious. [and that thought sort of scares him] .... not sure I wanna risk it by sleeping, but.... Not sleeping also bad!!!

[evilgrows]

That's precisely why you'll be under surveillance. Now that I'm prepared for the possibility of another outburst, I'll be able to keep you subdued if anything does happen, and then we can figure out what to do about it from there.

[He closes up a panel on the side of the machine he's been working on and it turns on. Good, that's one more thing that's back to functional.]

This isn't a sleep deprivation experiment.