Beginning at the end. (Callie)

It was an early morning in Endymion. A morning like any other. The chirping of the birds sang the backdrop to the morning commute of the great city's work force, most of them no doubt nursing the hangover from the parties that were still going on. Endymion, the city that never sleeps, the demon and party capital of the world! It is in this city that a quick, yet bright flash of light illuminated a dark alleyway that had yet to be touched by the morning sun.


A tall lanky form stretched it's weary body, feeling renewed from it's travels. One year had passed here in Endymion sense he had left, though to him it had been much... much... longer.


A quick examination of the alley reassured the odd looking man that he was indeed alone and no one had seen his entrance. With a chuckle he looked up to the sky and let a wry smile take his smooth angular face "Blue, heh... How easily you forget the sky is supposed to be blue,"


With a pep in his step and a smile in his heart the young android merrily walked down the familiar streets of BackLight waving to old friends he hadn't seen for far far to long! Oh what a happy day it was! He was home! Finally after his long travels to see the world outside his home, the Robot son of BackLight had returned. Seeing so many familiar shops and faces sent shivers down 8D's spine, or perhaps it was that pesky glitch in his confetti cannon acting up again... he would have the Professor take a look when he finally got... "Home!"

The thought of his warm bed and the even warmer welcome he would receive once he got home filled the tall bot's heart with even more joy! If that was even possible that is. No matter how much joy he felt, however, it would not fix the emptiness inside...

...his stomach! Oh how hungry he was! Well... Ok so he couldn't actually GET hungry per say, but he could taste and that was close enough! He so missed the taste of his home... On a whim he stopped by a hotdog cart and used the last of his VC to buy the biggest best dog the man had. After one bite a wide smile found it's way onto the robot's face "Wow, you just can't get that taste of smog and government oppression anywhere but Endymion! This is great Mr, but I wouldn't quit your day job."

"But Grins... This IS my day job!" the rather portly man said with an uncertain look in his eye.

"Then I fear for your future employment! Ehehehe!" Grins would shout as he happily ran away. Yes, there was no city quite as-Um90dGluZw==-exuberant  as Endymion! He was so happy to be home...

No sooner had he had the thought, did Grins arrive at the door to the bar that he had called home sense that night oh so many years ago. One look at the sign filled him with a wistful nostalgia


With a deep breath he threw open the door and let out a happy cry. "I'm Hoooooooome!"

~A New Life~

Callie, Five Years Later

Callie rolled over in her bed as a familiar sound rattled in her ears... It was definitely something annoying, yet nothing dangerous? Or at least she hoped it wasn't she didn't want to have to deal with that right now. O-oh. Realizing it was her alarm that went off, she'd flail her arm in the direction of the alarm for a moment before giving up and just covering her head with a pillow. "Mwwaarrr, five more minutes... Maybe hours..." It surly couldn't be time to get up already, the sun had hardly even rose yet... Or at least her room was still dark enough to warrant sleeping rights. She'd drag her fox styled covers over her head also, wishing there was some way she could just mute her ears or something in an attempt to drown out the noise coming from that stupid alarm 8D had gotten her... W-wait... 8D!

In basically an instant, Callie had thrown all of her bed wear off of herself and almost fell over on multiple occasions trying to quickly dress herself into her normal clothing. She didn't bother to make her bed, (not that she usually bothers to clean her room much anyway~), this was way more important than that! "Ow!" She'd suddenly cry out, stubbing her toe on one of her many knick-knacks that she had scattered around the ground... Okay so maybe cleaning up was kinda required, b-but you know how difficult that could be! It was so time consuming and boring, plus it could wait for now!

It had been so long that she had lived here at the bar with the Professor, Kay and 8D. She was pretty sure it had been almost five years, if not already! Y-yet for the past year 8D had been away on a little adventure so to speak... Well at least that's what J called it, it sounded like so much fun! She was so upset to see him go and not be allowed to go with him. Maybe he'd found lots of cool treasures and useless awesome things! I mean, J also said the place was dangerous, and dangerous places always had treasure, right! It didn't really matter either way, just being able to see Grins again would be a treasure enough for her.

After finishing quickly dressing, Callie didn't even bother to hide away her tail or ears. It was still really early right? No one other than us would be here yet so no one would see. She could just hide them later on, it was nice to be able to not have them confined when they didn't need to be anyway. With a spring in her step and a smile of her face, Callie swung open the door to her room and ran down the hall. Waving to Kay as she ran past her room. "Good morning Kay!" She'd usually stop by and talk to her for a while before venturing out on the days activities but today was special, today she was on a mission!

Bursting through into the main bar area where the front door was, Callie's ears flicked as she could hear the familiar sound of the door creaking open. Still with her full momentum, the poor robot didn't even have a chance to finish the word "home" before Callie had basically tackled him to the ground, hugging him tightly. "8D!!! I've missed you so, so, soooo much! Y-ya gotta tell me everything! Where've you been, what was it like? Did-ja find anything cool? Did ya complete that mission thingy J kept going on about? Am I possibly hugging you too hard?" She felt a little giddy as she loosened her grip slightly to let 8D rebalance himself after her assault, she was beaming with happiness and she couldn't seem to hold back wagging her tail along side. "It felt like you were gone forever!"

Today was the day that Kay was dreading. She had known for a good year that today was coming but that didn't lessen the feeling of dread that plagued her when she woke up this morning at the crack of dawn. She sat up two minutes before her alarm went off, and was dressed and ready to begin her day by the time it did. If nothing else Kay was efficient, all her years working with the Professor made her that way. Not that is efficiency rubbed off on her, it was more like one of them had to actually be capable of getting work done. If it were up to him the front of the bar would still be as old and rundown as it had been five years ago. As such it fell to her to clean and rebuild the bar. Such a task would have taken a team of carpenters a good year to do, with only a little fox girl and a mad scientist, it took about a month.

Now, onto why she was dreading today... One year ago 8D, who had gotten his body around the third month of their stay in the bar, was tasked by J to go on a quote "Exploratory Mission," and as a result he would be gone for about a year... What this meant for Kay was a full year without the clown and fox messing things up and making things untidy. Don't get her wrong, she loves the both of them(at least as much as an Ice Queen like her can) but not having one half of the dynamic duo around made it so much easyer to keep things clean and in order. Chock it up to her military training but not a thing was out of place in the common areas of the Bar or attached apartment. J's lab and  Callie's room were outside her legal jurisdiction and thus beyond cluttered, it was something that she had grown to accept. At least Grins kept his living space moderately tidy.

"Good morning Callie," Kay said from her door as she watched the little bundle of love and joy run past and break for the Bar. Yes today was the day Grins came back from his mission... So much for spick and span... Kay sighed as she went to make sure breakfast was ready and to try and drag J from his lab in the basement. Though she didn't get far in the second task, however. Much to her surprise J himself opened the door leading to the basement and greeted the day all on his own.

"AH! What a glorious day! Good morning Callie!" J shouted as he saw Callie rush past, he let out a small chuckle and scratched under his gas mask. "What an Incorrigibly happy little girl Hmhmhm. AH Kay my darling, a good morning to you as well, tell me, what is on the menu for caloric intake this morning?"

"When are you going to take off that gas mask? You and I both know you don't need it anymore... And I'm not your darling." Kay sighed as she walked into the kitchen and started pulling pans from the cupboards "French Toast... 8D's favorite, might as well give him a warm welcome after the hell we just put him through."

"Oh I'm right sure he's just fine! A few moments with our little Callie should eliminate any woes he may have gained during his travels." With a hearty laugh J would take his seat at the breakfast table and open the morning's newspaper.


"-OOOOly BOLTS!" 8D would be cut off as ten metric tons of joy and happiness slammed into him at mock ten sending him to the ground with a heavy thud. His head nearly popped off form the impact force. He blue screened for only a moment before rebooting to find a particularly happy Callie clinging to him for dear life. "Callie!" not waiting an instant the bot sat back up and returned the bolt crushing hug that the little girl gave him

"Oh how I've missed you so so so soooooo much! J and kay eh-But you I've missed every day I was away! I have so much to tell you about my travels! But first You may be hugging me a tad bit to hard, if this goes on much longer I fear my head may-" Before he could finish his head rocketed from his shoulders with an audible popping sound and flew a few feet into the bar before bouncing twice and rolling to a stop. "Pop right off! Ehehe!"

Now headless his body would do it's best to stand while still holding Callie and begin wondering the bar looking for his head. "Over here you twit! I swear, this boy's lose his own... HEAD if it wasn't screwed on! Ehehe"

"Oh! Woops! I got it!" Callie would suddenly leap up to try to catch the head out of the air as it flew across the bar, unfortunately it seemed the extra time of having to un-hug 8D first was a split second too long as the head slipped past her fingers and she fell back to the ground with a thud. "Heh... My bad! Sorry about that." She'd say, smiling up at the now confused body of 8D. This was always the best part! His body would usually flail about for ages as Grins tried to call it over to him, it never did learn to listen properly. Then again the body doesn't have any ears!

She'd giggle happily as she stood herself back up and dusted herself off. "Come on tin can, we'll find that head 'o yours in no time!" Leaning against the robots body as they searched the bar, Callie was over joyed to be playing one of their stupid games again. It had been way, waaay too long since she got to do anything this silly! J was often busy with his own things and... Well Kay is better left to just talking to, ya know? "Aha!" She'd proclaim as she bent over to pick up the clowns head and presenting it to his body. "Here you go 8D, a brand new head, spick and span! Ready for all that headly duties you required It for!"

Picking up some of the chairs 8D had knocked over as he wandered around before Kay could see, Callie couldn't help herself but beckon out more questions towards the bot. She was so curious about what he had been up to all this time! S-she didn't want to wait any longer. "Spill the beans Grins! Come on, tell me everything that happened! I want every tiny detail down to the last hole in the wall! How different was it there? Did you meet any bad guys? Did you make any alien friends? What was the temperature like there? Was the wild life weird and varied? C-could you jump really high cause the gravity was different? Did they have cute little gift shops? ---" Callie would continue to ask seemingly random questions over and over, not even giving 8D a chance to reply before blurting out the next, until he would try to stop her. Today was a great day!

"You'll never take me alive! Ehehe!" 8D's head laughed heartily as it narrowly escaped Callie's grasp. His victory was short lived, however, as once he hit the ground his CPU rattled inside his head and gave him a massive headache... Once he shook it off though, the chase was on! 8D's body marched aimlessly around the empty bar feeling around for anything that could be it's head while Callie tried to direct it towards it's prize. In the confusion the headless jokester found himself behind the bar and in the possession of one clean mug. With great pride and assurance that all was well the topless bot placed the mug over it's neck hole and gave Callie a proud thumbs up.

"Hey Booz for brains! That's not yer head! Doesn't even look good on ya. talk about an ugly... MUG! Ehehe" 8D's head rolled with laughter as Callie presented it back to it's body. Once reattached, 8D's head would spin three times before sitting right and shooting steam out his ears. "Ah that's much better! Thanks Callie! You really know how to stick... YOU NECK out for a guy! Ehehe." With a happy sigh 8D helped pick up the mess the two had made before sitting down in at one of the tables and inviting Callie to join him.

"Well-Actualy I-Why yes I-Warmer then-Oh like-This one-I actualy, ok hold on." 8D chuckled as Callie went on and on with question after question, not bothering to breath or give him a chance to respond. Ah... How he had missed this... "Callie Callie! Calm your ears! Ehehe one question at a time, I only have one mouth. So what do you want to know first?" 8D smiled and held his hands up trying to stop the flow from the young girls mouth.

Callie would return the thumbs up, regardless of if the body could see it or not and laugh joyfully as 8D took the mick out of himself. "At least this mug makes the effort to keep itself clean!" She'd reply in a very jokey kind of way before shoving the smoke that came from 8D's ears away with her hands. "Hehe, don't mention it metal head!" She'd smirk at the bot, insulting people wasn't really something that she usually enjoyed doing. Yet after spending so much time with 8D it almost became natural to tease him in small ways, it was fun and they both knew nothing was meant by it!

Callie would lower her ears flat on her head when 8D told her to calm down, she'd also tilt her head downwards whilst still keeping eye contact trying to make herself look upset when in reality she was still smiling. "Okaaayy, fiiinneeee. Hmm... Let's see." This was an important decision! The first question had to be the most important one, something exciting and daring, something that would require a long answer but would probably be condensed down to a small explanation because people were lazy! Oh! "Okay, I got it! You didn't meet any foxes out there, did you?"

"Foxes?" 8D deadpanned at the little girl for a second utterly confused by what she had just asked... Surely J and Kay had told her even a LITTLE about where he really went. He knew for a fact that J wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut about it even thought they all had agreed to keep Callie as innocent to their mission as possible... Even her earlier questions seemed to point to her knowing what was really going on here... though...  The first question she asks in earnest is about if he met any other foxes while he was out. A small smile creped onto 8D's face and he let out a small chuckle "If you're really asking if I met any foxes as cute as you the answer is a solid no, ehehe. Though yes I do remember one fox, I was only there for a short time but he looked so cute in his little bib... Ehehe," 8D sighed and allowed that one to be brushed off, as if he'd even go there.

"Oh oh! Now I have a fun idea! How about we play a game of questions! When you ask one about my trip I get to ask one about what I missed! Oh this will be such fun. Ok My turn... Hmmmmm," Grins tapped his chin in thought for a moment as he tried to come up with the perfect question to get the most information out of Callie in one turn... This would take most-NO... All of his cunning. Callie was smarter then she let on, she was the student of the great Professor J  after all (or at least he talked at her and hoped she absorbed some of the information... perhaps starting with advanced calculus was a bad Idea). Hmmmmmmmmm...-Oh quit stalling to make the post longer!-

"I've got it! Did you miss me? Ehehe" Nailed it...

"Hehehe." Callie would blush lightly at the complement 8D threw her way, he was usually very good at making her feel embarrassed in so many different ways! Especially when out in public, he could do such silly things and really make a fool of himself, or make a fool out of her! Although, it was often quite funny at the same time and personally she wouldn't have the insane bot any other way! "Ohhhh! So you did see a fox out there? W-what did it look like? And why was it wearing a bib? W-was it a baby fox?" She'd tilt her head in confusion, why would a fox ever need a bib? T-that didn't make any sense at all!

"O-oooh!" That idea sounded like fun! Everything was better when it was a game! That's just common knowledge right there, why have a boring conversation when you can have a fun one, ey? "Come on then, spit it out! Ya stalling!" It wasn't like it took her this long to come up with questions, she had about um... Stopping to try and count on her fingers, she realized she didn't have enough fingers... A lot of questions pretty quickly you know! J had taught her that trick of counting with her fingers, it was really useful sometimes! B-but not so much when what you're trying to count is higher than ten!

Callie's smile suddenly disappeared and she gave 8D a really straight emotionless face. She stared at him like that for only a moment before she couldn't contain herself and laughed. "Of course I did ya big dummy! The past year felt like it dragged on forever without you around to play with. J is always busy with that science mumbo-jumbo he likes to do, and as much as Kay can be really nice to talk to she ain't one for playing around... As you probably know best, hehe." She paused for a moment and took a deep breathe in, something had caught her attention, it was something that smelt wonderful! "Oh! 8D it smells like you're in for a treat, Kay must be making you're favorite back there, it smells incredible!"


Then she remembered. "But first it's my turn! Hmmm..." What did she want to know the most? It was easier when she could just spew all of her questions out at once! This process of picking the important ones was hard... "Uhhmmm... What did it look like there? Was it much different from here? D-do you think I'd like it there? Did you like it there? Was it all pretty and stuff?" Callie would scrunch up her mouth realizing she had started asking multiple questions again and thought it best to stop before Grins might notice, maybe she'd get lucky and he'd answer them all anyway!

"Oh no no no, it wasn't a baby at all! If anything he was a grumpy old man fox, yet he still wore this cute little bib with hearts on it! I will admit it looked strange but I just didn't have the... HEART to tell him! Ehehehe," 8D laughed and nearly fell from his chair at his, frankly, hilarious pun. Ahhh... even after all this time away he's still got it! Though his laughter stopped when Callie gave her answer to his question... Speaking of hearts his would have melted if it was organic... A small genuine smile played on his face as he reached over the table and gave Callie an affectionate pet, being carful not to bring his hand down to hard on her ears. "It makes me very happy to know that Callie... Thank you. Makes every day I was away worth it just to come home and hear you say that. Ehehehe. And yeah, it doesn't surprise me that Kay isn't the best playmate, remember when she tried to trick us into thinking sweeping the bar was a game? Ehehe, though if it was I would have won by a... CLEAN SWEEP! Eheheh."

8D's nose would twitch at the same time Callie's did... was that?"Is... is Kay making her French Toast?..." 8D's mouth began to water at the very thought of that delicious  golden brown delicacy that Kay was preparing... She knew it was his favorite and she made it on the day he was coming back"Sniff... Maybe she dose care..." 8D held back a laugh as he wiped a fake tear from his eye.

"What did it look like? Well... I went so so many different places that It's really hard to say! There were some places that were almost exactly the same as here, blue sky, wet water, and happy people! But other places were very strange, I even ended up in a place that was just a great big tower, and another place where everyone dressed up like super heroes! Ehehe, That one was one of my favorites. But most of them were just empty... No one to talk to and no one to play games with... But yes, I think you would have liked some of them. Next time I go you should come with! It would be nice to have a companion to travel with! Ehehe" Grins smiled and hoped Callie was satisfied with his answer... there might come a day when he would have to be a bit more honest, but that day wasn't today... Though it's not like he lied, he did to got the places he described.

"Ok! My turn! Hmmmmm" 8D thought for a moment before one of the balls hanging from his hair lit up like a light bulb "Aha! Did you make any new friends while I was away?"

"Hehehe, that sounds so strange! I wish I coulda seen him. I bet he was a right character!" She wondered what he was like, and what had possessed an old man to wear a bib! He musta had a reason right? Maybe it was just the sort of thing they did in that world, to him it was probably just normal! T-though why was he grumpy? Perhaps 8D had annoyed him, that was probably quite a reasonable expectation. Although if it wasn't him she hoped that the old fox would be happy soon, she wished she could help them! Either way, Callie would smile and blush as 8D petted her, she was glad he enjoyed her answer so much!


"Hehe, yeah she isn't the most playful of people is she. Although I do love her for other reasons!" Such as that one time when Callie went out playing in the woods! She came back with her hair all knotted and small branches and leaves tangled in her hair and clothes, it took Kay over an hour to clean her all up! "Ohh yeah! I remember that, and of course you won that game, you don't get tired nearly as fast as I do! So that was cheating!" She'd giggle as she thought back on all the little tricks Kay had played on them to get them to do what she wanted. "It was quite fun though! Making a game out of anything makes it way more fun to do!"

Callie couldn't help but join in with the excitement of Kay's food, even if French toast wasn't her personal favorite, Kay's cooking was almost always amazing! N-not trying to be rude by saying almost or anything! I-it was just that one time where she was too busy helping J out and forgot she had something cooking in the oven! T-then the fire alarm went off cause it went all smokey and everyone in the bar ran out all at once, hehe, it was quite a funny sight to watch in all fairness! Callie then proceeded to lean over the table herself to help 8D remove the 'tears' from his eyes. "Of course she cares about you! She wouldn'ta put up with you for this long if she didn't! We're both just too different from her, she doesn't get the way we play and mess around. Ya know?" She'd give 8D a reassuring hug whilst she was still leant over the table, even if he was joking Callie had to make sure 8D stayed happy! Especially as he had only just got back!

"Woah... Those all sound so cool! B-but how can you have a place that is just a tower? Was there no ground outside the tower? Wouldn't that mean the tower was floating? Or could you not see outside the tower...? B-but if you got to the top of the tower you'd have a great view of nothingness right! A-and what about that super hero place? Where they all the same kinda hero or were they all different and unique? Did they actually have super powers like in those cartoons or did they just dress up for fun? Maybe you went whilst it was Halloween for them! A-although those empty places sound scary, I wouldn't like to go to one of those... Or at least not on my own! I would hate to be all on my lonesome in some weird empty place... I'd be so lonely, too lonely! A-and you wouldn't be there! That would be horrible..." Callie paused to take a deep breath in, the first one she had managed to grasp onto since she started talking... She really needed to learn how to slow down when she was excited! It's gonna make her pass out one of these days, or... "*Hiccup*" ... Damn it.

"*Hiccup*, ahh!" Callie shook her head as if that would somehow make the strange sensation in her throat go away, she hated the hiccups and never truly understood them. They were annoying and always butted in when yo-"*Hiccup*"-u were talking! Trying to compose herself to ignore them for now, she had to now answer his question! M-maybe if she just talked really fast again it would go away! That made total sense to her.

"Weeelllll, no. Not really. Well actually sorta. But only kinda. Sorta like a maybe yes but with a hint of perhaps not? Like I would say I did, but then some may say I didn't, so I dunno what you'd could it as so I dunno!" She paused to scratch her head, confusing herself a little with her roundabout way of talking. "Well basically yes! I did, yet I haven't seen them for a while. I met them out at the park one day whilst you were gone. It was a little puppy, it had really fuzzy fur and its tail wagged so quickly the entire time! He was such a happy little pup, and his owner was completely fine with me petting the cute little thing and playing with them! Their name was Skip if I remember correctly, or at least that's what the owner called out as they had to *hiccup* go!" Nooo! She thought her marvelously devised plan had worked until right at the end it came back. Mwwaarrr, these things were annoying! "A-anyway I saw them at the park a few times, but the last time I saw them was at least a couple mo-*hic*-nths ago now... S-so I dunno what happened to them, I hope they're okay!"

"Right! Now it's my turn, right?" She'd question as if she didn't already know the answer. Well, I mean she did kinda ask a lot of questions in response to his answer to her previous question which was also multiple questions... B-but those didn't count right! No! Of course not, that wasn't part of the rules that she had just invented inside her own head! "Okay! Hmm..." So now the real question was, what was the next question! Well... Actually she was kinda curious about the same thing Grins had asked her! "So what about you then? Did ja make any new friends yourself whilst you were out and about? I bet you met so many weird and wonderful people! You must've at least met someone nice along the way, right?"

"No she isn't! In fact I don't quite think she even really knows how to play. Now that I'm back we should bug her until she learns and we can all gang up on J to make him take more breaks and spend more time with us as a family. Ehehe." Grins chuckled at the thought of them pestering Kay until she cracked and became just as mad as the rest of them in the apartment. The image of that perfect blue hair frazzled with crazed look in her eye and clutching a rubber mallet as she tore through the professor's lab filled the bots heart with joy. Though apparently Kay finaly mastered the art of mind reading as a particularly sharp knife flew from the kitchen and struck 8D in the back of the head, embedding itself fairly deep into his language center. His head spun slightly as he hugged Callie back

"Este mensaje no se traduce bien dosis Callie, ¿por qué se molestó a enviarlo a través de traductor Google?" 8D said in a distinct hispanic accent before reaching back and pulling the knife from his skull."Wow that hurt, heh, talk about a... sPAIN in the neck! Ehehehe,"

"We love and cherish you 8D..." Kays voice could be heard clear form the kitchen... Good to see her anger management classes are paying off.

8D chuckled as he rubbed his new knife hole and listened to Callie's ramblings. With a smile he would stand and go to the bar's sink to pour her a tall glass of water to help with those hiccups. "I can't really answer any questions about the tower place. iI didn't spend much time there cus by the time I got there everyone had left so not much point in sticking around. Ehehe. As for the Superhero place well... I think they were all just playing pretend. At least that's the impression I got from em sense no-one could fly or throw cars or nothen." 8D snickered as he handed Callie the glass and instructed her to drink it upside down.

"I'm sure your new friends are aaaaaaaaaaaall right," 8D reassured as he sat back down at the table."If you want we can go look for them later today! I'm sure they'll be there, and if they aren't we'll write em in! Ehehehe,"

"No..." 8D's answer was almost to quick to Callie's question he sat in silence for a moment before realizing what he had said "Its hard yo really make friends when you're only in the same place for a few days... hehe... I didn't get to know to many people to well. Maybe if I had stuck around I could have made some good new pals to tell jokes to and have fun with, but then I would have taken even longer to come back and would have used all my jokes up before I could tell them to you! And I can't have that now can I? ehehe"

8D thought for a second on what his next question should be... Hmmm... OH! "Ehehe... My turn..." He said with a wink."Has that Zavie boy asked you out yet, and if he has, has Old Man J threatened him with painful science to try and scare him off? Ehehehehehe"

"Hehehe, that sounds like an amazing ide-AHH!" Callie almost fell off of her seat with how badly she jumped as a knife suddenly struck into the back of 8D's head. Callie would sit frozen for a moment, shaking slightly as her robo companion started talking to her in a way she couldn't even slightly understand. "K-Kaaayy! Y-you made me jump out of my skin! W-what if you missed? A-and I think you broke 8D!" No sooner had she said that then Grins would pull the knife out of his head and return to his usual ways of speaking. "W-well kinda broke? You still scared me!"

Callie would quickly shake off her fear and return to her usual self once 8D began to talk about the places he had been, she was very easily distracted from the things she didn't like. Besides, the scare of the knife seemed to have made her hiccups go away! So there's always a positive~. "Aww, that's a shame! I betcha that tower had some really cool secrets hiding about just waiting to be found!" Callie had always considered herself to be a little treasure hunter, I mean have you seen the state of her room? It was just filled with all the useless wonders she'd collected over the years! "That super hero place sounds SUPER cool though! You'd get to go around wearing whatever you like all the time and no one would ever judge you for it!... Maybe they wouldn't think my gifts were so strange there!" Professor J had taught her not to think of her abnormalities as something strange and horrible, but instead gifts that only she had! I mean they were so very useful sometimes!

Even though her hiccups had already disappeared, Callie still happily accepted the glass of water. All this quick talking was starting to make her throat a little itchy. "Y-you really thing they'd be there?" She'd question after talking a few quick gulps of her water. "We can't just show up and have the people we want to find magically show up you know! I've been going there every few days myself to check, and like I said I haven't seen them in a while." She pondered on the thought for a moment. "But either way we should still go! It'll be fun, and I can show you this reeaaalllyy cool place I found at the park too! I bet you'll love it!"

H-huh...? Callie would lay her ears down flat as 8D sat in silence... His sudden and straight answer wasn't something she had expected, nor was something he did very often so it had surprised her. She would continue to keep her ears laid down as he spoke, she felt so sorry for him... She hadn't liked the fact that he had been away for so long cause she didn't have her best friend to mess around with! B-but she hadn't really thought about the fact he might not have anyone to talk to himself. At least she still had J and Kay whilst he was gone. "Oh... I'm sorry 8D. That must've been real hard not to have anyone to talk to for so long!" She'd pause and give him a reassuring smile. "B-but at least you're back now! Right? We'll have lots of fun just like we always used to!"

Callie's face would suddenly scrunch up as she tried her best to put on an annoyed face. "Grrriiinnnssss! Stop teasing mee! You know I haven't seen him since that night so many years ago, and even if I did like him then, who can tell when I'll next see him. If ever!" Although, that did remind her. She had planned to go out and explore somewhere new soon, probably the next time she gets a free morning. She had kept her half of the charm she had shared with Zavie all those years ago and nearly once every week would go out with it and search around to no prevail. Though, that didn't stop her optimism, she loved to see the new areas she hadn't been to before anyway! Plus she believed in the charm working, as long as Zavie had kept ahold of his side of the charm it'll work one of these days!

Right... This one was a tricky one, Callie wanted to ask more questions but now she had the fear that she might ask another one that would result in a sad answer! So she had to think reeaall carefully about what it was she wanted to ask. "Hmm..." Callie stared around the bar for inspiration before realizing something. "... Where's Lulu?" She gasped, realizing in her hurry she had forgotten to bring her beloved teddy along with her! Lulu would want to see 8D again as well! As quickly as she could, Callie would suddenly dart off back towards her room to grab the stuffed bear. "I'll be right baaacckk!"

"He's fine... Now wash your hands, breakfast is almost ready. Also it's your bath day so 8D, lock the front door so she can't escape. I already got the back door and all the windows..." Kay's dull monotone sounded extra uninterested with the world as she put the finishing touches on the first family meal they'd have in many months. Eating together like this had fallen by the wayside sense the... Lasagna Incident...

"I love you to Kay!" 8D snickered as he stood and quickly closed the front door to the bar, latching it shut and slapping a padlock onto it. Just for good measure he swallowed the key... Never can be to sure..."Oh trust me! I'm sure it had a lot of lost treasures and things left behind, Buuuuuuut trust me when I say it's not worth the headache or the legal battles to be aloud to use that stuff in canon. Ehehehe."  Grins did give it a thought though... Perhaps-No- if he-NO- were to-I said NO damn it!-

"Oh Cal," 8D shook his head and scratched the poor girls ears with a genital hand. "There's nothing strange about your gift. You live in a bar with a mad scientist, a homicidal army girl, and the most handsome robot clown ever built... If anything you're the normal one around here! Eheheh!"

"I wouldn't say Mad!" J's voice from the living room sounded slightly hurt... -Awwww, poor baby....-"I would say slightly upset, or uncomfortable. Maybe even Malcontent! But I wouldn't go as far as to say MAD..." More mumbling could be heard... but it was probably more of the same.

"I missed you to Dad! Ehehehe," Ah Grins was getting on everyone's nerves today, and after only being back a couple of hours! Talk about hitting the ground running! Ehehehe."...Also you'd be surprised Callie," he added a wink to that one. "It's amazing how some people will just show up when you want them to in Endymion, at least when I'm around that is. Ehehehe. Now that I'm back we'll look for your other friends until we find them again! Then we can all play and tell jokes together! Oh what FUN that will be!" The happy robot was nearly jumping with Joy as he picked Callie up and swung her around like a happy marry go round.

"That's right Callie! I'm home now so we can all run and play and have fun all day! We can look for Zavie together, we can work shifts at the bar together, we can do anything you want! Ehehe! And I promise that I'll never leave for that long again, and even if I have to you can come with me!" 8D hated to lie to her... but he so missed seeing her smiling face and happy outlook on life. Knowing what was coming made his heart sink, but the knowledge that he was here to protect what little he cared about was enough to keep the joy in his heart.

He would let Callie go so she could go grab Lulu, and probably hide from the promise of a bath. Once he was alone in the bar he would let out a heavy sigh and reach into his pouch for the large yellow sphere inside. It was no bigger then a baseball, but it felt heavy in his hand... His teeth clenched and eyes burned as he remembered where he had gotten it, but a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders. This would make everything right, and hopefully mean that his joy was safe.
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"Breakfast is ready, 8D did you lock the door?" Kay's voice knocked 8D from trance.

"Of course! After all, how could I afford not to if Callie's bath... HINGES on me! Ehehehe,"

[8D has left to go get ready for breakfast]

Callie's ears flicked at the word she despised so much. They then would lay flat on her head as her smile slowly drifted from her face and she lowered her head into her shoulders, trying to look as upset about the situation as she possibly could. Baths were the worst thing! Callie just didn't understand them at all, she hated water anyway, it messed with her hair and she always ended up getting water in her ears and her tail would become all frizzy and horrible! Wet fur was the wooorrrssttt! Besides, the main reason she was told people had baths made no sense to her either! Why would you want to remove your natural smell? That's how you identify yourself! "C-c'mon Kay! Heh, heh it's like... The first day 8D is back a-and stuff! D-don't ruin it for me like this!"

She'd shake her head in denial and try to forget about it for now. She can deal with dodging that boat when she comes to it!... Or wait, not dodging the boat? Wouldn't being on a boat stop her from getting wet...? Hmm... Either way, she was glad 8D was trying to cheer her up. "Hehe, of course it isn't weird around here! We're all very strange in our own ways. But that's what makes us special, right?" Honestly, even if she was given a choice not to be how she was, she doubted she'd take it. It may get her into some bad situations sometimes, but she enjoyed being unique, being normal would be so boring!

"Oh I hope so!" It's always nice to see friends, especially ones you hadn't seen for such a long time! Hence why today was such an amazingly special day to her. She had missed her robot pal so dearly! "Ya-huh! We'll make sure to make up for lost time and have lots of fun everyday okay! Together we could make anything fun if we tried. And I'm glad to hear you won't be leaving again any time soon. I'd love to come with you next time you have ta though!" She'd laugh happily as 8D spun her around, she had missed this so much.

Dashing off to get Lulu, Callie would evaluate the area as she ran past, checking every possible exit to see if Kay had missed something or she could see a weak point to try and duck out of here later on. Unfortunately, by the time she reached her room she couldn't find anything... All those more hidden ways out she had found before were all closed as well! Kay was getting better at finding her secrets, and this place didn't have infinite of them! She'd run out one of these days... Callie would give Lulu a long awaited hug as she picked the bear up off of her bed and apologized that she had forgotten her in the mornings rush. But now... Where to hide...

[Callie has left to hide from the watery torment]