You are a useless child, useless child without me to guide you

[ojisankink]

It’s very, very cold.

Barnaby can feel the urge to sneeze itching at the tip of his nose, interrupting his sleep. He tries to ignore it as best he can, but breathing in the cool air only makes it worse until he has no choice but to rub at his nose.

For a moment, when he tries to lift an arm to do just that and finds it pinned to his side, he panics, eyes shooting open. That’s when he notices he’s been tucked in. Not as well as his mom or Samantha would… it’s very sloppy, the blankets wrinkled and… adult sized clothing layered over top of them. Weird.

That’s when Barnaby finally gets a look at the room surrounding him and can deduce this is definitely not his house. It’s way too old, and dusty, even if it seems someone did their best tidying up the mess. There’s no sign of his toys or stuffed animals. His chemistry set isn’t on the dresser like it should be.

The only toy he seems to have is his little blue robot. He must have snuck it into bed again, even if Mom tried to stop him.

Before they went to bed… wherever this is.

After a few moments of fidgeting, Barnaby gets untangled from the sheets, nearly falling off the bed with a yelp before he regains his balance. Toy still clutched tightly in his hands, he looks down at himself, silently grateful that whoever put him to bed didn’t change him into pajamas, and heads out into the maze of hallways.

This place is huge… but Mom and Dad wouldn’t have gone far without him, right?

“Mom? Dad? Aunt Samantha?”

He calls for them a few times, until he remembers who his parents were making plans to visit with the night before. Is this really his house?

“Mr. Maverick? Anyone?”

Comments

[lostbunny]

“Chara! That’s a cool name.”

He does come of rich stock, which probably explains his polite demeanor, even if excitement slips from it occasionally. The hand around Chara’s mouth is a sign of a secret, and Barnaby leans forward… only for his smile to rapidly fade.

“That’s… That must be a lie. They’re definitely here! They wouldn’t leave me alone.” His bottom lip juts out a bit, betraying his age.

[itstheend]

Chara has precious little experience with children younger than them, and moreover their sense of what is true and what isn't is somewhat shaky - so while it does feel like denial to them, they aren't sure.

"I suppose..." the idea is slow, said as it's forming. "It would not do any harm to look. Perhaps they arrived the same way."

It's within the realm of possibility, at least. Part of them itches at the idea of 'wouldn't leave me alone', but they shove it under, ignore it. Meaningless.

[lostbunny]

Barnaby brightens a bit to hear the child agree that they might be here. He hopes they have... though they must be worried then, having woken up in a strange place.

"They must be looking for me, too. I'm sure I'll find them soon."

But if they're looking for him, it might be better for him to stay in one place? Hmm.

[itstheend]

There is a secret, and it is that underneath all the thorns and vines and layers of defensive armor, Chara is a softie at the core. This is true of their younger self as well.

"If you are amenable, perhaps you could tell me what they look like. That way if I see them in my travels I can tell them you are here."

There's a subtle undercurrent to this - they will only do this if Barnaby is sure he wants them to know. Everything they've seen so far suggests he does, but they still feel the inexplicable urge to make sure.

[lostbunny]

That is a secret that Barnaby’s older self was already a little convinced was true, especially since he had been exactly the same a few years ago. Now his softie side is a little more apparent.

Being a softie, Barnaby doesn’t see any issues with letting Chara know a few extra facts.

“Oh! Um, my dad is named Barnaby, like me! He’s really tall, and he’s got brown hair, and big eyes that my mom teases him about, and um… he might still be wearing his lab coat, or just a sweater. I don’t know if he would be at work before he came here. My mom’s name is Emily! She’s really pretty. Dad says I look a lot like her. She has curly blonde hair like mine, and glasses, and she’s a little shorter than him but still pretty tall.”

[itstheend]

Chara carefully files the information away - they haven't seen anyone who looks like that in their travels, and they've explored a decent amount around the Castle, although not so extensively as to be sure they haven't missed them.

"Your father is a scientist?"

That holds their interest some - it's not a profession they've come into personal contact with outside of media.

"Would you prefer to be called Barnaby Junior?"

They wouldn't, personally, but their preferences don't matter here - they want to be sure.

[lostbunny]

“Both my parents are! They, um, they make robots and protective suits and stuff! It’s really cool, they’re trying to help people and protect them. They let me see their latest project, it’s like a robotic butler, but they’re trying to make it look like a person so it doesn’t scare little kids and stuff.”

Barnaby obviously isn’t scared because he’s a big kid. But at the question, he sticks his tongue out in a particularly immature move.

“No, that sounds all stuffy. I like Barnaby!”

[itstheend]

Robots and protective suits. Such things aren't unheard of in 211X, but they're not household items, and are expensive. It sounds like Barnaby's parents have the sort of affluence their own dream of.

Chara becomes even more inclined to become cautious.

"Barnaby it is, then."

Their older self would have adopted a dry tone, a show of casually twisting deference into defiance as is acquired habit, but as of now it's carefully earnest.

Honestly the scariest things Chara can think of look like people, but that would be... weird and creepy in and of itself to say, wouldn't it? Instead they let just a hair of curiosity out to test the waters. "Does that mean your house is full of robots?"

[lostbunny]

They're certainly not household items, but Barnaby thinks his parents are working to change that. He has endless admiration for them, and they always seem excited for what the future could bring when he talks to them.

He smiles at their confirmation. "And you're Chara! Mom says you have to repeat names if you want to remember them."

He giggles softly and shakes his head.

"Nope. I just have a toy one," he says, holding up his little blue figurine, "but the lab where my parents work have lots of robots. It's really cool in there! They're really big, and they look like... like from cartoons!"

[itstheend]

"I am."

They confirm. That's the first Chara's heard of that saying, and it's odd to someone who has been called weird or worse for their tendency to repeat, adding an extra layer of unease to their general demeanour of someone trying to navigate a conversational maze while blindfolded.

'Really big' does not sound like a trait one necessarily looks for in butlers, which suggests they build other things as well, and Chara is torn between twin 'well, duh, Chara' and 'maybe he considers person sized to be big' thoughts.

From cartoons. Chara's brain makes a particular chain of association and just punts the question out at the end without prior consultation, a tactic they hate.

"May I ask if they build mecha?"

This kid has a fondness for anime ok.

[lostbunny]

Well, Barnaby might have learned things very differently than Chara had, living a rather sheltered life so far. He’s young, though. Maybe in the future he’ll be called weird for the very same thing.

They build all sorts of things, of course, but a four-year-old is not good at describing all these things. Plus person-sized is big for a robot, so it’s a bit from both columns. The question makes him blink, and then grin. He knows about a couple anime, the ones Samantha lets him watch and the ones he watches when it’s late at night and he thinks he can turn on the TV without getting into trouble.

“I mean, I don’t know. Maybe? I haven’t seen like any people piloting robots. It’d be really cool if they did though!”

[itstheend]

"Perhaps it is a top secret project."

Chara can dream. Chara also pretty clearly doesn't have much experience with four year olds. They can tell they've done something right, at least. They step out onto a branch with the next question.

"Do they make robots for you? Perhaps one of those might be a surprise for you."

Gifts are something good parents do, right? Those mythical, hypothetical, theoretical beings.

[lostbunny]

“Probably! They have to keep lots of stuff secret. Otherwise people will steal research or something. Try to copy them.”

Chara may not have much experience with four-year-olds, but their comment on a gift certainly gets Barnaby’s attention.

“Oh! They made me this one!” He holds out the blue toy. “Maybe they’re going to make a new one too!”

[itstheend]

Chara looks at it, partly as is customary, partly out of a flicker of genuine interest welling up through the layers. All the same, look don't touch. Don't want to break it, for example.

"What does it do?"

It might just be exactly what it looks like. They feel they have to ask all the same. He sounds excited about the prospect of a new one, they think.

"An even better one, do you think?"

After all, if it isn't broken, don't fix it. The sense of floundering that hasn't left them this entire conversation is still in full force.

[lostbunny]

Barnaby giggles and continues holding it out, an offering for his new friend.

"It talks to me! Tells me stories and sings songs and stuff. It doesn't move very well, though. You can hold it if you want!"

It's a simple little toy, really, but it's impressive for what it is.

"So if they were going to make something better, probably something that could walk around and play with me and stuff!"