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“I don’t know Rabbit.” Hatchworth said as he stared at the remnants of the Christmas decorations.
“Are you sure about this?”
Rabbit jumped down from the stepladder and admired the fully decorated tree. It glimmered merrily in the light of the fireplace.
“It’ll be funny Hatchworth, don’t worry about it.”
The other Automaton still didn’t look convinced and Rabbit turned to face Hatchworth
“So where is he at the moment?” She asked.
The Art deco bot pointed above them.
“He’s powered down in his room.”
The Jon ran into the room and nodded enthusiastically in confirmation, “everyone else is asleep.”
Rabbit chuckled and rubbed her hands together with glee, the sound creating a tiny screech as metal scraped against metal.
The Jon smiled mischievously and threw an arm around the copper robot,
“You got the supplies?”
Rabbit rattled the box happily and The Jon opened a flap to sneak a peak. over in the corner, Hatchworth fiddled with his shirt buttons and looked down at the wooden floor.
“I think I’ll sit this one out friend-o.” He stammered, trying to ignore his looks of disbelief from the other bots. He huffed, letting a puff of steam from his hat. He left the room to power down until the whole thing blew over. This was a risk he didn’t want to take.
Rabbit was only put off for a moment and she turned to the Jon, grinning.
“Ah who needs him. You st-still in the Jon?”
With excitement pumping through their circuits, they both crept up the many flights of stairs in the manor, passing room after room, until finally, they were there. Rabbit faced the Jon, her white porcelain faceplate uncharacteristically serious.
“If you want to back out, this is your chance, no questions, no hard feelings.”
The Jon shook his head and smiled, Rabbit nodded and slowly opened the door and entered the room.
It was pitch black. If it weren’t for her keen sight from Pappy, Rabbit would be tripping and falling all over the place. She saw in the far corner, sitting motionless on the bed and leaning against the wall, was The Spine. Rabbit gestured excitedly to the Jon and they snuck towards the silver bot. Spine's hat was pulled low over his photoreceptors while the faint hum of his core could be heard in the room. He was powered down. The Jon opened the box he was holding and pulled out an assortment of lipsticks and blushes. Rabbit chuckled silently and grabbed the box of Christmas outfits. If they had to shift Spine to get this on, it wouldn’t be a problem. He wouldn’t feel a thing.
*****
Matt headed down to the lounge room to admire the automatons handiwork the next day. The Christmas tree was decorated merrily with twinkling lights and colourful baubles. stockings were hanging by the fireplace and paperchains were strewn along the walls.
“Wow, they did a nice Job.” came a voice from behind and Matt turned to see Steve wearing his festive bandanna and admiring the tinsel draping the room.
Michael's head appeared around the door frame, and whistled,
“Woah. Normally it looks like Rabbit sneezed out an arts and crafts store.”
Blocking that image from his mind, Matt addressed a slight problem nagging him.
“They cleaned up after themselves?” he said lightly.
Steve raised an eyebrow and looked towards Michael “they never do that to my knowledge.”
Michael frowned “they only do that when-" his eyes widened in sudden realisation, "….oh no.”
There was a sudden bang and Matt jumped as the door was slammed open revealing Rabbit and the Jon leaping into the room, smothering sniggers. Rabbit spread her arms wide, taking in the whole festive room.
“Ahh. My masterpiece.” She sighed and slumped onto a nearby chair.
“You did a great job guys... You even cleaned up,” Michael said lightly, letting the last sentence hang in the air. Rabbit and the Jon exchanged an amused look.
“We didn’t do n-n-nothin’ M-M-Michael.” Rabbit said, flashing what she believed was an innocent smile.
The jon nudged Steve, “have you got a camera, buddy?”
Steve pulled out his beloved phone curiously, “yeeaah… Why?”
The Jon laughed, “You might need it.”
Everyone paused. and Michael stepped forward, brow furrowed.
"Wait. Why would we ne-"
A deep yell echoed through the whole manor, cutting Michael's question short.
“RABBIT!!!!”
Everyone froze,
‘Shit.’
Rabbit lunged behind the couch and The Jon dived behind the DVD cabinet while the other's watched on in growing concern.
Everyone braced themselves and thundering footsteps grew closer and closer. it wasn't a second later that the doors slammed open, revealing an extremely tall and extremely angry angel in a long white gown with wings brushing the door frame.
“I’M GONNA KILL HER!!”
The Spine bellowed.
The silver robot was not so silver anymore. He was caked in rosy makeup complete with deep red lips and heavy, false eyelashes. He had a hideous wig of golden hair clenched in his hand. Matt noticed Steve, out of the corner of his eye, silently press the record button on his phone.
Matt couldn't help himself, he slapped a hand to his mouth and doubled over. Michael was biting his lip furiously and excused himself, mumbling something about breakfast. The Spine's eyes scanned around the room and Steve shifted his gaze helpfully to the sofa. Fuming, the Silver Automaton threw dignity to the wind and jumped over the sofa and onto the copper bot.
“AGHHH!!” Rabbit yelled as the Spine locked his arms around her and wrestled her to the floor. “GET OFF ME SPINE!”
"YOU DID THIS TO ME!!"
Michael came running back in and stopped as he watched the two robots struggle.
“This has got to be the weirdest thing I have ever seen.” Matt muttered, taking in the scene.
Michael nodded in agreement and rushed forward to wrench The Spine from Rabbit before he could do any real damage.
“Knock it off guys.” He said.
They glared daggers at each other.
“WELL THEY STARTED IT!! They yelled in unison, pointing at each other.
The siblings looked even more frustrated with each other, “AND THEY'RE DUMB TOO!!” they yelled.
“AND THEY HAVE A STUPID FACE!!”
Matt mentally face palmed.
“Stop you two.” Michael said forcefully, stepping between them. “By the way, Spine" he muttered, "this is being recorded."
Both bots whirled around to see Steve grinning and holding up the phone merrily. He gave a cheery wave. Spine quickly raised his hand to cover his face and ran out of the camera’s view.
Michael again stepped forward. “I have a good punishment in mind Spine.”
The Silver automaton raised an eyebrow, curious, and Michael beckoned everyone closer before muttering his idea to the huddled group. Spine nodded and looked around at The Jon and Rabbit who flinched at the sight of his evil grin.
“Well what’s it gonna be?” Rabbit asked, her voice mocking but slightly nervous. “Cleaning th-the manner, no accordion at three o’clock in the morning?”
The Spine loomed over the two other robots, every bit as intimidating as possible. “No dessert for a month.”
Both automatons looked horrified, “BUT IT’S ICE-CREAM WEEK!” The Jon yelled.
The Spine grinned and turned on his heel, marching from the room with as much dignity as a robot can muster while smothered in makeup and wearing a white dress.
Matt looked quizzically at Michael, “I thought they couldn't eat.”
Michael shrugged.
Steve sighed and tucked his phone away with a content smirk, “Just think of all the hits we'll get on YouTube.”