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The snow danced down from the dark December night sky, the barren trees and ground were covered in a thick duvet of cold snow that sparkled in the lights from the houses, it was a tranquil winter land.
However, inside the home of Doctor Thomas Light things were everything but tranquil.
"Dad! Can we come in now?"
Dr Light chuckled fondly and shook his head, the red Santa hat on the top of his head jingled melodiously in response, he could practically feel the eagerness and impatience that his two children emitted through the locked lab doors.
"Not yet, half an hour left."
He heard Rock and Roll groan then shuffle away back further into their home, the scientist sighed with a content smile on his face then turned his aged blue eyes back onto his computer screen. The installation process was almost complete, soon his newest creation would join their little family.
A bit later than he had planed but this delay had not been his choice.
He’d originally promised Rock and Roll that their new sibling would join them for Christmas, in a sense DLN-003 Cut Man was a Christmas gift that got delayed a bit, hopefully they were not too upset over the delay.
Ah! The installation process was complete.
Dr Light left his computer and took a seat next to the lab table Cut Man was laying on, the scientist smiled warmly when he saw his son’s fingers start to twitch and slowly blue eyes opened up for the first time, Cut Man blinked slowly then looked up at him.
"Welcome my son, how are you feeling?"
Cut Man stared up at his creator, his father, then averted his gaze curiously towards everything else in the lab. Carefully he tried to sit up, and his limbs popped quietly, Dr Light chuckled and helped his new son sit up properly. A very curious child it seemed.
"I’m...confused, where am I?"
Dr Light had heard that question directed towards him four times now and it never failed to warm his heart, the scientist answered every question about where he was and who both of them were.
"You have a brother and sister who’ve been eagerly awaiting your arrival, you’re a very belated Christmas gift actually."
Cut Man perked up at the notion of siblings and looked around the lab with a furrowed brow then he looked back at his father with a deep frown when he couldn’t find his siblings, Dr Light just patted him on the head though took care to avoid the big cutter on his son’s head.
"They are out in the house, I kept them there so you wouldn’t get overwhelmed by their energetic ways since you’re so new."
The new Light bot gave this some thought then nodded in understanding, Cut Man had been somewhat overwhelmed by the impressive lab alone so two energetic older siblings would’ve probably scared him.
"Can I see them now?"
Blue eyes looked up at the scientist hopefully and who was Dr Light to deny this meeting between siblings? Dr Light smiled warmly at his son then left the lab to go fetch Rock and Roll, which left Cut Man all alone.
The new Light bot cautiously swung his legs over the edge of the lab table and then let his feet touch the floor, his touch sensors registered that the floor was warm and newly cleaned from how neat it looked, with a bit more confidence Cut Man fully got off of the lab table and stood on unsteady leg joints.
A soft laugh escaped him as he took a step forward and then another, his body was getting better adjusted to moving when he ordered it to, Cut Man once more glanced around the lab then spotted a window.
His curiosity was fully piqued when he spotted the white...stuff that fell from above, walking now with no trouble towards the window the new Light bot saw a lot of the white stuff covered most of the things outside, what was this white stuff?
"....now he’s very new so try to not overwhelm him."
Cut Man perked up when his audio receptors picked up the sound of his father’s voice which was then followed by the sound of two unknown voices responding to him, the forestry Robot Master tore his gaze away from the window to see the doors to the lab open.
"Huh...where is he?"
A female sounding voice asked and a young looking girl stepped into Cut Man’s field of vision, she was around his height with green eyes and blonde hair that hung loose from her head while a green headband adorned with a equally green ribbon held her fringe in place, the girl wore a red long sleeved sweater dress with a green R knitted on the front that went down to her knees and her legs were covered by black tights while on her feet were pink indoor slippers.
"....um..."
The girl was startled by Cut Man’s sudden voice and looked to her left to find him standing there by the window, the second they made eye contact the girl recovered from the sudden fright and smiled warmly.
"Hi! I’m DLN-002 Roll Light, you are?"
Oh, this must’ve been the sister his father spoke of, the new Light bot waved a nervous greeting in response.
"DLN-003 Cut Man..."
Roll happily waved back then turned her gaze back towards the door then beckoned someone over to her side, it was a boy with brown hair and blue eyes, he wore a deep blue sweater with a light blue R knitted on the front and dark colored jeans then on his feet were a pair of light blue indoor slippers.
"DLN-001 Rock Light, nice to finally meet you Cut!"
Rock smiled broadly and quickly enveloped his new brother in a tight hug, Cut Man squeaked and hesitantly hugged back then looked to his father who’d just joined them all in the lab for guidance.
"It’s okay son, they are both very happy to see you is all."
The forestry Robot Master grew less nervous and gently exited the hug with his older brother, both his brother and sister seemed nice, though he found something confusing about both of them.
"Dad...? Why don’t I look like Rock and Roll?"
Dr Light frowned sadly at this question then saw Rock and Roll too looking at him with the same confusion as their new brother, so he quickly put on a tight but reassuring smile on his face.
"This design is unacceptable, change it immediately."
Dr Light blinked dumbly then gaped at the business men he’d been meeting with, the papers and blueprints he’d presented to them slid back over to him unceremoniously.
"What? What’s wrong with it?"
The scientist scanned his design for anything that could earn such a vicious rejection, was it the choice of color? But orange was a warm and welcoming color. Was it the human appearance? But he’d chosen the most innocent look he could think of. What was it then?
"A robot like that would never be allowed on the industrial field, remove the human appearance and simplify the design, we would also like to change it’s function to forestry management."
Dr Light shook in controlled anger at the vague words being used to insult his child, he knew exactly what it was they wanted him to change about his child and he was frankly against such a pathetic reason for denying his child their right to exist as themself.
"Fine, I’ll change it."
His tone was bitter and in truth with his polite spirit he did not slam the door behind him but he did mutter not so polite words under his breath as he drove all the way home.
That had been back in November 29th and now it was December 31st.
"I thought it would be nice to give you your own unique appearance so to set you apart from your siblings, that’s why you look a bit different on the outside but on the inside however you and Rock look virtually identical since I used his blueprints as a basis for your internal structure."
The three siblings seemed content with the answer, Rock was pretty amazed to hear about his structural similarity to his new brother. Now that Cut Man had that curiosity satisfied he had a new question for his family.
"What is that white stuff?"
Rock and Roll looked at the snow Cut Man had pointed at then to their brother who looked genuinely confused by this natural phenomenon, Dr Light stepped up to answer his son’s questions once more.
"It’s snow, it’s simply water crystallized in the cold, it’s a very common occurrence during these colder seasons."
The scientist felt a small tug on his white Christmas sweater and looked down to see Cut Man’s blue eyes staring up at him very eagerly and hopefully, he clearly wanted to go outside and experience this natural phenomenon for himself.
"You may go outside but you’ll have to put something warm on first."
Cut Man cheered then sprinted out of the lab without warning and with such speed that it startled both his siblings, Dr Light shook his head fondly and watched his two other children chase after their brother.
All alone Dr Light let a somber smile creep its way onto his face and without saying a word the scientist opened a drawer underneath his work desk, this drawer was private and usually locked to anyone but him, once his hand returned from the drawer it held a set of papers and a single roll of blueprints.
The papers consisted of design notes and other such functionalities while the blueprints showed a human looking Robot Master, DLN-003 was written in big letters in the upper right corner while a pink sticky note was stuck in the upper left one with the word 'REJECTED' stamped onto it, it was Cut Man’s original design.
If his original design had been accepted without prejudice then the original version of DLN-003 would’ve been activated at Christmas just like he’d originally promised his two other children, alas it was not allowed to be. So Dr Light had done a complete overhaul of the design which now had become Cut Man.
Dr Light had never shown Rock and Roll the rejected design, he probably never would, it would stay his little secret.
"I’m sure you and Cut would’ve gotten along splendidly through your shared interests, Roll would’ve been overjoyed for sure and Rock equally so."
Dr Light's somber smile got a little happier around the edges, it was a nice thought to hear out loud at least, the possible future that might one day become reality.
Dr Light would not dream of trading Cut Man away just so he could have his original design be there instead. His son was his own individual, despite having been thrown together in the last second, just as much as the original design was their own individual.
Dr Light stared at the smiling face on the blueprints one last time before returning all the papers to his private drawer, he’d lost one child and gained another - a bittersweet way for this millennium to end.
"Happy New Year my children, may our family stay together always."
Meanwhile Cut Man had skid to a halt in the living room of his new home, he’d heard a weird sound coming from outside. He heard the sound again but this time louder and jumped in fright, what was that scary sound? Was that what snow sounded like? Was snow a sort of dangerous explosive!?
Now he had to see the snow more than ever, he had to make sure it was not dangerous! He didn’t want his family getting hurt.
"You’re very fast on your feet."
Rock appeared next to his brother and he too heard the sounds coming from outside however his reaction was the complete opposite of Cut Man’s, a joyous grin spread on his face.
"They’ve begun setting off the fireworks!"
Roll who joined her two brothers was happy over this fact as well while Cut Man remained confused, Roll saw this confusion and flashed him a soothing smile then darted over to a Christmas tree standing in the corner of the living room.
"Dad said you’d need to wear something warm before going outside so I think my gift will be just what you’ll need."
The tree was decorated with many sparkling stars and ribbons while the lights switched between blue and red in a steady rhythm, underneath the tree it was empty save for three neatly wrapped gifts one of which Roll picked up and presented to her new brother.
"Merry Christmas, happy birthday and happy New Year!"
Cut Man blinked dumbly at the present then took it, it was definitely something soft since it did not retain a set shape in his hand, had this present been there ever since Christmas?
The forestry Robot Master unwrapped the gift and soon held up an orange Christmas sweater with a C knitted on the front in white yarn.
"It’s not much since dad didn’t give me lots of details to work with, just said your primary color would be orange and that your name would start with a C, though I hope you’ll like it!"
Cut Man stared at the sweater then tried to put it on, it got stuck on his cutter right away so Rock had to carefully remove the sweater from the sharp scissors lest Roll's hard work go to waste.
Once the sweater was free all three siblings worked together to get the sweater on correctly, Cut Man had never worn clothes before so he wasn’t sure if they were supposed to feel as restrictive as the sweater did but he still deeply appreciated his sister’s efforts so smiled thankfully to her.
"Might as well give my gift too...I’m not sure if you’ll like it though."
Cut Man raised a non existent brow at his brother’s words while he ripped open the offered present to find a scarf, a scarf with a intricate ribbon and frill design on it, the color was a vibrant canary yellow.
"You see...Roll and I made a bet over whether you’d be a sister or a brother, I was so sure you’d be a sister so I bought that scarf though Roll guessed you’d be a brother and well...we can both see who guessed right."
Rock rubbed the back of his neck slightly embarrassed while Roll just gave him a teasing smirk, the forestry Robot Master though was not sure how to feel about the color but he put it on anyway. These presents from his siblings would be pretty useful once they went outside in the cold, though he was certain about one thing...
Vibrant yellow was definitely not Cut Man’s color.
"Is the last one from dad?"
Rock picked up the last present and felt it was a solid object, when Cut Man got it into his hands he guessed it was probably a book of some kind. Once the paper was ripped off all three siblings stared at it quietly,
Pedro Astil's botanical guide to flowers and plants.
"The pictures are pretty..."
Cut Man noted as he flipped through the pages before setting the book aside on the living room table, something in his code told him that he had a mild interest in nature and it’s rich beauty though that was probably because of his purpose in forestry management.
"They sure are, can’t wait for spring..."
Roll smiled dreamily for a moment before clapping her hands together.
"Now that we’ve given out the gifts let’s go outside and see the fireworks!"
Rock nodded in agreement and quickly disappeared before coming back with three winter coats, two blue and one red, the blue ones definitely must’ve belonged to Rock himself while the red one was without a doubt Roll's.
"Why do we need to wear clothes anyway?"
Cut Man asked curiously while he watched Roll put on her coat and then carefully mimicked her actions, Rock tapped his chin in thought then went on to explain while he put on his own coat.
"Well it’s mostly for decency for Roll and I since we have humanoid bodies but during colder seasons like today it’s mostly to keep our bodies warm so our joints and other systems don’t freeze up, we can use our internal heaters but that draws unnecessary energy."
That made sense for Cut Man so he didn’t think any further about it and instead cautiously walked towards the front door, the loud sounds were getting louder.
Roll went ahead of him, not scared in the slightest, and opened the door to a cold chill. She stepped out and happily did a twirl then looked over her shoulder to see if her brothers would follow, Rock began making his way out but hesitated when he saw how apprehensive his younger brother was.
"It’s not dangerous, I promise."
Rock held out his hand and offered a warm smile to Cut Man who took it after some hesitation, when both robots stepped out into the cold snow they both shuddered.
The forestry Robot Master looked around at all the snow around them and despite his misgivings it seemed to be harmless, that was a relief. Cut Man slowly let go of his brother’s hand and walked a little further out into the front yard of their home, his blue eyes looked at the sparkling snow in pure awe.
It was beautiful.
Cautiously Cut Man opened up his hands and allowed some pieces of snow to fall into his palms, the small flakes decorated his leather covered fingers and palms, he could almost make out the flakes crystalline design if he focused hard enough.
"Quite an experience, isn’t it?"
A warm hand patted him on the head and Cut Man looked up to see Dr Light smiling down at him, the scientist was fully dressed in outerwear just like Rock and Roll, and in his other hand the Light bot could spot some unknown objects.
"Yeah...what are those?"
As it turned out those were the aforementioned fireworks that appeared to be the source of the loud sounds Cut Man had heard before or so Dr Light explained anyway, Rock eagerly stepped up to light them up.
"They burst into all these colors and are so pretty to look at!"
Roll explained in her excitement as they all watched Rock lit the fuses of the fireworks, once all fuses crackled Rock ran up to join his family - handing back the lighter he’d burrowed from his father.
The fireworks hissed for a moment then in a screech flew up into the dark sky and exploded in blasts of colors, they crackled and flickered for a moment before they died. Roll had been right, Cut Man noted, they were really pretty to look at.
More fireworks soon shot up into the sky, painting it in a multitude of colors as the new millennium dawned before them, the Light family happily welcomed the new year together.
What did the future have in store for their family? They’d just have to wait and see.
Rock tore his eyes away from the fireworks when he felt a finger tap him on the shoulder, he was met with his brother’s sly smirk and glinting eyes.
"You know...this whole experience has been a real blast."
The fireworks drowned out the sound of Rock's pain filled groaning as he properly registered the pun his new sibling had made while Cut Man just laughed at his reaction, Roll and Dr Light chuckled at their antics.