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The desire to "be a woman" wasn't something that Rabbit was aware of. Not all the way through, at least. She would casually get a thought about how nice it would feel to be built different (literally), but never dwell on it.
"It must be nice to have such a soft and high voice." She would think when Upgrade would start speaking.
"A robe so long it's practically a dress. I want to wear something like this one day." She would think, following a Walter worker with her two-colored eyes.
"I wonder... if I was less of a blabbermouth and let pappy finish his job..." She would think whenever her gaze would stop on a random pretty woman in the crowd during their performances. "Would I be just as beautiful as her?"
Rabbit never saw these thoughts as "wanting to be a woman", she saw them as "wanting to be beautiful".
So that's why she was so confused right now as she stared at herself in the mirror. The dress that she and her younger brothers found in a box filled with old, unused decorations for the robots was the only thing that was different about her at the moment. The automaton put the gown over her casual clothes, which made it sit wacky. The forgotten piece of clothing itself looked far from new, and the edges of its thin skirt were torn apart (partially because of Rabbit's carelessness).
Yet for some reason, this felt so... satisfying. Rabbit was staring at herself, wearing a long black dress over her day-to-day clothing, and felt like if she could, she would stand like this for days. The young lady felt all fuzzy on the inside; whatever mechanisms were responsible, the feeling making her want to swirl. And swirl she did, acting out her impulsive thought, mesmerized by the flow of the fabric.
She didn't look exactly like she imagined herself when she thought about the concept of her "becoming beautiful", but she couldn't help but smile at what she was seeing in front of her.
"This little dress-up fills you with whimsy and wonder, I see?" Rabbit's thoughts get interrupted by the voice of one of her brothers. She can see The Jon standing right behind her through the mirror, his shoulders covered by a colorful and messy cape, and his eyes covered by old-fashioned sunglasses; most likely, these pieces of wardrobe were also from the forgotten box. Rabbit knits her brows, the sound of her fingers tapping against her bronze hip being a signal that she's one sentence away from punching Jon in his boiler. "All this swirling makes you look like a princess of some sort."
Rabbit expected a much less flattering comment, meanwhile, this was more like an observation. Her expression softens as she thinks about the other automaton's words. A princess, huh?
"You think-ink so?" The question was supposed to come off as nonchalant and indifferent, but the excitement in her mechanical chest caused it to sound hopeful, the stutter not helping her case in the slightest. As she turns her head to face The Jon, her neck creaks in a loud and whiney manner, which makes both of them wince.
"Eugh... a rusty princess, that is." The gold-tone robot mumbles "This is what you get for missing checkups, my good friend."
Rabbit rolls her eyes and leans towards her brother menacingly.
"Talking too much is an ill habit of yours, T-t-t-the Jon." She lets out an annoyed hiss of steam. "Do you think there's perhaps a muzzle in that ancient box that would keep you from yap-yap-yapping?"
"I don't... No, I don't think there's one." The Jon looks puzzled, not catching the mockery in his sister's tone. "Why would a robot need a muzzle, silly? We're not dogs! As far as I'm aware, at least..."
The urge to flick her empty-headed sibling was growing with every second.
"Anyway, you really shouldn't miss checkups, Rabs, something in your head seems to malfunction as well." He reaches a verdict. "Pretty girls don't screech or come up with stupid ideas."
Pretty girls. Was there an implication that Rabbit herself was a pretty girl? Was there? Did the sentence mean that she's a pretty girl who doesn't fit into pretty girl standards? Pretty girl... Sounded nice. She liked the idea of being a pretty girl.
"Well holy guacamole..." She gets pulled out of her own thoughts by the younger automaton once again. She realized that there was steam coming out of her, and a lot of it. She tries to shake it off, but her rusty neck makes it quite hard. "We're definitely visiting Peter after this. I'm growing concerned about your well-functioning."
Rabbit wanted to say something back but couldn't collect her thoughts. Both the excitement and the confusion about the amount of it made it harder for the bronze robot to think straight. The steam distracting her from looking at her brother's puzzled face wasn't any help either. Maybe it was just a malfunction after all. There's no way she could lose her mind over a couple of words. Sighing out another cloud of vapor, she agrees with her little brother and lets him follow her to the nearest room with non-busy Walter workers.
A lot of time has passed. While Jon forgot about the situation 10 minutes after it happened, Rabbit couldn't stop thinking about it. Pretty girl, princess... She wanted to be called those things more often. Then she was rebuilt, to her never-ending excitement and joy. And then more time passed, yet the excitement of being a beautiful woman never did. And then they finally met again. Rabbit hasn't seen The Jon in ages, which made her feel a bit guilty. Her and The Spine didn't check up on him or Upgrade in so long... Not the best "oldest sibling deed" of hers.
The Jon was silent, looking Rabbit up and down, inspecting her new appearance with his eyes. This felt quite awkward. Rabbit completely forgot that it's not what she always looked like, not something that Jon remembers at all. His gaze finally stopped at her eyes, for some reason, it was the most uncomfortable for Rabbit. The gold-tone automaton grinned, tilting his head.
"Now you look even more like a peacock." Oh, of course. She wasn't sure why she even expected him to be judgmental in the first place. "Suits you well, rusty princess.”