Ready?

HUGS INTENSIFY.

"I'VE BEEN GREAT BUT I'M EVEN better NOW THAT I CAN SEE YOU ALL AGAIN ESPECIALLY SINCE I CAN HARDLY SEE YOU HOW'VE YOU BEEN?"

“Neo, you don’t have to–”

…Apparently he does. Well… It doesn’t matter, Bari supposes; All those papers will have to be sorted again anyways. At this point he kneels down to help out, and deposits his collected pile back on the desk. At least it hadn’t fallen over…

“I don’t think so,” he answers, quickly scanning the room for any more stray papers or knocked over objects. Thankfully there doesn’t seem to be, and so Baritone decides to get to the heart of the matter: Why exactly his brother is here. It couldn’t be as simple as just wanting to see him, could it…?

…Maybe he was being disowned and all that affection was just Neo getting it out of his system beforehand. At this rate, the DLN wouldn’t be surprised. After the incident and how distant he’d been, it’d probably be easier for everyone… Hands clenching into fists and quickly being hidden behind his back as he tries to brace himself for any bad news, Bari takes a deep breath.

“So… Was there… Was t-there something you needed from me?”

With the mess mostly taken care of, Neo refocused on his brother. He sure did seem off, didn't he? It seemed that Baritone hadn't just distanced himself from his family physically, but had also done so emotionally. It hurt feeling so far from one of his own line, but he wasn't going to let that show so easily.

"DUUUUDE JUST YOUR COMPANY. BRO I HAVE MISSED YOU AND EVERYONE ELSE AND JUST, JUST... C'MERE."

When Neo gets the both of them back on their feet, he makes a tiny effort to escape his brother’s grasp– No such luck, unfortunately. Neo’s holding tight and doesn’t look like he’s letting go any time soon.

…He should be hugging Midi, right now. Or Melody– Especially Mel. Their poor sister was off on her own more often than not… Hugging Baritone, who didn’t even deserve to be called Neo’s little brother anymore, was a waste.

“Um… Sort of,” He answers after a pause, “The plant has had more customers looking into converting– Businesses, mostly, looking for cost effective means of generating electricity. Elec’s plant is so popular that its fees are fairly weighty, so most people just starting up can’t afford it… So I’ve been taking care of most business-y things going on around here on top of everything else, too. It’s… Easier to have the robot do it, as far as everyone else is concerned. There’s no chance of losing or forgetting information or terms of agreement– It’s all up here and won’t go away unless I delete it. Which I won’t.”

At least things seemed to be going well for Neo– He’d certainly not have much free time soon, given how much easier it was to do construction in the summer… He and Tenor would soon have their hands full… But they had each other and that other friend of theirs, so it would be alright.

The swinging shakes Bari from his thoughts, and once he’s knocked into his desk (sending a mountain of paperwork flying) the DLN begins to protest– A drastic change from how positively he’d responded to affection before their scrapping.

“Neo, careful–! Neither of us are exactly small… You’re gonna trash my office if you don’t watch where you’re swinging…”

"Ahahahaha... whoops," Neo said sheepishly, fortunately not so desperate to spend time with his brother that he'd deliberately trash his office. Besides, there would be better ways of wrecking the place, and he was just one call to Tenor away from the office suffering complete annihilation. He gently set Baritone down and began picking up some of the paperwork.

... Sheesh, Baritone was busy. Neo had to do quite a bit of paperwork himself, but even if he didn't, he could tell this was some workload. He knew his brother said that he had a lot more to do now with more people seeking to go geothermal, but was he really unable to make time for them?

... That, and it seemed like Baritone was quite adverse to this sort of attention, which wasn't how it used to be.

“I’ve been looking for aliens and - and talking to people and - AND MISSING EVERYBODY ESPECIALLY BARI HE’S TOO BUSY!” As he rambled, Midi’s voice rose in volume until the little boy was nearly yelling in his eagerness to get out all the things he had to say.

“HE’S BUSY ALL THE TIME AND NOW YOU’VE BEEN BUSY AND EVERYBODY’S BUSY AND AND I HATE IT!”

"Ahhhh... sorry little guy. Schedules and permits and everything can be a real pain. These things don't build themselves. As for Bari... I don't know what's up with him." A grin came to his face. "Don't worry, I'll be crashing his workplace later. I'll let you know what's up with him."

Neo didn't really know what was wrong with their brother. He seemed so distant after their near deactivation, and he didn't blame him for it. That event took its toll on everyone, but Neo wondered if Baritone was taking it worse than everyone else. He was definitely crashing his workplace later, right after he smushed everyone else with love.

This is the absolute last sibling he wanted to see, too. What’s Neo doing here, anyways? He’s usually one of the busiest of the brothers or hanging out with Tenor somewhere!

“…H… Hi, Neo,” Baritone manages, chuckling weakly. “I’ve been doing alright… I’ve been busy lately is all. Lots of meetings and paperwork… And I had to train some new employees pretty recently, too. I’ve, um… I’ve missed you too. How’ve… How’ve you been?”

"Man, you NEVER used to be this busy. What, 're they putting more on ya or are ya takin' on more?"

"Work's been pretty standard. Construction seasons starting, so that means applying for permits and all that jazz. I had to come back though I MISSED YOU GUYS. YOU IN PARTICULAR I NEVER SEE YOU ANYMOOOOOOOORE."

Baritone was immediately tackle-hugged to the ground and smushed under the massive weight that was his brother. There was no escape.

why am I only designing neo 9000 years after booberry’s given him up

I blame chiichii designing magma

anyway, black rms are important. so neo is black :’3 (I don’t remember if that was my idea or boo’s but I know the name ‘neo’ was my idea after neo-soul music which is known for coming from black artists; think john legend and alicia keys) dreads are fun to draw tho now that I’ve finally looked up how to draw them

… I will not apologize for making him shirtless in the full-body shot, he looked really good and I didn’t want to heck it up.