#robonag

It was unlikely. So extremely unlikely.  Another night that he decided to drink. And he wanted to restrict how many times the red ribbons of wine would swoop down into the glass and drown out his senses, as a liquid property would drown a man. He wanted to restrict how many times his gloved fingers met the glass stem, plucking the blood red flower and ingesting it again and again. And with each meeting, everything in his eyes just fuzzed out a little more, as if meaning to obscure the details of his vision. But somehow, his trembling fingers still hugged the bottle, poured it out, plucked up the glass, kissed the rim to his lips; sometimes chuckling when it bubbled out of his mal-closed lips. He swiped the back of his hand across his chin when he felt the moisture, and looked at the streaks in the fabric, like blood. He was silent again, but not long afterward, began to drink again and again, like it was in some mental program until he held the bottle out, expecting the wine, and when it didn’t come he took an extra careful look into it upside-down.

Suddenly, the ramming on the door caused him to drop the bottle to the carpet with a THUMP, where the remaining droplets were beaded onto the carpet. He found himself suddenly numb and senseless and the room spun slightly when he tried to simply right himself from where he lay, slumped with his toes pointing up in his fancy shoes. His motor control was at that point more similar to a cadaver. Swone’s hand’s met the carpet in different places; his fingers collapsed under his palms and knocking over his glass. He tried to right it again, but as his fingers tangled to find the glass stem, the noise from before slammed down on his actions, causing another frustrating collapse. With a deep breath full of alcohol, he cried out “Commun’ in!” Voice slurred badly, like his words has collided and slipped into each other. Another voice spoke back, as if being the door itself.

“Key access granted?”

It was slow and monotone and seemed to hit Swone, even though the blow was very distant, it echoed into his sudden tremors.

“Y’h, Y’h, whatever…” He mumbled, giving up and admitting himself to his current position and resting his head upright on the couch behind him. It felt like his head had melted over the cushion and his ears were pushed in, bumping his glasses up as well, elevating them over his closed eyes like a couple of parasols.

“Please rephrase command.” The voice came through the door, soft and clear. Swone groaned loudly, almost growling in the back of his throat before calling out again, louder in his frustration.

“YES.” Hopefully that was a clearer.

There was a moment of silence until Swone heard the jiggle of the lock just barely and the door creaked open. His eyes were still closed and they felt like they were being weighed down. The sound of footsteps came closer until they stopped in front of him, which registered as a small jolt down Swone’s spine like he had popped out of his own skin. At long last he forced his eyelids open, and his lashes locked over the blue orbs for a moment until he got them to a wider squint. A shadow had fallen over his face as he stared straight up to the figure, obscured with shadows, but surrounded by a halo of artificial light. Out of the darkness he made out two glowing red lights, straight beside each other that seemed to stare back down at him.

Robonag opened his mouth to speak, and out slipped a familiar question. “Please give command.” Or something along those lines. Swone hardly heard him, but he had heard enough to formulate his reply.

“Fuck….” He breathed, staring straight up past Robonag at the ceiling. “No, gowaway…”

“Please repeat command” the figure repeated, standing eerily still, not swaying in the spinning room. Swone let out a long slow breath and closed his eyes again. He could hardly move his body, much less his digits. He couldn’t even manage to twitch his foot slightly. There was a long silence and Swone knew very little at that point. Except one thing. He did not want to hear that voice. He did not want to hear the question; whatever it meant. Swone searched his mind for a string of proper judgment. A command. The answer this guy was looking for. The man before him with a face he couldn’t quite place. He’d say what he had to, so that voice wouldn’t shake him down to his bones and remove the floor from under him.

“Lift me.” Swone said silently. His head slumped over to the side and his cheek squished into the cushion. Suddenly, he felt hands reach around him and tried not to shudder too much at the contact. His body was lifted off of the floor like he was floating, but the steady hands kept their hold, and reached around behind his head to hold it back up again. He could feel soft fingers in his hair and arms against his back. Swone fell over the figure. His feet hardly met the floor. Arms hung loosely and brushed against Robonag’s thigh. He buried his face into the man’s shoulder and felt the warmth on his face. There was only slight discomfort from his shades as they pressed into his nose and eyes. The embrace was foreign. But it was comfort. Warm and soft. And he could hear a distant thrumming coming from the chest of his friend. He dwelled on the notion of a heart or lungs, but he decided he was unsure and it wasn’t worth knowing or continuing to think. Weren’t the heart and lungs things for eating? They were just organs. Meat. But, he didn’t feel that hungry at the moment. In fact. Swone felt suddenly a searing pain started in his chest. He coughed a little, but Robonag didn’t let him slip, or move much. Something like acid stung in his throat and he swallowed, wincing and feeling the desire to vomit. He received no physical response from Robonag. His position was unchanging. Quickly, he choked out his next order.

Robonag took him to the bathroom. The door swung to the side and hit the wall with a thump and he heard the towel racks rumble.

“Careful.” Swone muttered, holding his head up, worried to tip over at that moment out of fear of losing it all. “H-hold me over” Swone forced the words out of his mouth and gasped for breath as Robonag lowered him, grasping his shoulders tightly. Swone regained some mobility and pressed his hand against the cabinet beside the toilet. He leaned over the bowl and relaxed, not holding back the rising bile in his throat.

It seemed like hours had passed. He coughed and trembled and everything tasted terrible. His vision fuzzed in and out, but he kept his eyes closed most of the time, disgusted and feeling unclean. He tried very hard to focus on the hands that held him without hesitation, keeping him from falling forward and providing a presence to Swone. He wasn’t alone this time. So many times he had forced himself, sometimes barely making it to the bathroom door before it all came back up. And soon, it was over. After what felt like hours of pain and that awful taste.

“Water!” Swone commanded, his immediate survival desired. Anything to get that awful taste out of his mouth. He leaned against the cabinet in the bathroom, his palms slipping on the tiles but it kept him upright. Robonag had left, but soon returned with a glass of water. His hands made their way to Swone’s head, traveling around from the front of his neck to the back. He held his head up and pressed the glass to the shorter man’s lips. Swone did not entirely respond, only opening his mouth a fraction. Some water missed its mark and slipped out of his mouth. Swone gurgled in protest and pushed Robonag off of him weakly, and spat out all the water onto the floor, coughing and choking.

“F-fuck!!” He forced through coughs. His friend barely flinched. Swone regained his breath and his chest heaved as he took in air in gasps. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Onag open his mouth and he let out a exclamation to interrupt him.

“Y-yuh want another command, huh?” Swone half laughed, falling into slight hysterics. He dipped his head and anchored his palms into the floor. “Okay…”

“I s’want…tuh sleep…” He ordered simply, extending an arm to him. “Take me to th’couch.” Again, Swone was lifted off the floor, and this time it pleased him. “An’ when you’re done witat…” He cleared his throat in-between his queen-speech, “clean up th’ bathroom an’ the curpit. Yuh’r good atit…” He nuzzled his face into Robonag once more.

He was placed down on the couch gently, and eased into the cushions in comfort, opening his eyes fractionally again to watch his friend recede once more. He was glad. Glad to see someone else in his house. Glad to hear the footsteps on the floor and the doors closing and opening in the distance. Things that he wasn’t interacting with. He fell asleep for a spell. He awoke again to that soft voice beside him.

“Please state a command.”