"SAY UNCLE."

A young drat presses down onto his sibling, having pinned her arms behind her back.

"SAY IT! SAY IT!"

His sister snarls and squirms underneath him. Monty was the larger of the two, and easily overpowered her during their regular tussles with one another.

"Saaayyy it Agggiieee.."

He presses down a little further onto her, causing Agatha to yelp in pain. The two were carefully watched from across the room, however none stepped in to stop them- this was standard drattle behavior, after all.

However, Agatha wouldn't give up so easily. She growls, and manages to twist around to bite into Monty's arm. The two continue to roughhouse in the foyer of the Buckingham manor, until they grow tired of pushing and pulling and eventually break off.

Monty rubs his arm. "No faaaiiirrr, you always bite! Ugh..."

"Does Master Montgomery require a bandage?"

One of the many opis units that are constantly whizzing around and caring for the manor's many inhabitants approaches him. It doesn't wait for Monty to confirm, and sticks a bandage onto the bite marks that were not deep enough to puncture (but will certainly leave a bruise).

"Whatever, I guesss..."

Monty flexes his hand, and stares off into the manor. For the past nine and half years, the manor has been busy around the clock. A small army of Opis units was in charge of caring for twenty orphan drattles.


Though the foyer held several of his siblings, none of which held his interest.

"Very good, Master Montgomery. Run along now! Weather's well and clear for playtime outside today!"

The Opis extends out a pair of arms to gently nudge its charge towards the door, before taking off to its next task.

The offer to go play outside changed his demeanor somewhat, but not by much. Monty was bored, and the siblings that he wanted to play with were either busy or somewhere else in the building. As such, Monty leaves the foyer and out into the gardens.

He marches forward while ignoring all others of his siblings, and likewise none of them seemed all too concerned by the young drat.... Except for one, who watched Monty pass him from a game of hide and seek he was attending. Abandoning it to silently follow Monty from behind.

Of course, it didn't escape the notice of his sibling.

"Quit followin' me."

"Where'y goin'?"

"Somewhere. None of yer business."

Bernard however, persists.

"Yeah, well. I know of somewhere that NO one else does. Not even Opis knows about it."

"Yeah, so?" Monty shoves his hands into his pockets, trying to outpace his sibling.

"Yeahhuh. And I also got something really, Really cool there."

Bernard looks over his shoulders, and leans in close to whisper to his brother. "A monster."

Monty continues to walk, Bernard stops to cross his arms at him.

"Unless you're a Scaredy Chicken about it."

"Nuh-uh!" Monty stops in his tracks, glaring back at his sibling. After spending a moment of staring each other down, Monty breaks eye contact and rocks on his heels.

"...So, where is it then? It better be something really really cool. You said so."

"It's even cooler than that, trust me. Free time hour's gunna be over soon so we gotta hurry."

He tugs on his siblings arm, and and guides him. Over past where the gardens grew tall and none of their other siblings would venture past. Normally, one of their many robotic caretakers would shepherd them back, but being so close to the hour the pair were able to sneak past while others gathered back into the building.

Bernard lifts up underbrush, revealing a hole in a fenced area. Barbwire and chain link cut back just enough that the two children could squeeze on through with minimal scratches and dirt smudges.

It was a construction site- at least, it was. Whatever was being built here was long since left to rust and rot, no reason that either child could fathom or care about. Bernard stands proudly a few steps forward from Monty.

"...This is lame..." Monty drags his feet across the dirt. Bernard groans in response.

"It's not lame! Just wait till you see the monster, THEN you'll say how awesome it is. It's just.. not out right now."

Bernard frowns, looking past the old machinery for any sign of its usual resident.

He sighs. "..Do you wanna play king of the mountain? Until it shows up."

"We could of played king of the mountain at HOME!" ..Dust kicks up, the sound of creaking machines fills the background noise. "...But uh, I guess."

"Only if I get first dibs-!"

Monty shoves his brother, and makes a break for the tallest pile of debris that he can spot. Paying no mind to the equipment surrounding the two, laughing and shoving each other towards the coveted mountain.

The creaks and whines of wires only get louder as they approach. Montgomery was undeterred, while Bernard was the first to notice that something wasn't right. Just above the pair, something swings ever so slightly in the breeze as Montgomery makes his mad dash as his rightful place as king.

The ties that hold it up, Snap.

There was only seconds of time between Monty having been climbing upwards to being now on the ground, Bernard having thrown himself at him before the thing had managed to smash him into a fine paste under its weight.

"Wh- huh?" He was only then able to register what had happened, looking over Bernard's shoulder at the thing that nearly crushed him. It blinks, and gnashes ivory teeth.

"Shut up, shut up shut up," Bernard replies back through clenched teeth, his claws dug into Monty's arms as he held him down just feet away from the creature.

"That wasn't- the wasn't supposed to happen! Just, keep your voice down.."

Bernard takes a look over his shoulders, back towards the creature.

Slowly, with an audible cranking from some unseen mechanism, the anomaly starts to raise itself back up from the crane from which it had been roosting. It echoes a giggle, eye fixed on the pair of boys in the dust.

"...W-what the heck is that thing..."

"I- I promise it's usually safe! It just ignores me! Y-you can look at it, but uh, uhm," Bernard thinks hard, trying to find a way to word his instructions.

"You need to.. think really hard that you BELONG here, ok? If you KNOW that you're supposed to be here, then it won't hurt you! Thats.. thats how it works. I think."

Monty swallows, watching the anomaly carefully position itself back up on its perch, tying itself down to a rusted crane. It hums in a sing-songy manner, swinging its wire limbs to the beat of it's own music. Eventually, after some time of the pair silently listening to its song, Monty gives in.

"..C-can we just.. go home, Bernie? I dunno if I really wanna play anymore..."

"You don't think it's cool... Please don't tell Opis, please. This is my spot, if Opis finds out they'll fix the fence and I'll never see it again..."

"I'm not gunna tell." Montgomery gently pushes Bernard off of him, too worn out to roughhouse anymore today. The anomaly, having since lost interest, closes its eye and remains motionless- blending back into its environment as just another pile of garbage.

"How do you know that it won't try to hurt me again?"

"I uh.. I come back here a lot to watch it. It's kinda like an animal but, not? It's too weird to be an animal. But it makes sense when you know why it does some things. If you stand under it like you don't know what you're doing, it'll fall."

Bernard, seeing Monty's hesitation, walks past the creature first. Monty follows after. "It's kinda fun to watch it fall on lizards and birds... It almost fell on me once but it missed me. Hasn't tried again since."

"...You're really weird, Bernie." He takes one last look at the anomaly, before he squeezes through the fence along with his brother.

"...I wanna see it again tomorrow though. It better not try to get me next time."

"Swear you won't tell anyone? Swear on your heart and hope to die, stick a needle in your eye." Bernard holds out his hand, pinkie out.

"Yeah yeah, I swear on it. Hope to die and whatever."

The pair hook their pinkies together. Wires creak in the distance as the make it back home.