Sunny making a character:
"Hmm yeah that's great but what if ✨trauma✨"
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Life in Bugend was... Nice.

No scientist breathing down his neck.
No constant examinations.
No people acting like he was beneath them.

He wasn't just something to study or to benefit from to these people. Some of them even called him a friend. They greeted him kindly, made small talk with him, worried about him.

It was... A lot to take in.

He was never a person before this.

And now people cared about him.

And he started to care too.

He began to realize that maybe he didn't have to serve someone. Well at least maybe not one person. Maybe he could work for these people.

But he knew that if they knew what he was or who he used to work for... He couldn't let that happen.

So he continued to help the people of Bugend.

Everyday doing something new. He kept bandits away, kept visitors in check, defended the town, anything he could do to help the people who gave him more than they could ever know.

And over time the town became more respected, became a nicer place.

In turn they treated him like a person, gave him a home, treated him like a friend, all things he never knew were possible. They listened to him talk. They told him not having parents or a childhood was sad. Gave him the name "Y/n."

It made him feel warm, not in a bad way, not in the way he was used to. It was a nice warmth that filled his chest and made the muscles of his face twitch up into broken smiles that he was glad no one could see.

He tried to smile in mirrors, hoping one day to show a smile to one of his new friends, but he couldn't get them quite right.

His sharp teeth got in the way at times and his muscles weren't used to the movement.

It became very obvious that his smile was very different from regular people's. It didn't look happy like the other's did, so he'd keep it hidden until he could get it right. But one day... Maybe someone will see it.

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The day started like any other. The residents of Bugend talking to me and telling me about their lives, what this person did, what they liked, and so on while I did small task to help out.

Currently I was doing some minor improvements to the gate and the mechanisms, simple things I learned while on Helios, while the guard currently posted, Rick, talked about his family. He told me about how much he loved his partner, how much he loved their son, and how he'd do anything for them.

It made me wonder what it was like, to care for someone that much.
What does it feel like?
Does it hurt and feel cold like the emotion he felt that time.
Or does it feel warm like the other emotion he gets around these people.

"What does it feel like?" I voice my thoughts to the man.

"What does what feel like?" He questions me with a confused look.

"You called it love I think? What does it feel like?"

He looked at me shocked with his eyes as wide as a loader bot's optical sensor.

"You... You've never been in love? There's no way. A man of your age? You've had to at least had a crush before!" He exclaims.

"I've crushed many things."

"No no no, not like that! You know, like when you're really attracted to someone and want to talk to them a lot and be close to them all the time! Stuff like that!"

I tilted my head at him in thought trying to remember if I've ever felt that way.

"There's no way! There's had to be at least one person for you! Oh! I know! When you're around them you feel all light and there's a fluttering feeling in your stomach! Your heart beats faster too!"

"That sounds unpleasant, I think you may be confusing an illness with an emotion." I try to make sense of his words.

He groans and hits his face with the palm of his hand.

"Wow you really have never been in love. No one who's had a crush would think it was a disease." He pauses to think and I let the conversation go quiet as I continue making adjustments to the electronics of the door control system I'm working on so we don't have to close and open it manually.

"Okay it's official." Rick starts and I give him my attention again by turning my head in his direction.
"From this day on I will be your official wingman!"

"Wing...man? Rick you do not have wings." I question his weird terminology.

"Not like that! It's just an expression. It pretty much means that I'm going to do everything I can to try and get you a date! So what is it you like? Boys, girls, both? What body types do you like?" He seems oddly excited. "Ooh I totally ship you with Delira, you know the bar lady? You always talk to her when you're there and I think I've seen her check you out more than a few times!" He's bouncing on the balls of his feet as he stares at me with excitement shining in his eyes.

"What is a date? What do you mean by ship???" My head felt like it was spinning with all the new information.

I hear him gasp. "Wow you really are clueless!" That hurt a little for reasons that I do not know. "Don't worry I'll help you! We'll get you some in no time! With your build and your weirdly cute tendencies, that are even cuter when paired with someone of your stature, I doubt anyone could turn you down!"

"Cute?"

"Oh, you know. You're even doing one right now! For example, you tilt your head like a cat when something confuses you, actually you're just super cat like in general! Even in the way you treat people! Like, if someone tries to touch you it makes you hostile, but every now and then, mostly if you're by a fire and warm, you get clingy and want to be close to someone! Ooo how do you sleep? Do you curl up like a cat too?" His eyes seemed to sparkle even more than before and he was getting close to my helmet to study me, weirdly enough I felt heat in my face and I felt like hiding away. I felt exposed, but I still felt the cracked smile stretch across my face and I felt a noise that sounded like a chuckle raise out of my throat involuntarily.

Rick stopped dead in his tracks and stared at me bewildered as he heard the nervous sounding chuckle leave me.

He gave me a warm smile that made warmth bloom in my chest again. "So you can laugh." This felt nice. Talking to someone like this. I think this is what people would call friendship?

Yeah. Friends...
I think I like friendship.

The nice moment was broken as a voice called out.
Claire, the mayor of the town, called up to us.

"Hey guys! Can you tell me who's at the gate? The alarm went off, but the camera system isn't working."

Rick and I looked over to the gate from the watch tower.

There we saw a strange looking guy in a black and grey suit.

"Oh! It's that vault hunter! I thought that maybe he died or decided to not finish the request, but it looks like he did." Rick stated at the sight of the person. He turned in the direction that Claire's voice came from and shouted out a quick; "It's the vault hunter! Zer0, I think is his name?"

"Finally! You boys come down here and open the gate for him!" She called back to us.

Rick flashed me a smile and jerked his head in the direction of the ladder down as to tell me to follow him down.

Once we got down we immediately went to the gate and unlocked it, we both grabbed the temporary rope tied to the handle of one of the doors to the gate and pulled it open for the vault hunter to get in before we closed it again to keep the roaming skags and spiderants around the area out.

Rick and I approached the two, the vault hunter and Claire, as they spoke.

"So is it done?" Claire asked him.

"Yes, it is finished. / The bandit camp is no more. / They won't bother you."

His speech seemed strange, I couldn't quite tell what was weird about it, but it certainly wasn't normal.

"That's great news! Thank you so much! Here's your payment and you're free to spend the night here before you leave again." She pulled a stack of cash out of her satchel and handed it to the vault hunter who stored it away quickly.

She smiled and looked in my direction. "Y/n here can show you a room you can occupy for the night, Zer0. He's our guard and handyman here." The statement was a innocent one, but it still sent an unpleasant feeling through my spine as I heard myself be referred to as a guard.

The vault hunter, Zer0, turned his head in my direction to look at me. I barely noticed the smallest of flinches from him and I saw his hand move closer to pistol holstered on his hip.

My eyes narrow and my body tenses up unnoticeably as it prepares for a fight. But his hand stops. I don't relax, but I don't start anything.

I motion for him to follow me and start to lead him to the motel.

Once we are out of sight he pushes me against a wall and pins me with a sword, from where he got it I am unsure of, pointed at the unarmored part of my chest, near my collar bones.

"I remember you. / You're Hyperion's guard dog. / What's your business here?" He interrogates me.

He remembers me?

I decide to try to defuse the situation without violence like Delira has been trying to teach me.

What did she say to do? Talk?

"Umm... How are you?.. is it working? Are you no longer angry?" I felt the sword press further into my chest.

"I will take that as a no... I'm no longer with Hyperion if that... helps? Is that the correct term?" I continue to try and "talk" as she told me to do.

"That's hard to believe." He interjects.

"It is the truth. I left because they were weak. Once Handsome Jack died all that was left was weaklings, so I left to find the one who was strong. I couldn't find him, so here I am." I explain plainly.

"So you're here alone? / Just an abandoned puppy. / You are pathetic." There's a tone in his voice that sounds similar to when the citizens are "joking" with me as they call it.
Something about the tone made me feel bad.

I instinctively grasped the sword and twisted it out of his grip easily as he had lowered his guard. I used the momentum to throw him to the ground. I pinned his hands behind him and used my body weight to keep him on the ground. I tossed the sword away.

"Please do not cause trouble here. If you do I will have to step in. The people here are not bad." I watched, confused, as the body beneath me vanishes and I heard his voice behind me.

"So the town tamed you? / Interesting, I will stay. / I wish to know more."

I turn my head in his direction to see him leaning against the wall with his arms crossed as he stares at my still crouched form. I made no move to stand as I stared at him from over my shoulder.

"Fine by me."