Please Explain

"Romantic." The word resounded through The Spine's lips and his skull.

'Romantic' – how Pappy bought Ma flowers, how that couple flirted with each other, how people in those movies would stare at each other with passion and adoration. It was the type of love The Spine sought after because he had seen it everywhere he had roamed and even sung about it. He wondered if the lyrics were true, that if love really made one feel as though they were on top of the universe. He wanted to sample this for himself, if not fully embrace it like a town to a tidal wave. He wanted to throw his arms around it and hold it tight and maybe then, it would give him a slight insight into himself as well as humanity.

"Um...s'xcuse me," The Spine's attention was brought to a little girl no more than eight years old. Her body gave away her shyness with her wide eyes darting between The Spine's optics and the fresh picked daisies in her small hands. Smiling softly, The Spine left the bench with a quick whirr and a billow of steam and knelt down to the child's height. The thoughts and questions regarding love reeled to the back of his mechanisms as they had done many times before. By no means did it bother him, especially when he was dealing with such a little fan.

"Yes? How can I help you?" He spoke gently, causing her body to only tense even more and her cheeks to flush an incredibly deep shade of tomato. He swore it matched her pink summer dress.

"Ummmm....ummm...I ummm," Rabbit had to refrain from squeeing and grinning like a fool. Children always warmed her core with their wide eyes and mischievous, sometimes gentle smiles. The automatons handled children rather well given their experience with the Walter lineage. After six Peters, they knew how to care for kids even when they were approached by them after or prior to performances.

The Spine was patient with how she tried to collect her thoughts. He knew how children were and how they were impressionable at this age and through their teen years. For him to deny her presence would possibly scar her or aid in shaping her negatively which was something he did not want to do. The world was already filled with cruel people and didn't need another one.

"I...I saw you here..ummmmm...your singing is...ummmm uh really good and ummmm...you'rereallycool." By now her face was so red she could have burst and Rabbit did her best not to gush at the sight before her.

If the little girl could blush anymore she would have, but instead she thrust the daises towards him. Her head bowed, eyes to the ground her shoulders were tense in fear he did not accept her meager present. Hazel pupils shifting between The Spine, the daises, and the ground, fear rippled throughout her in what the outcome would be of her actions. The Spine's smile bled into a grin that seemed rather human, like a father proud of his child who had done something incredible. Gently taking the flowers from her little palms she quickly withdrew her hands clinging her chest as though she were pushing her heart back into her.

"Well thank you, I'm sorry, what was your name?" The Spine's soft voice caused her head to shoot up as though she were being called on in class. The slight humiliation of never telling him her name briefly overtook her and she swallowed the feeling, not wanting to make him wait for her answer.

"Mad-Madeleine."

"Thank you, Madeleine. They're beautiful." Briefly looking up, he saw a woman in her late thirties whose hair was pulled back into a ponytail and bore the same hazel orbs. She had a smile as warm as the sun and a raised cell phone; causing him to believe that she had recorded the interaction. It was more than fine, if anything he welcomed it as well as the other automatons. Her smile broke into a message, mouthing the words 'can she take a picture with you' to which The Spine nodded.

"Say, Madeleine, would you like a picture?"

Awestruck wonder crawled onto her face, words failing her so she could only rush towards him. Elation radiated from her like the Sun, causing Rabbit to quietly gush over her. The Spine welcomed her with open arms and she hugged him like a favorite teddy bear. He gently returned the gesture, recalling what Pappy had said about his grip when he was first invented. Despite the tune ups and upgrades over the years, The Spine still had immeasurable strength which often came in handy when lifting band equipment and other objects.

After posing with The Spine for a picture, Madeleine thanked him; her cheeks still a radiant red with a joyful, beaming smile. He waved a goodbye to her and she did the same, even as she ran up to her mother who mouthed the words 'thank you' to him. With a tip of his hat, The Spine returned to the bench as he watched Madeleine gush about her meeting with The Spine to her mother.

"Th-th-then there's ad-admiration." Rabbit spoke up to break the silence between the automatons.

"Admiration?" The Spine looked over as his sibling who bore an all knowing smile with a glint of wisdom in her photoreceptors. Wisdom came with age and Rabbit had been around longer than The Spine or The Jon or even Hatchworth. In those years she had retrieved advice from life, The Walters, and whatever experiences came her way. Love was not shy to her in all its different forms and 'admiration' was no exception.

"Yeah ya dummins it's what t-t-the fans feel for us!"

'Admiration'. It was a word he had heard before and watching the mother and child fade into the distance, he recalled every single show he ever performed and every fan he had ever encountered. From these memories he felt something stir within his core. Something warm, like a melted piece of chocolate.

He had forgotten this word existed, only focusing on life until questions began to stir within his cogs. Now his database had located the word, its definition ringing out in his silver skull. 'Admiration, respect and warm regard, appreciation, pleasure, marvel; late Middle English, originated from the Latin word 'admirari''.

Steam expelled from The Spine's face vents as a smile drew on his face. It was a different type of love, but it was a love that he would always welcome and reciprocate to those who unveiled it to him. Closing his eyes, the faces of thousands of cheering, grinning fans surfaced from his memory. He heard their praises in his ears and their encouragement rumbling in his skull. His fingers twitched, recalling all the times he had shaken their hands or had been handed something they had made for him. He swore his blue matter core burned like a thousand dying stars and he quietly relished in that feeling, causing his smile to burst into a grin.

"Of course." The words slipped through his lips and made Rabbit smirk. While it wasn't the love he wanted, he knew it was the type of love he would never reject.