Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He wouldn’t call this his best condition.

Far from it. Extremely far from it.

Pitch black cysts were infecting everything it could, and its most recent development included his face, now, as well.

It infested his umbilical first, then the connection in his back to his arm. The numb pain was almost unbearable at one point, which led him to try and yank the umbilical off of him, Not because he had plans to do anything afterwards but lay there and hope the pain seeped away with his consciousness.

Unfortunately, the attempt was futile. The cysts on the umbilical had grabbed onto his arm for a short moment, before yanking it away.

Then, it was black. His right hand was completely black. Ever since that cycle, it would creep up his arm pain-stakingly slowly , creating large marks on his forearm.

At one point, the rot later bursted from a seam on his left knee, and began to slowly engulf that limb, too.

The pain was always there, constantly eating away at him. His body hurt and all he wanted was his former glory. He craved his former glory. 

There was a point he wondered if it could get any worse. Somehow, it did, when he realized that the rot had allowed him to become exhausted. Great. So, on top of being in constant pain, he was now tired, too, and yet nothing could bring him to rest. 

He looked at the immeasurable gaping hole in his chamber, being degraded and depleted by rot.

All he could wonder is how it got so bad?
He could’ve sworn it was under control.

It was, he blocked it off, flushed the built up rot, and yet here he was.

Five Pebbles was pulled out of his spiraling stupor when a small paw smacked his face.

“Wa,” the creature said.

Five Pebbles couldn’t help but feel angered. It was Moon’s pet. Stiffened and concerned, she flicked her gills and whimpered at Five Pebbles. For the past few cycles, it’s been visiting frequently.. For some reason. Pebbles didn’t want it here, Moon would probably appreciate it back at her fallen can, and there was nothing but barren waste on his superstructure. 

“ You, ” he uttered. “You have no more business being here, why do you still look at me with that blank stare?? I have nothing left, much less anything to give to you!”

Ruffles stood there. He was never sure what was behind the expression, but he came to the conclusion that it was just the beastly instincts it wanted to act on. Like eating his pearls, sleeping, biting, and for some reason, specifically only Ruffles, wanting to put its paws on everything and stare endlessly at it.

He assumed this was probably just how she examined things, but that's all that Ruffles would do to things she suspected were safe enough to get a closer look at.

Blinking, Five Pebbles watched as the blue sea-like slugcat picked up his pearls and examined them dramatically, holding it far from its face, then close, then turning it, etcetera.

She then waddled close to Five Pebbles.

He slowly nudged her away. “No. Eat all my pearls, I don’t care, but you’re not getting any closer to me than needed.” he sneered.

Ruffles blinked as he pushed her away. “Waawa.”

“No.” he coldly said again.

Ruffles for a moment, looked like she had given up. Then, all of a sudden, the creature lunged onto Five Pebbles and began to look at his rot closely. “GET OFF ME-!!” the iterator shrieked, trying to get Ruffles off.

Of course, with the fact that Five Pebbles was about the size of the gilled slugcat, and most definitely weighed a lot less, his attempts were failed as the slugcat tried to get a good look at his rot.

Finally after it had enough of Five Pebbles’ flailing, it climbed onto his umbilical back arm.

CREAAK..

Five Pebbles jolted. “Get off of that, you’re gonna get eaten by all of the rot!” he quickly warned. Ruffles made it to a small spot on the arm, clear enough for them to perch on. She examined the origin of the creak.

“Ruffles.. I’ve made Moon mad enough, and I don’t want her to get even angrier when she hears her little fish died from my rot.” he tried to bargain.

Ruffles pressed her paws on the arm, leaning her full weight onto it, then off of it.

CREEEAAK..

“Wa,” it concluded before repeating its actions.

“Do your kind KNOW WHEN TO QUIT!? It is NOT A HARD-”

Before finishing, Five Pebbles fell onto the ground, his pearls heading in different directions as his puppet crashed.

Ruffles quickly bounded off of the arm and went to check on the iterator. It placed its paws on his head, and sniffled. “Wawa..?”

Five Pebbles quickly shoo-ed away the slugcat. “I’m fine, no thanks to you.” he quickly grumbled. “Speaking of, what did you do to my arm, I swear if-.. Oh.. voids, Ruffles, what did you do.. ”

After a swivel around, Five Pebbles noticed how much the rot was eating away at him. The arm had fallen off, partly from Ruffles, but mainly from the absolute degradation the rot had caused by devouring away.

Ruffles blinked again, and sniffled.

Five Pebbles grazed the edge of the arm very carefully, then looked at his wires.

Deep down, Pebbles understood he was dying, and if he didn’t do anything fast, then here his corpse would lie.

“Ruffles, This might be crazy, but I have an idea.”

Chapter Text

Five Pebbles couldn't move with the giant connection of the arm still hanging off of his back even if he wanted. It was heavy and, well, the iterators weren't meant to move anything, really. Just provide information to the ancients while solving the great problem. Of course, none of these were really on any iterator's to do list after the mass ascension.

With a tired sigh, Five Pebbles felt where the arm connected under his poncho. It was partially rotted, small tentacles sprouting from his back. Oh, just lovely, tentacles. Just what he needed. Not only was there the problem of the huge back arm, but there was also the issue of his wires.

Somehow still attatched and functional, Five Pebbles looked at the wirey red and blue clash. He knew it would hurt. It would probably be the most outlandish pain an iterator could experience, right next to their can just giving out and falling. It was strange. Iterators usually never felt pain. Maybe emotional hurt, once or twice, but, physical injury usually was only from a critical condition, something that was never supposed to happen. The ancients would've upkeeped them, and even once they had workshopped their next generation of robots, they would've been able to leave their cans and upkeep themselves! 

It was only now that Pebbles thought of those things. Finally sighing, he decided on less questioning, more actually doing things.
After pressing his hand on the back arm, he realised it creaked, as well. It was also rusted by his rot, after all it climbed down to his puppet on it. The Slugcat at the corner of the room observed the other part of the arm, completely fallen off. Ruffles then turned back to Five Pebbles, sitting there like he was unsure of how he'd free himself from the metal.
Suddenly, waddling over to him, she observed once more. "wa?" She pointed to the arm.

Five Pebbles gave a large, unwilling sigh.

"Fine. What do you suppose I do?" he griped. The ottery slugcat grabbed onto the arm and pulled, although the end still seemed stuck. Five Pebbles droned, somehow he knew some small 3 foot tall beast wouldn't be able to do much. Then, Ruffles tapped him, and sort of pantomimed. Five Pebbles stared for a moment. "wet fish, I can't understand you.." he snapped at her. After pointing at him and portraying a pulling motion, then at her and portraying a pulling motion in the other direction, he snapped his fingers. "You want me to pull as well?" he asked. Quickly, she nodded, her eyes gleaming. Five Pebbles suddenly felt dumb. Of course they should both pull.. maybe that would increase their chances.

Five Pebbles breathed, then began to pull away from Ruffles as she tugged at the arm with as much might as possible.

CREAAAKKkK...

And just as it groaned, the metal snapped, and the two fell down.

Ruffles examined the arm, and then laid it down, not wanting to touch the living rot on the edges. Five Pebbles looked nervously at the arm, then at his wires, and then at himself. With a sudden feeling of power, Five Pebbles considered standing up and cursing his creators, who were probably rolling in void fluid at the thought of an iterator without an umbilical arm. Of course, the standing up part was effectively not happening. At least not now, he hadn't ever really.. stood up. He had floated, glided, drifted, but not once has he had the ability to just stand. Let alone walk.

Thats when he thought, god, what would happen after I got those wires off?

If he happened to live through it, the information loss would be devistating. All of that information just gone in a yank, a cut, or a bite, depending on what way he chose to go about it. Ruffles crawled up to him and gently pressed her head against his arm. Pebbles turned, his initial reaction was to yank away. Something about the fact, though, that Ruffles still proceeded to attempt to free him, despite all he's said and done to her, was, frankly, jarring.

He only hoped Moon would have the same compassion.

Oh, Moon, he thought. What if her overseers notices he's gone? Of course, they would eventually know.

Something deep inside him didn't know what to do.

If he went to Moon... what would he even say? Sorry I kind of killed you, my bad. Yeah, no. He couldn't talk to her, face her, or anything. He was afraid he'd get choked up and all he would say is just.. sorry. And she deserved so, so much more than just 'sorry'. She deserved words that were carefully thought over and perfectly picked. Words that were from deep inside. 
But he didn't have those, yet. One would think he had something, after all this time, and there was nothing.
Five Pebbles rubbed his arm and sighed. He had to think of something. He sighed. Maybe something would come to him when he's finally cut.
"Ruffles, how fast can you cut the wires?" he asked.

She gave some resembalence to a shrug, and then inspected the wires. They carefully handled them, resting her paw on them and looking back at Pebbles. He picked up it was much like a 'just tell me when' type of look. The truth was, he wasn't ready to basically have a hard-wire reset performed on him. But he thought. Without a connection to his superstructure, a great deal of his pain would be gone. The only rot he'd have to suffer with would be the parts already on his puppet. He couldn't belive it, it was almost too easy. Then, he remembered this might kill him, and if he does make it through, he'd have to relearn a lot. Ruffles shifted slightly, as to remind him that the clock was always ticking on his superstructure, and that they were ready to get him out of there.
Pebbles tensed up and nodded.

"Okay, Fish. Do it."

Ruffles gave a slight distasteful look at his nickname, but then gripped onto the wires and jerked at them as hard as possible, resulting in them snapping in half.

Chapter Text

Torture.

Suffering.

Pure, unbridled agony.

Thats all he could think. It felt like his whole life was over, just by how much it hurt. Ruffles skittled close to him and whined, trying to redirect his attention from his cut wires. Five Pebbles couldn't, though, all of it was trying to find a way to just make it stop. The slugcat nestled itself in his arms, attempting to make calm. The iterator writhed in pain, however, it was all he could bear to do.

This is it, he thought.

Not dead by a stupid choice I made, but dead by a somehow stupider choice I made.
Laying a hand on Ruffles, he began to stroke the slugcat. Much to his discomfort, Ruffles was damp. Probably from the soft rains that fell when climbing up his can. Whatever it was, it was still not his favorite thing to be exposed to the elements. As he got onto the thought process, he realised his ache was seeping away into.. nothing. He didn't feel anything, other than the cold dampness of Ruffles pressed against him.
No, the soreness of the wire cut was still there and very much present, but it was dissapating. Leaving for an almost complete nothingness. He sat up, still hit with a mixture of vertigo and sickness.

But it was for the most part, gone. The horrible sensation of Rot plaguing his innards was becoming forgotten. Ruffles looked at him, turning her head. Of course, with the feeling of rot eating his structure now dissapated, so was the feeling of his structure alltogether. All the feeling now laid in the puppet. Whatever conciousness that lived in his can was now in the puppet.
Ruffles pawed at his face, causing him to look down. She stuck her tongue out for a moment before making a sound. "wa?"
Five Pebbles stared at the ignorantly blissful creature, trying to make sense of what it meant by it's single word.
Ruffles stood up and waddled in a circle. At that moment he realised, if he wanted to get out of this mess he'd have to walk. One of those things that iterators weren't really supposed to do. The scug impatiently began to walk in a circle and tapping it's paws on the ground.

Five Pebbles nervously looked at the chamber's floor. He reached out to Ruffles and averted his gaze.
"Ruffles, here."

Quickly, she approached him and turned her head, waiting for what they were asked of. Five Pebbles leaned his hand on Ruffles and sighed. "If you let me fall, I'll never trust you again." he hissed. Five Pebbles would've assumed she didn't understand if she hadn't flicked her ear and nodded lightly. After the fish-scug nudged him upwards and stabilized him, Five Pebbles was up. He wobbled for a moment, then gripped onto the arm that once connected to his back. With both sides of him now holding onto something, he was able to actually stand. Ruffles wagged her tail, somehow making a look of 'you're doing it' to him. Of course, creatures like her probably learned how to do this ages ago, when they were probably just a few cycles old. He was hundreds of cycles old, and he was just now standing. He kind of felt a little useless after that. However, he was actually the first iterator to actually do anything physically more than float.

Ruffles leaned against him, proud and excited, but her affection immidiately caused him to stumble.
Before hitting the ground, the only sound Pebbles managed was a measly "GH-"

Unenthusiastically, Five Pebbles turned around and glared at Ruffles, who proceeded to somehow scrunch itself into a small loaf, a sorry look on her face.
Five Pebbles sighed and massaged his eyes. Cussing out the poor, pitiful thing wouldn't do anything helpful, so he reached out his hand and sighed.
"..It's fine, Ruffles, I was bound to fall at some point, just-.. help me back up..." he groaned. Her ears perking back up, she quickly assisted him, and raised him back on his legs. He luckily, wasn't bruised, only a partial slab of his dignity was.
Finally, Five Pebbles took a step forward.

Ruffles made sure his hand had a good position on her head, and followed where he stepped slowly. As he stepped, he noticed the distance between him and the arm, which meant he had to let go if he wanted to take another step. Hesitantly, the iterator pulled his grasp away from the arm and wobbled. Inhaling sharply and expecting to hit the ground, Five Pebbles braced. Ruffles perked her ears up and quickly allowed him to hold onto her.
The two gave a short sigh of relief, thankful that they had stopped the accident.

The rest of that cycle was filled with impatient sighs, annoyed refusals to continue, and finally a small success. Pebbles was able to walk from wall to wall, allbeit slowly and stumbley.

Though Ruffles was the only one there to congratulate him, he was happy nobody else was here to silently snicker at his oh-so-many failures. Ruffles, luckily, didn't seem to judge too badly, only squeaking in excitement as he was able to accomplish anything, and silently comforting him when he fell. Admittedly, maybe it was better to have a creature with such a stare when he was doing something as simple as walking and almost always failing.
Ruffles clambered onto the hanging arm, and follow it to the ceiling. She looked down at Five Pebbles who sit there, appearing to be rather tired.
"What now?.." he whispered.

Ruffles pointed at the access shaft, then looked back at him and motioning to 'come on.'

Five Pebbles would've laughed if the situation wasn't so serious. I mean, he already did a lot. He broke his cords, his umbilical, survived it all, and then even learned.. or started learning, how to walk. Now, there stood Ruffles, whimpering and trying to get him to climb out of the shaft. He glared at the fish before speaking.

"you can't possibly be serious. We're leaving now? I can't climb that thing yet." he noted. Ruffles rolled her eyes and slowly descended the arm before sitting down and batting at a pearl. Staring at the arm, he sighed. 
I'm so close.. he thought.
But the efforts of that cycle held him to the floor, trying to make him just lay there and regain whatever his body considered energy.
Besides, even if he did climb it, he would have to avoid the cysts on the metal.

Ruffles laid next to him and gently exhaled before closing her eyes.
Five Pebbles tensed up before laying his hand on her. Her fur was only a tiny bit less damp, now, spending her cycle in his chamber.
He closed his eyes, and gently pet the slugcat. Something he also thought he'd never do.

Chapter Text

Ruffles exhaled quietly, trying her best to help the iterator up the steep, rot infested arm.
She wanted nothing more to just go, in that moment. Of course, she always liked going. Whether it was running, jumping, swimming, climbing, she liked having things to do.

It was only when Five Pebbles was in critical condition, passing out every other cycle due to his rot, needing rest now, of all things, and requiring assistance (though he would very rarely mention it), when she settled in his chamber and provided comfort to him.
Of course, being used to the open world, being able to get out all of the energy she had pent up... it was hard to adjust, to say the least. She disliked it at first, restlessly batting at Five Pebbles' pearls before he would say "knock it off", or shifting every few seconds when she sat down. Finally, she just learned to breathe for a moment and think about what Five Pebbles needed. And that was some sort of closure, that despite his rot, he would be okay in the end.

There was always times when Ruffles would think about how nice it was, being able to 'talk' to Moon. (Moon would say 'uh huh' and 'really?' to her as she endlessly wa'd about her cycle.)

But, Five Pebbles preffered the silence of the room, playing his pearl over and over again and looking just too pitiful for anyone's liking.

Finally, when she heard Five Pebbles tell her about his crazy idea, she was ecstatic.
A chance to see Moon? A chance to explore more of the vast world? To see new creatures, to hear new sounds, to learn new tatics?
Ruffles wanted to propel herself back and forth on the chamber's walls, it was some of the best news she had recieved, apart from when she learned Looks to the Moon would be okay.

Now, when she pictured escaping Five Pebbles' extensive rot, she thought they'd be confident, fast and be sitting there on the edge of the wall within one cycle.
..but she didn't have pulling the small, thin iterator up the robotic arm as he helplessly attempted to grab onto the placidly straight plates... with no luck.

"Ruffles, tell me we're almost at the access shaft.." he grumbled, reaching for another edge, though only being able to hold on for a short second. His arm immidiately went back for Ruffles' grasp, almost making her slip and fall due to the unexpected weight shift.

"Wa," she concluded.

Not being able to communicate with him was almost as infuriating as the horrible pace they were moving.

Ruffles didn't do slow.

But apparently, that's all that Pebbles did.

The robot's thin foundations scraped against the arm. "mrrp.." Ruffles upsettedly mumbled. At this rate, it'd be raining iron bullets when the two even got to the wall. As they struggled, Ruffles got to think more about the cons of the sudden decision, Such as the size of the shelters, the fact they'd need to teach Five Pebbles how to defend himself, or where they'd even really go after they got off the wall.

"GAH- RUFFLES!-" Pebbles suddenly yelped.
Realising she was daydreaming, the slugcat snapped out of it and grabbed onto his shoulders and pulled him as much as she could. With a sudden jerk, the two had made it through the access shaft.

Ruffles grabbed onto the pole as she realised what had happened, encouraging Pebbles to do so, as well.
the robot, breathing heavily from the effort of the climb.
She smiled suddenly, and realised they were out of the chamber!

The blue slugcat gestured for Five Pebbles to grab onto her, whether it was her tail, scruff, or paw. She didn't want to risk him drifting backwards and accidentally being eaten by that huge clump of rot directly behind them.
"Wh- why do you want me to hold onto you-??" he asked.

we don't have time for questions, she thought, wanting to force through his processes so he would just listen. Afterall, he was about to dive headfirst into a world of danger, and he was worried about why he should listen to the slugcat, who's made his way up and down his superstructure several times, and back and forth through the waterlogged rubble of his sister's structure.
She wanted to slap him, but that would most likely bruise her paw.

She exhaled, rolled her eyes, and gestured to 'just do it'

Five Pebbles grabbed onto her shoulder and sighed. "I'm not doing this the whole time, Fish," he insisted.
Ruffles sniffled, it's his funeral.

Pressing her paws against the pole, Ruffles launched both of them towards the long way to the exit. As soon as they floated next to the pole, Ruffles grasped it, and heaved both of them into the ladder well. The two were only gently floating now, escaping the once completely zero gravity innards of the superstructure.

Five Pebbles wobbled before being helped to a steady position by Ruffles.
The robot looked upwards and gasped softly.
"..And this.. is the easiest way out?" he asked, a small whimper in his tone.

with a nod, it waddled over to the ladder, and began to climb.
"Wawa," she chatted. It won't climb itself, so get to it.

Five Pebbles muttered a few angry baseless words before following.

Chapter Text

It couldn't.. get.. worse...

Pebbles pushed himself up the ladder, as Ruffles easily scaled the well by using just one of the poles. He couldn't begin to describe how much he loathed the thin points the ancients gave him instead of something stable to stand on.

Luckily, he realised there actually was an end. A small tunnel, which was almost as bad to crawl through as it was climbing the ladderwell, laid on the roof. Ruffles blinked once at him, and squirmed into the opening. Why did it get to be so easy for her? Surely he was to fall at some point, so why wouldn't the ancients provide him with anything to live after collapse? Five Pebbles thought, pulling himself through the hole. He remembered that the ancients probably were to keep the superstructure healthy.. but with them all passing, he guessed that their dim-witted ideas had become irrelevant.

Now, he did appreciate not being one of the simpleton creatures that always seemed to return to his superstructure, but he lightly envied their survivability; How easy they could adapt to whatever strange surroundings encapsulated them. Pulling himself out of the tunnel, Five Pebbles looked around at the large, open room. The stagnant air flowed very gently through the room, guiding small dust particles off and onto long empty and untouched items.
Ruffles seemed to intently know where to go, gesturing Five Pebbles to keep moving.

With a sigh, He stepped forward carefully, holding his arms out for balance. Ruffles landed on a ladder rung, then slid herself down the pole. Five Pebbles grumbled. Another huge ladder he had to climb down. To his utmost unfortune, he was part of one of the most recent generations of iterators, all much smaller than their predecesors.

Older iterators like Suns, Harassment, and Moon were much more to size of their creators, with stable foundations as well, meaning they would have a much easier time walking than he ever could. He and Unparalleled innocence were built to be much smaller and much less expensive to produce. After all, the bigger the iterator, the more parts that would be needed.

But he so intensely wished that he was at least built to properly climb the ladders in his own superstructure, should he ever have needed to.

Bracing for a fall, he held onto the rail, and slowly began shifting down on each rung until eventually hitting the ground. He began thinking this was a mistake, but then the crippling thought of the rot eating him had told him that there was things worse than not being able to climb down a ladder properly.

Ruffles picked up a sharp peice of iron conduit, and held it up, observing it. She waddled up to Five Pebbles, opened his palm and shoved the spear in his hand.
Suddenly, his throat closed, despite the fact he didn't really have much of a throat. "What am I supposed to do with this??" he asked.
Ruffles signalled to a strange pod in front of him, deep maroon fading into dark in color. She proceeded to make a jabbing motion, then an eating motion.
"Can you not do it yourself?" he argued.
"WA!" Ruffles angrily voiced.
"Fine, Fine, i'll do it," he shuddered. Clutching onto the spear, Five Pebbles looked at the pod, diagnal and facing the small hole in the roof. With an exhale, he stood back, and tossed the spear into the pod.

Ruffles turned to follow the spear, then look directly back at him in utter dissapointment.

it had completely missed the plant, jabbing into the ground.

He didn't need any words from the slugcat to understand that all she was thought was something like 'really? you can't even throw a spear? Do I need to teach you how to do everything?'...Of course, he remembered Ruffles had mosly been around Moon, so it was likely just a simple observation of the fact he missed. She grabbed onto the spear and yanked it from the ground, handing it back to him. He understood that he was probably not gonna leave until he opened the plant, whatever was inside.

Five Pebbles then thought, he could've sworn he used to be aware of why creatures attempted to open these things, but he guessed a lot of whatever he had before was seeping away now or had already long gone since his wires were cut. He held onto the spear and threw it once more. Begging that luck would save him, the spear shot through the air, and hit the edge of the plant, causing it's leaves to suddenly shoot open.

Five Pebbles felt something resembling adrenaline shoot through his body, the sudden loud noise of the plant opening and popping catching him off guard. He only made a small gasp noise, before realising how there was no threat.

Ruffles gave him a glance, then turned her head. He glared back at her large eyes. "What." he immidiately wrote off his abrupt scare, passing the plant and going forward. She shrugged, grabbing at the popcorn plant and swallowing the kernels before following.

Of course, Five Pebbles was stopped by a large heap of metal covering his path. Of course, more things trying to stop him from escaping. It was that moment he realised that if he wanted to get out of anywhere, he would need Ruffles. He had no karmic potential. Partly a blessing, partly a curse.
Nothing to lose, nothing to gain.
Five Pebbles watched as Ruffles entered the gate's platform, pulling Pebbles away from the door.

The gate recognised the creature's karma ability and began to move its metal bars into place. Plates began to close down, forming a thick wall. As two more peices clamped down, a form of trapdoor opened. Galons of water spilled out, hitting a large heated radiator of some sorts. Five Pebbles tensed up as the sudden hissing sound of the radiator brought upon a large amount of steam into the room. He quickly returned to normal, averting his gaze from his companion. Ruffles looked up at him and gently pat him on the leg before walking through the now open passage with Five Pebbles.

As they passed through the gate, the iterator grew concerned. He was.. actually doing this. He tried to occupy himself with whatever he was doing currently to avoid the realization that he was actually abandoning his roots. It was hard to occupy himself when he was literally just walking.
It was too late to turn back now. It'd be a cycle until he could even think about heading back, and the closest shelter was most likely awhile down his structure.
He had made his choice.
Whether its a grave he dug and now must lie in, or a pasture he grew and now must enjoy, he was leaving.
Leaving and never coming back.

Chapter Text

Five Pebbles stared endlessly at the empty, dusty city overlooking him.
It was.. magnificent. Extrordinary, and truly a mark of it's time.
But, there was no doubt it was likely a husk of what it once was. Dust and ash seemingly plagued every inch of ground, even where they stood, far away from the city. Ruffles leaped over a few large sphere-like structures, leaving Pebbles to awkwardly climb over it.

Still, though, as he walked, he felt things he thought he'd never feel. The small gust of wind brushing over him, the sun hitting his body. It was so unbelievably pleasant that he almost forgot everything. That he was still affected by rot, that he needed any sort of rest, that Ruffles was pushing his leg and trying to get him to move.
It was melted away by the warmth.
Suddenly, he stumbled and fell to the ground, something massive pinning him to the floor. Or, rather, his roof.

He realised the slugcat had tried to push him without taking his thin form into thought.
"GET OFF ME." he snarled.

Ruffles batted at his antennae for a short moment, before realising what he said, and climbing off of him.
of all the things in the universe.. he thought, brushing himself off. The scattered dust landed slowly after he had finished. "There wasn't a better way you could've gotten me to move?" he questioned. She raised..whatever she had for an eyebrow. Then he remembered she was probably trying to tell him to keep moving or pulling at his poncho, and he likely was tuning everything out, all from the sheer sudden wonder he was getting.
Speaking of the wonder, it wasn't wearing off.
He was so upset that the only way he got to see any of the sheer beauty the sky had provided was through his overseers. He didn't even know the sky was really that blue. Everything on his overseer footage was obviously a shade of blue, as that was all that his overseers could render.
But there stood the beautiful deep blues of the sky, with lime green to mint to pure white specks decorating it like a pattern on a fabric.
As he followed Ruffles, he admired each thing he came upon in silence. It would be rare if he ever awed at anything audibly.
Ruffles clambered into a hole, though wider than some corridors, was still awfully cramped.

With an almost quiet gasp for mercy, Five Pebbles followed around a curve and another curve, before dropping into a crossroads room.
Ancients used it as a deciding point, on which way one were to go, whether to Five Pebbles, their metropolis, or to somehow descend and or tend to the wall.
Which he was about to do. There was no way he could fix any part of it that required repair. He had no idea how to do so, let alone have the tools to fix anything.

Ruffles entered through a passage. Five Pebbles noticed on the other side was brightness, so he went after the fish.

Ruffles stood on the edge. She gazed into the open laid before them, holding her spear.
Five Pebbles' eyes widened. He stared at the bright peach clouds, hovering over the land that remained invisible to any view from up high. The wind blew a lot feircer, drawing his cloak aside slightly. He stepped beside Ruffles and knelt down carefully before sitting and staring.

"It's magnificent." he uttered out.

Ruffles nodded in agreement, their eyes glancing over the open grace of the skies. The rolling clouds moved past the other Iterator cans far off in the distance, occasionally being thin enough to show the raging, thundery storm of electricity that lay just under all of them. Five Pebbles allowed his slightly curved back legs to dangle off of the edge, then closed his eyes. Ruffles nudged him after a short moment of bliss, and turned away from the edge. Five Pebbles gave the scene one last longing look, before following.

The slugcat inched itself onto a pole and began to slide down with its sticky pawpads. Five Pebbles hesitated, latching onto the pole at first.
That, ofcourse, kept him from moving at all, so he loosened his grasp. He watched as the cans started to sink very leisurely the lower he got. It was a bittersweet feeling, literally leaving his once great home for something the wilderness may take over.
Ruffles drew itself onto an edge clammering down the poles.
Five Pebbles steadily climbed down the poles at a much more relaxed pace, trying not to slip and accidentally end this journey before it started. Boy, wouldn't that be terrible. The iterator who escaped his can and immidiately fell off of his superstructure.

If anything, he was going to prove his creators wrong. Iterators could survive out of their can, and they could most likely learn more about their surroundings than they ever could couped up in a tiny chamber. He latched onto an edge, and followed Ruffles down another pole, then another, and another. 
Of course, he didn't mind the now tedious safety of the poles, but he wouldn't mind a little bit of new terrain.

It was only when he watched his sister's slugcat latch onto a wall and ever so gently slide down it, he wanted to glide down poles again.
Of course, there was an alternative route, and those were the rungs placed so ancients could climb up and down.
The robot made a small hmph, noise, and began to drop down the ladder.

Ruffles looked tired of his pace, making some sort of face of impatientness.
"Well I would love to hear your ideas of getting down this well, as long as they aren't dropping from several feet." he snarkily responded. The fish scug gave a sigh and continued forward, hoping that Five Pebbles would follow.
She climbed into a hole directly across from the entrance after pressing forward. Five Pebbles looked confused, for a moment, questioning what could possibly be there. After all, it really just seemed like it either lead into his superstructure, or was a dead end.

Ruffles poked her head out and began to pantomime again. She made a large round circle with her arms, made it dissapear behind her head, then made a crescent shape with her arms. After a moment, she made immitations of other creatures, and by the sight of her actions and sounds she made, he decided that maybe it would be better to just listen to her, whatever she was saying.
Five Pebbles shrugged, and followed her in the hole, only to be met with something so much more uncomfortable and cramped than his chamber.
"Ruffles, do you intend for us to get stuck in here?" he asked, trying to lean against one of the corners in a sitting position. That was the most he could muster, there was no chance of him standing up in there, not even one chance for Ruffles. Her attempt to stand left her hunched over in the shelter, before flopping over on top of Five Pebbles.
"GAH-!" he shreiked.
Ruffles rolled over before staring at him with her large eyes. For a creature with eyes as big as her's, he wondered how she even stepped on land. Surely she would be more successful surviving in Moon's superstructure remains? Or in her Waterfront complex?
She stretched before making herself comfortable at Five Pebbles' expense.
"wa," she vocalized before closing her eyes.

The ground shook violently, and Pebbles watched as his access to the outside was gone. He sat there in pure horror as the shelter closed.
He tried to make sense of how long it would be closed for, after all, it seemed much like one of the gates that contained different sections of the land.
Ruffles did nothing, only occasionally expanding a bit, as a sign of her quieted breathing.
He wanted nothing more than to curse out Ruffles and simotaniously ask how long it would be, what will happen to the air supply, and also discuss where they were heading when-.. if, they ever got onto solid ground.
However, she lay there asleep now.

Careful as to not wake her, Five Pebbles laid his hand on her damp fur and began to pet her. It was more to comfort his anxiety than to make her happy, and it was only slightly working. At least this gave him a chance to rest for the coming descent.