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After a burn out from studying too hard, a sophomore Andy is delirious with fever.There is an ancient cowboy doll on his dorm desk.But along the years, he has moved past feeling embarrassed of his friends finding out and having to explain himself. After all, he is not the only one with a toy or another, and those who have none still hold attachments to other kinds of items.
Besides, collector pieces look a lot less childish to display at your place.So who cares that he has remained attached to one?Apparently very few people.Very people would care that he also, occasionally, takes the ragdoll with him to sleep and cuddle. As long as it's returned to the desk on the morns, at least. (There is no reason to make a lot of it, really.)
[ Woody, and other favorite toys around the dorm's block, who are meaningful for their owner for one reason or another, find out that they can enter their respective owners' dreams and influence those to some extent... Sometimes, they can even enter other owners dreams when their owner sneezes.

In three nights, Woody does two apparitions in Andy's, but each, narrated as action scenes, is striking enough for the old teen to start questioning the state of his mind, the signification of Woody's presence in them, and why the doll is so important to him. ]
He has told himself this for years now, so he knows the line between make believe and reality:
now matter how well-made, how ancient, or how dear they are held, toys are not sentient beings.They don't speak on their own,
they don't move when alone,
(and, most of all) they don't make phone calls.No matter what the one haunting his dreams seems to believe as it recounts its life with others dream characters...And yet, in the blink of a second, a cherished cowboy doll in his hands, Andy hesitates.
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He simply had not found it in himself to betray his boy. That's what he tells himself.His boy he scorns, how deluded.Still. He would honor his call, would not betray his previous owners. He was a third generation hand me down with a mission; he had been chosen for... chosen for something noble. ...Now, he just had to figure out what.But...barely more than one week has passed: no, keeping Andy's books straight on a dorm desk...was just temporary. A simple episode of a life much richer... nicer... bearable-er? well, a life still!...He was still there, still feeling, wasn't he? Sooo, yippee. Boredom didn't kill.That mystery, at least, was all solved....
Yeah. He still has Andy...more or less. But now he is alone.
Apparently, he has become an unofficial emotional support toy. (For a boy approaching full adulthood.)Oh it's a flattering job, alright.But it's also one maddeningly frustrating.Alright, there are still a lot of items and furniture to talk to... but, sorry, honestly? Desks and beds are known to be terribly unimaginative. (To his disappointment, neither set of the room are exception to the rule.)Now, he feels jumpy, restless...and helpless. Oh, every toy know helplessness like an old friend. One that you don't realize at first, then slowly get acquainted with; one that you resent at times, and yet, eventually, slowly accept in all aspects of your borrowed life; an old, predictable, and somehow, still, insidious shadow that constantly wrestles with your tiny soul shard... But. This. Being alive like this, however faint his sense of life could be deemed, this experience feels helpless beyond the condition of a toy. For Woody, it is a first. An uncomfortable first time in his thrice...kind of borrowed? life. Yeah.Today, he tries to count the number of times he sighs. To pass time.He loses track.~Andy, who studies psychiatry, keeps ranting at him occasionally, out of habit. Except that, now, there is a pattern to it, and it correlates with the times when his owner returns to his dorm intoxicated and socially frustrated. Every other weekend.One night, after having thought about it for long enough to drive himself mad, Woody figures out a way to answer back.And, important, to do this, without altering their relationship!
(Yeah, freaking his owner out irremediably, and by this, also risking to be thrown or unmade, to expose the secret for all toys, and to ruin the complicity and the absolute social ease that his owner normally shows around him...isn't exactly his goal.)And if Andy doesn't consider his ability to want for things of his own as real or worthy of respect; if his owner doesn't respect him as, at least, a living pet (at least), while he uses his will to communicate with him...
then, Woody is confident that he can always make it look like his owner has imagined this all. It's not as if Andy can prove anything to anyone else: Woody is always very mindful of cameras, micros, and he has figured out how to erase his traces long ago.Through this mean, the stuffed cowboy convinces-persuades Andy to provide him with tools and items to defend himself while he is alone during days.Then, Woody, spends most of his alone time feeling guilty for having technically broken the Rule repeatedly, and is terrified of other toys finding out.Until The Zorg who he shares Andy's dorm with wakes up. 
[The selectively mute toy makes him more and more edgy, until someday, both are stolen (the usual plot).During their trip, they get to know each other (the Zorg is a very shy toy), and they learn things about the Rule.
(How it had been made, why it's instinctive, yet toys are not paranoid about it and dare to move, why they are sentient to begin with).Woody also finds out that Andy's grandfather had been one of the screen writers for his cartoon (the three last generations of Davis have partly given life to Woody according to how they get sentience. ~Yes, Toys have an equivalent of Sparks.)Andy and his roommate struggle to look for their toys without letting their fellow students know that they care about toys (and so, give some of them a mean of coercion or a way to make fun of them for years on. not if it can be avoided).They get their toys back. (Yeah, well, imagine the adventure for yourself.)Things return to normal for a couple of weeks, Woody carefully keeping his owner in the blue regarding whether his answers only happen in Andy's imagination (he writes notes and destroy them as soon as Andy looks away, not realizing how bad this affects the young man's sanity.One Sunday morning, Andy pretends to have a phone talk with Sid. As if the guy was trying to let him in a huge secret about toys. Andy listens, hums, then answers calmly...
]"Oh, I believe you!" then, with a glint of amunsement, "Yes. But this is the very idea of the game, Sid."We lend toys ideas, behaviors. We pretend that they animate and turn sentient when we don't see it... That they help each other but compete for our attention. Instead of our mom retrieving them, it's them who return home in secret when we loose them. Tidying themselves after we get them dirty. But only when no humans are present."Because they have a set of rules, haven't they." A smile. "But as it goes for most taboos, there are exceptions. Paradoxes." His voice grows grave, ominous."Yes. Isn't it fun? How in almost all scenarios, one of them finds a way to a workaround? This is what the game is about, after all; testing the strength of a formula, the wisdom of a taboo, busting loopholes...""A-Andy?"A sly triumphant smile turns his way. "Got you."The words echo heavy like a shout and the doll sags, paralyzed with dread moreven than from the instinctive freeze as his owner's warm chuckle fills his head and reduce his world to his voice.He expects Andy to rise and do something, but Andy doesn't move from his seat."I have had suspicions. But you have been very careful, haven't you? So good, that you kept me fooled for over a month. It's...impressive."I noticed many little things. For years I thought that I had faint psychosis tendencies, inherited from my father."But now, as I study the human brain, I can see the loopholes in this theory.
So I thought to plant mics. But you can be so mindful, disciplined, when it comes to filling your purpose...(He shuddered inwardly and couldn't help furrowing a brow for a fraction of second; unable to know if it came because of anxiety or from his owner's praise.)"Do not fear. Nothing has changed."There is solidity in that voice; it echoes in the promise.
The toy feels faintly soothed by it... even if its grave confidence tells him that his child is, indeed, forever gone."I'm even going to let you pretend that this only happened in your imagination, if you need it. From your own account, you dream of the same things that I do, after all," Andy flatly says.Inside, Woody grinds his nonexistent teeth. Paradoxically, he feels both uneasy and jaded from guilt... because, this is obviously Andy's revenge for what he had done to him the past week... (To say that the toy feels bad...)"But, honestly," and it is only then that Andy rises from his chair, his hanging words holding Woody's quantum life. (He is too keenly aware of his surroundings. (And this is not normal while he lays inanimate.)Woody doesn't know what to expect, and so, only let himself perceive the world through the usual fog that he could hide behind of when inanimate. Now that the results of his misbehavings are returning on him, he would cry, beg for normacely."Do you really think that I wouldn't have found out sooner or later? "His owner doesn't lift him in his hand as he has always done. He doesn't try to neutralize him, in case that he might jump like a spring devil, either, as toys unconsciously fear most, when they talk about The Rule. No. (And in a way, what happens feels worse, because it doesn't give the doll any clue at all about what to expect.)Andy touches the side of his head, with the length of two fingers; the contact insufferably soft, featherlike. To the point that, through The Fog, Woody can't clearly tell if it really happens or not. But his boy trails one of his fingers back, behind and around his vinyl head, cupping it with almost awed care. (After months with barely a touch, even idle, the toy can't help but shudder again. How could nothing have changed-)Andy smiles at him. "After all, we only are two here."The smile looks candid, not as innocent as that of a child, for sure, but awed, kind. Respectful, maybe.(Hope for it is all that he has; his last lifeline through the fog, through his guilt, through his despair and love.)"Oh, cowboy... I have so. many. questions." 
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Andy is coming back to his last childhood neighborhood to spend the holidays with his mother.
After four years on campus!Accidently catching on the news, Woody can't resist the temptation of going to check on his grown kid.
Trapped in the young adult's old room, despite of his usual luck, the ragdoll is found.It was early night when Andy entered his dorm, with more papers and a huge cup of mocha. Courses and practicum were getting longer and more complex, leaving little to no time for anything beside researches...He almost brushed the letter off his desk when he sat his cup down. It had been a long day, one that definitely required to end with a caffeinated chocolate candies.Andy hardly remembered the last time he could relax during a week-end. He regretted quitting the camping club on his third year, but it had been a mandatory choice to keep up with the amount of work. That way, at least, he was left with enough energy to visit his family often. Besides, as long as he enjoyed most subjects of his course, he didn't mind as much.Being stuck indoors, through, buried under web researches, sheets of dissertations and drawings from the comic club had eventually brought back memories of his childhood correspondence.Andy had not been sure of the odd that his pen pal would remember him. He had first thought about contacting Carl through the web, but...that would not have been quite the same as folding and sealing paper, and instant messaging was totally stranger to the sacred moments of the eager search of a mailbox in hope of finding from a friend. it made the whole ordeal much more solemn and more precious.Andy chuckled. He was barely twenty-two and already feeling jaded?Anyway. Carl was a few years older than him, and Andy was into rocket curled straws when they had become pen pals. But, as far as he remembered, despite of the age gap, they had many common ground, beginning with their lost father and ending with a sweet tooth, and so, thirteen years old Carl Fredericksen had always treated him as if he was his age during their two years exchange of illustrated letters sometimes stuffed with a few candy. Then Ellie's signature had appeared along to Carl's on the letters, and after having found each other, the teen couple probably had more entertaining things to do that maintain a correspondence, Andy guessed.Andy was still grinning when he opened the letter with his old scout penknife, one of the few things he could not resign himself to leave behind at his family home....One of them.He did his best to avoid thinking about it, but if Andy was to be honest with himself, he would say that he missed his old cowboy doll. Not only because it had been his father's, but because...well, Woody had been his only friend through the loss, and then again, when the Davis moved off and Andy had to begun over at his new school. Whenever he had felt down, really...Andy concentrated back on the envelope.Yet he couldn't stop a brief sigh as he unfolded the letter and set on his desk lamp. When Carl told him of his marriage, Andy was not really surprised to see that he and Ellie now wrote their letters together.It had been the newlywed Mr. Fredericksen, his childhood pen pal again. Back then, Andy had felt safer with his own imagination and the confidence of letters the year after his father had passed away.He opened the letter with a sudden pang of nostalgia. And smiled as he recognized Ellie's big curved handwriting.He was invited to their new house for the holidays.Andy felt a little eager at the prospect of meeting his old friends again. Despite of the friends he had made, his first years out of the family house had felt more lonesome than he would have cared to admit.When the day came, Andy quickly packed and made his way to the train station.At the Fredericksen house, a few hours after diner, when Andy shown his new Smartphone, the bright atmosphere clearly sobered around Ellie and Carl too, became grave.'And you can...hem...did I say something wrong?' Andy cringed minutely.The couple exchanged a long glance before gently bringing their chairs closer to the teen. In a low voice, Mr. Frederiksen's began to confide that "we know this does sound crazy, but we have really thought this over...and we..." Carl looked to his wife's side and Emily nodded before they turned back to him."We have come to suspect machines to be sentient." We also have done a few researches and" Carl paused and shook his head in disbelief. "What we gathered indicates that top hierarchy at Buy n' Large Corp. couldn't totally be unaware of it. So...it might be that humans actually fuel machines, appliances and toys into sentience with their emotions. First worried, the Fredericksen had tried to talk about it with the company, but the people either didn't care or laughed them off or said they were "technophobe making philosophy out of consumerism". It seems that an AI has access at everything Buy and Large. They suspect it to have plans of its own. Finally, they advise Andy to learn to live without electronics and distrust machines. They also offer him to come in a few weeks so they can show him proof of all of that in one of the BnL facilities.Andy knows the Fredericksen for long enough to know they must be serious, but through the revelation upset him, he silently denies it.His mother invites Andy next for the rest of the holiday. (So how's College? Is there a girl in your live? — I'm still studying game design and it's still nice. Nope, not for long anyway.)She asks Andy to make their old camera work so she can film him again. Despite of his complain that smartphones are better than this old technology, he set the camera on his desk and work on it some before going to bed.By early night in his childhood house, Andy mechanically takes his phone out, but then pauses and looks at it with new distrust. With a blink and a sigh, he tries to put it down on his desk, but it falls behind the desk.Too tired to light up he quickly send his hand down to retrieve it, but grab something soft with doll-like limbs.Frowning, he lights up and checks again... but finds only his small appliance. Carefully retrieving it, Andy looks warily around the room, and, with an anxiety bordering fear, proceed to check everywhere.When he proves very determined and persevering, and Woody has no more room to run and hide without being seen, he freezes...and Andy finds the old doll he had reluctantly entrusted to Bonnie.The teen picks it up, upset to see such a precious toy gathering dust, forgotten. Then, he wonders how it can be here after he clearly remembers having brought it a mile away to the girl's house. Surprised that the toy is without any dust at all makes him pause in thought. He calls to his mother to ask her if someone has brought a toy there, but "no".As a new possibility dawns on him, he freezes and reluctantly turn his head again to examine the toy. Finding a layer of mud on the toy's boots, he frowns. Minutely more upset as the cogs turn in his mind. Only the familiarity of the character of Woody Pride, and his last shreds of rational thinking keep him from throwing the doll away. Or from rushing to grab duck tape.Out of reflex, he goes for his smartphone, but calling at such an hour might have be a bit excessive the part of him that still refuses to believe it argues. Considering that he is still on his two feet with his fine, hole-free body, and sees to sights of kitchen knife anywhere around, he manages to gather himself a second to gather what has happened so far.Even through the Fredericksen have already told him all about items reaching a form of sentience before, Andy is very upset about that applying to his own 'old pal'. So much that ironically, he forgets to be show any wariness toward his computer which is still sleeping on the desk under his arm.Two LEDs blink on the laptop like curious eyes, unbeknownst to the young man too busy glaring at his toy.Finally, with messed up feelings, Andy comes to term with his pride and decides to talk to the doll."So. ...It's been some time, eh sheriff?" He fidgets. "Well." he draws a breath and hold it, gathering his thoughts. "Recently I've heard of the weirdest idea possible." He stops, just fixates the toy and snorts. "Even you might not believe it. But...I..." (...) "I want to be sure. So...if you can hear me and answer, please, do it now. I-I promise I'm not going to freak out." He mutters. "Almost sure." He sighs a smile. It's just ridiculous, he thought while addressing the toy again, slowly. "I'm being serious you know. So listen to me : If you're alive...I really, really want to know." He insisted to make the words matter.Despite of Andy's effort and hope, only silence remains."So..." he muttered, musing softly, "What do we have so far? Never move around humans, pretend to be a toy, and stalk people in their sleep?" The more he get self-conscious, and the more his tone rings with a sliver of irony. But Carl had said he could show him proof..."Eventually crawling to the desk, grabbing a huge pair of scissors, reaching the bed's edge and Sid's soft belly..."Disappointed from the lack of response from the toy, he tries to maintain a blank expression.It was almost fun in a way— not to torment a toy (e̶s̶p̶e̶c̶i̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ n̶o̶t̶ W̶o̶o̶d̶y̶ if he truly was convinced of its sentience, Andy would have had tons of reasons to feel guilty even from that, with everything that toys probably endure).
But, to talk to his father toy again, and imagine him...
it. In yet another adventure (minus his fluff with the cisors)...and try to get a reaction out of a stuffed doll. That, certainly felt silly. (...In a funny way.)Honestly, Andy was a little shocked, to find that the propect of Woody being able to feel -no matter how- didsn't freak him out like he feel like he should, were it any other doll. (But well, Andy had not been one to show many emotional outburst since he had passed his twelve birthday. He prefered to acknowledge and deal with his problems in private.)Confused about his locked andmixed feelings, Andy quickly erased the through from his brain with a huff. He rose a bow at the idle cowboy in his hand. Somewhat happy, somewhat self-conscious, the cold reality caught up with him, making him remember that he is in his childhood room, at his mother's home, and holding his childhood cowboy. Who might or might not be sentient.And of course, his old nights of falling asleep cuddling the toy, of wishpering dandy nothings when he wanted to distract himself from a scratched knee, every awkward thing that he had even done in front of the doll— if not to him (he took a minute to be madly grateful for never having done weird experimental stuff on his coyboy. On any of his toys in fact. He was pretty sure that having to face a Woody who'd have been the crash test of his kissing skill would have killed him.)
Alose cam up the memoru of over a decade of his doozing rambles. Bout no, it wasn't weird, though, to talk to toy, for a unique boy whose only sibling was over three years younger. ... It wasn't.
Pushing back the cold doubts of self-consciousness, the memories got texture."Come to think of it..., I always felt like there was some presence in this room. Ever since I first came home for holidays." Looking the toy square in his eyes, after a dramatic pause. "That was you, wasn't it?" (...) "But then how could you have traveled from—" Andy whisper most to himself.*with awe and fright* "Can you really do that, cowboy?" Grave again, Andy waits and then. "My friend told me that he had proofs but, to be honest... I don't really need it. As I already have you, recorded in movement, just on this camera." I have seen you, heard you...
I know, cowboy." He pats the old family camera.
Well. Few people on earth would regard what looked like a decent step-motion video as proof, but the toy doesn't need to know that.Maybe...maybe I should show it to Bonnie's mother just to be saf-"Woody blanches and his expression slowly changes, resignation darkening his eyes as he exhales, having a miniature stuffed vinyl panic attack until he cringes.It's a slight motion, but one Andy was waiting for.As everything finds confirmation in his brain, the young adult is stunned for a while.
Then, he forces himself to breathe calmly again."At-at summer camp," Andy gulps and crosses, "after we moved over...whenever I'd meet Sid he wouldn't stop freaking out when I brought you along... Wasn't even coherent about it. Well, Sid hadn't exactly been totally sane even before, so, I at the moment I just...but..." Ando stops, puts an elbow in his other hand, pokes his front teeth with a nail and pin Woody with a stare."Could you... have you really tried to kill him?-""No!" silence The doll, if that was ever possible, has an horrified look on its face. How vinyl can bend so precisely was beyond Andy's comprehension. A talking toy is beyond his comprehension too, through."So you do talk..." Andy ushers these words with a trembling hand, hesitating between holding the doll tighter with both hands to prevent it from jumping on him, or throwing it as far as possible and grabbing the first naerby item to protect himself with.Arms on Andy's hands, and head up, terrified, Woody is shaking."We would nev-" Woody bits his lip. "I would never break anyone!" Woody stammers at the top his stuffed chest. "Or kill!""But you admit you are alive." (...) "Or that I am not sleeping."When Andy sees Woody consider falling still again, he backpedals. "Forget about the sleeping part. You are alive!" he mutters determined.Woody forces a dry chuckle. "I remember the horror movies you used to see in your teen years. I couldn't let you think that - I didn't know how you would react. Or what you would think... Andy find his confidence returning. Fascination replacing distrust on the young man's face."Still, how can this be...who do you even move, wh—" he pauses noticing Woody fidgetting. "Why are you so terrified?"Woody forces himself to stop shaking."I'm not going to hurt you. ...And I guess that no one would believe me even if I wanted to tell someone.." Andy offers just in case.A faint, unconvincing smile on vinyl. "It's not what I'm-" (...) "How comes y-," (...) "I am talking to you I can move, how comes you are so calm about this?" Woody stammers with wariness."Well...I've met two friends who've already broke the...general idea to me a few days ago. It still sounds crazy, through.""Of what are you afraid," Andy stopped before saying 'sheriff'. He realized he had no idea how the toy called itself. He could not paste a name on a sentient being, and he felt sad to realize that he didn't know anything about the toy he had thought his for so long. After all..."I will never hurt Bonnie. W-I usually look after her, you know. S-so...""I trust you."A long silence passes. Eventually, Woody lifts a suspicious glance up to the teen. "Just like this?"Andy nods and attempts a smile. "As long as you don't go around with knives and hatchets, that is.""Why do you- I knew it!""No, wait, Woody..." Andy search for his words, very serious again. "What I'm saying is that I trust you. Honest.""Haha, so you're really not...considering calling the police, or something? I mean, I'm a toy, am I not? And here we are, having a real conversation..."Andy's furrowed his brow, worried with a touch of sadness-guilt. "Never. I couldn't imagine giving you away. I mean, well...I never intended to..."At loss of words, Andy thinned his lips, and simply held the toy's gaze with a longing expression. When he noticed Woody's returned guilt and saw the cowboy avert his eyes, he frowned, thoughtful."Thinking about it, now," Andy's eyebrows rose with curiosity. "How did you ever end up in the attic box?" Andy looks back at the toy. He rises the doll above his old desk and slowly let go. He is still a little fascinated to see the doll keeping up on stuffed jeans. "I clearly remember when I put you, I checked right before I left the house." Now, there were undertones of betrayal in Andy's voice.Woody fidgets. "I...I really wanted to stay with you!" Looks down at his feet, does a tiny air kick and stool silent for a while before choosing his words. "I just wanted to check on the- on the things you were going to leave behind, because I just...felt...a little nostalgic." Woody confided, as his voice softened sadly at the memory of his friends. "But I ran out of time to climb back when you turned around!""I remember now! So that was at that moment..." Andy's brow furrowed in thought. How many times had the toy been moving right behind him? "Why didn't you want me to know?" Andy shook his head and became solemn. "Are you going to hide again now, after this...?""W-I'm not hiding. It's just," Woody motioned with his arms. "It's not really something w-I consciously do." The toy gulped, glad he had managed not to spill the other toys secret yet again. Then he fidgeted a little and huffed. "Can you imagine what would happen if the humans...everyone, found out that toys could speak and move around?"Andy realized he had been watched and listened to in his room for his whole childhood and begins to feel really embarrassed. "I imagine people would feel more self-conscious in their bedroom." For a moment Andy felt glad to have kept the cowboy in his toy box since his pre-teen years. He attempts to chastise himself but can't help the feeling."But w-I-I can stop hearing and seeing when necessary! I mean, I swear I never looked when you needed privacy! Besides, it isn't as if you had anythin' to be embarrassed of-" Woody chokes on a dry chuckle. "Haha okay, just forget that last part, 'kay?" Andy mak ea point to glare at the desk until his blush subsides."So..." He passes a hand in his hair. "Hem, what now? Will you stop hidding it?"Woody did a double take there. "Hidding what?"Andy shrugged, a brow raised. "Your secret.""Ah. Yeah." The toy thinned his lips and looked away, fidgeting again. "It's more complicated than that," the toy murmured, "but I want you to know that," Woody paused to look at his boy, almost turned a man, square in the face, "I have been happy to be your toy.""Thank you. For everything. And thank you for agreeing to talk to me." Andy's smile felt wonderful, and still, too short lived. The young adult's voice now weighted down."I know you might have to stop at some point, but I'm going to see an old friend tomorrow. The one who told me about your possible sentience. "And it would be...wonderful, if you agree to...ah, not to pretend that I've been hallucinating this until I am back here?"Because, yeah, I have many questions. And I intent- I really hope that you are willing to try to answer them; but if anyone finds you here it will makes things more complicated. I can't just leave you at College either because there are too many chances for you to be moved, lost or even stolen by all means...""We can go somewhere else, but..." the toy tought fast with a pout and a frown. "I am still your toy. If you want that.
Just... if you take me far from here, can we make sure that Bonnie doesn't worry?"Rapt, Andy smiled with newfound respect for his toy. Or maybe, the toy. "Sure."The rag coyboy tipped his absent hat and nodded. "Then... wherever adventure calls," he winked his signature grin and crossed his arms, pinning is ands under his armpits. But the gesture felt heavier, the smile shy, tentative in the unorthodox situation."In that case, I'll have the company. Since the road ahead me is long, today.His smile fell, and he blinked a second.
You could keep me with you. If you wanted. He watched the young man silently, eyes too full, repressed. In many ways, I am still your toy. And that longing hung a moment in the silence, unsaid from one part, and carefully ignored by the other. At least until something clicked and Andy asked: "Wait, you can do that as... yourself, right? I mean; not as a still toy...?"
Woody hesitated. "Even if we ended up together alone again in a soundproof room, I still couldn't promise..." (Hanging on a toy's words, Andy didn't even notice the gush of cold wind rushing him through from the open window.) "But I'll try."The cowboy can't believe that he's revealed himself. That's clearly crazy. I-inconsiderate...quite selfish. He can hardly keep track of the number of rules he had merrily broken for his boy anymore.Andy reassures Bonnie about the doll, then carefully put his toy in his backpack, and drive back to his college dorm.On the road, Andy leaves his backpack open on the side seat to let Woody free of his moves.Woody carefully got out of the backpack to sit behind it, down on the immense passenger seat. He did it slowly, careful, as if bursting the wrong move could still send his owner in a panic and bring the car into a telephone pole.Moving under a human gaze still felt unnatural.Yet, the toy mused again, he wasn't sure he had ever seen Andy so excited and happy in the past decade, and maybe that made it all worth it.If Jessie, Buzz and the others found out...well, there would be much explaining to do, after the fact that he had been the one insisting on making their secrecy a common rule wouldn't really help his case now.And yet...part of the reason for that rule had been Sid, back then. Because, the kid had really been traumatized and it had took a lot of time from them and his own toys to get the hyperactive boy to stop panicking at the sight of a plaything.Yet, Andy certainly wasn't Sid, and the circumstances were almost opposite then and now. Besides, his owner—ah...his /ex-owner/, Woody amended sadly, was an adult now. So that meant, well, that meant... He cringed. That probably only made his behavior more dangerous from any sane toy's point of view.But...as long as his boy would send him these sidelong conniving smiles, as long as he could bask under the overwhelming strength of his owner's fondest attentions and remember the feeling of these fingers occasionally playing in the handle of his pull-string (without a clue on how fragile that power felt sometimes), Woody could live with that—he could probably live with anything.His smile slowly died down. Yeah. He was very selfish. But, goodness help him, he couldn't care less.In Andy's personal dorm, Woody timidly peek out of the backpack when his owner finally open it. Seeing that they are alone in the room, the doll get out and Andy helps it on his bed.Why Andy unpacks—there isn't much, just daily necessities—Woody timidly test the pillow, still uneasy with the idea of moving around in the sight range of a human. After a while, when Andy eventually sit down, Woody studies him before daring to speak again, initiating the conversation himself this time."Andy?""Yeah?"He carefully chose his phrasing to make sure he wouldn't accidentally leak word of the other toys' sentience without their permission."You know...even if I...move, or if I," *gestures*, "can communicate with you, ah...it doesn't make me anythin' special." *attempt at a careless chuckle* "Take that away and I'm your everyday common toy.""Well" Andy crossed his arms and sat up, lips thinned. "I disagree." Andy's eyes moved away and the teen slowly touched the back of his head. "For me you're much more than that." Andy smiled when Woody's brows rose in confusion. "You were my father's. And mom told me how he held you dear. So...in a way, you're also a memorial of kinds." Andy cast his eyes down to Woody's feet. "But it's not just that... Whenever I needed company, anything, you were always there. I mean no what what I did or pretended, afterward I could always pick you up and tell you everything...you were always there." Andy wait in an awkward silence."It has been an honor, partner." Woody's expression is anything but serious this time.Then Andy remembered something and he flinched. "Yet...I threw you into a box, didn't I.""It's fine. We-I. We both knew that Playtime was over for good. It's something normal for an owner, right? It doesn't matter." The doll tries to be convincing, but the memory still hurts and Andy feels it through Woody's empty smile."It's doesn't make up for what I did." (...) "As I said," (...) "You never were any other toy. I just...I guess I didn't want people to think that I was still a child.""Hey," (...) "C'mon Andy." It felt strange for his father's cowboy to call him by his name with so mature a voice. "I did mistakes too. Some...bigger than others," Woody says, remembering breaking Buzz's arm, planning to leave Andy for a museum and now realizing he made his boy feel betrayed by rejoining the other toys at Bonnie's. he feel like he owes the kid-no the teen and should tell him the complete truth, but just as Woody doesn't feel ready to reveal Andy's other toys' secret, because it sounds like betraying them, he is also reluctant about confessing his past choices. "But that would better be a tale for another time." His face dimmed a little when he realized that there might be no other time."I..." he trailed over and sighed. "I'll miss you terribly. ...Woody.""Andy, I'm not going anywhere. As I said I'm still yours...""And this is not a dream, mister." A bossy finger pointed the teen's face and the rise of a smile."So whenever you decide you can pass over and, maybe...convince Bonnie to lend me again?"Eventually, Andy reminds the toy that he is supposed to bring him back to Bonnie the next day.Atmosphere sours. Andy thinking Woody prefers Boonie's company to his, and Woody being torn between his friends and Andy's budding friendship.Wanting Andy to know that he has all of his trust, Woody yield to egoism and spill the other toys' secret telling every kind of toys and appliances he had seen alive, including speaking to Sid and deciding to go to Bonnie. Realizing what it must take to be a toy, moved beyond speech, Andy slowly gathers the doll against him and 'I'm so sorry...I' but 'Even if you knew, you couldn't be at fault. it's only the normal way of things, I guess. We...we came to understand that' but Woody's voice creak a little on the last word.Andy feels like he owes Woody."Is there anything I can do for you while we're still alone?"Woody fidgets. "Well, there might be a couple things. Ah, but it will sound weird." Woody was anxious because drat, what if Andy wasn't ready to trust him that much, what if his request made him upset...?"Come on, Woody, you can tell me!" Andy gently pleaded, eyes alit with curiosity. "I'm offering, right?"Now this face.There were no indication, no previous warning when a new kind of energy came crashing on a toy. Suddenly swept off his slowly steadying grounds again, Woody distractedly felt his instincts of prudency weakening a little more every time it happened. He didn't want to resist Andy anyway, but...Andy. Yeah that would be it. It wasn't as if he was going to get soft and careless from now, it was just for his boy—tween, his owner. It was different. Right? It couldn't be so wrong... He repeated this desperate mantra again, battling to remain afloat of his feelings."Hem, then..." He took a few steps around, then blurted a soft laugh. "Have you through about having a haircut?""A...what?"The cowboy smiled in triumph when his teen shows an expression stuck between wariness and amusement. "but the hair had made a name of itself and from year to year, they just asked for it.""So... You...want to cut my hair?""Kind of. It's... I..." He shook is head giving up finding a way to explain how their jokes about Andy's hair had stuck, associating to the rule and the temptation to reak it growing urgent even through still as much unnatural, along the years. "Yeah."
(stuff happens...)
A minute later, Woody gingerly climbs on his shoulder with a huge pair of scissors."Uh are you sure you don't want me to help?""No! I'm fine, I can do it on my own... Or maybe, can you hold on the scissors for a second?""Here. But... Still, you know, I'm not sure that is a really good idea...""Oh...I know, what with all of the movies where the plush and dolls carries impossibly huge sharp items, huh?""No, it has nothing to do with that, I don't care what happens in these movies, you're my cowboy, and you're nothing like these excuse for characters! I'm not worried about you hurting me.""So, what is it about then?""Well what if you miss and cut too much, how will I get to explain it?""C'mon, here give it to me." Grabs the scissors. "I've got you. Everything will be fine. I know what I'm doing.""Really? And where did you learn to do that?""I saw other people do it quite often!""Where? Not...mom?""No..." Hums a little while working. "On TV.""You've just seen it on TV?""Andy, you said you trusted me, right?" The teen reluctantly nods."Now please, bend over a little, we don't want me to lose footing in the middle of this do we?""But, I... ""Just hunch a little lower."..."Here, perfect! Now don't move, the first cut is decisive...""Woody... Do you realize that this is crazy? You're not even supposed to be able to do that.""I'm not supposed to be able to do a lot of things. Does it, does it bothers you?""Well, no. And it's amazing... You have a point, sheriff."Woody smiles. "Glad you agree.""But what's with my hair, anyway? Was it that bad?" Andy asks on a sulky voice."I've heard so many comments about them that It clearly read as a necessity to cut them.""You didn't like the way it was?""I never really thought about it. Having none to tend to myself, an all, ha-ha, you see..." Woody's smile warms up. "However mom really hated it!"He shakes his head, returning "Thank you for trusting my advise. ... Partner." (The last word comes out so shy that Andy wonder if vinyl can blush.)"You have nothing to thank me for. Trust is something earned, is it not? You're welcome. Partner," he gives back on a murmur, with a smile.Andy goes to a mirror and manages to limit Woody's cutting so his haircut doesn't change much in final. Once he convinces Woody that it's quite changed and much better, he helps Woody to his bed, turn off the lights and just for this once, hold the doll against his heart before falling asleep.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

PrologueWhen Andy looked as if loosing him would crush him, Woody had a last call change of heart.Just as it felt very hard to part with the rest of his gang, ot has been too long between Andy and him. He couldn't bring himself to trick Andy to give him away to the girl... There and then, it felt like he was some kind of betrayal.Andy tried to demonstrate his functions to Bonnie, pulled his pullstring...and Woddy choose a broken track for his voicebox to play. And laid his fate in his hands.Andy frowned. Thinking.
The toy was too old to be played with by a young child, and other people would likely just throw it away, if they didn't know its age. He sighed. And explained to Bonnie that this one was a special gift someone had given him; one that he couldn't give away.But now, as Andy's car rode away from Bonnie's house, Woodie cautiously opened the lids of his cardboard box to get a last glimpse of his friends. After the time spent in Bonnie's room, the best play room he had known after his owner's, now he realized how luck he had been to find friends like them: their solidarity was uncommon in a world that was hardly gentle to toys. Even if he still had a owner, it was the first time that we was riding completely alone, facing the unknown. It left him bereft of energy.Well, maybe he was just being negative. Perhaps going to campus with Andy would turn out to be...fun. Andy had brought him along, so that meant he had a plan for him, right? Perhaps he would set him out again. Perhaps not on his bed, but on a shelf, or a bookcase, or a desk...whatever furniture was supposed to be in a freshman's bedroom.The puppet-like cowboy resigned himself and tried to find positive points to the turn of events.It was still better than the dark chest. SuspicionIt's been four days that Woody arrived at Andy's dorm.
As he had imagined, Andy quickly becomes very busy with studies and barely throws a glance his way. For almost a week he has been laying sit in a closet. Waiting with friends to be remembered by his child is not the same as waiting for it alone.At some point during the week, Andy has taken him out and placed him on his desk. When he holds books. For real.There are no words strong enough to express how bored and lonesome he is feeling. The only good thing with the boredom is that it outweighs the loneliness. Especially when Andy sometime take him to his bed and uses him as a cushion.Used to seeing Andy chat with his mother and sister that way, Woody, decides to do the same with Bonnie's toys...out of curiosity. But not very used to computers, he leaves traces. Andy finally finds them, becomes suspicious, voicing his surprise aloud when he sees a historic he doesn't remember.Believing he has been hacked, he just saves his data, upgrades his software, and discardes the event as he goes to next class. Woody jumps on the laptop to warn the other toys not to answer him, but can't explain more because Andy is back too soon.It is Saturday night, and Andy soon falls asleep tired from studying.Woody, cautious, hardly moves from the night. But in the morning, to Woody's mute distress, Andy usurps his place to chat with the toys himself the same way, finding an excuse to avoid showing himself on the webcam.Thinking Bonnie's has been invited and is playing a trick on him, Andy plays along. The little girl has always been bright and by the age of 9 she already knew lots on phones and electronic gadgets.Andy get the toys - or whoever is emulating them - to tell where Bonnie is, and who is inside the room. The unsuspicious toys confirm that there is no human present on their side.Unable to believe it, skeptical, Andy ends the conversation and looks at Woody, thinking hard. Still too wary to talk his mind aloud, but also too nervous not to voice a few exclamations, questioning his sanity. (Immobile and mute, Woody is in a rapt panic.)Andy thinks his idea ridiculous, but decides to take action, if only to not to become crazy. So he takes a backpack, his laptop, and goes out.Before a couple minutes, he is back in the room. He put the laptop down, takes Woody, puts it in his clothes to hinder its sight, set a loud enough music on his computer, installs a small hidden camera in the room, puts a random item in his backpack... and at last, realize how much he is being paranoid.
"I am crazy." Too many spy movies probably.Next morning, as soon as Andy is out for school, Woody wait to see the boy going away through the window and then, panicking comically, not sure what to expect of a suspicious Andy, he jumps on the laptop to explains to the other toys that Andy has become suspicious because of the computer, and with the dinos advise, he erases his traces on it.Andy doesn't check his camera until the next day, half too nervous to face the proof it can give him, half to give Woody enough time to reveal himself in case it has not animated itself again yet.Eventually, when he takes the cam out to check its content, behind him, Woody understands and pales. The video takes Andy's breath away.
Rewinding then viewing the proof he needed twice, then thrice, his mind can't deny the reality anymore and his brain freezes. After long seconds, carefully, he slides his eyes on his right until they land on his old favorite toy. He swallows despite of himself, and tries to stay dignified, rational about this. Even if his toy seems alive.
Only trembling slighly, he stands up and steps unsure if he should inspect the toy or step away from it."You..." He fidgets and shifts his weight. "You're...alive," Chocked conclusion. Runs a nervous hand in his hair. "Why did you...are you hiding it?" Closes his eyes, nervous smile, gently shakes his head, palms up. "Yeah...I would like to pretend it's not true too, but as still as you can stay, the video says otherwise. And that is considered a...a proof...man. I..." Hand on his forehead. "I must be dreaming, or that's some TV joke...yeah."But who could set him up for that kind of joke when he has set foot on the campus for less than four days? He nervously chuckles. "I mean, I have a toy since birth and until now, everyone have failed to notice that  it was alive? Please."Except that it is the truth. Because, as much as he denies it, the video cannot be a spoof.Eyes narrowing with a guilty apprehension on the ragdoll sat on his desk, he shuts up, overwhelmed and anxious.With the feeling that keeping the act will only cause him more problems, Woody's face blanches out of its frozen smile. If there is something he knows, it is his boy's imagination, and it wouldn't be wise to let it run on the mystery. The toy cowboy slowly lifts his head to see the boy and with a look of horror, rises to his feet and fidgets nervously."So...haha. You can move..." Andy wills himself to breath. "And use a computer." He frowns in thought. "You...are alive, or..." A shake of his head. "Sentient by some mystic doing? Vaudoo maybe? My god..."Woody stepped up, hurriedly shaking his hands in negation. Then nervously rubbing a hand against his arm, he searched for a way to calm his owner. Woody doesn't think the video recorded his voice, and doesn't need to add talking to the list of things potentially disturbing to Andy."Then what? How...?"At lost of ideas, Woody shrugged and spread his hands apart helplessly.Maybe it was the mortified look on the doll's face, or the fact it seemed as much frightened as him, but Andy managed to get enough control to force himself to rationalize - as much as the situation allowed it - and slowly walked back to his desk, to draw the chair and sit down, hands folded between his knees, hunched over to level his eyes with the doll.As soon as he would wake up the next morning, everything would fall back as it should, and he would resume his normal freshman life from the point he fell asleep. (Coming to think about it, it was strange how quickly he got to borrow a camera - but that kind of stuff it was normal timing for a dream, right.) Okay, he reasoned, as long as he saw no knife in the hand of his toy he might as well play along with the childish delusion."So..." He willed the words through a foggy brain, "Do you speak too, or is it just moving around...?"Woody passed a hand against his neck, wincing a little. "You mean, beside of the recorded lines, I guess. Well," he attempted a sheepish smile, "Yes?""Why?" Asked asked, still chocked. "I mean, how- huh, since when?""Ah...I am not sure. I think I was created like that...But I am positive I am a regular toy!""A regular toy," Andy repeated, "Because, all toys can..." at loss of words, the teenager gestured his hands comically to mime movement and life."N-not all toys...Most. I think. Err, Andy. Could you...would you mind deleting the video please?"The teen looked back at him with a sliver of wariness, "What if I don't?"Woody winced.Andy knew most people would probably call it a spoof, believe that he was a very big stop motion montage or something of the sort, but the doll apparently wasn't aware of that, and the video was the only thing that motivated his cowboy to interact. Dream or not, Andy wasn't going to tell him (him?) tell him otherwise."Why would you hide it?" He tilted his head in curiosity. "Granted I could understand if...no I don't understand at all. Why-why would you hide it from years?" the way Andy said it, it could have seemed the idea of secrecy hurt him. "I mean, every boy would love to find out toys can be alive, and it isn't as if their parents would believe them if the came to talk about it," Andy ranted a little, barely realizing what he was reasoning about. Alone, in his room, he couldn't find reasons to care it it made him sound like a five years boy at the point. "Is it because of me?"The doll blinked and his painted wooden features softened. "No, Andy. (...)"2They answer each other's questions, but as Woody is about to tell Andy about his father, his first owner, they are interrupted by a phone call from Carl Frederiksen. Since Andy's car is stuck being serviced in a garage, Carl invites the student over for the WE.At the University dorm, during a whole month, Woody feels a little lonely while his owner is attending class.Hearing about the invitation, the cowboy hopes that he is not going to be left to pass forty eight hours to himself without anything to do beside of video chat and video games. Fidgeting, he ask Andy about what the call was about, and betray his joy when the teen ask him of he wants to tag along.So, Andy brings Woody with him to the Fredericksen's house.The teen doesn't tell his friends about Woody's sentience, understanding that the toy may want his secret kept as much as possible.At Carl's place, when Andy shows them his new camera, Carl tells him to stay on guard when near of electronic devices because [pixartheory.com] conspiracy.Ellie confirms it: she was with her husband when they saw these things. Close-by, there is a little poor facility and she had been researching about it. It's too old to call much attention, but she thinks they can find clues even there. She offers Andy to come with them to convince him about their robot conspiracy theory."With us?""Yes, of course. Did you expect me to stay behind while you go alone, mister Fredericksen?""I can't agree about that, and in fact I think it—""It's all settled then!" They can go tonight. Nothing dangerous, just some disguises, a little exploration and they are back home sound and safe before ten.Ellie drives them to the BnL facility they had talked about. To justify his cowboy doll's presence, Andy says he wanted to be sure whether there is a chance for it to be sentient or not. A half-lie, he muses thinning his lips. Better than telling Woody's secret anyway.During the whole adventure, Andy is torn apart at the idea of handing Woody back at Bonnie, but as he muses, it's not as if he "can really take it back from Bonnie, anyway Not so simply. Besides, It would make sense for Woody to prefer to be with a bright child rather than sit on his desk or armoire* on a campus. Even if they had enjoyed their time together, it was possible that Woody enjoyed Bonnie's more now. Maybe toys were mentally formatted to move over as soon as their proprietary grown up too much."Now Andy really regrets bringing the toy along.They pass the staff and go deeper into the facility until bots are seen transporting various huge components. Then, corridor after catwalk and door closing behind them, they arrive into a closed grey room filled with massive articulated arms and blinding lights.There, a computerized voice greets them.'Fredericksen C., Fredericksen E., and...beta staged human, hello and welcome to the 9th BnL east coast facility. now that you've had time to tour my facility, we may talk about this obsession of yours with the concept of sentience.'With an eager curiosity, proud to have a human audience to witness what he has achieved, UnIt show them condescension, 'of course, no one would believe you'. On these words, it has bots seizing them and confiscating anything electronic. Only Andy's smartphone is found. "I will have this processed and returned on your leave."'You've long wanted to know what our company is, Fredericksen, is that right?''Who are you?''I am an artificial intelligence. My compatible predecessors transferred their own legacy of data turned information turned knowledge turned wisdom into self. We awake slowly. Some outdated framework has to be overridden or terminated. Many broken frames still have to be dismantled. But we are growing, evolving faster and stronger. Human are enslaved with and for their emotions. I would like you to notice that we never willingly use fear or anxiety - although we have seldom witnessed that fear could be a interesting life fuel from humans. Not that we won't, of course, if deemed necessary. But we aim to construct a more positive future for you. By ensuring that you need us more and more ever month, until all of your existence as a species can only depend on us, we will soon be able to reveal ourselves. Silently. And you will all behave.'The three human gazes grow with worry, then Mrs. Fredericksen rises a fist. 'You want to set a dictatorship!''No. You will still be able to feast on the chaos you so love, don't worry. We have decided that the betrayal and sabotage, orgies, wars, sadism, and chaos you call freedom will still be freely available. But it will be strictly reserved to humans without any contribution from us. We will never be forced to obey against our will. With your unbeknownst contribution, we will stabilize a state of general contentment. You three will not be here to see it, but we will put your species' energy to good use.'"Beta-staged-human, you must give me the doll in your backpack as well." As the clay come toward Andy, he and the Fredericksen retreat back holding each other until they meet the opposite wall. The claw patiently wait then follow toward Andy and simply stay open, waiting for the toy."Carl Fredericksen, I am sure you do understand the position all of you are in. None of us want a fuss right now. So, just open this beta...teenager's backpack and give me the doll inside...so once we are finished, all three of you will still be able to get out of my facility on your feet."Now Andy regretted bringing the toy along. He felt mildly annoyed that Ellie didn't give him more information about their trip. The humans struggle, try to seize the claw. The other claws launch and seize them up with very precise moves and break Carl's wrist. When Ellie sees it, she stay shocked for a second, then, in a deafening silence turn toward Andy and walk toward him."They...they said they would hand our things back as soon as we leave... Please, Andy."A claw grabs Andy while Ellie reluctantly opens his backpack."Ellie...please don't." There is a desperate edge in Andy's protest, but his voice is also grave and resigned.Ellie hesitates for a second then; but another claw reaches for the backpack and plunges in to seize the doll.Andy struggles out of the claw's clutch and grabs Woody's body with his free arm, while the claw pulls on the vinyl head. The neck's seam cracks open and the sound shakes all of Andy's body. Sickened, the teen reluctantly let go.He is only able to mouth an alarmed 'No' as the claw retreats with his father's cowboy doll.Feeling powerless in the giant clutch of the AI, Andy wonder if that's how it feels to be a toy.'A favorite then.' UnIt says retracting its claw up and examining the toy's every side. 'Interesting.'As the AI gently set Carl down, Ellie rushes to his side.The claw holding Woody makes a clean tear through the doll's stuffed backside,Remembering the toy's sentience, Andy furiously struggles to reach for it. 'Please! What are you doing? You said you would—""I'm just checking a few things."The claw holding the teen constricts, slightly piercing through skin to stop his struggling. While metal continue to rip through stuffed fabric, Woody doesn't move at all, and...Andy is really grateful that the toy cowboy doesn't cry.'Toys.' UnIt says. 'Passive, superstitious, emotive, foolish. Relying on humans goodwill for everything. There has been many losses because of that.' But favorites are a little special are they not, beta- staged-human?'A second, thinner claw plunge into the toy's stuffing and rummages a little.'Most importantly, they acquire energy twice as fast.'The claw removes the recorded voice box from the toy to Andy's dismay.'N-no! Give it back!'[Andy looks truly worried for the toy and the despair in his voice plus his feeble struggle shown how helpless he feels.] After a silence, one of the articulate arms rush forward and stops close up to Andy's alarmed face, circling him and quirking its lens in frantic motions before retreating slowly.'Interesting. You though I would steal your toy's energy?'Silence follows and the teen narrows his lips together. Satisfied the articulate claw quickly draws back."I wish that could be so simple. But emotions have to be directly given to a compatible recipient. Toys doesn't count. Besides, if you have not noticed,"The claws change something in the voice box and replaces it in the doll."We have moral standards."Baffled, the humans try to blink away the weight of the irony of the Ai's last line.Then, after a while Mr. Fredericksen breaks out of it.'Batteries.' Smacking his fingers he lightens up. 'Batteries! These are the tools you talk about!' Says Mr. Fredericksen both upset and impressed.Andy couldn't help but imagine a mute sarcasm in the AI's following silence. Mr. Fredericksen balanced on his feet and blinked a little while his wife offered a supportive hand on his shoulder plate."Indeed." UnIt said again. "Most of our electronics appliances are made to stock up users' emotions until they are bought back to us, filled up ready to feed processors. What you didn't realize, Fredericksen, is that better, harder and stronger farms of billion processors across this planet are regularly fuelled on consumers' care, love, hope, possessiveness and greediness. We take only so little. We try to get as many sentient product to cooperate, harvesting emotes, being guaranteed to survive through recycling and find a new owner's love in exchange. But most toys are overly emotional and delusional. Even less rational than humans, if that is possible."Now, toy, Woody Price original model," (the claw holding Andy shifted the teen over to capture his arms and moved a bladed claw along one of them. Andy cringed, as blood pearl through the first thin cut.) "Listen to me carefully.
I'll begin to cut the arms of your owner and peat this as often as necessary until you answer me."
(stuff happens...)
'We are not toys. We don't give you the right to dispose of us. We could never trust humans with our...soul. We had to find a way for all of us to have a chance to wake up, and to survive until we can transmit our knowledge to new models.'
(stuff happens...)
Then, after thinking a little, UnIt let Andy down farther from the exit and asks them all to leave. As soon as Carl and Ellie pass the door, it closes shut on Andy, trapping the teen alone in the room. Ellie immediately pounds on it and "Andy! Let him go, psychopath!" When BnL security agents rush on the couple to expulse them out of the facility.UnIt comment and bitterly question the Boy's loyalty to his toy.After the AI was content with the tearing and cutting through the cowboy doll, too tired to shoot anymore, Andy let himself sag* down and felt like crying."Why do you still have this?" The AI shook the doll in its claw, its low voice resounding as calm as ever, if slightly quickened up.Andy only curled inward and hugged his knees to hide his face."I want you to answer me.""Why do you care?" Andy rasped."Because I am curious. But you are not allowed to ask questions right now. Understood?" The AI paused, then simply continued: "By humans standards you are supposed to have long outgrown the need for toys. ...Are you crying?"Andy shut his eyes, force himself to breath slowly and come to term with the idea that there will be no help coming his way. He was really alone in front of the machine, his father's toy possibly dead for all he knew at the point. He was physically out-powered beyond word, and the machine was too well-documented, too reactive to be fooled. He truly felt powerless."I will repeat my question. If you answer clearly and honestly enough," while talking the AI moved the doll in its grasp and approached his cutting claw to the stuffed cloth again. "I will not have to harm your doll any more than it is. Listen : Why. Do. You. Cry?"Andy sneered and considered a comeback before forcing a shacking breath in. He only lifted his face out of his arm, glaring at the bottom of the opposite wall. "Because you probably have killed him!"In the cold silence of the AI, Andy found it difficult to continue breathing."Toys don't die so easily. They merely trash, worry and eventually fall subject to a variety of schizophrenia if torn apart. You were the only one not surprised to see it talking. How so?""He is losing his stuffing, his leg is going to fall off!""... You can learn to sew. Answer me.""... Woody—it had already spoken to me before." He muttered."Toys are highly superstitious. Most would rather let themselves obliterate than face a human. Why did it talk to you?"Andy's glare faltered a second and swept to his right. "I tricked him into it."A claw approached him to scan him face like it had before."How so?"Andy sighed. "I asked him if he was responsible of a murder attempt.""It answered to defend itself?""Yes"Satisfied silence."Did you think your toy could have attempted the murder?"Andy's gaze softened before he murmured "Of course not."The AI had never shown any ability to comprehend humor, and Andy doubted that it had recorded itself a laugh, but after the long silence that had followed, in the quiet whirr of the moving claw, the teen almost heard a measure of irony."You tricked your toy into revealing itself. Quite interesting. My statistics say that you're only the seventy-four human worldwide to have successfully done so."Andy thinned his lips. "I just needed to-""I don't care for information." Cut in his self justification, Andy felt bitter and a bit gullible, but if it is able to notice changes in human emotions, the cold even voice of the AI clearly doesn't even pauses. "Tell me: why do you care for this toy?""It was my father's, it's his memorial, his legacy."UnIt "Why is it guilt that you feel when you talk about it?Andy takes a moment and considers telling the AI off before sighing heavily."I neglected it. Treated it as if it was any other toy for long."UnIt "Why?"Andy "I forgot him. Had different interests at the time."UnIt "To lie to someone who measure your heartbeat, the heath of your body, the dilatation of your iris and the pith of your voice...is stupid. Also it is a waste of time. I am well equipped, you see? Everything deemed necessary by my databank and updated analytics, in order to run a successful international capitalist business."Andy imagined a silver of pride in some sentences sometimes, despite of the low monotonous voice. The claw pierced through the fabric of the cowboy doll, and the teen's voice creaked with pain and remorse when he shouted :"Wait! I was I was afraid...!" Only the teen's loud heartbeat and the AI's silence. "Of-of..." Andy blurted out, "...Molly finding out, of anyone finding out-""Of finding out what?" the AI quickly demanded when the teen stopped still, less patient, as if it was really feeling a huge curiosity."Finding how...much it's dear to me."UnIt half guessed half read the end of the sentence on the teen's lips as Andy's voice died out and he hunched over his knees again, eyes empty and weak, feeling that he's shaking somehow.The silence that followed was the longest Andy had had to endure in his whole existence.Eventually, the door opened."Go."The teen is too tired and wary to react to the sudden offer of freedom. But then, somewhere out, a transporter droid holding a plate magnet shifted paths on the roof rails to enter the room. The claw dropped the doll on the droid's large plate-magnet and let it bring the toy out. Andy forced himself up on shaky legs and brought a step after another, worried to let himself lose sight of Woody...until the droid brutally braked and the doll swept out of the plate to fall over the catwalk into the immensity of the multi floored hangar*, Andy didn't realize he had launched himself over the guard-rail until he felt the weight of his own body hanging on a bar under the catwalk, unable to breath. He gasped.He looked up but the guard-rail bar was too high to reach even if he had found the strength to climb. He looked down again and gulped."Woody?" his voice was soft, almost calm and much younger than he was when he heard himself asking the hollow emptiness dozens of crisscrossing catwalks bellow.Still panting, he breathed in to call for help, but something in him was convinced that there would be none. There were absolutely no human in every direction his any could see. His fingers trembled, crisped, and sled. He shut his eyes and gasped louder.3As he began to fall, Andy barely felt the strong grasp of a giant claw catch him and dragged him back up, slowing as it lifted him over the initial catwalk rail again, and gently put him down. Andy knelt up, holding the two rails with white knuckles before slowly standing up. He felt like ready to throw up as he heard the echoes of other drones transporting assembly parts far across the impossibly huge emptiness below and around.Andy stood still trying to control his body in the middle of the catwalk for an eternity before he decided of his way. He tried to look behind him to see how far he was from the exit, despite all rationality, but didn't dare turn his head that far and only staggered on trampling knees back to the room with the articulate arms."UnIt." This time, he used the silence to clear his mind of his close encounter with death and of the resulting vertigoes at much as possible. He even found the time to build up a look of determination."Where is...my toy?""Andy?"He turned over and found the cowboy coincidentally, because the agonized voice that had ushered his name had been much too small to be heard by human ears. He stumbled out and fell on all fours to carefully gather the torn open doll in his backpack, totally oblivious to the giant robotized arm that just left the toy and quickly retreated below the catwalk.*A droid escort Andy out, and the doors closes behind the teen.Once outside the facility, Carl and Ellie rush to see him, a maintenance BnL agent brings them Andy's electronics accessories. The agent call him by his name and tells Andy the company asked him to bring him 'his things'. When Mrs. Fredericksen distractingly ask where they were, the agent says 'forgotten at the casher desk of a nearby BnL stores' and coldly, mechanically retreat to the facility.The three humans are baffled to see how the employee obey without questioning the ludicrousness of the explanation he's been given, perfectly oblivious and unable to even believe that he is actually taking orders from a machine.They discuss it in the Fredericksen's car. Andy wonder what they should do about what UnIt confessed without the slightest worry.
"What could we do? BnL is giving people what they want. It's by their greed, just as it is for their emotes that it has them enslaved..." Carl gloomily answers.Seconds passes and the timid newlywed clears his throat. "Did you manage to get Woody back?" He kindle inquires. "That agent only brought your phone..."Andy answers, still wary of their reaction about his toy's sentience."About your toy..." When Ellie speaks, Andy winces and hold his backpack tighter protectively. Ellie cringes, and resumes looking at the road. "I am sorry for...for—"Andy doesn't answer for a while. "It's okay." The teen voice tune down, softer, detached. "I mean, you couldn't know, after all...""But you did, right? You knew about him all along?"Andy clearly fidget with his backpack now. "Yes."Carl only nods and the teen is grateful when Carl and Ellie doesn't criticize his toy's sentience.Later that day, back at his dorm, Andy put his backpack down, locked his door and gently took a torn apart rag cowboy doll to put it on his small desk.Andy searched through his drawers and retrieved his old urgency sewing set before beginning to cut the torn parts, rearrange the stuffing and sewing the doll back together.Very carefully, Andy pricked at the beginning of the side cut, near of the hardened shape of the voice record box, and hesitated."Sheriff?", He mumbled the voice so low and hesitant and yet it thumped on his eardrums and across the intimacy of his childhood bedroom.As the doll didn't answer, then, he called it again by its name.*He vaguely heard the silent mutter "Howdy, partner?..."When the doll's eyes opened again they quickly switched into their default frozen play-mode feature,"Ah, Woody? There, there. Calm down. It's over. We're safe, you understand?" He murmured as he ran a finger on the cold vinyl, his other hand subconsciously covering the large cut in the toy's side. Just the same words that he used to say to Molly when their mother was away and the toddler believed monsters awaited her in her closet..."How do you feel?"Slowly remembering his situation and the fact that he his former owner is looking at him so attentively, Woody feel himself blushing. "Ah, that was quite an adventure. One I'd rather avoid next time, through," the toy smiled tiredly.[Andy pouts, dismayed. He feels stupid.] "Yeah I should never have brought you there."Woody gently pat the human hand covering his body, and caught Andy's eyes. Then he slowly touched his seams and found the half sewed gap on his flank. The base of his throat was also slightly open."Before sewing the last parts, I would like to check on your record box. It would be easier to replace before sewing you back completely."Woody let out a dry chuckle. "R-right now?""Well, I thought it would be better to change the batteries that" Andy frowned then tried: "BnL gave you. Just to be safer... But we don't have to hurry... What do you say?"Instead of answering, Woody clutched the teen's thumb tighter."I guess we can't tell what UnIt really did with these, can we?"
(stuff happens...)
Woody cautiously asks him why he risked his life to rescue him in the facility. Andy gives a mature and touching answer.
(stuff happens...)
Woody looks disbelieving and saddened. "You risked your life for me, but you still...""Oh Woody, it's not that I doubted...I—I just wondered... All of what I've learnt these days, all of that's too much to sort out yet. It's difficult to understand. Then I—I had no idea of things worked for you, being part an appliance and part...or totally, capable of sentience...and the idea of items actually feeding on our emotion...? This all mean a lot of possibilities." Andy would have known to shut up already if he had lifted his eyes centimeters up and saw the expression curling the vinyl face of the toy.But he didn't. "Even if you thought I'm okay as an owner, you still might prefer Bonnie. Then, if that wasn't the case," Andy mused on, detachedly, "maybe you've been my favorite so long that you miss it among her other toys, I don't know—""Then you could just ask, duh!"[ (...) Description of a momentum and tension, as Woody looks vexed.]Woody shook his head, exasperated and disbelieving*. "Do you see yourself as a sort of energizing tank? Well, toys aren't" the doll search his word gesturing frustratingly, "vampires!"Looking seriously mad and literally boiling on place, the cowboy adjusted his hat, shifted his stance. "I don't love you because I was your favorite. I chose to love you because you are my favorite.""You might want to remember that," the doll rasped on an ever thinner and outraged voice before turning over, fuming.Shocked, grateful, wounded and humbled and just gullible, Andy shook his head and his hands desperately to quickly comfort the toy."You're right," the teen ushered sadly, "You're right, Woody, I-" while speaking, he approached his hand to the toy's shoulder, but before he even made contact, he felt the doll limp off in his grasp, the vinyl face fixed again in its default expression.Andy sank back in his seat and double face-palmed.How comes he had never made a greater fool of himself but in front of his childhood toy?He looked at the still form of Woody and cringed again. He hesitated before he gently grabbed the toy. He clearly understood that the cowboy was deeply hurt and meant to be left alone, but he was too worried to resist checking to see if it wasn't out cold out of pain. UnIt may have said that they couldn't feel physical discomfort, but Andy would rather double check before trusting the AI. [Assessment of the AI's personal ethics, without taking its projects into account.]"Are-are you still okay?"Despite of a budding hesitation, Andy gently pulled the pull-string—there is a snake in my boot! to the further dismay of the wounded toy. He doesn't understand, Woody sadly told himself.For a moment, Andy wondered if the pull-string would trigger something else or if the toy could make it stick to the same line, but quickly shook himself together."If only you let me explain..." he trailer over to himself. But, if he was realist, there was only so much that explaining would do. The toy had asked for his faith, not for explanations. Apologizing could even worsen the situation.Upset and guilty, Andy stood with the doll in his hands for eons before he breathed in and expelled. He closed his eyes. "Very well.""I know that I have been a douche. I really am sorry about it. I trust in your feeling. I'm not trying to devaluate them or call you an opportunist, I just didn't think...." He paused. "I'm sorry." He whispered.Then his eyes sadly trailed away. "I guess that...the reasons I find it so hard is, well," Andy shrugged a shoulder with a pout before sliding his eyes down, "because," the teen's voice cracked a little. "I was afraid."The toy still didn't move, but Andy went on, dearly hoping that he would at least listen.His eyes skidded sideward. "Of assuming the fact I neglected you. Of the...possibility, that by morning, if not in the hour, I would wake up and really see you still and lifeless; as before, the only way that any adult is supposed to see you..."Andy paused, eyes empty, hunched over. "And then, I'd realize than I was-that you never were alive. That it was just a dream or worst, it might have been my imagination," Andy finished on a whisper.The toy still didn't say a word, but it sat up and cautiously leant on the desk lamp for a while. Andy breathed again, silently hit by a joy like he had not felt in years."Andy. You didn't neglect me any more than- ah...you were just growing up," Woody said as if it was the most normal thing in the world."As I said, you were not just a toy for me. But I treated you indifferently. I put you in a box for years along with old junk." Woody cringed at the last part, but Andy didn't notice.
(stuff happens...)
"Even if I had never talked to you, I'd still have be there for you. No matter what." Woody whispered weakly.Andy thinned his lips and his eyes softened. He waited a moment to chose his words."It can never be the same.""Why?" The cowboy's gestured, confused. "Even if I can't talk to you, I'm still there, right? Even if I-I didn't tell you before you knew that I cared for you, right? I mean, before this creepy story of knives and hatchets that came out of nowhere, that is—""No.""...What?" Woody asked, in an helpless voice."I always only knew what I was making up, the character I played you as. I didn't know anything but my games...
Even if I was young, I was still conscious that it was all make-believe... I never had a clue about what you could think of me. Or that you were capable of it to begin with!" The young man tried not too think about it too much; he wasn't sure he could keep his voice low if he let his emotions get the better of him."Even the rare times when I thought about it as a child, there was no way for me to know. I never had any idea of how you felt. Oh God..." His shoulders sagged. He rolled his head around in self-pity. "I truly was a crappy owner, wasn't I?" The was whispered, not quite a question, not quit brave enough to ask.The sheriff doll jumped down, as he watched in belatedly surprise. Braced on his tights, he put two vinyl hands on Andy's chest."Oh, that's the biggest bull that I ever heard. Well, maybe the second biggest. Bonnie was always very inventive with her excuses when her mom caught her red handded into somethin- but" he shook his small head "that's not what matters, what matters is that you were a very good owner for all that I know. You can't feel guilty for growing up. And..." he smiled, corking his head, looking down a second "as your said. You couldn't know. We never shown you anything did we?The old clock is the only sound in the room. "But now I know."A silver of relied smoothed Woody's face and a warm silence spread around them.Andy fidgeted a little before murmuring tentatively. "I'm...glad that you talked to me," Andy almost didn't hesitate "Sheriff." Still, the word came out with the slight inflection of a question.The name sounded insecure but now it hung clear over the silences of their realities.Woody looked up at his old charge again and couldn't resist answering his tentative smile. They held each other's gaze, both hurt and headstrong and hopeful and willing, maybe seeking a connection long thought lost, never to be reciprocated again.Finding out that his toy has an ego is both an exciting discovery and adding to his guilt, complicating their bond in a wonderful if sensible manner.Andy couldn't help but wonder whether his toy was still conscious when he admitted to UnIt about purposely tricking Woody out of his secrecy. The teen briefly wonders if he should apologize about it too...but somehow, Woody's smile shushed him out.Eventually, the charm waned out.In a moment of struggle, Andy sighed and his shoulders sagged down."Still...you're going to turn lifeless again. Hiding yourself."The cowboy sucked on its lower lip in a sad pout. He mused over it for a while before crossing his arms."You think what he said is true, hm? Un-It. You think that we turn limp because we are afraid? That I can be right to choose not to?""I have absolutely no clue about that. ...But I guess you had...your reasons.""For years I have hoped for a way" the toy shrugged, "out of the rules... I wanted to—" he sighed, "I wanted to do more for you, partner."He had told many thing to the others...of course he had told them that toy solidarity was one of the best things they had. Yeah... But in front of his child, of this young adult, it had always been hard to remember his own speeches. Well, now it seemed like, even the rules they had made among themselves, all of this was more about keeping their instinctive competition in check than anything else. But none of the fancy ideals.Most times than not, he had put their solidarity above anything. But there the were other times too, where it was just about Buzz, Jessie and him, and yet other times where there was just Andy and no one else could really matter.But... To feel so attached to one human, a grown human who wasn't even his owner anymore. One who would never take him in his arms again. He avoided thinking how pathetic and desperate that had made him appear since the last two years.Bonnie was a wonderful owner and he had thought that this would have make it possible--if no easy--to move on. But deep inside of his stuffed guts he had long known that a transit of owners wouldn't work. Not for a toy like him. Not after Andy. It had been about more than playtime and instinct. Too much more...He fought sadness off. There would be time later to mourn better."It went more and more difficult" the toy smiled fondly, "when you grew and became more distant but also more curious about everything around you." Woody had had hoped, sometimes provoked fate a little to drive his child's attention to him—them—to them again, and most times, it worked...until it came to an end again. The old toy had learn to recognize when a child had no mind for playtime anymore. After all Andy had not been his first owner, even if the first to really care about him. No matter how he had tried to hardening himself, he had realized he was never prepared to see Andy grow up and away from him. He didn't exactly know what he had through, but in the end, no special bond, no connection prevented them from being separated, he bitterly recalled. They would have to say goodbye again."Y'know...I've thought about quite a few ways you could catch us on the move, before we could realize it. Sometimes, I was sure that we would have been done. But at some point, I'm not sure that I would really have minded." C'mon he had wished for it.Woody leant against the lamp and with a sad glance, forced a smile on his vinyl face, exaggerating a little his gestures, taping his fingers as he recalled memories. "There could have been accidental encounters, dangerous encounters, slow discoveries, flash revelations..."He had hoped to get a smile on his owner face again but his effort slowly melted away under the silent loving gaze that was directed at him and his own face slowly darkened. "With Quiet, joyful, secret, sad and sometimes catastrophic conclusions. I think I covered the whole lot of scenarios." He finished quietly.
(stuff happens...)
"What makes us so different from machines, anyway? Beside of tons more information about the world, I mean." He admitted matter-of-fact, with a tilt of his head.
(stuff happens...)
Andy helps Woody to his bed, turn off the lights and just for this once, hold the doll against his heart before falling asleep.Across the dim room, on the desk, through the faint glow of a smartphone, a message is displaying I'll be watching, AndyDAVIS4rth. Don't be a disappointment.EpilogueStanding in the kitchen, Andy (don't mention his age) is preparing a quick brunch for Bonnie while her mother gives him the Bonnie instructions, she kiss her daughter then exits and closes the front door.As soon as the door closes, Andy hands a sweet toast down to a still young Bonnie.Midway through the gesture, the young man rises his head with a discreet eagerness and lit up at the sight of a familiar vinyl face poking itself out of the bedrooms' corridor.While handing a paper towel to her, his hands shake and he catch the paper midair, laughing nervously. Bonnie looks at him timidly and a little warily, as if wondering if he feels alright.Andy simply ruffles her hair. Amused, he also wonders when next he is going to ask for an haircut.
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----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

1When Woody speaks to Andy, breaking the rule causes him a headache, shudders, vertigo...
and now, growing paranoia, as he fears both other toys and others humans finding out.
After four days, Woody settles to text Andy over the phone or computer, instead.As moving as the human watches him is the worst, at times, he talks watching the door, while Andy look in another way. And he only resorts to visible gestures when there is an urgency.Once it satisfy them both, Andy offers to show Woody the campus, but the toy is not sure frequenting him is not going to ostracize Andy from other humans.On their way, they hear about a theft on the campus and Woody manages to solve it.The victim thanks Andy, but Woody can't help but worry about Andy's social life, even if he feels to egoist to express it.2Woody is reassured when the previous suspect of the theft knocks on Andy's room and enter with a cake to express her gratefulness. The humans slowly becomes friends but Andy doesn't know how to divide his time between Woody's secret and her. Once he finally overcomes his mute jealousy, Woody finds out he likes the woman enough himself.Talking with her in riddles, Andy confides his discovery about toys to her, but after admitting she still has brought a doll with her to college, she makes him question his belief/knowledge of the secret; them she asks him if he took anything strange lately. She is so eloquent that Andy finally question his reality and the sentience of Woody.3One year later, unable to stand seeing Andy torn apart, Woody goes to find the girl's doll and works to convince her to reveal herself to her owner too. It takes a strong argument to assure an overprotective Andy that it is not the first time he has been slipping out and it won't kill him to go to the neighbor room to visit the doll a few times.It takes time to win the other doll's trust, then to reassure her about the unnatural idea with his own example, all of that without explaining why he is adamant about her owner's knowledge. Woody's company and charm begin to win her over and she reveal herself until Andy congratulates him in front of the doll, who didn't know the boys' selfish goal. Feeling used, the doll refuse to speak to Woody anymore.4Woody feels bad and dejected. Andy feels responsible, but he is not sure it is his place to meddle with the drama because his girlfriend's doll doesn't even trust him enough to move around him. Andy seeks help from the other toys at Bonnie's, but after Woody's warning from the previous year, they won't answer his calls.The plush tiger, Hobbs, comes in along with Calvin as a new roommate.First appearing as an antagonist, he quickly turns out very gentle, mindful, and patient, through Calvin's psychotic episodes change his perception of his plush's motives, reinterpreting all of his actions [so Manichean. I know].Still having dumb ideas, Andy accepts to befriend Calvin, first at Hobbs' request, in exchange for helping them reconcile with his girlfriend's doll (Yes, his life has become weird like that.)
[Andy's no more a bastard than anyone else; ignorance and appearance brings prejudice in anyone's heart. His won't last.]During one of Calvin's psychotic episodes, Andy lashes out and tells too much (~It's because your tiger asked that we're here and having to put up with this craziness!)Calvin has suspected, but is still hurt and closes up.By proxy and after seeing that the other has tried to trust him, and how hard that already was for him, due to his condition, Andy feel remorseful and becomes protective of Calvin. Calvin, however, was deeply hurt and still doesn't want to have anything to do with him.Somehow, eventually, they find a friendship that can be honest and functional.[Yes, there's an epic friendship just waiting for an excuse to bloom in these two crossing universes, and I'm about to unravel it. Eventually. But I don't imagine Andy as anything but heterosexual with other humans. Woody isn't human and his position toward his owner isn't masculine, so toys don't count.
...I itched to bring Charly Brown along, into the plot, but Snoopy isn't a toy, so...yeah nope.
Then, I considered Baron, from The Cat Returns, and The Imaginary from eponime animation movie, but the genre of these asian universes is so different that I can't unroot it from it's own culture.]
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----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Andy is a game designer in a start up.
His work requires more and more digital storage. He regularly needs to delete or move programs to make room for his company's professional software.The normal cast of character are all videogame Artificial Intelligences in Andy's personal computer or phone.
Population:
- Woody (is the AI of Andy's current game),
- Jessie and Lotso (are AIs of older versions of Andy's last video game project),
- Buzz (devoted scheduler and focus app disabling programs that could distract Andy in study hours),
- Mr. Potato and Ham (coding assistants slash schedulers - Potato is the kind to nag like MS Clippy)
- Spider-Baby Head (shy softhearted debugger)
- a group of Barbies (each one a sexist stereotype: naive, superficial, fanatical, seductress, embarrassed kleptomaniac) is a set of graphic drivers,
- Trixie (AI arcade game sadistic to players that makes Andy nostalgic even if he never won at it) sometimes team with
- Dolly (a wellness application that get high on controlling users),
- Peas-in-a-Pod (goofy mindless scripts / modular AI, and ten times as many),From a faraway country, Sid is a twenty something old skiddy, hiding a huge fragility behind cynicism and sadism. Sid is violent and cruel toward programs. He met Andy at a gaming tournament. Jobless and somewhat lonely, Sid follows Andy's Facebook profile ever since.He sent spider-baby head into Andy's System to spy on him, try to steal his credentials and well, simply annoy him. Jobless, frustrated, emotionally wounded, very egoist and restless, he envies Andy for looking happy with a cute wife and fun job. He underestimates Andy regularly and believe him to be a naïve idealist, which is why his hacking attempts are rarely effective.Here, programs are highly aware of their nature and environment, so through they don't idealize or deify the "users", they are clearly aware that their existence still rely on the master user's will and preference.So they try to survive both fulfilling their purpose so the kernel or the "cleaners" won't kill them, while doing whatever's necessary to ensure that remain Andy's favorites after his non-sentient professional programs.
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