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You’ve been around long enough now to know that Tenna has...moods. Feelings that are so strong that he’s absolutely inconsolable and won’t listen to anything that anyone has to say. Your general proximity to him has gotten you a lot of warnings from pretty much everyone—which pretty much amount to the fact that you should just steer clear of him when he’s in one of those moods. His impulses were pretty much on a hair trigger, and there was no telling how he’d react to anything anyone said to him.
“I asked him once if he needed a glass of water,” said Elnina, fiddling with her skirt’s tassles, “y’know what he said to me?”
You tilt your head. “What?”
“He told me that I couldn’t possibly understand the aqueous needs of people! Me! Look at me! I’m a rain cloud! I’m always thinking about how well hydrated everyone is! It’s kind of my thing. One of my things, anyways. Like how Lanino’s thing is thinking about everyone feeling comfortably warm. I’d love to know where that guy gets that attitude from.”
You frown. “Jeez. Do you know what sets him off?”
Elnina groans and rolls her eyes. “I don’t know. Depends on the day. Sometimes it’s the ratings, sometimes it’s because he unplugged on the wrong side of the socket, sometimes it’s just because someone gave him a dirty look. Sometimes it’s the weather, but we don’t let him get away with that anymore. When he told me I don’t know anything about people’s water needs I left a rain cloud in his office for a few hours. It took him weeks to fully dry out because Lanino refused to help him. What a lovely ray of sunshine he is! Or rather, he wasn’t.”
You start pressing the directional pad on one of your paws, absentmindedly. “And nothing works to calm him down?”
“Don’t even bother trying,” she says back, “I know you’re close with him, and have some kinda way with him too, but it’s not worth it. He’s a loose cannon when he gets like this. Better to just leave him sobbing in his office until he comes out a few days later.”
So, that’s what you do at first. It makes you feel a little badly, hearing him sobbing like that. But you really don’t want to make things worse, and that’s what it sounds like intervening would do. Because you love carrying boxes, though, you carry lots of boxes of tissues to his office door and leave them there. You weren’t sure if he’d even notice them, but you find that they’re all usually gone within half an hour, so they must be getting used.
But your inaction started to eat at you. At first, you really did think it was best to heed all the warnings you’d been given—you’re not the confrontational type. But it also didn’t sit right with you doing absolutely nothing for him, either. You were completely worthless before reconnecting with Tenna. It was your job to work with him, wasn’t it? And how effective a job were you doing if you just let him to be consumed by his own misery?
No, you decided—you had to do...something. Anything.
You’re about to open the door to his office when one of those nice little Pippins stops you, grabbing your tail abruptly.
“Are you crazy?” they explain, yanking you back. “He’s gonna eat you alive, guy! You’ve heard him crying all day!”
You frown, pulling your tail back. “I have to do. Something.”
“Nah, that’s where you're wrong, bud. You don’t have to do anything. Just let him weep. He’ll be out of there one day. Nothing really matters when he’s like this. That’s what we’ve all been saying to you!”
“Look, I think...I think maybe there’s something I can do. You’ve just gotta trust me, okay? If it goes badly then at least it’s me, and not any of you.”
The Pippin drops your tail and looks at you incredulously. “Alright. Your funeral, I guess. I’m telling you, guy, nothing works. No matter what.”
Shaking your head, you frown and open the office door. The Pippin makes themselves scarce.
Inside of Tenna’s office, you find the guy laying screen-down on the floor and sobbing profusely. There are several empty tissue boxes around him, and several more full ones sitting in arm’s reach. There were also about fourteen wastebaskets filled with discarded tissues. His tail is tucked between his legs and his entire body is shaking with each sob that wracks his body. Hardly the pinnacle of winning charisma, if you were being honest.
After a few moments of taking pity on the poor thing, you clear your throat. It takes a little while for Tenna to even register it, but when he finally does, his antennae perk up and swivel towards you. Then he lifts up his head, slowly. Sniffling, he dabs his face (where were those tears coming from?) and blew his nose. He then looks over at you morosely, his expressions wobbly and pathetic.
You cock your head to the side, pick up a fresh box of tissues, handing it to Tenna. Tenna manages a small smile, and takes them. “T-thank you. I—I don’t suppose you were the one leaving these boxes outside of my door for me?”
“I was, yeah.”
“O-oh, that’s...” Tenna hiccups, “T-that’s very, er, that’s v-very considerate. Thank you. E-everyone else, t-they, they just ignore me.”
“I mean...” you inhale, pressing the directional pad on your paw nervously, “I, um, I kind of was too, I guess. I didn’t...didn’t really know what to do.”
Tenna whines, covering his face with his hands. “N-nobody ever does! N-nothing helps, nothing works! T-there’s nothing they can say that will change the truth, so why should they bother? What’s the point in anything, anyways? Mike, tear down my house and my kids again! Do it for good this time! Tear them all down so much they can never be rebuilt! Not even with the world’s finest glue and yogurt!”
You kneel down next to him, and frown. “What truth?”
“Oh, you know just as well as anyone,” moaned Tenna, curling up on the floor, his antennae drooping. “The fact that I’m becoming increasingly irrelevant. Less and less people are tuning in every broadcast. I can feel my influence slipping every day. Nothing you can say, nothing anyone can say, is going to change that. So don’t even try saying anything. It won’t change how I feel. I’m just an old piece of junk withering away down here, killing time until I inevitably end up being...discarded. Abandoned. Just like you were. Probably because I was getting too old and outdated to keep working with you, just like I am now!”
Sighing, you sit down and cross your legs. “I already told you, that wasn’t your fault. It was probably partially me, too. That’s just sort of what happens when technology gets outdated. But...there’s gotta be people who like old technology, right? There has to be.”
Tenna just moans again. “I suppose.”
“So maybe that’s who will pick you up. Or me up, for that matter. You just need to be patient.”
“That’s a pointlessly optimistic approach to have, kid. That doesn’t work in this business. I can’t just be patient. You can’t have viewership falling through the floor and hold out for a hope. You need to have eyes on you, always.”
You sigh. You weren’t really getting anywhere. He was being obstinate, for sure. He didn’t seem very angry, at least. Just incredibly sullen.
“Listen,” you say, “I think...I think I have an idea on how to make you feel better.”
“I already told you, nothing makes me feel better!” Tenna plants his screen back into the floor and screams. “OH, STARS AND GARTERS, I’M DOOMED FOR THE ABHORRENT ELECTRONIC WASTE PLANT!”
You groan as the sound of an entire crowd sobbing was piped in, loud and overwhelming. It sounded like a funeral was happening, and a very severe one at that. “No, listen,” you reach forwards and pull his head up by the antennae. “I think I have a good idea. Something that might actually work. You said it yourself—I’m bringing a lot of new, bold ideas in. When I have I ever had a bad idea?”
Tenna looks at you, tentatively, and sniffles. “...A few rare occasions. And they weren’t even bad, they just needed some zhuzhing up.”
“Right,” you say, holding his face with your other paw, “so, do you think you trust me on this?”
For a long moment, Tenna just stares at you. Then he sighs, and he nods.
You do your best to give Tenna a big smile. “You have to promise you want to, though.”
“O-okay! I promise, I promise—”
“I didn’t tell you what it was yet.”
Tenna’s antennae twitch and spark. “...Right. S-sorry.”
“I think...well...I think I can try connecting with you. To show you how I feel. Do you remember how it felt the first time?”
“I...I do...” mumbles Tenna, averting his gaze. “You were so happy. So happy to be connected with me. I could feel all of it. I d-didn’t, didn’t know how it could feel so good to you. I couldn’t believe it still felt so good after all those years.”
“I know I’m not a Lightner,” you say, gently, “but I know I still made you feel useful. And you made me feel useful. I think...i-if we come together, then maybe...maybe...?”
“Y-you did,” replies Tenna with a husky swallow, “o-oh, you did, kiddo. Do you really think this will help?”
“I think maybe it could...but you have to want to, okay? If there’s even a tiny bit of you that doesn’t want to, then it’s okay to say no. I don’t...don’t want to take advantage of how you feel right now. I just want to make you feel better, I promise.”
“I do,” says Tenna, rather quickly, “I do, I do, I—”
You put a paw on his mouth. “Really think about it for a second.”
For a long moment, Tenna is quiet. For his credit, he does seem to be really thinking about it, antennae quivering and his facial expression mostly looking like one of rumination. Then he looks at you, and gives you a small nod. He reaches forwards and holds one of your paws in his hands, squeezing it.
You squeeze his hand back, and get to work trying to flip him over. It takes a second for him to cotton on to what you’re doing, and with a soft “o-oh!”, he flips himself over so he’s on his back. You move around so you’re between his thighs, paws on his belly. He’s so big you could crawl up him, the entirety of your body fitting on his torso. But you don’t do that. You know where you’re needed. Instead, you stay where you are, and let your cabletail find Tenna’s, rubbing the tip of it against his. You feel electricity pouring from his prongs, and shiver as it travels up your body into your core. His anticipation is palpable, buzzing in your chest. You can tell he’s ready, how much he wants this, how genuine it is.
“You’re...you’re so good,” you say, braiding your cabletail with Tenna’s, “you’re such a good boy.”
Tenna whines and positively shivers. “K-keep...keep s-saying that...keeping telling me I’m good, p-please...”
Your digits dance around his fly, feeling around where you’re going to start undoing it. “You like being told you’re a good boy?”
“Y-yes, yes, I do...I need it, I—I need it so badly.”
You begin deftly undoing his fly. “It’s a good thing you do, because you are. You’re being so good for me. I would watch you like this forever. You’ll do anything I want, won’t you?”
Tenna’s breath hitches. “I will, oh, I will, I p-promise!”
You pull down Tenna’s briefs, struggling a bit with the size of them. Tenna lifts himself up a little, doing his best to help you despite how shaky he was getting. You give one of his inner thighs a pat, and then slowly move your paw to his video composite port. You can feel it, warm, electric. It thrums up into your paw pads and hurts, a little, but you relish every moment you can feel Tenna underneath your paws. He’s there, alive, wanting you, needing you. It’s all you were meant to have, meant to do. Your AV cables twitch inside of yours, soaking up the electricity that you’re taking in from Tenna’s port.
“So ready,” you murmur, rubbing circles against Tenna’s video composite port. “You’re so ready, aren’t you?"
Tenna just wails. You press into Tenna’s port further, feeling it give to your digits. The more circles you rub, the more Tenna whines. He cants his hips up into your paws, needy, bereft. His hands glide down to your hips and he grabs you, tugging at the base of your cabletail softly. You shiver for a moment, gasping and grinding down against Tenna’s groin. Your AV cables respond to this, beginning to wriggle and throb. You feel their sensitive tips brush against your fly, looking desperately for a way out. They know where they’re supposed to go, what they’re supposed to connect to. The way they press indecently against your trousers is clearly noticed by Tenna, who’s whimpering, wanton, forlorn.
“Shh, shh, you’re okay—you’re—you’re okay,” you say, breathing raggedly, “I’ve got you. Just relax.”
Tenna whines and grips your waist. “I...I can’t...I can’t r-relax, I...I need you, I need you, I need you, I need you right now, I’m...”
"You’ll be okay. You’re a good boy. Just focus on me, okay?”
You reach down and keep rubbing into Tenna’s port, feeling them beginning to open and close around your paw. They almost pucker around your digits, the electricity almost becoming too much to bear. Your hand is starting to feel like it’s on fire, devoured by Tenna’s pleasure. His port is desperate and wanting, and you don’t want to deny him any longer. Your own AV cables are starting to reach towards him of their own volition, stretching as far as they possibly can.
Repositioning yourself a little, you shirk down your trousers and undergarments, and feel for your AV cables. They truly have a mind of their own now, stretching and writhing for Tenna’s ports. You have to grab them in your paw and hold them still, keeping them from sliding into where they know they’re supposed to go. You hold them tightly, feeling how heavy they’ve gotten. You brush your digits over the tips of them, shivering as your own electricity washes over you.
“I want you to do something now,” you breathe, hand tightening around your cables.
“Y-yes?”
“I want you...” you let your cables go, let them find Tenna’s port, “I want you...to focus. Focus on how this feels. Focus on how I feel. Don’t think about how you feel. I want our pleasure...to be one in the same. Can you do that for me, be my good little television?”
“I c-can, I can try...h-hoo, mama...m-mama mia...”
You both gasp as your cables work themselves up into Tenna’s port, and his port tightens around your cables. You steady yourself, taking several deep breaths and rubbing your paws up and down Tenna’s sides soothingly. You do your best to clear your mind of anything, of everything. You focus on this moment, and how it feels for you. How nice it feels when the ports constrict around the tips of your cables and make your back arch, how wonderful it feels when Tenna’s hand comes to rest on the soft plastic of your head. The pure bliss you feel when Tenna’s cabletail wraps around yours, so much wider and thicker that your tail is just completely swallowed in it, just like the rest of him. How much of him there is to love, and how you love it all, how you always will. You let the thoughts permeate throughout yourself, let them flow through you without any filter.
Your cabletail twitches. “Can you feel it?”
“Mmmmnnn...I, I c-can...oh, holy m-moly, I can...”
You lean forwards as much as you can, resting your head on Tenna’s torso. “O-okay. Hold on to it, as much as you can. I’ll be watching.”
“W-watching? Watching for what?”
Smiling, you pat Tenna’s screen. “Watching you, silly. I love watching you.”
“W-watching me?” Tenna looks at you, lips trembling. “Y-you, um, you like doing that?”
“I do. I love TV. I think I’ve told you that before.” You let go of his screen long enough to reposition yourself a little, to thrust into him just a bit. There’s no practical reason to do this, it just...feels like the thing to do. Your jacks move against the inner walls of his port, and you both moan.
“Y-you have, b-but—oh, golly—you h-have, but I...I can...I can feel it...”
“Hang on to that,” you say, “hang on tightly. There’s a good boy.”
And with that, you pick up your pace. You start thrusting with reckless abandon, shivering every time the walls of Tenna’s port clenched around your cables. You grind down as much as you can, punching your cables up into his ports as much as you can. You want them to positively spark inside of him, filling him up with all of the positive feelings you have for him. You want the pleasure you’re feeling to becoming his everything, for every sensory input system to be overtaken with your fervent need and desire. And based on the moans and whines you’re hearing, the pathetic little noises you’re punching out of his throat with every thrust, you know you’re getting there.
You feel Tenna’s cabletail begin to wag, taking yours along for the ride. You groan, feeling yourself bottoming out. Your thrusts get more imprecise, and you start scrabbling with your paws, grasping anything you can reach. Tenna gasps, hands coming to your hips, holding you down, forcing you down as much as you can with each sloppy thrust. When you look up, you see tears streaming down Tenna’s face as he holds you, happy sobs coming out of his mouth as though in punctuation. His screen is a sorry state, a complete mess of distorted shapes and colors.
Tenna comes first, and you let him ride it out. You gently gyrate your hips as he rides it out, and allow yourself to follow him after. You feel your pleasure sparking through your cables into his port, and relish in how Tenna’s entire body seems to quake in how good you’re feeling. His screen has gone completely blank, but you can feel him breathing raggedly.
Gasping, you slide down and rest your head down on Tenna’s abdomen, leaving it there until you feel his breathing begin to steady. Once it does, you lift your head up to face him. His features are still distorted, his colors washed out. His antennae are flailing every which way, trying to make some sense of their surroundings. You reach up to cup his chassis, stroking the edges of it softly. He leans into your touch, whimpering softly.
You smile. “Did you feel it?”
Tenna gives a sharp exhale, and holds your paw in his hand. “I—yes. Yes. I f-felt all of it. G-golly gee, m-mama mia, w-what a rush, folks! You...y-you actually felt that happy?”
“Of course I did. And you know I’m not lying, because you felt it.”
“T-that’s true, I did!” Tenna’s features come together a little better, and both his antennae swivel forwards. “Hoo, wowie! I’ll be! You really love TV, huh?”
You squeeze Tenna’s tail against yours, pressing your prongs into his. “I do love it. In fact, I...I can’t get enough of TV.”