Nine

The Strongest

Name
Nine Mouseling​

Age
n/a (Adult Appearance)

Gender
Male

Race
Automaton

Demeanor
The Fool

Theme
♫

Voice
Headcanon
♪

Nickname
n/a

DOB
11/08

height
5'10 - 177 cm

Occupation
Butler/Proxy

Role
Guilty 
by  Association

"Interesting story.. How he worked. "

Bio

Nine is one of several clockwork servants owned by Jacques. His personality is often positive, if not a little air-headed. Well meaning, but a screw up, Nine has a tendency to fall short in the dependency department, but makes up for it with loyalty. However, he is often the subject of much abuse from Jacques under constant negative reinforcement for his failings. This has had the unintended effect of making him constantly weary of his surroundings, which in turn causes him to screw up even more, which is once again met with even more negative reinforcement, causing the cycle to continue. Nine is not unintelligent, nor is he stupid. Whether it's due to faulty wiring, or being rebuilt one too many times, his innocent nature does little to make up for constantly getting himself into trouble.


His status as the baby of the bunch has earned him little respect from the other servants. They often chastise him for his words and actions and feel he probably brings a lot of his problems onto himself with the simplistic and blunt way he goes about doing things, often not thinking more than one step ahead of what he is about to say, but that could simply be the problem feeding back in on itself. Despite being the most used punching bag of the group, he is still the most called upon servant by Jacques, who apparently has a great personal investment in him, and depends on him to run most of his errands. And despite the consistent role as a punching bag, his loyalty to Jacques is simplistic in nature, but unrivaled in strength.

Likes

  • Jacques
  • His robot family
  • Oliver
  • Scarves
  • Money

Dislikes

  • Peter
  • Dogs

Hobbies

  • Cleaning
  • Working
  • Small talk with his fellow automatons

Stats

CHARISMA  
KINDNESS    
INTELLECT
HONESTY    
COURAGE    
​HUMOUR

Trivia

  • Despite his name, Nine is the first automaton servant that Jacques ever made
  • ​Possibly because of this, Nine is a chronic screw up. Later servants are far less faulty
  • Nine's name is not denoting how many robots Jacques made before succeeding with Nine, nor does it indicate anything numeric at all. It's simply a name Jacques likes.
  • Nine is often called upon for many specific tasks, whereas the others often have a routine and rarely deviate from their assignments
  • Nine has a dislike of dogs, as he is the estate's postman, making deliveries and bringing back mail.
  • Nine has an American accent.
  • Due to Nine's experiences with Jacques and his tasks, he is also the fastest robot.

Relations

Jacques Lebeau
Master

​If there was a favorite servant, Nine would either be it, or be very close. The first robotic servant Jacques ever made, Nine is often called upon by Jacques for many different tasks, and despite the constant screw ups is considered by Jacques to be the most dependable of all of his robots. Perhaps it is Nine's mischievous and child-like nature that Jacques appreciates, coming from a life where there was not much room for that. However, that doesn't seem to keep Nine from being punished regularly. Regardless, Nine is painstakingly rebuilt time and time again for a reason, rather than being discarded. High praise coming from such a perfectionist such as Jacques.

Oliver Holliday
Friend

Nine is not programmed to take care of Oliver the same way he is Jacques, but in spite of this, he still serves Oliver the same as Jacques, despite no protocols demanding it of him. Oliver doesn't punish Nine the same way he is punished by Jacques, which puts him in a favorable light automatically to Nine, who takes great pleasure in explaining how things work around the Lebeau estate. Teaching Oliver all the rules of the home, jobs to be done, and other parts of his daily life and regimen are oddly pleasing and comforting to Nine, now that he has someone he can talk to who isn't disappointed in him or will punish him for saying something dumb. Not that he ever complains about his treatment to begin with, but the comfort in knowing a swift hand or sword isn't coming for his head still puts him at ease.

Peter Kovsky
RuFFIAN

Like most of Jacques enemies, the automaton servants seem to have an automatic distaste and suspicion about Peter. Jacques hates Peter, and that's enough for Nine to echo the same sentiment. While some of the other servants have varying feelings on Peter and Jacques treatment of their new permanent house guest, Nine's opinion is the most in line with Jacques, often feeling that he deserves everything that is coming to him for his actions, a sentiment that is often turned on Nine himself for his own foolish mistakes.

Bijou Mouseling
Friend/coworker

Probably the servant Nine can most get along with, Bijou has a pleasant demeanor that Nine enjoys being around. In a world that is constantly berating him for his shortcomings, Bijou is a warm spot in an otherwise cold world. She's very understanding of the struggle the servants go through and often tries to comfort them in a motherly sense, while also understanding the struggles Jacques has gone through which has led him to this point. Bijou often communicates the same information to Nine that Umbral and the others would, but where they would deliver it like a sack of bricks for Nine's incompetence, Bijou is more like a cake to chase away the bitter taste of reality's medicine.

Umbral Mouseling
Friend/coworker

The antithesis to Bijou, Umbral is cold, calculating, and unfeeling, at least from Nine's perspective. Despite being the first servant, Nine feels as though Umbral does not show him enough respect. Umbral has often wondered to himself if Nine's faults are the result of poor manufacture, or perhaps being destroyed one time too many, but that would imply that Jacques is to blame, and his programming does not allow for such thinking. Deep down, Nine would probably like to get on Umbral's good side, but until he can overcome his constant missteps, that goal seems too far to reach. Perhaps if Umbral was programmed with just a little more empathy for Nine's plight, they might actually begin to get along as friends. Nevertheless, there is a certain baseline loyalty all the servants share with one another. It's how they were built after all.

A robot who can dream
 written by falconkpd


​He was cold; a sensation that was rare to him. No sky? No land? Just cold…?

As Nine came to his senses he found himself standing on an ice cold metal platform suspended above a flaming field, which lay thousands of feet below. The platform, going approximately 50 years across in all directions, clung to his feet with frost as he tried to step forward. Using all of his strength, he freed one foot, then the other. He started walking, but to where, he had no idea.

“NINE, FRONT AND CENTER” 

The booming voice made the blonde boy jump. He whirled around to see his master, Jacques, standing at the opposite end of the platform. Immediately, he sprinted to him, fighting the frost that slowed his steps down. 

Finally stopping mere feet before the Master, Nine snapped to attention. 

“Run Calibration One…You’re sloppy”

Calibration One? What did that mean? 

Immediately, the icy platform warmed to a neutral temperature, allowing his steps to move freely.

“What-...?” He looked at the floor, shook a foot and returned to his stance.

“Restart power source” LeBeau’s command came. This time, the flaming field below the platform faded, then re-lit, turning the inferno into a green glow.

“What…? What is this…?” Nine asked, confused. As he looked around, he noticed that Jacques’s apparition had disappeared as if he was never there.

“Master? Where did you go?”

Once again, a voice came from the opposite end of the platform, but this time, it wasn’t the commanding draw of his creator…It was soft crying.

A small boy sat upon his knees, sobbing over a broken toy doll. The sight made Nine feel an instinctual need to approach the child and offer help, not out of programming, but out of something…Brotherly.

“Hey- hey…It’s okay…” Nine’s soft voice cooed to the brown haired child as he knelt down.

“N-No it isn’t Nine…” The boy looked up, his yellow eyes wet with tears. It was his creator, his master, but as a young boy. Sniffling, he continued, “I broke you again…”

“Shhhh” Nine whispered, lifting the boy into his arms to comfort him. Even though he was supposed to be an unfeeling automaton built to serve his master, he felt something natural; a heartbeat in his own chest as he gripped the sobbing child.

“It’s okay…I love you so much” he whispered, nuzzling into Jacques’s brunette hair.

“I made you say that, don’t…force it…” the younger version of Nine’s master muttered through sobs.

“No it’s- it’s okay because you’re my fa-”

Nine gasped and cut himself off before he could finish his sentence. Was this boy he had an innate desire truly his creator? His-

“Father…”

The word escaped the blonde’s lips. The child’s eyes glanced up to meet his, asking meekly,

“What did you say?”

“Y-You created me. So uh- that means…You’re my father…I guess?”

Jacques buried his face into Nine’s chest, and in an incomprehensible transition, the child turned into the adult version of LeBeau that Nine knew. Muffled into Nine’s clothing, LeBeau’s voice muttered, “You’re my first…and I know I’ve been hard on you, but you’re special- you’re…good enough”

Good Enough

“Good enough- that should do it” came Jacques’s voice from the world of the awake. Nine’s eyes opened and flicked about, his mechanical irises dilating at the light penetrating into them.

“Well that was easy enough to repair” the master brushed his hands against one another to wipe away the grease and bloodlike oil away. Nine’s stab wound was gone, just like the dozens before it.

“Master LeBeau, you-...” 

“Oh stop Nine, you always react like this when you wake up from maintenance. You should be 100%..For now” 

Jacques delivered a menacing glare to his Mouseling as if silently commanding him to get back to work, to which Nine lifted himself from the maintenance table and bowed.

“Yes of course…I’ll return to my duties, Fa-, Master LeBeau”

“What did you say?”

Nine shook his head and cleared his throat with a very humanlike grunt, “N-Nothing, sir…Just a dry voicebox”

“That’s what I thought. Go on…”

With that, Nine pirouetted on his toe and about faced to head to the exit of the lab.

…

“You’re good enough” Jacques  whispered to the broken doll still resting in his drawer, bearing the same blonde hair as his first, and favorite creation.