Junebug and Johnny are two mechanical musicians. They change their appearances often, but Junebug consistently boasts a half-shaved hairstyle while Johnny wears dark sunglasses and a flattop. They first appear in Act III.
Past[]
Junebug and Johnny were part of a robotic crew manufactured by the Consolidated Power Company. Junebug describes their original build as "a half-foot shorter, and all grey. No eyes." suited to their job of draining Elkhorn Mine after its catastrophic flood. While in the mine, Johnny discovered one of the archivists' tape decks. Listening to the miner's songs, he and Junebug realized they were unhappy as androids, and they decided to escape and live their own lives. The two of them ran away in the night and have since been adjusting and detailing themselves to appear more human and more like themselves.
Junebug[]
The leader of the duo, Junebug is more cynical, sassy, and solitary than her counterpart. She has a biting sense of black humor -- often dark to the point where her jokes are more tragic than funny -- with which she habitually teases and flirts with Johnny. She tends to keep everyone else at arm's length.
Although she buries it in bitterness and denial, Junebug occasionally lets slip glimpses of an identity crisis between person and machine. She seems concerned about genuinity and tends to dismiss her own problems. At one point, Junebug may explain that she likes looking at porcelain dolls because of how peculiarly ungenuine she finds them -- the way identical figures may be defined and valued over one another by little more than a paint job. She tries to express her situation in more specific terms than labels can convey, describing Johnny as her "cricket" rather than her "boyfriend," and her style of dress "like Junebug" rather than "like a punk."
Johnny[]
Johnny, occasionally compared to a dog, tends to stay behind with Conway's hound. When most of the characters would talk to the hound, Junebug chats with Johnny.
Despite his assertion that Junebug is the artist and that he is "only an entertainer," Johnny appears to be the more creative and poetic of the two. He spends much of his time in his head, daydreaming, composing music, and being distracted by the world around him. He enjoys teasing and fawning over Junebug, often with her same tragic sense of black humor.
Johnny has a particular affinity for sounds and animals (which gets him in trouble on more than one occasion) and the duo may explain that he enjoys the digital cacophony of the arcade or the animals at the petting zoo. There are a number of stops along the Zero where Johnny may try (often unsuccessfully) to record various sounds with his tape recorder.
Junebug's Motorbike[]
While it's unclear whether she built it from scratch or simply bought it, Junebug repairs and modifies her own bike. It's grey and industrial in appearance, with a similarly blocky sidecar attached. Because it's neither large nor powerful enough to carry most of their equipment, Junebug and Johnny were forced to leave their guitars and amps behind before the events of Act III.
The player may choose the name "The Weird Vector," "The Vicious Cycle," or "The Sloth-on-Wheels" for the bike, each name coupled with a witty explanation from the musicians -- the Weird Vector is so named for a wobbly wheel, the Sloth-on-Wheels because it is "two-tired," and the Vicious Cycle simple because it's a dark and witty name.
Act III[]
Junebug and Johnny are first met on on the road, extremely late to their gig at The Lower Depths. As the two converse, they may reveal that they are musicians; that they have no place to stay for the night; that Johnny's internal clock malfunctions; that a portion of the reason they are so late is because Johnny was distracted; and other bits of information.
Driving a bit recklessly, Junebug zooms past the tree where Conway's truck has broken down, but Johnny manages to guilt her into stopping to fix it. Either through promises of getting them to the Zero or through sheer pressure, Junebug convinces the group to come along with them to the Lower Depths in order to pressure the bar owner, Harry Esperanza, to pay her. Junebug and Johnny perform Too Late to Love You at the bar, a song that they had once heard someone else sing (implied to be Lysette). Unfortunately, Harry is broke and either cannot pay Junebug or pays her with an IOU he received when selling his customers' debt to Hard Times.
After the performance, Junebug and Johnny follow Conway and the group out of curiosity.
As Junebug and Ezra wait outside Hard Times, Ezra asks her about herself, and Junebug explains her (and Johnny's) backstory and identity.
Trivia[]
- Junebug and Johnny's outfits change with each scene transition.
- Johnny and Junebug's names reference Johnny Cash and June Carter.
- The characters of Junebug and Johnny reference the characters of Vladimir ("Didi") and Estragon ("Gogo") from Waiting for Godot. They also quote a multitude of lines from the play.
- Junebug's motorbike appears to be modeled after a very early model, possibly a 1915 Indian Twin.
- They performed the song Static Between Stations live on WEVP-TV.