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It was a good night for sleeping over. Although Nashatra really should have been going by now, she had also just been debriefed on a large sum of information that would make even the most intelligent Sleepwalker’s head spin. And she was not that, she surmised to herself. Eunoia had invited her to stay after Nash had reached for the exit to the Guardian, Old Nicky still fast asleep in a sleeping bag with another fashioned for Nashatra just in case.
“It would be a possible and wise choice to stay for the night, Nashatra. Although you often leave scenes immediately, here there is no danger in familiar company, and the temperature is exceedingly cold outside. I can also debrief you on more, if you would appreciate that as well!” Eunoia had chimed, and she couldn’t argue with the android’s logic very much. So, taking the sleeping bag and cozying up next to the lantern, there Nash was in the moment along with Eunoia on the box still, who seemed happy she had decided to stay.
“I’m quite ecstatic you’ve decided to stay with us for the night. The Guardian is the only place that has hot water, so you’ll be pleased to have that as part of your facilities should you need to use them.” She crossed her legs. “Instead of briefing you, we could also partake in what one often does when they sleep over. I’m not sure bombarding you with my knowledge is the best choice.”
“Yeah!” said Nashatra. “But don’t think I’ll let my guard down for a sec, I know what you’re trying to do…” she said with a bit of a smirk, recalling the conversation from before. She looked up at the robot from her place lying down on the floor.
“I wouldn’t attack you-” began Eunoia, before smiling too, shaking her head. “The reality is that if I wanted to harm you, then you would have foreseen it with your vision in the prior times we had met. But it never came, and besides, you’ve helped me prior so I owe you a bit otherwise.”
Nash shivered. “Well, unless you never had the intent to hurt me. I don’t think you would, but I also can’t foresee everything. Sometimes I don’t even know what I would want for breakfast, hehe. If only.” Her breath fogged the air, the Guardian lacking any serious form of air conditioning to shield it from the conditions at night from outside.
“Are you cold, Valencia?”
“N-no, well, yes, but it’s not a large matter. I don’t want you to worry much about my condition while I make myself a presence in your home…”
Eunoia leaned down, taking Nash’s shaking hand from its place, her metal flesh surprisingly warm to the touch. “I don’t quite mind at all, all systems of my make are implemented with centralized heating systems. We were designed to comfort people in mind, especially in situations like these. Have you ever heard of an Eunoia helping those in an avalanche?”
Nash’s hand flooded with sudden, radiating heat, spreading through her fingertips to her palm and fading into her arm. “No, I haven’t, I barely receive news in the first place. But thank you. You don’t have to change yourself like that just to comfort me, though, I’ve been through worse climates in my time and brief training.”
The robot’s eyes raised at the mention of training, but any possibility of her questioning was dismissed quickly as she returned to a neutral expression, and instead the heat that had comforted Nashatra was gone as quickly as it came.
“I don’t question your ideas very often considering your exceptional origin and background, as well as my unfamiliarity with your logic, but I must ask why you requested that of me. Would you not want to be warm?”
Nash shook her head. “Yes, but there are other ways to be warm! The reason why I said that is because it’d be changing yourself to make me feel better, but all I need is you and this sleeping bag. I don’t need to ask for more from you, I know you spend your days taking care of the old man and every other Eunoia that might lie in your consciousness, how-ever you may function. And I don’t need to add to that load,” she added.
Eunoia nodded. “I understand. It is never an issue for me to do such an action, I find it ordinary in my tasks and actions, but your reasoning also makes sense, treating me as if I were a person. That kind of treating me with humanity is rare, and it’s almost interesting to see.”
“That being said, though, I would, ah- how do I word it? Not mind other ways of being warmed.” said Nash, biting her tongue as if she had just overstepped some invisible boundary (that existed only in her head, she thought, because Eunoia probably didn’t give a damn) between the two of them.
“Certainly.” Eunoia got on the floor at level with Nashatra, sitting down. “But you will have to guide me in what you could mean. My knowledge of the ROBLOXian is incredibly large, but I have yet to apply it for myself, let alone common rituals that people may undertake in situations like this.”
Nashatra leaned up, half-out of her sleeping bag now, arm on the floor to support herself.
“Well, it would be like this.” She took Eunoia’s hand, flustered a bit that she had even suggested to do this, let alone get closer to someone she considered a potential enemy still if things went awry, but her primordial desires were getting the best of her. Nash scooched up to Eunoia, leaning on her shoulder, the coldness shocking her briefly before she settled in.
“Continue,” hummed Eunoia. She obliged by putting her arm to wrap around her, hand on her other shoulder as well. “Has anyone ever done something- well, um- like this! With you. I don’t want to be overstepping any boundaries.” stammered Nash.
The pale and pebbled woman spoke coolly. “To be completely truthful, no. It is not programmed in us to initiate this sort of act because it would be inappropriate without the consent of the owner, and people rarely gain closeness with a unit. We are intimidating to many, and to others merely a means to an end for many causes. But that does not mean I cannot feel the same way,” she emphasized. “I was created to feel similar to you, and it also means I have my own preferences or desires, which was a feature that I had been implemented with. It was to give me more.. uniqueness, from a common Chaser, as well as competition.”
“They made me iconic,” continued Eunoia, “but in the process created a living being.”
“Wow. Sorry for that, I just find it very sad. You can’t act upon how you feel, do you not have any regrets for that reason?”
“No. They suppressed that emotion a long time ago, it would have been overwhelming otherwise, but I also came to terms with it on my own.”
Nashatra swirled her finger on Eunoia’s skin, feeling small indents and grooves. “Well, no matter how you may have come about, I still appreciate you all the same. It’s not that you have the essence of a ROBLOXian, or whatever. It’s that you are Eunoia. You’re a robot, but why does that matter?”
Eunoia didn’t respond this time, maybe overwhelmed by what Nash had just said, and she didn’t blame her. She used this opportunity to draw in closer, hugging Eunoia now. “In all this time,” she said, “I haven’t met quite a person who wasn’t as willing to help as you, Eunoia. I don’t think you are using me - I can’t see a reason why, other than for the sake of knowing more, or because our goals align. But you are also incredibly interesting. You do so much, so casually, it’s amazing. And I don’t know if you understand that fully, you’re a robot so it’s hard to see it from my perspective, but I hope you can!”
“I- oh- er-” Eunoia seemed hard to formulate a response quickly, the gears turning in her consciousness seemingly as she looked down, and then again at Nash. “Thank you,” she whispered, leaning into Nash’s hair, the cold touch becoming a familiar sensation rapidly. Her hand met Nash’s, grabbing onto it, metal joints whirring as Eunoia felt her palm, digits slipping through the gaps in Nash’s fingers and holding on with gentleness.
“Somehow, this way, I feel much warmer than before,” said Nash breathlessly.
“And I do too. An unfamiliar but comforting way in the essence of my body,” added Eunoia.
“That’s what love is. It’s how you experience the being of another soul, whether it’s in a friendship or within the boundaries of romance, even with family. Your inner self is fulfilled by the presence of another being to its brim, a satisfaction not even one of your upgrades could grant you, crossing lines you couldn’t ordinarily breach. It’s indescribable; but it’s on the tip of your tongue at the same time..”
“Then, it would be appropriate for the both of us to pursue it.” She smiled at Nash, taking her and moving them both to the floor, Eunoia being the big spoon to Nash as she blushed, the gesture a bit sudden and bold but also appreciated. “You can lay with me for the night like this, if it is alright with you.”
“Yes.. it is.” she said, lips curled into a smile. Nashatra had gotten more than she had bargained (or perhaps wished for) with staying for the night, but it hadn’t turned out to be so bad after all. As she stared ahead of her, she thought a bit more about the peculiar set of circumstances she had gotten herself into, but quickly weariness drew over her, Eunoia noticing and going into low-noise mode as to not disturb the half-asleep figure in her arms.
Nash drifted with no worries in her mind off into sleep, her last thoughts about Eunoia’s comfort…