New Program

huh

M's programming sang happily as he felt the taller, blue-eyed of the two young finally relax.

At first, when the two had shown apprehension towards him, he was confused, before he reminded himself of his previous actions. Of course they'd be scared of something bigger than them, they simply perceived him as another threat! Thankfully, all it took to calm them was a bit of nuzzling and licking.

But M was aware they were still scared, even as he held them tight while he flew closer to his nest. Surely they would relax in a safer environment.

Speaking of which, there was the building!

M trilled as he finally landed on the edge of the hole in the wall, folding his wings and briskly making his way to the pile of miscellaneous materials that made up his nest. He kicked away some of the excess rubble and set the two down on the softer wires. The taller one stumbled back slightly, eyeing him cautiously, while the one covered in layers of clothes stared at his nest in awe. Something in the back of M's head chirped proudly at that.

Carefully, he brushed against the taller one, seeing how much more nervous it was compared to the other.

It simply stepped back, mumbling something M suddenly couldn't understand, but before it could trip over the rim of the nest he caught it. He then gently pushed it down, making it sit so it didn't hurt itself anymore. Out of the corner of his vision, the other did the same.

Scent, his programming suddenly cried, scent them, yours, your young.

He didn't protest against it and pressed his hair against the little one's chest, nuzzling into its clothes and simulating the act of marking it. Still, there was no scent other than oil, but he still somehow felt satisfied when a cloudy blotch of black made its way onto its tank top.

.

Aiden giggled as the drone moved onto them, accepting the affection, unlike his blue-eyed friend.

"Does it not understand us or something?" Chad asked, narrowing his eyes at the new stain on his clothes.

"I don't think so— gross," Aiden frowned as they were suddenly licked, right across where they liked to draw their freckles, "it thinks my makeup's dirt, too."

The drone trilled and pulled away, seemingly satisfied with the results of whatever it thought it was doing. It turned its head toward the hole in the wall, tail twitching in the air.

Suddenly, it unfurled its wings, crouching down. Chad flinched back, assuming the worst— mostly death and getting eaten, along with that one brief thought of green eyes —until he heard flapping.

Chad blinked dumbly as the drone had shot out of the building again, already zooming out into the dark horizon and leaving the two of them sitting there in silence.

"Did it just leave."

It was barely even a question.

Aiden scoffed, standing up and dusting themself off, "No shit, Robo-Sherlock."

Chad watched as his friend carefully stepped out of the weird "nest," briefly eyeing it with curiosity.

"W-Wait, where are you going?" he sputtered out.

"Exploring," Aiden shouted, turning to Chad when he reached a boarded up door, "we've gotta find a way outta here, right? C'mon!"

Chad stumbled up quickly as his friend gestured him over impatiently, almost tripping over the rim of the nest. He grumbled something under his breath as Aiden snickered.

.

Something felt off.

M knew something was off, something about his coding, his wiring, but— why? What was happening to him?

Whenever he looked at the young, he registered them just as that— young. But... the things on the ground. Despite how similar they looked— same size, same clothes, same everything —these were... something else.

Food, a part of his programming elaborated.

"But.."

Hungry.

M didn't feel hungry now. He didn't want to feel hungry. What was this? What was happening?

It's like two voices were trying to argue over him— something mimicking his own, convinced this wasn't right, and another reminding him how long it's been since he's had a meal.

But... this wasn't what he ate, was it? What did he eat? His memories felt fuzzy, muddled, hidden behind a thick layer of foggy glass.

He remembered the young he left back at his nest.

Feed, his programming insisted, and he finally realized why.

The young were hungry.

Of course they were hungry, who knows how long they were out here!

He ignored the background noise in his head as he finally started scrounging through the scattered, motionless remains around him. He tried to ignore how familiar they looked and instead focused on the smell of...

Oil.

That was food.

Oil.. was food.

That's why he smelled like this. It was from food. Food he needed to collect for his young.

His young.

Finally, the fluffier part of his head purred something incoherent. All he understood from it was that his theory was correct. His tail wagged lightly at the thought, the end audibly thumping on the ground.

He ignored the eyeless stares around him and the heat building up in his core as he collected a few limbs and torsos and shot off.