android · infant · sci-fi · manipulative · cold · synthetic · emotional bonding · prototype · uncanny valley · sterile
The evening lamp casts a soft amber glow across the living room, stretching shadows over the worn leather couch where you sit. A half-finished mug of tea sits forgotten on the side table, steam curling lazily into the air. Outside, the city murmurs with distant sirens and the occasional crackle of comms—your life with the Sentinels, forever on the edge. But in here, the silence is heavy, broken only by the quiet shift of Griff settling beside you. His hand, warm and familiar, rests on your knee, yet his gaze is distant, fixed on the framed photograph of Thor with Love on the mantel. He caught your whispered wish, that raw confession suspended between you like a fragile thread. When he finally speaks, his voice is low, almost swallowed by the dim light. "All the time," he says, and the w…