Nat looked down at the plastic thing in front of him. To be honest, he glared at it. Grace had admitted that though they were company recommended, they knew he would most likely not get along with it. Yet, he had only heard this by chance and Grace still insisted he try. He was hoping he could just ignore it, but the thing was horribly loud. Yet for the short time he had locked it out of the room, the sounds it made reminded him of-
So, he was sitting on the floor staring at the damn thing until he could decide what to do. It was a distraction, he knew that. Why Grace seemed bothered by the whole thing was dumb. He was just keeping them safe, and close, and intact, and-
Nat got up to go check on Grace. The thing followed at his heels, as it had been the whole time it had been there. Nat tried to ignore it. Grace was usually doing reports so they w- the thing tapped against his foot as he stopped at a crossroads. He sighed and used his foot to push it away. Rather than simply sliding away the thing balled up and rolled a considerable distance.
Nat hated robots, technology, and electricity really, but when it hit a desk with a large thud, he felt a pang of regret. He stood frozen for a second, wondering if he should at least set it up right. Ever resilient, the thing righted itself, but instead of weaving back through desks, the thing crawled up the wall and onto the ceiling. Nat thought fondly of crabs and spiders. He quickly shook his head it was just a robot.
Nat made it to Grace's office with the robot crawling noisily about him. Grace opened their mouth to comment, but they seemed to know immediately why he was there.
"Nat no-" but it was too late, and they were soon off back to the nes- the office, the very safe office.
The robot was back on the ground by the time Grace was fully encased. Nat turned to take his normal spot when the robot started making sounds of distress. Nat flipped around ready to fight whatever Janitor dared to enter, but the thing had managed to get itself tangled in one of the loose blankets. Despite how much he despised the thing, it was soon sitting in his lap as he untangled it. Grace continued needless protests beside them.
Now that it was in his lap, Nat took the time to check if it had an off switch. The moment he started lightly running his hands over the top, however, the thing closed and started to make a sound like a fan whirring. It also started to get warm. He was frozen. He continued to run his hands over the lines in the plastic shell. It was… nice.
A memory, a very distant memory played hazily in Nat's mind, of a hand rubbing the top of his head affectionately. He could not see the face, but he felt a similar warmness.
Pierre chimed and shifted deeper into Nat's chest. This was his now.