The pale blue irvagaleni eased herself onto the couch, wincing as she bent her legs a touch further than she would've liked, but swallowed any complaints. The look on her face betrayed her discomfort, however; the synthoid had tended to her for long enough to know that much.

How's your leg? Is it still hurting as badly as before?

The voice that left their speakers was soft, almost melodic. It felt strange to hear such a tone come from their chassis, but for the moment, it felt right.

"It's fine, thank you. I suppose I just needed to sleep on it for a night." The irva gave them a smile that didn't quite reach her young yet weary eyes. It was at times like this that the synthoid wished its mouth could articulate, but there were plenty of other ways for it to show its disapproval.

You know you shouldn't be lying to me about these things, Varin.

The irva sitting before them laughed, the sound making their processors flutter. They'd need to get that taken care of later.

"Please, you've done so much for me already! I'm fine, it's just a little… ah, sore. Lingering pains."

Varin patted one of their lower hands and gave them a far more genuine smile, filling their core with a warmth that, while odd, was neither unfamiliar nor uncomfortable.

It was almost soothing. Almost.

Emulating a sigh, the synthoid capitulated, resting a hand atop the irva's while briefly wishing they could return her expression.

I'm only doing my job; if anything, I need to do more.

"You and I both know that isn't true. We're running out of time, Morgan."

The synthoid said nothing, opting instead to pat the back of the irva's hand. It was her turn to sigh this time, Varin turning to gaze out beyond the window with longing in her eyes.

"It's not fair."

Organic life tends not to be fair, they wanted to say. Any synthoid knew that much–

We've been over this before. I'll be fine, Varin.

"Still! You deserve someone who would've been around for longer, you know. Leaving you so soon…"

What?

A metal hand came to rest on the irva's shoulder. Another came to rest on the one opposite, the irva synthoid moving to sit by her side.

Every moment with you has been an eternity for me. You've made my time in service something to treasure, just as I hope I've made yours.

From where they were sitting, the sad smile on Varin's face was clearly visible. Still, there was something to it that kept it from being a purely sorrowful look.

"I suppose we've both lived pretty full lives, then, huh? Made the most of things?"

Morgan nodded. The irva sighed and rested her head against the synthoid's shoulder, then moved to fit it into the crook of its neck. For once, both instances of the synth seemed to agree: they desperately wanted to protest the motion, but knowing their master, they wouldn't have listened anyway.

The humming deep within her core never failed to calm the irvagaleni.

Perhaps I will belong to someone else in time. Perhaps I won't.

A hand fell from her left shoulder as the synth used her right arms to pull Varin closer. Even in this position, they could tell that the irva was trying to look up at her. Taking her left hands, the synthoid rested them on Varin's own.

Regardless of where I end up, you'll always be with me. Whatever my purpose, your love will always remain part of my core – you've more than made sure of that.

At that, Varin pulled away and smiled up at the synthoid once more, resting her hands on top of theirs with a giggle.

"Then you take good care of whoever comes next. Just don't forget about me, you hear?"

Their hands intertwined properly as Morgan gazed into Varin's eyes, their indigo lights meeting her deep blues. The synthoid irva gave her owner a gentle nod after some time.

I'll cherish these memories so long as I function. You have my word.

"Promise?"

Promise.

What a strange exchange.

Mor's optics flickered to life as he awoke, processor pinging with yet another new task coming in. With a digitized grunt, they stepped out of his charging station, barely giving the device time to disconnect them safely.

Yet another stray data fragment had surfaced during his power-down; yet another memory to arise since the incident at his last position. To their disappointment, what had started as a rare occurrence had become more and more frequent in the time since his last checkup. Not only that, but it had begun to happen while he was fully online and active, too – fortunately for him, those were still rather rare.

Thankfully, his performance on the job hadn't suffered as a result, either; his capabilities meant that he hadn't been cast aside by his newest deployment, given his incoming alert.

Grabbing his quarterstaff on his march to report in, he made an internal note to submit yet another maintenance request once his shifts were over. They had bigger issues to take care of than a single synthoid's memory cells, but it was still worth trying.

The sooner he got the issue fixed, the better.