Lamia Ex Machina 10: The Science of Sleepovers

[center]Chapter 10: The Science of Sleepovers

<<<Monday>>>[/center]

“So… what’re we doing first girls?” Monday asked as she floated around lazily, “I have to confess, I never done this before. I just suggested it cause mom told me it was fun,” She admitted.

“... I thought you knew what you were doing before…” Himari said from the other side of the room.

“Well, first we watch movies!” Mina announced, eyes practically shining as she clasped her hands together, “And have snacks, gossip, maybe do fashion stuff, and then instead of sleeping we talk all night until someone passes out!”

“Oh, that sounds fun!” Monday said, “But… What if you don’t sleep a lot?” She added with a wide grin as she wiggled her eyebrows.

Mina purple’d and Toru squeaked, Asui just kero’d, Jiro just rolled her eyes, Zuku mumbled something, and Momo looked… Well, Monday wasn’t sure if she had seen someone so… cluelessly curious before.

“I was given permission to tinker,” Himari stated, taking the statement at face value, “If you wish, you could join me, Monday?”

“Hmm, I might.” Monday said, “Though first I wanna experience this sleepover stuff.”

“So, what should we watch first?” Mina asked, “Cause if no one has any suggestions Imma going to say horror!”

“Kero, how about a rom-com?” Asui said bluntly.

Monday didn’t mind either way honestly, and instead floated over to Zuku and Ochako.

“Whatcha doing?” She asked as she peaked at Zuku’s journal.

“Oh, um,” Zuku blushed, “I was showing her my journal and drawings? S-she was curious about what I was drawing.”

“Oh, is this private?” Monday asked, “I can back off if it is.”

“Mm?” Ochako asked, “No, it isn’t private, look, she drew you!” She said with a point. It was a very detailed drawing, showing her in two places at once as though cut in half diagonally.

“Oh, wow… you’re good…” Monday said, “You know, you could probably make a nice profit doing art commissions. God knows the furry community alone pays good,” She added offhandedly.

“Oh, um, t-thanks,” Zuku replied, laughing nervously as she rubbed at the back of her head.

“Soooooo… no one is going to comment on the fact that our resident catgirl is suggesting that Green earn some yen by drawing furry porn?” Jiro asked as she twirled her earjacks with a faint blush, “I mean… she isn’t wrong…”

“Furry porn?” Momo mumbled.

Himari’s head tilted before she blinked, “Why would they desire such large organs for their drawings?” She asked, “Their senses of aesthetics are rather strange, this does not conform with normal standards of beauty. I would know, I was programmed to know what humans find attractive.”

“It’s a human thing,” Monday said, “The lot of us are horny as hell, and some even consider any hole a goal,” She added with a nod, like she was imparting sage wisdom, “Also if a furry can own an elaborate fursuit that costs like… three hundred thousand yen? Who’s to say they won’t drop similar amounts to have porn of their fursona drawn for their fapping pleasure? Just don’t make fun of them, if they can afford that they can certainly afford the materials to make a pipe bomb.”

Monday looked around…

“... Why’s everyone staring at me?” She asked, “I mean… can anyone honestly say I’m actually wrong!?” She challenged.

“Have you ever considered filtering your words?” Toru asked, “Because I think you should.”

“Firstly, rude. And secondly? Yes I have. I actually did filter myself for a month,” Monday said, “Then suddenly everyone I knew was wondering if I was in some sort of accident that rendered me mute.”

“So, what you’re saying is you’ve always been a motor mouth?” Jiro asked dryly.

Monday just nodded, “I got it from my mom,” She said, “And honestly my quirk probably makes it worse,” She added with a shrug.

“I have, if anyone is curious, not detected any major personality shifts since she met the spider,” Himari noted, “So this is to be expected.”

“... Spider?” Jiro muttered.

“... I’m American, I’m a degenerate barbarian,~” Monday said in a singsong before disappearing like something out of Alice in Wonderland before reappearing beside Mina looking at her nails, “So what color do you think would look good? I never actually painted my nails before.”

“Pink!” Mina announced, grabbing her and starting to drag her into the dining room, “Come on, Momo is setting up the TV in there, we’re going to be watching Alien and then this movie Himari recommended called ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’. We’ve never seen it.”

Monday allowed it with a wide grin, “Fun!” Her tail waving through the air lazily, only slightly floating so Mina could drag her, actually she wondered if the pink alien even realized?

“Then we can do shadows under your eyes and give you red lipstick to really emphasize the vampire catgirl look you have,” Mina continued pleasantly, “You know, like your dad.”

“I vant to suck your blud!” Monday said in a horrible hammy accent, “Actually… if I bit you Mina would it be blood or acidic blood like a Xenomorph?” She added thoughtfully.

“The second!” She replied, “But I can tone it down a lot to just a bit of a tingle, like soda or lemons.”

“Well, it might be forward of me to say this I look forward to finding out one day!” Monday said with a grin, “Not that I need to drink blood… for now. Who knows what will happen if I let Himmy play Mad Scientist on me more often,” She added with a playful smile.

“I was not playing mad scientist,” The AI complained, “I am very sane. Super sane.”

“That’s what a Mad Scientist would say!~” The catgirl teased.

“I will test your resistance to catnip if you push me,” She countered, poking her on the nose before, very carefully, sitting on a stool.

It creaked worryingly.

“Uh… Hold on,” Momo started, “I’ll get a chair you can sit on without… breaking.”

“It’s unnecessary but… thank you,” Himiari said as she stood up, with the stool giving a near audible groan of what would’ve been relief if it was actually alive. “It may be necessary, unless I choose to stand. On a related note, how much weight can your stairs take?”

“We took dressers up it, so enough,” Momo replied before darting into what looked like a supply closet.

The mansion had a lot of those.

Monday’s tail was lashing around thoughtfully, “Honestly, I don’t think I could live somewhere like this,” She said, “I’d feel compelled to move into a different room weekly just to make it feel lived in.”

“You’d do that anyway,” Momo replied as she stepped out with a metal chair covered in, what looked like, soft fabric.

“... You didn’t have to call me out like that…” Monday mumbled with a giggle, though she did notice Zuku writing down some notes… and as curious as she was, she was in the clutches for Mina.

Glancing over at the makeup, she nearly gaped at the sheer amount of colors that were available, “That set up looks more at home on a movie set than here… truly money is the most underappreciated superpower…” She thought.

“Don’t use too much,” Momo advised, “It can get really hard to clean off.” The expense, it seemed, was not an object for her, something emphasized by the giant TV Toru was helping her wheel in. It was easily eight feet across, maybe more.

“Don’t worry about it,” Monday paused, “Okay don’t worry about me, I can just blink and that’s that.” Or at least… she hoped that was the case.

She never actually tested how her quirk worked with nail polish as it… never really came up before.

“Okay, let me see… movies, painting nails and other makeup stuff, uh… what else do you do at sleepovers?” Monday wondered, “... Talk about boys? I mean… we haven’t been a class long so I don’t think there’d be much to talk about but… I guess? It’d be something to talk about at least.”

“So what’s Space Odyssey about, Himari?” Toru asked, sounding curious.

“You’ll see, you’ll like it, promise,” She replied with a smile that promised nothing good, though Monday was pretty sure she was the only one that caught it.

In the meantime, Mina was painting her nails with expert precision… it almost looked like blood on them.

“Oh, that’s nice,” Monday said as she watched curiously, “... Honestly I might have to try sometime…” Well, providing that nail polish doesn’t get disappeared by her quirk.

It’d be a pain to reapply it every time she used it.

[hr][/hr]

“... So who else wants to make sure Himmy isn’t making murder drones?” Toru asked, hand going up.

“I’m sorry, Toru, I can’t let you do that,” Himari started, slowly grinning, “until you try my brownies, I have a new recipe and I want to see if it tastes good to biologics.”

“... You drive a hard bargain,” The invisible girl admitted, “There won’t be any space babies either, right?”

“I can make no promises,” She replied, “Nor can I promise a lack of obelisks on the Moon or the Lagrange point between Io and Jupiter.”

Mina hugged her hard, “I love when you’re being weird! But you don’t get to choose movies anymore unless someone else vets them.”

Monday felt oddly jealous, though she wasn’t going to make a fuss. Honestly she was taken by surprise just as everyone else had and she agreed with Mina.

“So…” Monday just looked at her painted nails, “Despite the surprise can we all agree it was a good movie?”

“Oh yeah, great movie, very confusing,” Momo agreed, “Very weird. A good palate cleanser after Alien.”

Ochako nodded, “While odd the story was rather tense. I particularly liked David and Frank’s interactions.”

“And now, brownies!” Mina announced, having been given the tin by Himari.

“You liked it because space,” Toru teased Ochako, and the girl just shrugged with a smile.

“I just like space, what can I say?” She replied.

“You don’t have to say anything,” Monday said, “Space is cool, I just wished the Space Program would start back up already.”

“I require funding,” Himari replied, “A small loan of six million dollars would be enough to begin a rocketry business, would you like to contribute donations?”

“... That’s too rich even for my family,” Momo said with a surprised blink, “I think I’ll pass.”

“Well… I think I’d make a good cat burglar but I’m not sure if I could withstand the Disappointed Mom look.” Monday said, “Mom gave me that look once when I was little and I never recovered, I fear receiving the Disappointed Mom look.”

“... I wonder if Eliza would teach me this look so I can keep you under control?” Himari muttered thoughtfully.

“So, does anyone else have any movie suggestions?” Mina asked.

“Oh! How about Shin Godzilla!” Monday suggested her tail waving around, “I love the Godzilla franchise. And that’s the most terrifying version of Godzilla.”

“Sounds fun to me,” Momo replied with a nod, “Hold on, I’ll buy it real quick…”

“... I tried to imagine having that level of disposable income and have failed…” Monday commented, “Man, whoever’s lucky enough to go out with her will have a helluva Sugar Mama…”

“I’m sorry?” Momo replied.

“Oh hun don’t apologize for you being you!” Monday said, “It’s just… culture shock I guess? I mean I have an allowance but well… it’s not anywhere near… this…” She added gesturing to… everything, “I’m not complaining, it’s just a surprise.”

“Well… um,” Momo coughed and was about to say something else before Mina pushed a brownie into her mouth.

“Tastes good, right?” Mina asked, “Stop worrying, you’re doing fine. Promise.”

“... It does taste good,” Momo mumbled around it as she nibbled at it, ordering the movie with her other hand.

“... Oh no she’s adorable…” Monday said with a giggle as she took a brownie herself and nibbled on it, “These are good!”

Himari smiled happily, shifting to sit nearby. “I am happy to provide snacks and refreshments as desired.”

[hr][/hr]

After another few movies, at least one of which was put on by Himari without asking for permission (a children’s movie she had apparently wanted to see starring a hunchbacked person in france, it was surprisingly good) and now as the other girls were getting ready to sleep Monday and Himiari found themselves in another room completely with her friend tinkering while Monday watched curiously.

“So, what do you think of your first sleepover?” Monday asked curiously.

“It has been pleasant,” She replied, cable trailing from her to the wall, “I have no complaints. What of you? What are your thoughts?” She asked as the scent of ozone filled the air, her finger opened to reveal a soldering iron.

“A lot more fun than I expected,” Monday said, “Though I think Zuku felt out of place, she seemed to hide in her journal. Do you think she was bullied growing up or is she just introverted?”

“... Am I allowed to break their privacy slightly before answering?” Himari asked in return, “Accessing school records would not be difficult.”

“... I ain’t going to tell anyone,” Monday said.

“Accessed, they were bullied,” She replied, “Bakugo was among the bullies, but they were not the only one. On the other hand, they did not have many friends in general either and so may be naturally introverted as well.”

“Huh…” Monday found herself wondering if she should reevaluate her interests… and honestly the girl in question seemed focused to the point of obsession on being a hero…

“It is plausible that the stress of schooling drove people into it, perhaps getting called a ‘genius’ constantly went to their head,” Himari continued, “It is plausible that enough interaction with the others in the class will level their head. Hopefully, the bullying will not continue regardless. I like Zuku.”

“That’s possible.” Monday said, “God knows I’ve seen a few cases like that back in the states… and I like her as well. And honestly I think Zuku and Ochako look cute together, what about you?”

“They are aesthetically pleasing together,” She agreed… Monday thought that was agreement, at least. “I wish them happiness.”

Monday nodded her head in agreement, “So has anyone in class caught your interest, Himmy?” 

“What do you mean, Monday?” She asked, head tilting, “I like most of the class, it is pleasant to be around them and you.”

“Like…” Monday paused and tried to think of how to phrase it, “I mean do you find anyone in particular more interesting and would like to spend more time with them?” All the while thinking if she needed to ask again she’d just stop being around the bush and be blunt about it.

“... You would fit such a description,” She replied with a blink, “Does that not simply make you my best friend?” She asked.

Monday just giggled and gave Himari a hug, “I mean… you’re not wrong,” She admitted, “But I mean… you see anyone in the class as a potential boy or girlfriend?”

“... I will outlive everyone by over a thousand times,” She replied, “Making such decisions would be painful to me and to any partner, certainly I have no biological drive to have such either.”

“It’s better to love and lost than to never love at all,” Monday said, “And relationships don’t need to be centered around sex.”

“... I had to modify my emotion sub routines in order to feel positive emotions to people other than my creator, Monday,” Himari replied, “I am not sure I can feel love as an emotion. The thought is… depressing to me, but I dare not touch the code lest I make things worse.”

“Fair, and who knows? Maybe one day.” Monday said before she smiled, “So, whatcha making Himmy?”

“The image projector we spoke of earlier,” She replied, clearly grateful for the change in topic, “Could you pass that capacitor bucket to me?”

Calling it a bucket was certainly accurate, but it was surprisingly… disorganized, just a mess of small components in a small blue bucket.

“Thank you,” She said with a smile, grabbing a very small one out to solder it onto the circuit board she was working on.

“... where did you get all of these? Some of them look really dirty,” Monday asked, sitting down next to her, “And can you show me what you’re doing?”

“They’re just from discarded laptops,” She replied, “And dead computers. I save money where I can for materials. That’s the unsorted pile, some of them anyway. And I would enjoy teaching you.” Himari smiled wide, visibly happy about the idea.

“Well, I’m under your care, Himmy.” Monday said with a smile, “Just be patient with me.”

“I am infinitely patient, Monday,” She replied, “You would not believe how long it feels like it takes for even televisions to turn on for me.”

Then she started explaining things. It was… surprisingly simple overall, but she didn’t understand how it worked still. Himari enjoyed trying to teach her though and, well, she’d be a terrible friend if she didn’t indulge her a little bit.

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