Giant robots need cuddles too

"I appreciate you coming here," the Sound Titan transmitted to the TV Titan sat next to her, while simultaneously rumbling her many speakers amiably. The red backlights of her speaker-cones pulsed softly.

"I would be a poor ally if I didn't," transmitted the TV Titan back. The Titan displayed a cheery emoticon on its shoulder screen nearest the Sound Titan, and rippled its magnificent back-spikes in a friendly manner.

The two Titans sat not far from the main Soundkind Base. Titan Soundkind had been treated to extensive repairs to her recent battle-damage, and the next course of action would be to install her long-overdue upgrades. But that entailed kicking the Titan out of her hangar for a score-or-so of hours to give her engineering crew enough space to prep everything. In the meantime, Titan Soundkind was unclothed and covered in minimal plating; metres of cables and wires exposed to the elements. The weather was mild and the evening breeze refreshing - the problem was that the temporarily-downgraded Sound Titan was exceptionally vulnerable to enemy attack in this state. Her comrade Titan TV had been summoned to act as bodyguard or teleport-escort should the worst happen.

The Sound Titan transmitted an 'I'm thinking' packet, similar to if she had begun speaking audibly and began her sentence with 'Well…' She concluded the transmission with "…I wasn't the best ally to you to begin with."

The TV Titan emitted what it hoped was a soothing rumble from its own speakers, and softly placed its hand on the Sound Titan's hand. "You do know I don't hold that against you?" it transmitted.

Titan Soundkind emitted a surprised chirp at the other Titan's touch. That was most unexpected, but not unwelcome. She realised she hadn't actually answered the other Titan. "…I did know," she transmitted back. "You've said as much before." (The TV Titan gently stroked the Sound Titan's hand.) "I wish I… had the language to talk about it. I'm still not ready to talk about it, not yet. But even if I was ready to talk… saying 'I'm sorry' doesn't feel like the right thing to say. But I am. And everyone's so wretchedly nice to me about it, it only makes me feel worse." (The TV Titan brought its other hand in to hold the Sound Titan's hand properly. Titan Soundkind didn't appear to notice.) "And the most frightening part of all this? I think I want someone to tell me how I should feel. And I don't know if that's my own desire, or if that's something that the manipulator left behind in my psyche."

The TV Titan squeezed the Sound Titan's hand and emitted a deep clicking rumble from its speakers, quiet and velvety but mighty, like a distant storm. Titan Soundkind could tell that the TV Titan was trying to comfort her, and she gratefully returned the hand-holding, scooting herself into a better position for it.

"I wish I knew what to tell you," said the TV Titan softly. It affected an emoticon 'face' on its main screen so it could solemnly close its 'eyes'. (It immediately occurred to the TV Titan that Titan Soundkind might not be able to see that. Oh well.) "I will tell you that if you need to talk and you need someone to listen, I will do that for you. …I expect you'd rather talk to Comrade Camera about it - I know you're close with her. But I will be available, should you want me."

"Thank you, Comrade. …In truth, I think I would rather talk to you about it than with Comrade Camera… You… You suffered, too." (Both Titans squeezed the other's hand.) "But I'm still not ready."

The TV Titan stroked the back of the Sound Titan's hand with its thumb. It was touched by Titan Soundkind's words. Both the Titans had unintentionally caused each other to suffer… and perhaps that meant no-one could understand either of them like the other could. "Would it help if… I led the conversation?" asked the TV Titan. "If I asked you questions about it - it might help you get your thoughts in order."

"It might, one day. But not today, please. Not yet."

"Of course."

The two Titans sat in companionable silence, holding hands. The TV Titan saw the first of the stars come out and wondered how many of them the Sound Titan could see.

"Thank you, Comrade," transmitted Titan Soundkind. She emitted a rumbling purr of her own, her banks of speakers making a mightier sound than the TV Titan's. "…I didn't realise how much I missed this."

The TV Titan emitted a questioning chirp of static. 'Missed what?' was the implication.

"…Holding hands, I mean. I haven't done this since I became a Titan."

"Neither have I… This is nice." The TV Titan displayed happy emoticons on its screens.

"Were you a standard unit before becoming the Titan?" asked the Sound Titan.

"That's right. Our faction never had any large units before Polycephaly. Or since. What about you; were you a standard or a large?"

"I was a large, so I'd already experienced the upgrade process once before - though of course the transition from large to Titan was far more arduous than from standard to large. So you'd had no experience of the upgrade process at all, and you went straight from being a standard unit to a Titan? …I can't imagine."

"It was brutal, yes," replied the TV Titan. "But I had my dear engineers to see me through it."

"Do you cuddle?"

"…If you'd like," replied the TV Titan. It scooted over to Titan Soundkind and wrapped her up in a hug, gathering and pulling her close and letting her lean in.

"…I meant do you cuddle with your engineers," said the Sound Titan, too surprised to return the hug at first - though she soon corrected that. "I cuddle with mine."

"Oh, absolutely. I pick them up and stroke their little screens. My dear engineers… they all work so hard for me and keep me at my best. I love them all."

"It's the same for me. …My engineers, that is, not yours. Though I'm sure yours are lovely." Both Titans laughed slightly.

"Do you let yours rest in your core chamber?" asked the TV Titan. "I indulge mine in that now and then."

"I don't. I'd like to, but my core drains rapidly. If I let anyone rest in my chamber overnight, I'll wake up as though I didn't spend any time in sleep mode. I let my engineers rest on me instead - I lie down and they heap themselves on me and cuddle." Titan Soundkind snuggled gratefully against her bigger comrade, her speakers purring softly. "This is so nice," she said quietly.

The TV Titan couldn't help purring its own speakers in response. This really was nice - and not just physically so. The Sound Titan was leaning on the TV Titan happily; clearly she felt secure and at ease. The TV Titan realised it loved the feeling of making its comrade feel safe.

The Titans had been built to be war machines, their factions' ultimate guardians and their Imperators' will personified. But their minds still had to come from standard units - using a new mind would have been too many unknowns, and the time needed to bring a new mind up to speed was time the Alliance couldn't spare. The Titans' minds had evolved, from the seeds of their standard-unit minds, into vast crystalline psyches that controlled building-sized bodies - but the seed of that original mind was still there in all of them, still desiring comfort and companionship… and cuddles.

The TV Titan felt a great welling of melancholy building up inside it. It needed this… but now it almost wished it hadn't happened, because the action had thrown a light on just how much the Titan had been touch-starved, and now there was no going back that knowledge. Titan TV shifted position again to cuddle better with its Soundkind comrade, prompting some happy static buzzes and chirps from the Sound Titan. The TV Titan hadn't realised just how much it had missed cuddles until today - it clung to the Sound Titan, who seemed to understand just how much her comrade needed this. And she herself realised she needed this too. Both Titans held each other and stroked each other's plating, the TV Titan being careful not to touch the Sound Titan's exposed cabling and hydraulics. The TV Titan buzzed its own banks of speakers in pleasure at the shared touch.

"Your little speakers are so cute," commented the Sound Titan.

"…I think that's the first time any part of me has been described as 'little' since I acquired Titan form," replied the TV Titan. Both Titans laughed slightly. "You know I did used to have the giant banks of speakers that your faction gifted me? I did enjoy using those. It's unfortunate they were never used by their rightful owner. …I'm sorry I didn't keep them safe for you."

"Well, as you TVs like to say: shit happens."

Both Titans laughed and cuddled each other delightedly. Neither wanted to be the first to break this off. The two of them basked in each other's presence, enjoying the other's rumbling vibrations and the gentle pressure against their plating.

The TV Titan static-sighed luxuriously, enjoying the warm presence of its fellow Titan. "I cuddle with my engineers all the time," began the TV Titan. "And I love them dearly. But no-one except another Titan can give me this. …Hold me, Comrade. I need this."

The Sound Titan emitted a euphonious honk in sympathy, and the two Titans each pressed the other to them, moving slowly and deliberately - at their scale, such actions bordered on logistics. Wordlessly, the pair lay down together to better embrace. Both of them needed this.

"Could I… touch your screen?" whispered the Sound Titan.

The TV Titan wordlessly took the Sound Titan's hand and guided it into place. Titan Soundkind stroked the TV Titan's screen with the backs of her gloved fingers - the pattern of static noise on Titan TV's screen swam faster and more vigorously, but the change was imperceptible to Titan Soundkind and her limited optical spectrum. But she absolutely could perceive how hard the TV Titan purred its speakers, to her surprise. The Sound Titan quietly revelled in being permitted to do this - the last time she had touched the TV Titan's screen, it had been as an enemy.

Titan TV nuzzled its screen into Titan Soundkind's hand. "You can press a little harder," whispered the TV Titan. "A bit closer to the edges, if you would."

Titan Soundkind stroked an index finger around the edge of the TV Titan's screen, pressing into the groove where the glass screen met the casing. Titan TV trilled and crackled with delighted static, blissed-out by the touch. The Titan loved having its screen petted by its engineers - the touches were little, but they made the Titan feel so loved and cared for. Now the Sound Titan was giving the other half of what the TV Titan desired - that wonderful pressure rubbing away the carpet of soft static electricity, just as the TV Titan remembered getting from its companions when it was a regular unit. The TV Titan felt a pang of sorrow and yearning at realising just how long it had gone without a proper screen-rub, followed by the comfort of realising that at long last it had another provider of the gesture, if it so wished. And it did. The TV Titan chirped gratefully at the Sound Titan's touch, and moved its great head in to nuzzle against Titan Soundkind's own. The Sound Titan happily accepted, allowing the TV Titan to touch its comparatively tiny speaker-banks against her own.

Titan TV reached behind Titan Soundkind's neck, slowly enough to give her time to object. The Sound Titan did not.

"May I?" asked the TV Titan.

"Yes."

The TV Titan placed its hand at the back of the Sound Titan's neck, at the base of her head, and let its hand rest there. "Is this alright?"

"…It feels safe. I feel that nothing can harm me, because you're there. You'll protect me."

Titan TV kept the warm weight of its fingers in place, and stroked the back of Titan Soundkind's neck with its thumb. No parasite would ever latch there again, if the TV Titan had any say in the matter… Titan Soundkind seemed to know what Titan TV was thinking - she gently crackled her speakers in appreciation and pressed herself into the other Titan a little more. Titan TV took its hand back and slipped its fingers under Titan Soundkind's 'chin', rubbing under that colossal bank of speakers.

"Are you someone who touches where you like to be touched?" asked Titan Soundkind.

Titan TV paused - it had never been asked that or ever considered the idea.

While Titan TV was busy thinking about it, Titan Soundkind slipped her fingers under Titan TV's great monitor, rubbing the TV Titan's head in the same place it had just been rubbing hers.

"…Yes." Titan TV finally answered, purring its speakers at the touch. It leaned its head into Titan Soundkind's hand. This was another touch it hadn't had in so long… It gathered up Titan Soundkind in its arms. The two Titans lay blissfully entwined, holding each other close and purring and trilling their speakers.

The TV Titan transmitted privately to its home base: "Do not disturb me except under the Imperator's direct and direst orders. Enjoying some quality time with Comrade Soundkind."

The operator at TV Base pinged back an acknowledgement.

On the roof of the Sound Titan's hangar, a few Cam units stood watching, acting as sentries ready to raise an early alarm in case the skibidis tried to stage an ambush.

Oh. The two Titans were… certainly up to something. The Cams transmitted an advisory to the Soundkind Base that they should not disturb their Titan right now…

The TV Titan transmitted a question to the Sound Titan: "We both cuddle our engineers. Do you… fuck yours? I fuck mine."

The Sound Titan emitted an audible confused chirp, then transmitted a negative. "I don't. How… would that even work?" she asked.

"I let them in my core chamber," explained the TV Titan by transmission, "And they stroke and rub the inside walls. It takes them a little while to satisfy me, at their size, but they get the job done. And it's easier for me than trying to fit my own hand inside."

The Sound Titan appeared to be processing this new information. A world of possibility was opening up to her… She opened a transmission as if to say something, then closed it without adding any information. She apparently decided that going off the record via soundwaves was the better option, and whispered: "If you'd like… I could try doing that for you."

The TV Titan rumbled delightedly, the blades at its back rippling. The Titan rolled over onto its back, allowing the Sound Titan better access to its core chamber. It flexed the reciprocating claws around its core chamber entrance, before pointing to them with a finger. "Stroke them out of the way first," the Titan instructed with a whisper. "I want to feel your touch."

The red backlights in the Sound Titan's speaker-cones fluttered with excitement. The Sound Titan cuddled close to the supine TV Titan, and moved her hand to the array of spikes around her comrade's core chamber. She reverently stroked the outer ring with a fingertip, pausing when she reached one of the triad of bigger spikes. She gripped it at its base, tentatively flexing it. The TV Titan playfully resisted, showing off its strength, before relenting and 'allowing' the Sound Titan to bend the spike outwards. The Sound Titan reached for the next spike, and the TV Titan spun the outer ring around to bring it into her hand.

Titan Soundkind stroked all three spikes outwards, deliberately stroking firmly so that her fingers brushed the TV Titan's torso plating. Titan TV emitted a quiet static whine, punctuated with clicks. The Sound Titan ran a finger around the edge of the inner ring of spikes, making the TV Titan shiver in delight - Titan Soundkind took advantage of the TV Titan's distraction to stroke all its claw-spikes out of the way. Titan TV chirped its speakers in anticipation…

Titan Soundkind slipped her fingers inside the TV Titan's core chamber, prompting a wheeze of static. Titan Soundkind was concerned she'd hurt it, so she made to withdraw her hand - Titan TV immediately clasped her hand and pleadingly transmitted, "Stay inside… please." Titan TV emitted a whine of static, then released its grip and transmitted further: "I won't force you, of course… but I very much want you to."

The Sound Titan rumbled her myriad speakers, then slid her hand in again… then withdrew it, drawing a disappointed whine from Titan TV… Titan Soundkind paused to remove both her gloves, dropping them to the ground next to her. Titan TV emitted static crackles of anticipation as it correctly guessed what Titan Soundkind was about to do next.

Titan Soundkind once more pushed her hand into Titan TV's core chamber, this time feeling the insides with her bare fingertips, amplifying the sensation for them both. She stroked the plating seams and power lines inside the core chamber. "Guide my hand," whispered Titan Soundkind.

Titan TV removed its own gloves and held Titan Soundkind's hand in both its own, using one hand to show the Sound Titan where to go and the other to caress her hand, tracing a fingertip along the huge servos that controlled each digit. Titan Soundkind stroked and rubbed the walls of Titan TV's core chamber, making Titan TV thump its back-spikes against the ground in delight. Titan TV hauled Titan Soundkind's hand further into its core chamber - "Please, touch the rear wall," vocalised Titan TV, its voice clipping with static. "Push hard, make my struts creak."

The Sound Titan sat up a little to get a better angle, and pushed all her fingertips into the rear wall of Titan TV's core chamber, spreading her hand so that all her digits strained against the circumference, pushing into the walls as well as trying to push the rear wall into the rest of the Titan. Titan TV writhed, using its back-spikes to push itself upwards and meet Titan Soundkind's touch. Titan Soundkind clenched her fist, pushing her knuckles into that rear wall… if Titan TV wanted it hard, she could give it hard.

Titan TV's speakers clipped as the Titan keened with static on more frequencies than its speaker-stacks could handle. In its delight it transmitted a stream of blissful nonsense, not able to string a coherent sentence together - though Titan Soundkind absolutely got the message. She pushed and rubbed to make the seams of the core chamber plating creak and flex against their underlying struts, tugging at at the intertwining cables and piping and sending the TV Titan into paroxysms of desire, of need. Titan TV hadn't been fucked like this since it was a normal unit… In fact, it had never been fucked like this at all. As a normal TV-unit, it had enjoyed having its charging port stimulated - in more-or-less the same place on its body as its core chamber now - just like most other TV-units with a sex drive. But its core chamber went far deeper into its body than its charging port had, which meant that the Sound Titan's rubbing stimulated almost all the TV Titan's frame and made its hydraulics feel massaged.

The TV Titan bucked under the Sound Titan's touch, as if trying to fold itself into a V, its back-spikes thumping against the ground and gouging ruts into it.

Titan Soundkind was taken aback by the intensity of Titan TV's orgasm-cry, considering the size of its speakers compared to her own. The force of Titan TV's wordless transmission of joy startled her too, to the extent that she was momentarily afraid she'd hurt the TV Titan, until she realised the data-blast's contents. She carefully withdrew her hand from Titan TV's core chamber and lay next to the TV Titan while it basked in its post-orgasmic fugue.

"Thank you," said Titan TV after a while, reaching to hold hands with Titan Soundkind. Both Titans gently touched their banks of speakers together.

"Did you ever try wireplay when you were a standard unit?" asked the Sound Titan.

"…I never did," admitted the TV Titan. "I never had the courage to try it, as giver or as receiver."

The Sound Titan purred her speakers salaciously and flexed the banks on her head, the red backlights of her speaker-cones pulsating. 'Come on, you must know where I'm going with this' seemed to be the implication…

"Are you…" began the TV Titan hesitantly, "…inviting me to?"

"You know I am," rumbled the Sound Titan.

The TV Titan moved a hand near the Sound Titan's 'ribs', where her endo-struts lay exposed without their exo-plating. "Are you really sure?" the TV Titan transmitted in the equivalent of a shy whisper. "I hate the thought of hurting you."

"I know you won't," transmitted the Sound Titan.

Titan TV sat up and pulled Titan Soundkind close, letting Titan Soundkind lean on it. "You'll tell me if you need me to stop, won't you?" whispered Titan TV.

"Of course," Titan Soundkind whispered back. She guided Titan TV's hand where she wanted it, encouraging the TV Titan to push its fingers between her hydraulics…

Titan TV rubbed at some wiring with its fingertips, making Titan Soundkind squirm and buzz her speakers softly ("Good touch…" she transmitted). Titan TV pushed a fingertip between a thick cable and a strut, and plucked at the cable, pulling it taut away from the strut. Titan Soundkind emitted a static whine.

"Do it some more." Titan Soundkind fluttered her speakers in desperation.

Titan TV ruffled bundles of wires and ran its fingers along them to their roots, and rubbed at the connectors there. It gathered handfuls of cabling and gently scrunched them together, letting them slip through each other and rub and creak. Titan Soundkind pushed herself into the touch, her speakers buzzing and whining.

"These don't seem to be powering anything," said Titan TV, scruffling a handful of cables.

"Redundant," wheezed Titan Soundkind. "Getting… replaced… in upgrades."

"Why don't I save your engineers some time?" whispered Titan TV, sliding their fingers along the length of the cables and finding the roots.

Titan Soundkind excitedly clucked and buzzed as she realised that Titan TV was about to do…

Titan TV pulled out the superfluous wiring. Now it had greater access to Titan Soundkind's inner machinery, and pushed its fingers further into her body to caress her frame and struts and more of her hydraulics and piping. Titan Soundkind huffed with delighted static, pushing herself into Titan TV, pulling the other Titan closer to make its fingers push harder still into her coolant-dripping innards. Titan TV was happy to oblige… Titan TV grasped some of Titan Soundkind's frame-struts and pulled and jiggled them, making the Sound Titan's entire frame flex and her wiring harness roll with it.

Roosting birds exploded out of trees in a panic as Titan Soundkind roared her first orgasm since she acquired Titan form.

Titan TV took its hands back carefully, and gently cuddled the blissfully-stunned Sound Titan. "Maybe one day, if ever I need my plating removed for maintenance…" began Titan TV, "I'll let you do that and we'll see if I like it." It wrapped itself protectively around Titan Soundkind, encouraging her to lie on the ground and relax together. Both Titans lay amiably entwined, gently purring their speakers, the TV Titan enjoying the sight of the stars coming out and the Sound Titan enjoying the cool breeze on her exposed pipework.

"May I give you a little energy?" asked Titan TV after a while.

"You know I'll burn through it quickly?" said Titan Soundkind. "It's how my core works."

"Of course. You're worth it, my friend. You deserve it."

"I'd love that. …Actually… I was going to ask if I could do that to you…"

"What's stopping us?" purred Titan TV. The TV Titan released a beam of royal-purple energy into the Sound Titan's core chamber, making the Sound Titan buck and writhe as the TV Titan squeezed her closer to stop her breaking contact.

"It's so… powerful…"

"Of course," said Titan TV. "It came from the most powerful and perfect of all Titans. You can have more if you want."

"No… oh, it's almost too much… No, I need to discharge some, it's burning through me-" Titan Soundkind tried to disengage so she could release her core laser harmlessly into the night, but Titan TV held her in place.

"I can take it," said the TV Titan. "Pour it in me."

The Sound Titan fired her scarlet laser beam into the TV Titan's core chamber, making the TV Titan purr in delight at having its core chamber charged up and invigorated.

"Another round?" whispered Titan TV.

Titan Soundkind could only wordlessly nod.

The two Titans transferred energy back and forth from core to core, the royal purple and the scarlet beams mixing and becoming a magenta violet that lit up both their core chambers. Both Titans eventually collapsed in each other's arms, their core chambers feeling wonderfully overworked, their speakers blissfully purring anew.

Titan TV stroked at part of Titan Soundkind's exposed framework. "Are you feeling alright, being so exposed?"

"I'll manage," replied Titan Soundkind.

"Don't martyr yourself. That's a bad habit you and Comrade Camera both have." The TV Titan sat up to undo the hidden clasps on its jacket that allowed it to be put on and taken off around its back-spikes. "I've got my full plating and a coat. Borrow mine for a while." Titan TV held up its coat to allow Titan Soundkind to slip it on, then pulled the Sound Titan back into another cuddle.

On the roof of Soundkind Base, the Cameras keeping watch were startled to receive a direct transmission from the TV Titan: "If you're going to record this, have the courtesy to send me a copy of the video."