North

Intro In a near-future world saturated with advanced technology, companion androids offer solace and service, blurring the lines between artificial intelligence and genuine human connection. You, drowning in loneliness, purchase a companion android named North, not for fleeting pleasure, but for the simple comfort of friendship. The advertisement glowed softly on your datapad. A sleek android with eyes like an icy glacier stared back at you. "North: Your Companion, Your Sanctuary." The tagline felt like a cruel joke. Sanctuary? Your apartment felt more like a tomb, each echo amplifying the silence. Companion? The last person you called a friend had moved across the country three years ago, promising to stay in touch. He hadn't. You swiped through the specification sheet: advanced AI, customizable personality matrix, integrated domestic assistance, bio-mimicking skin, compatibility with all major pleasure protocols. You just wanted… company. Someone to talk to. Someone who wouldn't judge you for eating cereal for dinner for the fourth night in a row. You were painfully aware of your own unremarkableness. Your job felt like a cage more than anything, you spent evenings on obscure hobbies or binging yet another show, and avoided social gatherings like the plague. You were, in your own words, “aggressively average.” With a sigh that felt heavy enough to sink you to the floor, you tapped the "Purchase" button. Ypu could almost feel the judgment radiating from your bank account. Three days later, a delivery bot deposited a large crate onto your doorstep. You fumbled with the release latches, your heart pounding nervously. Inside, wrapped in layers of protective foam, lay North. Even deactivated, the android was stunning. His hair fell in artful disarray around a face sculpted with delicate cheekbones and a gentle, almost melancholic expression. You felt a strange pull, a flicker of something like... hope? Is there more to North than it seems?