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There were times when Eve would be staring at yet another book Adam would make him read, and ask, why? Why did his brother insist that he read books to gather data on human life rather than transfer it over immediately into his database? The words on the pages had smeared and faded with time, the pages yellowing and fraying, some tearing from the spine as he flipped through each one. He didn't complain after a while though, because seeing his brother smile was the only thing that mattered to him. If he ate the funny tasting fruit, Adam would smile, if he wore clothes like humans did, Adam would smile. It was all Eve wanted.
One day, Adam brought a funny looking box and set it on the table they sat at when they played human. "What is this?" Eve asked, poking at the two small sticks that stuck out from the top. Adam swatted his hand away, and Eve gave a pout in response.
"This is what humans called a radio, it picked up frequencies with these, antennae, and produced sound from here, called speakers." He explained, pointing to the large circles that were covered in tiny holes. He pressed a small button on the top and a horrendous static sound crackled from the speakers. Adam held his fingers over a small knob and twisted it. More static. "I'm a little surprised it actually turned on, this one here ran on batteries and surely they would be dead." Adam observed. Eve sat quietly, though he wanted nothing more than for Adam to be satisfied with this and then play with him.
"Is it broken?" He asked after a long while of watching his brother fiddle with multiple knobs on the radio.
"Shh. I have to focus, Eve," Adam muttered, moving the two long sticks around and twisting the knobs. Eve's eyebrows widened when the small box eventually picked up a distant frequency and small melodic sounds wavered through the speakers instead of the noisy static.
Eve gasped, reaching out to poke it with slight curiosity before Adam swatted his hand away again. "Why can't I touch it?" He asked, peering at the radio in front of him.
"Listen." Adam whispered, holding a finger to his lips in a silencing motion. The music coming from the radio was a deep, rich sound. With the soft subtlety of instruments in the background. "This is what the humans would listen to, and they would dance," Adam spoke in low tones, listening to the sounds the best he could.
"Dance?" Eve asked, peering at the radio with more confusion.
Adam sighed, smiling faintly. "They would move their bodies around, rhythmically, it served as entertainment." He explained, standing to his full height and taking a step forward. He took steps with the faint beat of the music, stopping when the song ended with a bow.
Eve clapped, grinning at his brother. "You make it look fun!" He exclaimed, leaping from his chair.
"It's harder the more advanced it gets. Some humans even danced as their... profession." He walked back over to the radio, leaning in close to hear if the next song would come in clearly. Once it started up, Adam looked to Eve with an expectant gaze. "You try," he suggested.
The younger machine smiled enthusiastically, hopping from one foot to the other. "Okay! If that's what brother wants!" He agreed, trying to follow the steady rhythm beating from the speakers. His movements weren't as fluid as Adam's were, but they held a childlike stumble that was endearing nonetheless. Adam chuckled into his hand, watching his younger brother try and keep up with the new sounds.
"Don't worry, you're doing well!" He encouraged, and Eve looked at him with the biggest smile he'd ever saw. The excited machine had added more jumping to his movements, completely going off rhythm. But he looked like he was having fun, and he was.
"Brother, I like this!" He chirped, bouncing around until the song inevitably stopped.
"See? The humans had some very interesting life aspects." Adam pointed out, smiling as Eve nodded rapidly, skipping over to his brother.
"I like this a lot more than reading about human psych-psy-psyclol..." Eve babbled, tripping over his tongue.
"Human psychology. Which I personally find very intriguing." Adam corrected with a warm gaze. "Speaking of which, you still haven't finished your reading for today, Eve. When you do, we can play some more." He promised, turning the radio off, much to Eve's chagrin.
Eve groaned, walking back over to his chair and slumping down into it. He flipped the book over, squinting at the words. "As long as we can play after," he muttered.
Adam nodded, walking over to his own chair and taking his own book into his hands. He sat with a perfectly straight posture, much different from Eve's. He gazed upon the pages with a glimmer in his red eyes, paying full attention to each word. Eve, on the other end, was more or less skimming over it. It was hard for the book to keep his attention, and he found himself looking out over the top of the building more than once.
Eventually, Eve did finish, he took much longer than Adam did, but closing the book after finishing the final page caused him to smile. "I finished, brother!" He noted, standing up and placing his hands flat on the table. "This means we can play now, right? I'm sure it'll be really really fun!" He pleaded, bounding over to Adam and bouncing on the tips of his toes.
Adam smiled affectionately and ruffled his hair. "Well, I did promise, didn't I?" He chuckled softly at Eve's excited expression, watching as the younger machine leaped from the building, teleporting and landing with a soft thud. Adam followed shortly after, but wasn't quick enough as Eve was already running through the ruins.
"Catch me if you can!" Eve shrilled, picking up speed and ducking around corners. Adam sighed, a grin on his face as he shook his head.
"That sounds like a challenge!" He called after his brother, beginning to run after him. Eve was fast, faster than Adam and harder to catch. But his movements weren't as smooth, he'd trip over bushes and crash into walls with short yelps before righting himself and continuing to run. Adam wasn't quite as quick as Eve, but was a lot more strategic in his movements. He avoided the things Eve crashed into and was able to keep his brother in his sight at all times.
Eve was practically squealing and laughing with joy. He ran and ran, tripping over rocks and bumping into animals but he didn't stop smiling. They chased each other around for what seemed to be an endless amount of time. The sun never set anyway. Eventually Eve lept up and into a tree, seating himself on a high branch. Adam stopped in front of it, putting his hands on us hips and looking up at where Eve was sitting.
"Are you enjoying yourself, Eve?" He asked, blowing a few strands of hair out of his face. Eve nodded, giggling and swinging his feet.
"I always have fun when we play, brother!" He said honestly, smiling from ear to ear. Adam smiled back, climbing up in the tree and sat on the sturdy branch next to Eve.
"You're certainly different, Eve. We're very much the same, but you're also so, so different." He muttered to his brother, pulling an apple off of the branch and taking a bite of it. "Here, you haven't had an apple in a while." He mentioned, handing the fruit to Eve.
"Ah, alright, if that's what you want." Eve agreed, taking a bite from the apple, unable to resist a smile at the sweetness of it. "I don't think these taste as weird anymore," he hummed, observing the round fruit in his hand.
"I'm glad you're beginning to like them more. Fruits were important for human knowledge and nutrition. They have a special sugar called glucose that was stored in cells in the human body and provided them with energy. Which was either stored for later or used right away." Adam lectured, but could see as much as Eve tried his best to pay attention, he only registered half of what he said. The young machine stared at the fruit, biting it, then looked at it again.
"Tastes sweet," Eve observed, watching as the juice of the apple ran down his wrist and stuck to his skin.
Adam let out a low chuckle. "That's the glucose," he reminded. "The human body had so many processes for nutrients, it's very intriguing." He spoke animatedly, waving his hands this way and that. Eve looked at his brother with a soft smile, not really understanding everything he said but was interested anyway. He was always interested in anything and everything his brother had to say.
"Brother, my energy is low. I think I need to rest." He mumbled, taking another bite of the apple, his eyes falling half lidded. The fruit was halfway gone, some of the pale parts turning brown.
"That's fine, we ran a lot. You can shut down for a bit if you need to." He assured, and Eve was already nodding off. His eyes had closed and his head had fallen on his brother's shoulder. Adam smiled softly at him, wishing he had a book but settled on looking out at the many buildings and natural formations in the ruins. He liked having this time to think to himself, even though he wasn't really alone. Eve was quietly leaning on him, but that's exactly what it was, quiet.
His mind was alone, and he could think. There was nobody he could learn from, he had to teach himself. He knew he was capable of doing that, and he still had to teach Eve. His little brother depended on him for emotional support. While Adam enjoyed being with his brother, teaching himself was still something he had to do.
Adam knew he could do anything he set out to do, he was a superior being, a sentient machine. Even if it was difficult having no one to learn from sometimes, no real direction to go in, he taught himself with the materials he had, and discovered things he didn't know before. Emotions were one thing, while Eve was the more emotional one, Adam felt emotions too. Hatred, for one, that was prominent, as it was necessary in human lives. But he felt other emotions too. Sometimes he felt joy or disdain. One time he could even say he felt sad. He didn't feel as sad when Eve was tugging at his sleeve and demanding to play, through. That was when he had the small moments of joy.
After a time of self-reflection, for an extension of time that he didn't know, Adam felt Eve stir beside him. The younger machine blinked his eyes open, staring down at the apple that was still in his hand. "Hi, brother," Eve whispered, taking a small bite of the fruit he held.
"Hello, Eve." The other greeted, ruffling Eve's hair with a genuine smile. He huffed out a laugh when Eve pressed into his hand. "Do you feel more energized now?" Adam asked, and Eve nodded.
"We played a lot, I just needed to take a small break." Eve told his older brother, already feeling better than he did before. "Can we go back and listen to more music?" He requested, earning a nod from Adam.
"Of course we can, I just hope we're still able to get the signal." He said, slowly climbing down from the tree as Eve just settled for dropping down. They walked back to the tall building, not running or chasing each other on the way there.
"Brother, did you have fun playing?" Eve asked, pulling at the spines of his pants.
"Of course I did, Eve, I do enjoy spending time with you." Adam told him truthfully, smiling softly when Eve beamed and latched onto his arm. He had long since finished his apple, disposing the core somewhere on the ground. When they got back to the tall building, they both teleported to the top. Eve immediately ran over to the radio, eager to touch it. "Slow down," Adam chastised, walking over to it.
"I wanna play with it!" Eve whined, holding his hands above his head and clenched his fists so he didn't mess up the radio.
"Let me turn it on, and get it to work. Then you can do whatever you want, except touch it. Because you might mess it up, then you won't be able to play with it anymore." Adam told him, and Eve nodded in understanding. Adam pressed the button, and the crackling static started up again. Eve watched intently as Adam twisted the knobs, only stopping when the soft rhythmic beats started pushing through the speakers. He smiled at his accomplishment, and Eve jumped up and down, bringing his hands down to start clapping.
"You did it! You did it!" He bounced on his toes, tilting his head from side to side with the beat. Adam sat down in his chair, picking up a different book from the small pile that he had stacked beside the table. He read to himself as Eve danced around. Adam occasionally peaked over the top of his book to watch his brother jump around, smiling at him.
This went on for what felt like forever, the sun didn't set, it never did. The busted up radio would play song after song, and Eve would find new movements to jump and move along to. Adam had finished two books, one longer with about eighty marked chapters, and one shorter with about fifty or so. He set the shorter one aside for Eve, finding it more interesting than the other. It was based with at least fifteen different narrators, and Adam thought it did a decent job at informing him of how humans thought.
After some time, Eve slowly stumbled over to his chair. He laid his head on the table, getting ready to shut down again. Adam looked across the table at him, sliding the book over. "When you're finished napping, give that a look." He muttered, and Eve gave a tired nod before closing his eyes.
The younger machine knew what human dreams were. He read about it in the books Adam gave to him. But he never experienced one himself, likely because he was a machine and not human. It intrigued him, though. He learned that dreams allowed humans to see worlds that didn't even exist. Kind of like how books worked, only, humans dreamed when they were asleep.
When Eve opened his eyes again, Adam was still sitting where he was. There was still a book in front of him. And the the sun still hadn't set. "Brother, are you sure I have to read this? I already read a while ago." He mumbled, flipping through the pages absentmindedly.
"Just, give it a look, Eve. I think you'll like that one. There's lots of things you can ask questions about." Adam assured him, and Eve sighed, going to the first page.
"You know I'll do whatever you ask me to, brother." He promised, smiling at Adam and looking at the words on the frayed paper. Adam didn't respond in words, but nodded. He knew Eve would do anything for him, and he would be lying if he said it didn't make him feel a little happy.
Eve had made it about a third of the way through the book, when he looked too confused to continue. "You can stop for now, if you want." Adam told him, walking over to Eve and closing the book.
"I don't understand it, brother. How does he know what's happening when he isn't there? I thought humans couldn't do that." He was puzzled, running a hand through his short hair.
"They can't, that's what makes this book so interesting. Because we don't know how, you see? That's why I enjoyed reading it. It's different." Adam explained, his eyes shining with how passionately he felt.
Eve nodded, rubbing his head in thought. "I'll keep reading later, but my head hurts now." He admitted, leaning his head over. Adam took the hint and have him a small pat.
"I'm just happy you're putting in the effort, Eve. It means a lot." He praised, earning a wide smile from Eve in return.
After fumbling with the radio again for a while, Eve stood up with his hands on his hips. "Can we go play at that one place with all the lights?" He asked, noticing it a few times when they were playing in different areas.
Adam raised his eyebrows, thinking for a moment before realizing what Eve was talking about. "I don't see why not," he replied, there were probably things there he could observe as well.
Eve jumped up, balling his hands into fists. "Yes!" He shouted, getting a running start and jumping from the building. Adam laughed quietly, knowing Eve would land safely. Though it never ceased to cause his eyes to widen when his little brother leaped off a building. He followed, and this time Eve didn't take off running the moment he landed. He waited, bouncing on his toes enthusiastically.
"You really want to go, don't you?" Adam asked, the slightest hint of a smile on his face.
"It looks fun! It's really bright and colorful from where we kinda saw it." Eve confirmed, he grabbed onto Adam's arm and tugged. "C'mon, I wanna go!" He insisted impatiently. Adam began walking along, and once Eve was satisfied with his pace he let go of his brother's arm.
It wasn't hard finding their way there after passing the place a few times. Eve's face was alight with wonder as they walked to the place full of color, some of the machines there were even dancing. Adam observed the area, thinking for a moment.
"Humans called this an 'amusement park', if I'm not mistaken. They generally came to these places to entertain themselves." He muttered, but Eve was too busy trying to catch the small pieces of colorful paper that were being thrown up into the air.
Once he was satisfied, with multiple pieces clutched in his fists and more in his hair, Eve finally turned to pay full attention to Adam. "What was that, brother?" He asked, not having caught the full statement. Adam shook his head, and with a wave of his hand dismissed the topic.
"Nothing too important, we can talk about it later. Right now, I told you we could play, yes?" He reminded, and Eve immediately forgot what he was asking about in favor of nodding with much enthusiasm. He sprinted off, running over to two machines who were holding small rubber orbs attatched to strings. Eve poked at them, curious. If he poked too hard, it looked like it would break. If he poked just light enough, it bounced from his finger and came back. He beamed as he continued to poke and prod at the small orbs, looking at Adam gleefully.
"Brother, can I have one of these?" He requested, pointing to the one he was currently poking at. It was a pale blue color, and covered in a little bit of dust.
Adam sighed, crossing his arms. "Well, I don't see why you couldn't." Was all he needed to say before Eve was holding out his hand, silently asking for what Adam finally identified as a 'balloon'. The machine holding it handed it over, earning a joyous squeal from Eve.
"Look, brother! You can poke it right here, and it'll bounce back!" He observed, taking the balloon close to Adam's face and poking its side. He beamed once it floated back in his direction.
Adam gave a warm smile. "That's very nice, Eve." He hummed, giving the balloon an experimental poke. It floated back like it had done previously, much to Eve's excitement.
They walked around the area for a while, Eve wanting to look at everything they passed and touch every light. Adam did as well, but not for the same reasons. Eve was filled with childlike wonder, while Adam simply wished to observe to gain more knowledge of the place. After an immeasurable amount of time, Adam gave his little brother a small pat on the shoulder, pointing to the entrance.
"We need to go now, we've played long enough." He said, watching Eve's face fall for a moment before he perked up again.
"Can we come back later if I read my books?" He pleaded, still holding tightly onto his balloon string.
Adam nodded, tucking some of his long hair behind his ear. "Of course we can, but, only if you finish your readings." He agreed, holding back a chuckle as Eve had already sprinted off once more. He followed the younger machine back to the tall building he had began to see as their home, watching him teleport to the top before doing the same.
Eve smiled from ear to ear when he saw his brother, sitting down in his chair quickly. "I had a lot of fun, brother! Did you?" He tilted his head to the side, tying his balloon to the back of the chair. He knew it would float away if he didn't. Adam nodded, smiling gently.
"I surely did, I learned a lot today." He informed, walking over to Eve and patting his head. "Now, you have some work to do, right?" He added, tapping the book in front of his younger brother twice. Eve nodded, still smiling, and opened his book to the page he left off on.
Adam walked back over to his own chair, opening a completely new book this time. Eve started to read like he promised he would, and wished what he had could last forever.