Raincheck || Serpens & Charleston
New friends were nice - Charleston had made some during his course at the Equinox: Annapolis, Atlanta, Montgomery, Cheyenne. Others as well. He’d count many as acquaintences and teammates as well, and there were relatively few people he disliked or avoided, at least compared to his experiences outside the Equinox. The one group he was had a bit of a hard time getting his mind around, though, was the A.I.
Their differences were glaring: they didn’t eat, drink, or sleep. They could process facts and algorithms far faster than most humans could, and they could fight more effectively as well. Still, the differences didn’t make them entirely different, and although he had approached them with a polite hesitance and slight trepidation generally, Charleston had regarded them as somewhat different than the agents.
Of course, that had been a while ago, months now. He wasn’t entirely sure what to think about them still, but it was apparent there was more to the A.I. than the battle-functionality for which they were created. He liked them, had gotten to know a few, and had even begun wondering if they had souls or some form of humanity.
They were small, little inklings of thoughts now. They had pervaded his mind at the memorial service, but for the moment, all he was doing was having movie night with Serpens.
It almost sounded ridiculous if you said it in your head, he thought, but once they had put on the film (an older drama, a bit cerebral for Charleston, but one he thought the more deadpan Serpens would enjoy), everything seemed fine. From their spot in the rec room, they had seen lots of Agents pass by the door - something must have been going on - and eventually, he raised the courage to ask a small question.
"A-are the lights really, ah, um, kinda bright t-to you?" He glanced over at the redheaded A.I. "Or is it j-just me?"
While he waited for her response, he held out the bowl of popcorn to her in an unconscious gesture, it having slipped his mind for the moment (ironically given his earlier considerations) that she probably didn’t want it the same way he did.
