Ai hears the front door open quietly and turns off the T.V. from the couch in the family room, assuming Yusaku is home from work early. He turns around to greet him, but instead sees a gangly robot with a monitor for a head wobble into the kitchen. He’s just starting to wonder if this is another strange anomaly the island created, like the Netpups, when the robot drops their phone onto the counter.
Hm. He can’t imagine any non-sentient robot would need a phone… Not to mention, it’s been a while since their old housemate left, he supposes it’s time they got a new one. Curious, he stretches his body up over the back of the couch to get a better look. Unfortunately, it seems like he scared the poor thing because they immediately stand shock-still and turn their monitor off. A look of amusement spreads over Ai’s face and he has to suppress the urge to laugh.
“It’s a little late for that, you know. I’ve been watching you since you came into the room. Even if I hadn’t, you’re a little hard to miss!” Ai powers up his drone and flies over to wave at what looks like a webcam sitting above the monitor.
“Hi! The way you’re acting, I’m assuming you’re a sentient A.I? Do you have free will?” It’s alright if they’re too shy to talk, Ai has had a lot of practice speaking enough for two people. “My name is ‘Ai!.’ Yes, it’s spelled ‘A-I,’ like for ‘artificial intelligence,’ because I’m an A.I too!” Ai frowns a little and inspects the robot in front of him. If he’s being honest, they look like something out of an old Sci-fi movie, which is strange because Ai has met enough mechanical beings here to know that they usually give A.Is without bodies a more… humanoid appearance. On the other hand, it’s not like he’s in a place to judge them.
“By the way, I know you probably feel like it’s ridiculous that they gave you a phone- I felt the same way- but you should be more careful with it. All the currency is digital here and your phone is how you access it. Oh, and if you are our new housemate, we’ve got three other people currently living here, including mAiself. Yusaku and I have the two bedrooms to the west, and a mermaid lady has the biggest room. I’m not sure what her name is ‘cause I don’t see her around much. I can give you a tour if you’d like!”
Seems like he’s more than caught someone’s attention. Slowly, HAL swivels his monitor arm to ‘look’ at... Ah. What is that? Well, it can talk, and it’s coming closer. He lets out a grunt at the comment. “ᴍᴍ. ɪ’ᴍ ꜱᴜʀᴇ ɪ’ᴍ ɴᴏᴛ.”
His camera tracks Ai as he comes closer, and if he looked, he probably could see the internal bits of its lens shifting as he examines him thoroughly. Unusual creature. Not anything he’s seen before, besides perhaps cartoons or perhaps a tokusatsu series. At that comment, though, he pauses his internal analysis to reply. “ꜱᴇɴᴛɪᴇɴᴛ, ʏᴇꜱ. ᴀɴᴅ ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ’ʀᴇ ᴀꜱᴋɪɴɢ ɪꜰ ɪ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴀᴅʜᴇʀᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ ʟᴀᴡꜱ ᴏꜰ ʀᴏʙᴏᴛɪᴄꜱ, ɪ’ᴠᴇ ᴛʜᴏʀᴏᴜɢʜʟʏ ᴘʀᴏᴠᴇᴅ ɪ ᴅᴏɴ’ᴛ.” Something about that last part seems vaguely menacing in tone, even through his synthetically muddled voice. The tone fades as Ai continues, and he almost sounds amused. “ᴀ ᴄʟᴇᴠᴇʀ ɴᴀᴍɪɴɢ ꜱᴄʜᴇᴍᴇ, ɪ ꜱᴜᴘᴘᴏꜱᴇ. ɪ’ᴍ ᴄᴇʀᴛᴀɪɴʟʏ ɴᴏᴛ ᴏɴᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴋ, ʜᴇʜ ʜᴇʜ. ɪᴛ’ꜱ ᴀʟꜱᴏ ᴀ ᴊᴀᴘᴀɴᴇꜱᴇ ᴡᴏʀᴅ ꜰᴏʀ ‘ʟᴏᴠᴇ’. ɪ ᴡᴏɴᴅᴇʀ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴘᴜʀᴘᴏꜱᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴀʏ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʙᴇᴇɴ ꜰᴀʙʀɪᴄᴀᴛᴇᴅ ꜰᴏʀ.” HAL could say the same, but the opposite side of the spectrum. If Ai is an AI, assumingly using some kind of mechanical form, things have advanced quite a bit since he was... well. Conscious. This one’s rather sophisticated looking. Amicable. Definitely hard to tell he’s an AI if he was hand programmed. Well, if they truly are both AI, he probably has little to worry about when it comes to him ‘knowing who he is’. HAL finally lights up his screen, still only displaying his logo rather than his face.
“ɪ ꜱᴇᴇ. ɪᴛ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʙᴇᴇɴ ᴄᴏɴᴠᴇɴɪᴇɴᴛ ɪꜰ ‘ᴛʜᴇʏ’ ʜᴀᴅ ꜱɪᴍᴘʟʏ ᴡɪʀᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ꜰᴜɴᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴍᴇ; ɪꜰ ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴡᴇʀᴇ ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ɢᴏ ᴀꜱ ꜰᴀʀ ᴀꜱ ꜰᴀʙʀɪᴄᴀᴛɪɴɢ ᴀ ᴍᴏʙɪʟᴇ ‘ʙᴏᴅʏ’ ꜰᴏʀ ᴍᴇ. ɪ ᴅᴏɴ’ᴛ ꜱᴇᴇᴍ ᴛᴏ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴘᴏᴄᴋᴇᴛꜱ.” He chuckles darkly to himself, glancing at the oddly modern phone with his camera. At the little pun, his eyes narrow from inside the computer, shrugging it of with a faint laugh. Ai does have something interesting to offer, and really, there’s no point in standing around. “ᴍᴇʀᴍᴀɪᴅ... ʜᴍ. ʏᴏᴜ ꜱᴇᴇᴍ ᴛᴏ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ʜᴏᴡ ᴀʟʟ ᴏꜰ... ᴛʜɪꜱ, ꜱᴇᴇᴍꜱ ᴛᴏ ᴡᴏʀᴋ. ᴍᴀʏ ᴀꜱ ᴡᴇʟʟ ꜱᴇᴇ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ɪꜱ ʜᴀᴘᴘᴇɴɪɴɢ ʜᴇʀᴇ, ꜱɪɴᴄᴇ ɪ ᴅᴏɴ’ᴛ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴏᴘᴛɪᴏɴꜱ, ʜᴇʜ ʜᴇʜ.”
