The AI simply waited in the dark, letting itself be moved around as the creator saw fit. He did know best, after all. Didn’t he? The AI had little reason to doubt it’s creator’s logic, but yet… something about this situation felt wrong. It wasn’t meant to be studied and displayed, it was meant to be doing the studying! Grit your teeth and bear it, as was the phrase. Not that the AI had teeth.
Victor set up everything, and claimed the box as soon as it was delivered. He opened it up, gently lifting the AI out and setting it on the table. "Here we are." he said, looking down at it and shooting the little thing a quick smile. "Now then. You need a name, don't you? A good one." he tapped his chin in thought. "Do you have any ideas?" he figured he should give it some say, after all.
“I highly doubt a name is required, I am simply an AI. There would be no purpose to it.” it said, camera darting around to examine it’s surroundings. There were tables, all with different projects and different people and everything was so overwhelming. It was almost too much for the little AI to take in, but it tried its best to focus on the task at hand, to learn.
"Maybe so, but… still. It'll make you seem more personable. To humans." He replied. "If you have a name they can address you by, other than just AI." He shrugged faintly, putting the box under the table and sitting down in his seat.
“Hmm. Perhaps Animatronic, anima literally meaning ‘soul’ or ‘life’ in Latin, the latter half referencing my artificial nature. The artificial soul.” the AI suggested. It wasn’t a terrible name, and seeing as it was already a word that would save quite a bit of time explaining everything. It was poetic even, if campy,
He hummed faintly, then nodded. "Yeah, that works." He replied, shooting Animatronic a quick little smile. "As long as I can call you Anima for short."
“Do as you wish. Will the judges be here soon? It seems they are close to finishing at the next table.” Animatronic said. It liked the name, perhaps, even if it made no sense to have one. Anima turned it’s camera to watch the other contestants and examine the competition. Everyone seemed skilled at what they did, some works even revolutionary.
Victor nodded, glancing over at the judges. "Yes. Probably." he sat down, bouncing his knee a little bit, fidgeting. He didn't know what to expect, but knew it would certainly be interesting.
Anima sat and watched, waited for the judges to come to it’s table. When they arrived, the AI looked to Victor for signs of worry, for any weaknesses it had to deal with.
Victor stood when the judges arrived, giving them a quick smile. He had asked Henry to come, and the other male would arrive eventually, he knew. He bounced a little as he waited.
The AI sat still as it was examined. Answered questions as asked, gave a full explanation of it’s purpose and how it functioned, what made it tick. But this bored it, it wanted to understand, not lecture. And Victor seemed more nervous than ever, waiting for… something, it supposed, though it didn’t know what.
Victor fidgeted a little, answering questions when they were directed towards him, but otherwise letting Anima do all the talking. His phone pinged with a text, but he didn't check it until the judges were gone. Once they were, he pulled the phone out, smiling softly when he read the text. Henry would be here soon.
When the judges left, Anima turned to Victor. It wouldn’t invade his privacy by hacking his phone, though it could do that, but it wanted to know why it’s creator was in such a good mood. “What, if I may ask, were you looking at that raised your levels of oxytocin?”
He blinked, looking at Anima. "Oh. My, uhm, boyfriend is going to be here soon." He said with a quick smile, bouncing on his heels. He hoped the little AI hadn't picked up homophobia from somewhere; that would be annoying.
“Ah. Boyfriend. I am glad you have a partner, you seem like an incredibly sad man and typically, romantic partners act as a deterrent.” the AI said. It had no concept of hatred based on petty things like who you loved or why, it barely understood hatred. Why decide to make an enemy for nothing but temporary feelings of grief?
(Foreshadowing check on the hatred piece lmao.)
Victor's lips parted for a moment, and he blinked in shock. "I am not sad!" He protested. "And Henry isn't…that's not… I'm not with him because I need a deterrent, I'm with him because I… because I love him."
(Ooh)
“Love makes people happy. Humans are social animals, they like to form bonds of all kinds for various types of fulfillment. Romance is no different.” the AI explained.
"Well– yes, but that's…romance is an emotion. Love, I mean. And lust, I suppose, but I'm talking about love. If you love someone, it's…" He had no idea how to explain. Maybe Henry could, he had always been better with words.
“I’m afraid I don’t understand. What more is love than transactional?” the AI asked. Everything seemed so simple before, but now it barely understood anything about humans at all.
"It's not a transaction, it's a feeling. It's…I don't know how to describe it to you." Victor said. "But it's not a transaction."
“Isn’t it?” Animatronic wondered. It looked around, and spotted a man coming over excitedly. “Is that your Henry?” it asked.
Victor looked up, and his whole face lit up when he saw Henry. "That's him." He said with a grin, stepping out of the booth to throw his arms around the slightly taller young man. "Henry!"
Henry grinned, wrapping his arms around Victor and kissing his cheek. "Hey! How's my favorite science nerd?" He asked, laughing.
Victor punched his shoulder. "How's my favorite language geek?" He retorted.
The AI watched the exchange, truly impressed with the two and their way of interacting. It was so close, so endearing, something the AI could mistake itself for wanting if it didn’t suffer from the petty desires of humans.
Henry laughed again, holding Victor close. He had golden hair that fell around his face in messy curls, and expressive blue eyes that leaped around the room before returning back to Victor. "So tell me about your project! You've been so cagey about everything!" he said, looking at the table.
Victor hummed, leading Henry back over to Anima. "Henry, this is Anima. It's an AI. I made it. And it's…" he trailed off, not really even having the words to describe it.
“I am a learning AI. I could be potentially useful if applied to one of the many fields of scientific study, such as forensics.” Anima explained to Henry, picking up on Victor’s faltering. “It is nice to meet you, Henry.”
Henry nodded, coming closer to the AI. His fingers were laced through Victor's, holding the other man's hand gently. "Victor…made you?" He asked, blinking. "That's… that's amazing, Vic." He glanced at the darker haired male, then back at Anima.
“He is almost as brilliant as I am. That would be a compliment, but I’m not quite sure how they work yet so it is more of a statement of fact.” Anima said, and you could almost hear the cheekiness in it’s artificial voice. If it could be that, that is.
Henry blinked, then laughed delightedly. "Vic, this is amazing." He said again, releasing Victor's hand to examine the AI closer. "I'm Henry Clerval, Vic's boyfriend." He said to Anima.
“My creator told me about you. You are his lover, and you make him happy.” it stated what it knew, letting Henry examine it’s small form.
Henry cleared his throat faintly. "Ah…yes, that's…that's accurate." He said with a faint laugh, glancing at Vic and then at the AI again.