Updating language Drivers (SOLO)

James sat with ASRA laying before him. Updating the unit should be a piece of cake. Opening the stomach region of the android with a screwdriver, James pulled back the blast door shielding the mainframe and energy generator. Of course, James decided a robot that can use every resource available to it would probably be the best kind of sentient AI to build. The update today was one for it's language drivers. Currently, it only had the vocabulary James has specifically programmed into it. But if he could figure a way to advance that... improve upon it without impeding processing power... James tapped the butt of the screw driver to his bottom lip. This one may prove difficult. Carine entered the room from the corner, looking at the android sprawled before James and sipping her ramen as though it was as commonplace as birds in a park. Well, for James, it was. She sat on his lap in front of him, looking him dead in his eyes as he leaned around her to continue his work. James removed the mainframe delicately, and placed it on the table before him. Almost in sync with that action, Carine placed her face delicately in front of James'. He could see a drop of soup at the corner of her mouth. Looking up from there, James donned a quizzical expression as he looked her in the eyes. "Carine. Have you got something to say?" Carine slurped loudly at her noodles, looking boldly at them, then back to James. "Well?" She said, poking her fork into James' chest. "Aren't you going to join me?" A bead of sweat fell down the back of James' neck. He couldn't refuse her... She'd most certainly kill him. "Carine... You know better than to interrupt me during my work..." James put on a brave face, but inside, he was genuinely afraid of what she might do to him. Just then, Carine pouted, and tapped her fork against James' cheek. "Jamesy~ Pleeeeeeease~?" James sighed a sigh of relief internally. Good. She fell for it. "Maybe later, okay? Right now I've got to figure how to get ASRA to speak like a normal human being..." Carine laughed raucously the scent of shrimp wafting a short distance to James' nose. "Figures you couldn't get him to the first time!" James smirked. "Laugh it up... You're right," He said, leaning in to her face with the cockiest smile he could muster. "I'm not normal human being!" Standing forcibly, Carine fell off of James' lap and onto the floor. With that, James moved into the chair on the other side of the table and continued working. Carine looked hurt for a moment, then stood again. "Awww... don't be like that Jamesy~ You know you love me~!" Carine walked around the table, setting her cup of noodles beside ASRA's face. Wrapping her arms around James' chest, she looked down at the android. "Couldn't you just hook it to the internet and let it learn for itself? I guarantee it'd be a jack of all trades!" Carine picked up her cup again. "And maybe then someone else can clean this place up..." James chuckled lightly. Things were always interesting with her around. Though James didn't particularly value the company of humans, she was an adequate substitute... her only being human in a sense of the word. Aside from that, it was a good idea... in theory... the internet was home to a host of knowledge... all of which ASRA would have a great use for. Although he now needed a method of verifying facts from falsehood... Typing on the keyboard for the mainframe, James quickly programmed a simple verification program that would take from credible sites what was fact, cross-reference it with the data the unit had collected, and decide whether it was true based on these factors. "There, I followed your idea, Carine. What now, Mrs. Genius?" Carine's face turned bright red.

Carine could feel her face getting hotter and hotter with each second that passed. He took her idea... Carine had always known James as the prideful type... Was he finally opening up to her? Was this because of what happened in the black world? "M-m-Mrs. Genius~? Oh, Jamesy~ I knew you would propose to me someday I just never thought it would be today!" She teased, fixing her hair and clothes up with her hands. "I didn't even have time to get ready!" James frowned, Carine smiled. "Carine, you know that's not--" James started. "No no no~ What will I wear? Jamesy~ You know better than to spring such things on a lady!" Carine laughed, then moved forward to James. Grasping his hands in hers, she looked up into his silver eyes. She had always had a fondness for them... One that it seemed James couldn't understand. "James... You know... I really think your eyes are beautiful..." James was staring at her... Carine felt as though she would melt... Carine leaned in to kiss him, and when their lips met, a sudden tingle shot through her entire body. She could feel the warmth of his lips. Feel every crease and fold as it brushed against her lips... Three hundred years... It had been three hundred years since she'd felt this way... Had she truly fallen for him? A simple kiss like this... A tear welled in her left eye. She knew this act would have no more meaning to him than the conversation they'd just had... She pressed her hands against his chest, pushing him away slightly. James moved the rest of the way on his own. For someone who could be cruel at times, he certainly was kind to her... Knowing exactly when is too much... Carine smiled. Perhaps falling for him wouldn't be so bad... "James... I know I've asked this before... but I need to know... maybe something has changed... I feel like it has." Carine looked back into his deep silver eyes, then looked away. A feeling in her chest compelled her to. "James... How... How do you feel about me..?"

James winced. How he felt about her... Last time she asked this she was almost certainly joking... but this time she was serious... "Carine... I..." James clutched his fist. When he was around others, he felt that she was a good ally. At home, she didn't get in the way... often, anyway... James couldn't ignore what he'd said to her in the black world... Crying over her... he even said those words... those damned words... Weak... Weak... All he could think of was how weak he'd become. A stinging grew in James' eyes. "You know I can't answer that..." James stood, staring into Carine's eyes.I love you.. The tears that had been welling fell. "Carine... I... I do feel... I have--" Carine placed a finger over his mouth, smiling and wiping the tears from his eyes. "You've told me all I needed to know. Now let's get some noodles and work on this hunk of metal!" Carine shuffled off to the kitchen, quietly mumbling to herself. James sat down, and sighed. How could he let himself get this way..? The black world really took a number on him. James was hardly sure whether these were his true feelings or merely an illusion brought on by the miasma of that inverted place.

Carine held a hand over her chest as the cup noodles stirred in the microwave. Her chest felt hot and heavy, but it was a good heat, and the pressure felt nice. James... He didn't even have to say it... just seeing the look on his face... She knew how he felt... It was hidden underneath so much pain it was unspeakable... all she could do was stop him before it hurt him any more... Why did I have to be so curious?! It would be a long time before he opened up like that again... Well... Perhaps she could tell him her feelings? To pay him back..? Would that just hurt him more? He's got problems addressing his feelings... she knew that from the start... but she only wanted him for his blood at that time... She had since then... gotten used to him. The microwave beeped rapidly, and Carine removed the two cups and set them open on the counter. Walking back out to James, she saw him tinkering with the robot again. Plugging some wire into it. It lit up blue, and Carine sat once more on his lap. "Tonight we'll have a little chat about this..." She winked. "Maybe relieve some stress?" She smiled, but inside she was frightened. Insecure. What if she wasn't good enough for him? Carine always felt that she was in some way not good enough.. especially physically, since what happened when she was human... Her shadow only helped to enforce those feelings... She couldn't express her feelings for him, but she could at least pretend he felt the same... Pretend... so that the act seemed less like what it was... A cruel twist of fate... the lust bloodline... She wanted nothing to do with it! Hated the urges that flowed through her veins! The senses, the feeling of death around the corner if she didn't fulfill them! James... James kissed her..? You attentive bastard... Carine closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment. I love you too...


Snapping herself back to earth, Carine opened her eyes slowly as James gently retracted from the kiss. He didn't kiss her... ever... unless it was during... uh... certain... times... Carine blushed. Walking to the kitchen, she felt how stiff and tensed her body was. She couldn't help how much she could feel from just a single kiss... Grabbing the cup noodles off the counter roughly, she accidentally spilled one on the floor. "No!" She said aloud. "What is it?" James asked, almost unenthusiastically. "Oh nothing Jamesy~ I've just spilled one of the noodles" She said, making her voice sound as helpless as she could to make her accident seem more... purposeful. "Looks like we'll be sharing~!" With that, she sat on his lap, and stirred the noodles, avoiding eye contact.

"Let's be honest, you did that on purpose." James said, looking at her as she stared into the cup of noodles. There was no way that was an accident. Especially knowing Carine. No matter, he supposed. Taking the fork from her hand, James lifted some of the shrimp flavored noodles to his mouth. He'd lost track of the last time he'd eaten... It seemed any time James got himself into work mode, he never seemed to break free of it. Carine chuckled. Curious. "Now then," James started, looking back at the monitor to see the progress of his update. "Not much else to do than wait." Carine took a fork full of noodles, then rested her head into James' chest. "I hope you don't mind if I do it like this..." James didn't mind. If anything, they've done worse. Such a thing was trivial at best to him.

My my my my my... What have we here? ASRA thought from within the mainframe. An influx of information! New things to learn, so many cultures, so many languages... History, science, mathematics, almost every potential thing one could learn was now flooding his processors. Then he found it. A peculiar little website, titled Urban Dictionary.Was this dictionary the thing that would teach him to speak the way the rest of the world does? He focused his attention on it. downloading every single word in the entire site was easy. Relating them to other words pre-programmed was also easy. With that, he continued his studies. Cybernetics, and artificial inteligence, mostly. Learning to make himself more efficient. "James, I don't know what this shit is, but it's fuckin' gooooood shit." He said, using the lips of the unit to speak aloud to him. Unable to access a camera view, he could not see James' reaction, so he assumed it was positive. "Say, nigga. I could really fucks with this shit. Oh, and download mothafuckin' complete!" Of course, he didn't download the entire internet, just enough for some language skills and the required knowledge to upgrade himself. And goddamn was it good. "Aight, if y'all two lovebirds are done fuckin' and shit, can one of y'all please put a nigga back together?"