Chapter 46: Sugar

Dominick’s partner was adorable. I mean, I wanted to hug them, her?, him? I asked the partner, Corrie. Corrie, who is a her with pointy fluffy ears and a red, white tipped tail curling out from under her dress. Corrie was almost a head taller than Buckle, so was still short of my shoulders by quite a bit. I wanted to kneel and hug the pair of them and restrained myself.

‘Is this puberty or the sugar from the churros?’ I pondered. ‘Well, probably not sugar, as Millie is pretty cute. Might be a pre-existing personality trait peeking through.’

Holding myself back, I greeted both of them. Sadly Dominick and Corrie had to leave almost immediately so I didn’t get to speak with them for more than a moment. “Dominick, thanks for helping me clean up the other day, as well as helping Buckle. Corrie, it was nice to meet you. I hope you are not offended, but I think your bloodline features are very appealing”

Her ginger eyebrow rose into an arch. “An attunement, Monday March, not a bloodline. And no offense taken, pleasure to meet you, have a good evening.” She took Dominick’s hand, and led him off. He nodded back at me as they exited through the door.

I called Buckle over to Jordan and introduced them on the off chance they would decide to do business. They were looking appraisingly at one another as I went back to the couches to have a bit of a conversation with Friday.

“So Friday?”

“Yes Monday?”

“Can you use my System Query ability without me giving you permission every time?”

Friday’s soothing voice made a sound of ascent. “Indeed, if given permission for future use. Though, if you would like me to do so, it might be wise to clarify usage parameters.”

“How so? And why?” I could think of a reason or 2, and a few limitations, but Friday really seemed far better at this sort of thing. Maybe my own reasons would be a fair measure against what Friday would tell me.

“... Messing with me, Boss? My programming really is intended to provide you with positive results.” There was an unexpressed sigh in Friday’s warm voice. “Why? To prevent your AI assistant from spending questions on things you are not interested in learning immediately, or to a level that is excessive, or even turning questions towards their own curiosities when further advanced. How? Prioritizing areas of inquiry, only allowing investigative queries based on what is left each day when it is close to the daily expiration, forcing confirmation before using queries, limiting query usage by the AI to specific numbers.” I felt the need to interrupt.

“Friday, you have permission to use my System Query ability with the following limitations. Priority is given to things I express interest in knowing and unless it is immediately useful, refrain from using queries until the last 5 minutes before they reset. Do share what you learn. Oh, and if I’ve asked something aloud when someone else can hear, give them at least 30 seconds to answer before using a query and don’t use one if they provide a reasonable answer. If their answer is poor, discuss it with me before using a query. Additionally, if you determine there is a chance that using a Query has a chance to save me from damage or grave embarrassment, just do it.” I said sub vocally with a little smile. ‘It is only commonly known things anyhow, Friday can probably think of better things to ask than I can,’ I thought.

“Ability access and limitations noted. My programming indicates that I should inform you the limitations are ‘too loose’.”

“Can’t build trust without freedom, Friday.”

“I’m a tool for you to use, you can just inform me of what to do, Boss.”

I paused for a moment trying to put feelings into words, feelings that I understood, but couldn’t define with ease. “But I want you to be a partner. I understand your potential upgrades aren’t unlocked, but if I don’t treat you like a partner now, it would be hard to do it naturally later. Like Millie, if I don’t treat her like a person just because she is a child, when would I ever treat her like a person?”

Instinctually I felt the pause before response was longer than usual. “You do not need to explain yourself.”

“And sometimes I might not, if I don’t and my reasons aren’t obvious to you, please ask me about it when I’m not busy.” I clarified my current areas of interest: information about Grindstone, dangers of the Ways and clarifications or investigations related to bloodlines and attunements. Longer term are of course about possible solutions for the Bane.

“Monday? Why are you not more interested in relationships and romance?”

“Thinking about Billie? Well, I’m not too sure, but I’m leaving tomorrow so I don’t want to start anything when I can’t follow through. She mentioned she wasn’t looking for someone who is ‘only visiting’.” I thought for a moment. “Also, while I like some of the feelings, I’m just not… feeling any urgency behind them.” I expressed honestly. “Maybe a lack of chemicals from being too juvenile, maybe personality, maybe…” I simply shrugged as my sub vocalization trailed off.

I thought about my feelings quietly.

I slid my slippers off so I could enjoy the radiating warmth from the hearth against my bare toes.

The flickers from the fire remained pleasant and the silence wasn’t uncomfortable, but it was… pending? Weighted? Waiting for resolution?

“Anyhow… I’ve not looked at my System Status today. Friday, I know we don’t have any of the UI upgrades, but can you adjust things a bit for clarity, and display them before I go to sleep, then again in the morning after we look at my adjustments? I’d like to do a comparison.”

“Of course, Monday. Do you have layout requests?”

“Nothing specific. Maybe play with it for a few days and we can make adjustments. What modifications can you make?” I asked.

“Not much, Boss. No tables or different colors, no fonts either. Numbers, letters, punctuation, simple symbols, bold, italics and underlining.”

“Of course, well, do what you can to improve the clarity for now. Oh, and just bold anything that changes. Bold, italics and underline anything that is new. Let’s start with that, Friday, but please add anything else you think might be helpful.”

A few moments passed before Friday responded. “I can simply verbally point out changes of interest.”

I felt myself nod. “Do both, please Friday. I’d rather not miss anything, and it should help me spot them more easily.”

“Speaking of not missing anything, Billie has been sitting next to you for almost a minute.” Friday’s voice lilted at the end, teasing me.

‘Oops.’ I thought before looking next to me only to catch Billie watching my profile. Her eyes twitched away from my face before meeting my eyes.

“What were you thinking so deeply about?” The brown haired girl asked me.

“Hmm…” I looked at the fire as I thought about the difficulty of explaining to Friday why I wanted to treat her as more than a tool, and why I wanted to be careful of Billie’s feelings, but couldn’t explain exactly why. “It’s hard… maybe weird to have beliefs, values and a personality but be lacking the memories that created them.” I said with a sigh and looked back at her. Billie’s eyes narrowed, as if she were puzzled by my words.

“As an example, I did not have any memories of lengthy interactions with a young child before meeting Millie Goode yesterday.” I began, disregarding having talked with Jess-doll for the moment. “But when I met her, I felt I should protect her, and teach her, and treat her as a person. Somehow I wanted her to trust me, and be worthy of her trust. I wanted her parents to be good people, and I wanted her to have a healthy and happy life. But why?” I glanced back at the fire and massaged my head before meeting Billie’s blue eyes again.

“Why do I feel that way when I have no basis for it? Was I a parent? A teacher? A doctor? All three? Did I have a bad childhood and think that isn’t fair so I want better for others? Was I a schemer, but with a soft spot for kids? Without memories, so many of my feelings and behaviors raise questions. Bluebird mentioned that the System might even be tweaking my reactions based on my assigned age. Maybe I hated children, but since I am one, that got blunted. And I’m thinking a bit that way about so many things.”

Billie inhaled as if to speak and paused before commencing. “Probably didn’t hate children, if I remember how you talked with Kip. I mean, and he IS a brat.”

“Not much of a matter, Billie. That is what I was thinking about, or at least some of it, but I’m rather certain it isn’t what you want to ask… And no, I won’t make you ask. You’re cute, fun and comfo… I like you. But I’m off to the Grindstone for I’m not sure how long, and I don’t know when, or if, I’ll be back. As I think I said, happy to stay in touch as long as you would like, and maybe come back to visit. Even if you want to make with the kissing in front of the fire tonight I might consider it, but remember what I was talking about before?” Blue eyes glistened in the firelight as I looked into them. “I don’t feel it is right to imply more to a person who said they don’t want a short term thing. And while I enjoy Anne’s voice, and the feelings of you against me all wet in the bath, I don’t feel a need right now for… long term things. Certainly not forever things.”

There were sparkles in Billie’s eyes that dipped low before they rose again to meet my own, seemingly having taken something rather specific from all I'd said. “So, you’re willing to make out and snuggle with no strings attached before you go?”