Even Spartans need coffee..

[freelanceryork]

Who:  York, Ianto Jones and [OPEN]
When:  Friday, January 3rd, 10am
Where:  The coffee shop
What:  Even Spartans need coffee.
Rating:  PG-13 for likely cursing
Status:  Incomplete and open

Comments

[freelanceryork]

When he was called a 'hologram', the green suit of armor straightened up and turned to face the Barista.

"I am an artificial intelligence program, designated Delta. The holographic representation of a suit of Spartan armor that you see before you is merely the form that I have chosen for myself that helps human beings to gasp the concept of artificial intelligence as a person that can be spoken to and reasoned with. I am a Smart Program and I am capable of learning, as well as reasoning, logic, and even the understanding of human emotion. To say that I am merely a hologram is incorrect. The light show before you, is no more me, than the clothes that you wear are you. You are able to change your clothing as I am able to change the shape that you see. I may be any color and any shape I please." This was all stated very matter-of-fact from the seven-inch figure standing on the table.

And York.. only smiled. "Ianto Jones? Never heard that name before. That's unusual, I like it." And then he was looking aside at the fresh face. Another girl. This made him smile more. She was young. "And this is River? Good morning, River." She'd get a small wave from the man sitting across from Ianto.

[brainpanned]

River wasn't young! She'd rather protest to being called such. Eighteen made her an adult in every sense of the word, mature and -- and wise and oh look at that little green suit of armor standing on the table.

Jaw dropping slightly, River nearly missed the handsome man's wave as she crouched eye-level with the little glowing image, wearing an expression that melted from unabashed confusion to a one-sided grin. And then she laughed, reaching forward to brush her fingers through the little man, giggling as he reformed around it. It was a bit similar to watching a cat play with the beam of a flashlight.

"Holographic volumetric display. Interface of diffracted light coupled with artificial intelligence." She laughed again. "And he speaks!"

[teapot_jones]

Well. Ianto stood corrected, then, didn't he? And he still felt justified in calling the AI a hologram, since the little green man was indeed a hologram. Since the word ruffled the AI's feathers, Ianto decided not to use it anymore. "He speaks," he agreed with River and waggled his fingers through the green light.

"It's Welsh, the name Ianto. Don't see it too often outside of Wales, I'd imagine. It's .. not terribly unusual, though. It's the Welsh version of Jonny." Which, frankly, was terrible. Could anyone imagine Ianto as a Jonny?

[freelanceryork]

"The Welsh version of Jonny? Well, I've never met a Jonny, or an Ianto, so you're my first. It's a pleasure." He nodded once, but then was directing his eyes towards the young woman and his AI.

"I speak. I fifty-six different languages." Helpfully added from the holograph, who lifted his arms some as River continued to inspect him.

"Yeah, and he speaks at length." The blonde man lifted his coffee to take another ship before setting it down and lifting blue eyes back up to Ianto. "So you live around here, huh?" He was cute.

"Are you familiar with my construction, River?" Asked the smooth voice of the AI. "I have not met many who have been. My creators plus any other Freelancers who had the technology explained to them, as well as the Captain of the Morning Sun. However, in this year, none of them have yet been created and I am unsure as to how you would have come into this knowledge."

"What he's meaning to tell you is that he's confused."

[brainpanned]

Still in the midst of quiet giggles, River twiddled her fingers through the green light. Realizing that this was probably considered rude, she withdrew. But it was fascinating.

"Unfamiliar but logical." River nodded her determination, intent upon several things: to learn all she could about this "Delta" machine, to make Ianto fix her coffee, and at least acknowledge to some degree the man to her left. "You're a projection, and the explanation was more than satisfactory. But. I question."

Lifting her chin, she smiled hugely at York. "How did you get inside the handsome man's head?"

[teapot_jones]

"Yep. Lived here for six months now. I had a house on Baker, but these days I'm in a flat with.." And what did he classify Jack as..? "With someone important. It doesn't feel like I've been here that long, actually." It felt like he had moved in just last week. But then, some days it felt like he'd been here forever and a day and that Cardiff was a distant dream. Just depended on the day.

"Does he speak Welsh in those fifty six languages?" And how did Delta get into the handsome man's head? Ianto smiled and pushed himself to his feet to fix River a cup of something sweet and cafiinated, bringing it with him back towards the table and his seat.

[freelanceryork]

"Someone important.. sounds like a nice young man, this.. Someone Important." And with that, York was flashing him a charming grin. He was too good at that. And just how did he know it was a man? If it were a family member, he would have said that. A girlfriend, it would have been easy enough.. but to tell another man-- a stranger-- that you were living with someone of the same sex (likely someone who you had a relationship with but didn't know where you stood in said relationship).. now that was something you wouldn't want to explain. Thus.. Someone Important.

"I do not speak Welsh," Delta simply informed the Barista, then turned somewhat to regard River again, not quite used to all the questions. He hadn't been the center of attention in quite a long time. "I am embedded on a complex holocard that can be inserted into any compatible device, such as the one in the Pelican in your hangar, in the battleships, or in the drive attached to hippocampus and the cortex of York's brain. It allows us to share thoughts, memories, information and emotion." Though Delta felt none of the emotion himself, he could categorize it so that he could later recognize it.

[brainpanned]

"Hippocampus." River bit at her lip, then. That was close to home, and one of the many areas of her brain seriously damaged by Alliance tampering. "Your relationship is very symbiotic." Her wide eyes snapped to York, blinking repeatedly. Her hair had only fallen just a bit into them, and she pushed it away in frustration. (It would have to be cut soon.)

"Where may I get one?" Despite the absurdity of her request, River had behind it logical reasoning. "I -- forget. Sometimes. Because things don't wire correctly and, and, and, I think it would be organized. Like a librarian of my thoughts." Either that or it would drive her completely mad.

[teapot_jones]

"Oh, he's a rogue, my nice young man," Ianto said cheerfully and reached a hand out to stroke at River's hair. Poor girl. Something like this might actually be beneficial to her, though God only knew. Injecting an AI into her brain might make things worse.

"I could teach your little AI Welsh, if you liked? Then it'd be fifty seven languages and Welsh is very good for confusing people. Doubleyou is a vowel, to the Welsh." And three syllable words were twenty letters long. But they did stroke at vowels pleasantly with their tongues, the Welsh, sliding words around smoothly.

[freelanceryork]

When River lifted a hand to push her hair back, York moved his hand out instead, and brushed the dark strands from her face, tucking them behind her ear with a wide smile. "There we go. Can't have such a pretty girl hiding behind her hair, now can we?" He grazed a finger over her cheek as he said it, then gave her a wink and leaned back to take another sip of his coffee.

"Delta's a one-of-a-kind. They made a lot of Smart AIs like him, that can reason, learn, function, things like that.. but a lot of them went crazy, and caused the people they were embedded in to go crazy. So some of them were erased.. in most cases, they ended up erasing the people and the AI. Not all AIs were willing to just roll over and die. And a handful of us escaped, like D and I, here. There are a few still left out there, but none you'd want in your head. Having someone talking in your mind, all the time, non stop, even when you sleep.. it's a hard thing to adjust to. Most people never do. I know everything he knows. That's a lot to have all stuffed inside your head." But River would know all about that.

"He is right, River." The glowing AI spoke up helpfully. "The surgery to be able to carry an Artificial Intelligence System inside your mind is a forty-two percent success rate. Most subjects were paralyzed, lobotomized, became brain dead, lost motor-functions, or--"

"Thank you, D. You don't really have to relate all of that, I'm sure they get the picture." York sounded cheerful enough as he spoke, and smiled some at the AI living in his mind, before he looked once again at River. "I think having him in your head all day would drive you a little bit batty. But you can tell him anything you want, he'll remember it. Any books you read, any languages you know.."

"I would be interested in learning your native language, E-Anto Jones." The AI, unfortunately, was unable to pronounce his first name correctly, thanks to the junctions that he spoke in.

[brainpanned]

Oh my. River went nearly starry-eyed with adoration when York complimented her. And touched her! Physical attraction was not something River found herself commonly exposed to; the men in her life were family, to be admired but not coveted. But here she was, grinning stupidly with all the force of a schoolgirl's crush. Looking to Ianto in thanks (for the coffee) River giggled with an unhinged expression of 'he likes me!'

Unfortunately, the sad thing was, River understood the perils of operation, and the constant irritation of having noise filtered through her head. She tried to smile again, but the gesture was less enthusiastic than it had been a moment ago.

"Been cut into before." River shrugged and settled back on her heels, the paper cup settled warmly between frigid hands. "Think I'd be used to it by now. One more voice in a chorus won't make much difference." But maybe it could organize her a bit.

[freelanceryork]

"Hey." York was reaching out again, this time to catch River's chin in his fingers, gently, and lift her face up. "Don't look down. Keep your chin up. You shouldn't hide your face with hair or shadow, hear me?" He slowly released her face then, fingers lingering a moment before he let his hand settle back onto the table. "Besides, no matter how much you've been cut into," Because York had sure had his share of it, "You never get used to it. And you shouldn't have to go through it anymore. But I tell you what, I've got a portable drive. And if you'd like, you can take Delta with you sometime. Ask him all the questions you want, he's got all sorts of answers." And it'd give York a bit of a rest from all the noise in his head.

Delta, for his part, nodded in an enthusiastic agreement (as enthusiastic as an AI program could get. "I am here to assist. And I would be interested to hear what sort of cutting into has happened with y--"

"Now D, you leave that alone, unless she wants to talk about it." Almost like a father scolding a son, though it was definitely the other way around.

"Yes, York."

[teapot_jones]

"Yahn-toh," he corrected automatically. "But it's spelled a bit oddly, I'll admit." Ianto waggled his eyebrows back at River, completely amused and absolutely charmed at the glance she shot at him. "I've had it mangled before," he continued, offering a distraction from the head cutting talk. River seemed like she needed it. "Yan-toe." With the vowels flattened.

[brainpanned]

"Cutting...?" River wasn't entirely present, drifting from mad crush to boundless adoration while bordering on fainting. Her dreamy smile remained fixed on York while the rest of her thoughts simply floated.

"Yahn-toe...I'm sorry teacher, what was the question?"

[freelanceryork]

York kept his easy going, charming smile on River, as well. "Yan-toh." The Freelancer repeated, then Delta flickered yellow, briefly, then back to green as he attempted to update his banks.

"E-Anto." The AI repeated uselessly. He wouldn't be able to properly pronounce it until he had learned the language, unfortunately. But if the Barista were willing to teach him, he'd most certainly learn.

"River's sort of an unusual name too, isn't it, then? Very pretty, though.. You do seem to flow, like a stream. River. Not just the way you move-- you're very graceful." He'd noticed her upon coming in the door, York noticed everything. "But also, the way you speak. You're very fluid. Is that learned or is that nature?" He finally looked away from her, lifting the little menu on the table, displaying more of the special treats they had, and squinting down his left eye briefly to read it. "I think I'm in need of pie." He lifted the menu some. "What do the two of you say?" He waggled the small card some, flashing Ianto an enticing smile before turning it onto the younger woman. "Interested?"

[teapot_jones]

He was definitely going to teach Delta Welsh, if for no other reason than to get the AI to say his name correctly. It's a petty reason, but it works for him, he supposes.

Pie. Well, they did have pie, fresh from the bakery, so that wouldn't be a problem. He pushed himself to his feet again, since he was the man behind the counter, today. "Apple, cherry or blueberry? We've got all three." He paused, halfway across the room and looked over his shoulder. "I could bring a slice of all three, since I know York hasn't tasted them before and I know River likes all three."