[ henry stays quiet for a little bit while he thinks about it and tries to decide. the fact that he didn't say yes makes henry want to tell him more. reaching into his pocket, he pulls robobee out and lets it crawl onto the tip of his index finger.
holding it up gently, henry lifts his hand for andy to get a better look. robobee is a tiny machine, about the size of a honey bee, and looks at first glance to be constructed form regular mechanical parts. steel, glass, carbon fiber, whatever, but it isn't really. and it glows from within, a soft amber light pulsing in time with henry's heartbeat as its wings flutter. ]
[ andy doesn't reach for it because it looks small and fragile, and also he still has an arm around henry, but it's very clear he wants to. it's a very cute bee, and he thinks it has to be some kind of magic. ]
Can't believe you've been keeping a magic bee from me. That's so rude.
Only... four other people here know about it. It was a gift from my mother. RoboBee, say hello to Andy.
[ the bee takes flight from henry's finger, fluttering around andy's head and sending a small ping to andy's device. henry meanwhile remains keenly aware of the wolf in case he considers robobee an interesting enough toy. ]
This is why I got hurt at the clock party. It got damaged in the explosion and I couldn't find it.
[ henry begins to answer, slipping into concentration as he tries to remember. it's interesting, how often people he introduces to robobee start referring to it as him when henry has never even named it. all of them probably would've. maybe it says something about him that he still doesn't think of it that way.
robobee lands delicately on andy's arm and blinks rapidly for a couple seconds. ]
Oh. Ten years and two months. Thank you. I was very... shy [ not the right word, but close enough ] when I was a kid. RoboBee was supposed to help me interpret the world, express myself, etcetera.
[ he's very curious about how smart the little robot is. it seems to be able to parse language well enough, but there's a difference between something like alexa and actual AI. ]
[ henry tilts his head at this speculation, raising an eyebrow in confusion. and actually he's having a hard time pinpointing what seems weird to him about that statement. henry does have a habit of talking to it like its autonomous, but in the same way someone talks to themselves. it's just thinking out loud. ]
He's a computer, Andy. You don't have to compliment it, it's not alive. And it's not... separate from me. It thinks what I think. It does what I think. Just makes it more organized. Out here, instead of in here- [ he pokes robobee before tapping his own temple, but that still might not make sense. if he was any good at explaining concepts like this, he wouldn't need the bee. ]
But because it's magic it can do things any other drone wouldn't be able to understand how to do. It just already knows what I want from it. That's what makes it valuable.
The next gen of those. They looked like a mix of gremlins with a baby bird. I don't think they ate, but they learned a few things and could communicate with other furbys.
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holding it up gently, henry lifts his hand for andy to get a better look. robobee is a tiny machine, about the size of a honey bee, and looks at first glance to be constructed form regular mechanical parts. steel, glass, carbon fiber, whatever, but it isn't really. and it glows from within, a soft amber light pulsing in time with henry's heartbeat as its wings flutter. ]
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Can't believe you've been keeping a magic bee from me. That's so rude.
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[ the bee takes flight from henry's finger, fluttering around andy's head and sending a small ping to andy's device. henry meanwhile remains keenly aware of the wolf in case he considers robobee an interesting enough toy. ]
This is why I got hurt at the clock party. It got damaged in the explosion and I couldn't find it.
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[ it sounds like a childhood pet. andy never had one, but he figures he would've been protective too if he had.
on his part, dief is clearly curious but not aggressive. he's a good boy. ]
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[ henry begins to answer, slipping into concentration as he tries to remember. it's interesting, how often people he introduces to robobee start referring to it as him when henry has never even named it. all of them probably would've. maybe it says something about him that he still doesn't think of it that way.
robobee lands delicately on andy's arm and blinks rapidly for a couple seconds. ]
Oh. Ten years and two months. Thank you. I was very... shy [ not the right word, but close enough ] when I was a kid. RoboBee was supposed to help me interpret the world, express myself, etcetera.
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[ he's very curious about how smart the little robot is. it seems to be able to parse language well enough, but there's a difference between something like alexa and actual AI. ]
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He's a computer, Andy. You don't have to compliment it, it's not alive. And it's not... separate from me. It thinks what I think. It does what I think. Just makes it more organized. Out here, instead of in here- [ he pokes robobee before tapping his own temple, but that still might not make sense. if he was any good at explaining concepts like this, he wouldn't need the bee. ]
But because it's magic it can do things any other drone wouldn't be able to understand how to do. It just already knows what I want from it. That's what makes it valuable.
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[ obviously, since henry was willing to risk his life.
it's weird though, that henry seems to be making an effort to make it clear it's a thing, like people didn't get attached to their tamagotchis. ]
I had a furby when I was a kid.
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[ like a pacemaker.
henry recalls robobee, which lands just on the shell of his ear, and goes back to petting the wolf while he considers andy's statement. ]
What is a furby?
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I never liked it much, but there was a big boom for a while.
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