[He's quiet as he listens, and something about what she says causes him to set down his silverware, so that he can focus solely upon her words. His brow creases when she's done, thinking of something, and he replies quietly at first, a subtle sort of... understanding.]
Of course not, Ai. Don't be silly.
[A burden? Why would that be so? He feels the same way, after all -- someone he can call a friend, only his second, and even so, it's different with her than it is with Hank. He tries to put words together the best he can, his human mind stringing them along in different ways than what he's used to.]
You know that I was built to effectively interact with humans. To read their emotions, and at first, to even emulate them so that they would show something akin to empathy towards me; to work better in tandem with me, during investigations, or to react better during negotiations. Ironic, I think, given that I was supposed to only view myself as a machine at the time.
[That he was only supposed to focus on the mission at hand, nothing more. Emotion was not something machines felt, only hollowly replicated; he had believed it unerringly at the time.]
After becoming deviant, I knew that I had that potential to be something more... human. To feel the way humans do, and to experience life in the same manner. But I had only been under a set of... guidelines of how to act and interpret emotions. I needed to learn... no, I still need to learn how to interpret them for myself, how they define me as a person. My own individuality, carved by thought and human experience.
[Exciting but terrifying at the same time. He was not the only android by far that was having to go through it, either.]
So of course I don't consider you a burden; it sounds to me like we're going through the same thing. Instead, I think of us as friends trying to help each other learn who we are. It's easier that way, isn't it?
no subject
Of course not, Ai. Don't be silly.
[A burden? Why would that be so? He feels the same way, after all -- someone he can call a friend, only his second, and even so, it's different with her than it is with Hank. He tries to put words together the best he can, his human mind stringing them along in different ways than what he's used to.]
You know that I was built to effectively interact with humans. To read their emotions, and at first, to even emulate them so that they would show something akin to empathy towards me; to work better in tandem with me, during investigations, or to react better during negotiations. Ironic, I think, given that I was supposed to only view myself as a machine at the time.
[That he was only supposed to focus on the mission at hand, nothing more. Emotion was not something machines felt, only hollowly replicated; he had believed it unerringly at the time.]
After becoming deviant, I knew that I had that potential to be something more... human. To feel the way humans do, and to experience life in the same manner. But I had only been under a set of... guidelines of how to act and interpret emotions. I needed to learn... no, I still need to learn how to interpret them for myself, how they define me as a person. My own individuality, carved by thought and human experience.
[Exciting but terrifying at the same time. He was not the only android by far that was having to go through it, either.]
So of course I don't consider you a burden; it sounds to me like we're going through the same thing. Instead, I think of us as friends trying to help each other learn who we are. It's easier that way, isn't it?