Nezume Gamakaeru:

Bronwen plugged away at the keyboard of her computer at a frantic pace. Upon the screen codes flew by quickly. To most people it would have seemed like gibberish but for the onyx haired woman it was poetry. Every line equaled something so beautiful that it was difficult to describe. One simply needed to look to the side at the a nearby platform to see what the young woman worked on with such dedication.

'He' was a hologram created to keep her company. Though she doubted she'd be able to endure his company for too long while she worked away on her latest commissions for the entertainment industry. They loved lifeless holograms without minds of their own who did whatever was needed of them without complaint. Such workers were so much better then real people. Then there was the line of virtual pets that was growing more and more popular each day.

In fact, Bronwen had based the program she was using to create her hologram's mind and personality on an earlier product. Though he would have a mind quite a bit more complex then that of a rabbit, both were based upon the same basic principals.

All of this ran crazily trough the jean clad woman's mind as she swiveled around in her chair to glance from one glass screen to the next. A whole virtual circus was quite a feat, but she'd managed. Her green eyes roved over the screen, and with a smile she noted how one of the leather clad performers and his cat had caught the attention of one of the audience members. It seemed like even her holograms had a better social life then she did, though Bronwen knew very well why. With her horrid temper and even worse personality it wasn't a surprise at all.

'He' stood off to the side, his virtual image projected from the platform below him as his creator worked actively with the hardware and software before him. The program of his holographic avatar wasn't very complex in visual design, after all his creator seemed to focus more on the complexity of artificial intelligence. Appearing as a blue eyed man with short blond hair, and wore simple white t-shirt and gray pants, he watched intently with sudden awareness.

Lifting her head, Bronwen let her eyes roam over her creation critically. "Well are you alive yet?" Propelling herself from the chair to stand in front of the as yet nameless hologram the black haired woman shrugged. "O well, I suppose I'll just have to start changing that personality of yours so you're more talkative, then again .." Maybe she didn't want somebody quite so talkative. If her turned out to be some kind of overly happy, cutesy, person she might just delete the AI and start all over again from scratch. Working for those kinds of people was more then she could stand, having one in her home all the time would drive her insane!

The holographic image of a blond man shifted slightly as if testing himself out, as he watched a woman approach the platform from which he was projected from. It took a moment for the words of the woman to register, and a male's voice responded from a speaker of the platform as his lips was in sync. "Alive?"

Frowning, Bronwen went to the computer and tinkered with the sound for a few moments before returning to her creation. "It's a figure of speech." Tugging down her t-shirt, Bronwen looked over him speculatively. "You'd better be smart enough to pick a name for yourself." Otherwise it was back to the drawing board ... Again. This was her fifth try at creating an AI like this, and every time there was always some bug that made them crash and burn. Turning away the green eyed woman pushed up her glasses as she sat down to work on her other projects, and these ones were worth money.

When the woman turned and set some adjustments, he felt a little strange, wait, felt? And the way she looked at him when the feeling settled made his eyebrow twitch an annoyance. It took a few seconds for him to search through some kind of files and found something he liked. "Walker," He stated, then moved so it looked like he would try to step down from the platform. "My name will be Allen walker."

Typing in a last few commands, the young woman then swiveled around to glance at her creation. Now what to do? It was time to test him out. "Well don't just stand there like a mannequin on that stage of a thing Allen, get down and explore. Or are you missing that too?"If she forgot to put in curiosity, she deserved to get a lump for her AI. All those new fangled robots certainly seemed to have the worst Ais, always obeying orders and so uninteresting. It was such a shame.

Looking down at his holographic barefeet, then the platform and the floor below it, hesitation was clear on his holographic face. Slowly, his foot lifted and lowered to the floor, bending as if it was solid against the floor, but he couldn't feel it. . . feel? Now completely off the platform, he stopped staring at the floor with his blue eyes and back up at the woman. Taking a few seconds of searching through files available to him he couldn't find anything to her. "Who are you?" Allen asked, stepping over to her.

Making a small sound of frustration she turned around while running a hand trough her shoulder length hair. "You , why did you have to go and ruin my concentration!" yelled out Bronwen loudly. Making another sound of discontent she rolled her eyes and turned her back to the blue eyed ai once more. "The name's Bronwen Fletcher, I'm the one who made you. Now zip it so I can work." Her fingers danced across the keyboard like a ballerina across the stage. Graceful, quick, and completely precise.

Flinching at the sudden increase of volume of her voice, Allen blinked at her in alarm. Allen made sure to create a memory file titled Bronwen Fletcher, and recorded some data about her. After a moment of silence from him, he began to lean close over her shoulder to figure out what she was doing, wanting to know more so he could add data to her file. "What are you doing. Bronwen Fletcher?"

Making a gusty sigh, she slammed her hands down onto the keyboard closing any programs that were open. Turning around with anger in her eyes, she looked up, trough, her creation. "Bronwen, just Bronwen. Don't you know how to close your mouth and keep it shut?" Obviously annoyed the onyx haired woman walked trough Allen to go and peer at another one of her projects. It had been her single attempt at robotics and the ugly cat could barely walk on it's uneven legs. Reaching out to pet it absentmindedly, the young woman walked past it and sauntered into her living room. Pressing a button on her wrist unit made the tv flip on to her favorite channel. The science one of course.

Allen added the detail that Bronwen Fletcher preferred to be called Bronwen, then moved in alarm when she walked through him. Staring where she once sat, Allen was perplexed on what just happened. Looking down at his holographic image, Allen reached out to the chair and saw that the back rest had went through his hand, just as Bronwen did. Quickly retracting his hand from the chair, Allen looked at both his hands, moving and flexing them, then placed one hand on top of the other. His hands didn't go through each other, but then he noticed he could see through them, right down to the floor. Looking up from the floor to ask Bronwen something, he didn't see her anymore. Allen quickly shifted through his sensory and the memory files that went together and found a vague recording that the woman had left the room.

Apparently there were some holographic projectors throughout the house, because Allen was now standing beside the woman, Bronwen, staring at her, trying to record everything he could about her.

Moving to the couch to plop down in front of the tv Bronwen let out a sigh. Closing her eyes, she slipped off the pink and black glasses to set them down atop the smooth side table. Opening them slightly when Allen appeared, she grumbled to herself about annoying ais, though secretly she was pleased about it all. "Trying to analyze everything about me, aren't you? Come on, don't be shy just ask already!" Bronwen snapped the words out like a whip, though she looked like she was about to doze off.

"Are you upset because of me?" Allen asked without hesitation with childlike concern. When the woman was typing at the computer or watching the screen when he wasn't in the room, she seemed to be less annoyed. "I'm sorry for disturbing you when you were at those monitors."

Righting herself to lean on the back of the couch, Bronwen titled her head to the side. Well this was new. A grin crossed her usually surly features making her look completely different, as if a cloud had been blocking the sun and now suddenly it could shine brighter then ever before. "It's just the way I am Allen. Nasty temper and biting tongue, don't let it bother you too much. Else I might have to make another and scrap you." The last was said in a teasing tone. Bronwen was actually rather happy with Allen's company, especially the fact that'd he'd asked such a question. The others hadn't cared an ounce about her mood. Turning around to latch her green eyes upon the television the young woman brought a pillow to her knees and hugged it lightly.

Allen listened intently on Bronwen's words, recording her response and her expression. That smile, it was something he placed in a special file of Bronwen's main file, something that would never be deleted. At the last few words, made a electrical shiver go through his image in alarm. "Scrap me?" He asked, not registering that the woman didn't really intend on what she said.

Whipping her head around at the words, Bronwen let out a disgruntle sigh. "I don't actually mean it! Sheesh, now I know what I forgot ... A sense of humor." Then again, she didn't like jokes and was rather surprised at herself for teasing Allen. Shrugging the green eyed woman clambered off the couch to go and stand with Allen. Looking him up and down, Bronwen ran a hand trough her smooth hair. Transparency was an easy way to know that he was a hologram, but for some reason she didn't want to be able to make that distinction. Still it might have been rude to start working on him again while he was still 'awake'.

"Then give me a sense of humor, Bronwen," Allen said to the woman, holding out his hand as he did so as if to accept something. Then he remembered how she had walked right through him, and how the chair did so. Allen's image wavered in the disturbance of that data, then he quickly retracted his hand and held it against his chest. That's right, Allen can't touch her, or anything else.

Silenced for a few moments by the how the hologram wavered, the young woman shook her head slightly. He actually seemed upset, and she hadn't expected that at all. "If you don't mind me poking around with who you are while you're still awake, sure." Briskly moving to the room of monitors once more she set to work on Allen once more. While giving him some humor, she also tweaked his image so it was solider and added a few different looking shirts, pants, shoes as well as accessories to his files so he could change what clothes he wore at will.

"Well, do you have a sense of humor yet?" asked Bronwen wryly after putting in the finishing touches to this newest adjustment.

Allen followed her to the first room, and stood over the platform on a whim before he felt a strange electrical current through him as she typed away. When she spoke, Allen looked down at his hands and saw he couldn't seen the ground through them and focused for a second to go through his new wardrobe file. Finding a long sleeve white shirt, black pants, a simple silver chain necklaces that he liked, Allen changed into it, but didn't bother with shoes. Touching the necklaces with his fingertips, Allen smiled at Bronwen. "I don't know if I do, how would I express humor exactly?"

Turning around to look him over, she smiled in appreciation of what she saw. Allen was rather good looking. Quite a piece of work. Bronwen was just a little biased in her opinion. "Laughter, cracking jokes, teasing. It all really depends on your personality, but at least you have one now." The oversight was an embarrassing one to say the least. Snapping out of her self imposed criticism quickly enough, she glanced back at the screens then flipped her black hair from a shoulder. "Oh great, forgot my glasses." Running into the other room, she shoved them onto the bridge of her nose without ceremony.

Allen took what she said and recordered for something to remember. Teasing? That was what she was doing to him before about scraping him. So, she really didn't mean it. Watching Bronwen run out for her glasses, Allen chuckled. "How could you forget your glasses? It seemed like you could see fine when you gave me humor." He said, as he came into the room.

"It's called being near-sighted," grumbled the woman as she shoved some pillows aside on the sofa. Settling down again she glanced at Allen before sighing and tapping a few keys on her watch. Linked to the hologram projectors, it made a comfortable looking chair appear beside the couch. That done she programmed a movie onto the television and scooted closer to the hologram. Yup, she definitely wanted company though Bronwen didn't act like it.

Looking at the chair that appeared in surprise, then reached out. His fingers were able to wrap around the arm of the chair unlike how Bronwen had. Allen then smiled at Bronwen and nodded at her as he seated himself with a sigh. He crossed his legs at the knees and put his chin in the palm of his hand as the propped up with his elbow on the arm of the chair. "Thank you,"

Nodding in acknowledgement Bronwen then returned her attention to the television screen. That only lasted for a few seconds though before her mind turned to Allen once more. "So do you know anything about yourself yet? What you like, what you don't?" She wondered if she could actually create some kind of simile for taste in a hologram. Was that even possible? Now was a challenge she certainly wanted to take up!