midnightstar

Since graduating from the Academy, life has been..interesting for Alisa, to say the least. She's been kept very busy, since she was upholding her promise to her mother on showing her the proper way to run the company, and it wasn't easy to put in those changes. Though it would have been a lot harder if she didn't have the support of those around her. But because of that, she hadn't been able to get time to get to visit Rean as much as she liked.

Translation: As much as she liked = every day. She did get to visit - or vice versa - at least on the weekend, and she talked to him almost every night thanks to the range on the ARCUS. Just as finished up for the night, she made her way up to the penthouse, glancing around to make sure she was alone (And you never know with Sharon) in order to take out her ARCUS once more and see if she could get a hold of Rean before bed. She was planning on seeing if he was in the area - alternatively, she was sure she could get away for a visit, if he wasn't busy.

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Rean just chuckled at her humble retort. He had a feeling that Sharon would say otherwise were she here but he decided not to fight Alisa over this. So he smiled softly and nodded.

"Alright I will next time I see her. But I am not taking back the thanks I gave you no matter what you might say~"

Alisa's blush warmed her face at the cmpliment, and chuckled softly, "All right, I can't win against you when you're like this, I guess." It sounded familiar to her ears - she's been known to use similar words against him after all.

Fortunately dinner progressed without any issues afterwards, though Alisa was regretting she hadn't thought to make any desserts. But they could have tha for their dinner ..and it'll be even more tempting to feed him, but they'll be in =public= then so she'd have to restrain herself. Rean was definitely being watched though, throughout dinner, and Alisa wasn't entirely subtle about it. Not for lack of trying though.

Oh it was svery familiar indeed. Rean smiled knowingly as she finally admitted defeat. Well not like that would come at a cost to Alisa other than some more embarassment from being so happy to receive his praise stubborn was it was.

The two locked gazed often during the meal and Rean almost felt it was just another part of the wonder that was the feast she had personally prepared for him. As such he had no real problem with the lack of a dessert. He felt more full and warm on the inside than he had felt in months.

What a high cost indeed! Though Alisa had to be careful not to stare too much, because it was hard to look away once their eyes met. Still, once lunch was finished, she sat back in her chair with a sigh, "I think I've overeaten. The food came out much better than I thought, and I just couldn't stop myself~!" She put too much love into the ingredients.

"Shall we check out that RUMU Unit?"

Well with the food already heartily consumed the two were left to enjoy the afterglow of the feast. So much so that Rean chuckled at Alisa's comment.

"Nothing wrong with appreciating your own work. Though I know what you mean. I coulnd't eat another bite now."

Hearing the topic of Rumu come up, Rean quickly nodded.

"Yeah I want to see what the little guy thinks of the world outside his test chamber~"

Alisa grinned, getting to her feet, "We can take care of the dishes later. If nothing else it'll be a nice test for it too." Transporting plates to the kitchen.

She was also a little excited to see it in action, so she waited just long enough for Rean to get up and join her before heading over to the table she put the box on. "Hopefully they charged him before packing him up.." carefully, she opened the box and reached in, styrofoam popcorn scattering everywhere as she lifted out the familiar shape. The difference being the casing was a brighter silver than the prototype they saw, which was a dull grey.

"Here we go~!" Taking a step back, she placed the RUMU unit on the floor and touched a button on it, giving it some space and moving back to stand by Rean. At first nothing happened, but a quiet - almost barely audible *click* followed about ten seconds later, and a cute chiming jingle started playing as the unit 'woke' up.

Rean stood by Alisa's sideholding his spot there as hte little device whirred to life. Even that wake up chime was adorable somehow.

"Oh? How long would it take to charge him up if that were not hte case?"

"Mm, for the first time, about three hours, but after that, the units are programmed to go into their charging units whenever they're not performing a specific task. They're also supposed to be able to calculate how long it'll take to accomplish their tasks and whether or not they'll have the necessary energy for it, so if they're running low, they'll automatically notify the user and go to their charging station."

"RUMU Unit active. Detecting users: Two. Good morning, users. Please state identification." The unit stated in a crisp, formal voice.

"Oh, so it's not the same unit.. hrm. Well they're connected wirelessly to the database, so .. Good morning Rumu!~"

Whirr, whirr, the RUMU unit swiveled, its little antennae ears popping up to turn in Alisa's direction. "Searching.. Voice Print, Alisa Reinford, Identified." Another pause, and then the friendly mechanical voice returns, "Good morning Alisa. RUMU is happy to see you."

Alisa giggled, "... Okay that's really cute."

"Oh really? That's quite convenient indeed." After all i it took care of its own needs like this on its own would probably put it at a certai level of awareness above even some full blown humans.

"Hey there Rumu. Hope you had a goodrest." Rean greeted whe machines wiht a big open smile.

"He's even more adorable in his iteration."

Edited Date: 2018-03-12 12:14 am (UTC)

RUMU swiveled te same way it did with Alisa to face Rean, its little light-up eyes a blinking blue, seemingly an indication of it accessing the network. "Identified. Good morning Rean. RUMU rested well. Charge is at 100 percent. Did Rean have a good rest?"

Alisa hid a grin behind her hand. "Hehee, something about the way you're talking with RUMU kind of reminds me of how you talk with Valimar."

He actually blinked in surprise as the little construct inquired about his own wellbeing. That....warmed his heart more than it really should have. He smile and hunched down to playfully tap the little guy on top of his head/body with his knuckle. "Yeah I'm great Rumu. Thanks for asking." He turned to Alisa with a bashful grin on his face.

"Hahaha I guess so. It doesn't feel like they're all that unalike. Now I kinda wish I could see how Valimar would interact with this little guy."

Alisa laughed, "THat would be really cute too. I bet they'd get along really well." Or as well as two robot type creations could get along. Who knows, maybe Valimar would start rubbing off on the little buddy, and he'll begin learning and then Skynet will become a thing and they'll all have to be enslaved by their robot overlords--!

Maybe not.

Alisa padded over to the box in order to fish out the manual, "This is my home, RUMU. You'll be here with me for the next few weeks, as a sort of testing phase." He.. probably doesn't understand 'testing phase' so Alisa moved on. "Go ahead and scan the interior. You'll need to set your routes, right?"

"Affirmative~!" RUMU chirped, "Initiatlizing protocols." Whirrr, it proceeded to roll across the floor, its ears rising and lowering as it 'thought' out its route, a holographic light flashing out from around the unit to identify the obstacles in the rooms. At one point it bumps into the wall and makes an irritated little beep before correcting its path.

Alisa debated on following it around, but opted on sitting on the couch instead, to give the manual another glance over.

Okay that little bumping chirp when it encountered a solid object was far far too adorable than it should have been. Rean didn't follow the little device around properly but he did allow himself to do so with his gaze while ALisa busied herself with the manual.

"I can already tell this little felow is going to be very very popular with kids."

Alisa grinned, "I hope so." she sighed faintly, "It doesn't look like a lot of those features have been programmed in yet though." That was fine though - she was more concerned in getting the core features fixed. She put the manual down and tilted her head, "Where did RUMU go?"

It was of course, somewhere in the kitchen, currently beeping angrily as it got itself caught between a pair of chairs and was trying to figure out how to work its way out. Though it kept pushing forward rather than reversing back the way it came, stubbornly.

"Hey like I said that's hardly a knock against it. You all came up with a solid enough foundation as it is. It can only get better." Rean said before he turned his eyes back up to where the angry chirping was coming from. "Sounds like he's hit a bit of a snag in the kitchen. I better go see what he's doing." Rean chuckled and went over to rescue the stubborn little machine.

Alisa giggled, listening to the sound of the angry beeping, until Rean managed to rescue the unit from its stubborn battle with the chairs.

Once it was clear of the obstacle hazard, the angry beeping stopped, and turned to a polite, 'put me down please' beep so it could resume its routing. Alisa grinned, "At least the beeping is loud enough to be heard. Put RUMU down by the stairs, and let's see if it can figure out how to get up them." Since it was heavy enough to not be flung about like a frisby, but it did have a sort of 'hover' mode for stairs, in short bursts. She was a little concerned that children would try flinging it about like a frisbee, though.

"Alright then." rean chuckled hearing the different kind of beeps. Rean was quickly becoming quite attached to the little construct and that could surely count as another proof of its success in concept.

He put the machine down at the basse of the stairs and stepped back again to give it room while watching to see how it would handle this new challenge.

Alisa watched Rean for a moment, then suddenly grinned, putting the manual down. Ideeeeeeea. Quietly getting up so she could also get a good look at RUMU as it rolled from one side of the stair case to the other, she stepped up to Rean.

RUMU bumped against the stairs a few times, its ears twitching, then going back as it reversed its path a few inches, seeming to reassess the path. Another flash of blue light from its 'eyes', as it scanned the area, then beeped triumphantly as it figured out it needed to go -up-. So its little hover jets kicked in and it wobbled into the air unsteadily, slowly puttering forward, managing to get as far as the sixth step before it had to set itself down and try again. Then it continued its adventure because there were MORE rooms.

And as she watched RUMU work its way up the stairs, she slowly worked up the nerve to snake her arms around Rean's waist and lean against his back. Soft and warm and...for him... pillowy.

It was like watching a little new born pet take its first steps. A compellingly adorable sight. So adorable in fact that he didn't even notice when Alisa snuck up behind him. He did however notice her instantly as she pressed up behind him. Especially with the sensation pressing against his back making him stand up considerably more straight as he stammered.

"A-Alisa?"

She held him a little closer when he stood up from the surprising gesture, and Alisa smiled a little, glad he couldn't see her face. Oh her heart was pounding a mile a minute, her face buried against his back, so he could only hear a soft, semi-muffled, "Yes, Rean?" in response.

And RUMU's faint quizzical beeping with an occasional bump and an angry beep noise when it bumped into something. May describing it as a newborn pet taking its first steps wasn't that far off a comparison.

He couldn't see her face but he could feel the strong thumping againt his back and the tone of her voice. "I well um...no. It's nothing..." That was hardly true but then again it was nothing bad so perhaps his words weren't a complete lie.

He did eventually hear Rumu seemingly reaching another stumbling point but this time eRean did not want to go to his rescue just yet instead allowing himself to rest into Alisa's embrace a little more.

Edited Date: 2018-03-12 01:45 am (UTC)

Little baby RUMU would have to learn! And it took a little longer because Alisa didn't want to let go of Rean either, honestly. Her arms curled around him a little more securely in response to him resting in her embrace with a soft sigh.

A full minute later, RUMU came puttering out of the last room, none the worse for wear, rolling over the steps and promptly tumbling all the way down with a 'ker-clunk, ker-clunk, ker-clunk' until it landed on the floor upside down like an outraged turtle.

Alisa startled at the noise, letting go of Rean reluctantly, "Oh no! Is it damaged?" Fortunately no, but it was certainly struggling to get back upright, using its ears to try and rock itself up.

Oh if he could only rest within those arms for the rest of his life. Rean had a feeling he would not want for anything else if it was possible. But...It just was not. So he could only enjoy this moment of bliss.

Though it is interrupted shortly after that as the construct makes his clumsy return. Rean quickly picks up the little machine and sets it upright feeling it was too pitiful to let it struggle on its own like that.

"He seems to be fine. Isn't that right Rumu?"

RUMU Beeped, "All systems functional." It'll have to remember there are stairs going down as well as up.

Alisa phew'd, "That's a relief. Hey where are you going?" She suddenly blinks when the unit proceeded to move again with purpose.

"Unit RUMU has detected contaminants. Cleaning Protocol initiated."

"Contaminants?" Alisa echoed, then OHs, "He must mean the styrofoam peanuts." How would it clean up though. And.. she got her answer to that rather quickly when a tiny tiny laser zapped from one of its eyes to disintegrate the peanut.

".... do you think .." Alisa wondered suddenly, "That's how the window got damaged in the research division?"

Rean followed the little Rumu with his eyes before they widened as he saw the way it could clean up messes. That was....quite destructive. But it would also explain the window quite well. So much so Rean could only now slowly.

"It's certainly possible that's the case. Isn't that sort of thing a fire hazard?"