#of nico's original thought processes so it wouldn't be coercive

[sionisjaune]

brocedes stepford wife type marriage. could be het, or not

i love your fics btw!

Not really stepford wives but robot nico???

"I've updated his language model and increased his audio processing speed," says Lewis, gesturing at the cracked-open shell of electronics on the table. It doesn't really look like Nico now, but as soon as his circuits get stuffed back inside where they're supposed to be and his titanium ribs are snapped shut, he'll look just like the boy Lewis followed to MIT when he was eighteen years old. He's not nearly as smart, or as funny, or as insufferable, but he seems to charm his customers just the same.

"And what is your progress on removing the accent?" says Toto. "I understand modelling a convincing human voice can be difficult but--"

"Zero percent progress," says Lewis. "I'm not doing it, just like I'm not designing a fucking companionship mode, because he is a state of the art robotic assistant, and not a robot girlfriend."

"At the going price," says Toto, arms crossed, "you could double your revenue by adding a companionship mode."

"He can affect politeness. That's the best I'll do."

Toto throws his hands in the air. "Frankly, I don't understand your hang-ups about AI companionship. It's the done thing now, and your models are the best on the market. You could change the game, if you weren't so--"

"I said no," says Lewis.

Toto lifts an eyebrow. "I suppose your gifts are reserved just for you? Your prototype--" He points in the direction of other robot-Nico, the prototype Lewis is always tinkering with, sitting placidly on a rather avant-garde armchair in the corner of the lab. "--behaves awfully affectionately, don't you think?"

Lewis frowns, assessing proto-Nico's idle seat. The cycle of his breath is so natural Lewis could almost be fooled into thinking he was real, if he didn't feel the swell of pride in his chest at the fact that he made proto-Nico, made him almost as good as the real thing. "He's experimental. Not--not ready for the market."

Toto crosses his arms, assessing. "I'm sure."