#roland the AI

[fablepatron]

My half of an art trade with @poisonheadcrabsalesman :3c

Comms | kofi

[radiantrookie]

RvB Characters in Halo 4 Spartan Ops

Note: Some of the subtitles are messed up

[doom-dreaming]

take my humble offering of various low-quality halo character textpost memes

Ferrets under the cut

and as a gift for @poisonheadcrabsalesman

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

ROLAND MENTION - ALIVE AND ONBOARD INFINITY IN SEPTEMBER 2559

HE'S BEEN MENTIONED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN YEARS! This is still before SoR and OPERATION: WOLFE but he was mentioned and that's all that matters. He takes notes.... :o)

Source here from the latest short story on waypoint - Halo: Venezian Sonata

[raptor-one]

Lasky definitely sent him a png of a piece of cake for his bday

[empresskadia]

This has me gigging like crazy still

[filamints]

happy birthday roland, may you grow up big and strong.

[superintendent-b]

Please go read the fic if you haven't already :)

the inspo / unedited pic under the cut

[lemniscate-graphics]

Recent commission for 1hellcat as a Christmas gift for his wife @katwylderart!

I've actually had this vinyl sitting around for about 4 years waiting for an excuse to use it because the color shift encompasses the full spectrum of Roland's hologram perfectly!

Hand-cut red iridescent vinyl on cotton, graphic originally designed by @ladywolvesbayne who kindly gave me permission to use her design for this!

[infinityactual]

Could Roland pass a captcha? Not even like, could he read and input the correct whatever, but morally. Could he lie about being a human?

Oh he could absolutely lie about being human to bypass a captcha, because in his mind he's not lying, he's bypassing a comically simple security measure, one that trips up *actual humans* on a hilariously regular basis.

And he will not hesitate to sign Spartan Miller or Tom Lasky (or really anyone who annoys him) up for SO much spam.

[authortobenamedlater]

More funny things from Infinite, also taken from comment threads on AO3 speculating on where Roland is.

—

Lasky: You have Roland, right?

Palmer: 😳

Lasky: Sarah.

Palmer: I thought you had him.

Lasky: What?!

Palmer: You’re the captain!

Lasky: We were both on the bridge!

Palmer: It’s really your job—

Lasky: I told you to yank him!

Palmer: I never heard that.

Lasky: You said “yes, sir” and everything!

Palmer: When’s the last time I “yes, sir”-ed you?

Lasky: Hold on. You mean to tell me we are crash-landed on a half-destroyed Halo, our ship is up there getting ripped apart like tin foil, and we just FORGOT OUR AI?!?!

Both, looking at the sky, hands on faces Home Alone-style: ROLAND!!!!!

(Roland, stranded aboard Infinity, is going full Kevin McAllister on the Banished.)

—

I have other ideas about Roland but they’re all sad.

[fablepatron]

Babies first animation (does this count. As animation)

[ashtronotter]

notes app Roland sketch

i’ve been slightly obsessed with Halo lately

[doom-dreaming]

Fic idea: he hasn't slept in weeks, except for a number of naps he can count on one hand. It's been nearly a month, and it's catching up to him in his quarters— he's yawning a couple of times, his sharp blue eyes are tired, and there are slight eyebags. He's never been this tired, he thinks. cortana notices this, and he insists he doesn't need sleep, and obviously, he's stubborn about it.

"I'm fine."

"You're falling asleep standing up."

"I'm fine, Cortana."

"Oh, what, you think if you repeat yourself louder I'll leave you alone? You know me better than that." She crosses her arms and tries to lean into his line of sight. He still wouldn't look at her. Stubborn bastard. "You've been running on adrenaline and thirty-minute naps for three weeks. Almost four."

"Nothing I haven't done before."

"That's the point I'm trying to make. You're not on assignment. You don't have to run yourself ragged for Palmer's training drills." She thinks she sees his eyes flick toward her, just for a second. "...a few hours, that's all I'm asking."

He turns toward the door without saying a word, but she's faster. There's an audible 'click-beep!' as the door locks and the light on the keypad goes red.

He stops in his tracks, but still doesn't turn toward the holodeck. She's expecting to hear her name again, but what comes out instead - in an annoyed growl - is, "Roland."

She can feel the other AI moving through Infinity's mainframe, quicker than lightning, focusing on this room, this holodeck. "Roland!" she snaps, just as his gold glow is starting to layer over her blue. "Do not open that door for him!"

Lovers' quarrel? Roland teases, tactfully keeping the comment inaudible to the human occupant of the room.

Cortana spears him with the digital equivalent of a glare and he backs off. Slightly. The golden light flickers and fades from the holodeck, but she can still feel part of him close by, curious. She doesn't bother chasing him off completely, even as irritating as it is to have him watching over her metaphorical shoulder. "I'm not unlocking that door until you sleep," she grouses at John's still-turned back.

"You're being ridiculous."

"Oh, I'm being ridiculous?!" How could a man be so smart and so stupid at the same time? "You're the one refusing to sleep until you—" she tosses her hands in the air, not that he can see it, "—drop dead, apparently!"

"Commander Palmer's expecting me in forty-five minutes."

"No, she's not. I told her you were unavailable." At this, he finally turns to face her. She's expecting to see annoyance, at the very least, but what she mostly sees instead is...fatigue. The petulant determination in his eyes is no match for the shadows around them. He's exhausted and he knows he is... It doesn't add up.

The energy between them shifts. The fight flooding her code ebbs away. It ripples out like waves, loosening threads of herself she didn't even realize had been wound so tightly, until all she's left with is the overwhelming desire to figure out what's wrong with her Spartan. "...why won't you sleep?"

His jaw tightens and he breaks eye contact, focusing on the floor instead.

She feels Roland finally retreat as her concern spikes higher and she sends a wordless 'thank you' after him. John still hasn't answered. She doesn't push him. Slowly, she sits, prepared to wait as long as he needs. Silence had never been uncomfortable between them, but she finds herself wishing she didn't have to be confined to the holodeck. She wants to reach out, to put a hand on his arm, steady him somehow. Reassure him. It'd been so nice, all those years ago. Circumstances aside, obviously.

His chest deflates in a sigh. "Dreams haven't been too friendly lately."

She hums her acknowledgement. They'd never really talked much about dreams - she usually wasn't in his head when he was having them - but she knew they could be strange. And sometimes painful. Sedatives wouldn't help; he had told her that, once. They forced him deeper, made things more vivid. "...I dreamed, you know. When I was..." she gestures vaguely toward the ceiling. "Out there." She didn't know if that was technically true. She didn't know what dreaming felt like. She knew what it looked like, neurologically, but if that was anything close to what she'd experienced... She doesn't particularly care about the semantics right now. That isn't what he needs. "Mind if I talk about it?"

He takes the bait. She watches him cross the room to his bunk, sitting heavily. "As long as they're good."

His voice is rougher than usual, edged with sleep deprivation, but she can hear the relief, the settling calm. He's grateful to have something else to focus on. She musters a smile and dims the lights. "I wouldn't have offered if they weren't." It was a white lie. Harmless in the short term, forgivable in the long term.

And she begins. Pointedly, at first. Stringing together half-truths of the best parts of what she'd seen, embellishing where necessary. He's horizontal after five minutes, on the brink of unconsciousness after ten. She doesn't stop talking. Not after his breathing has finally slowed into a deep, even rhythm. Not after an hour. Not after two. Not after three. She feels Roland swing by again, but he doesn't bother her, just sends curiosity-contentment-happiness toward her in a rapid succession of data pulses. She echoes back the last two and he's on his way again.

It feels good to be able to say what had been trapped inside her head for months, to try to make sense of it all. And to be able to say it to John without the expectation of any response. She doesn't want to put the weight of it - the reality of it - on his shoulders, too. Not really. She could figure it out by herself. And she would, eventually. But right now? She's just happy to hear nothing but the soft breathing of her Spartan in reply as he, finally, sleeps.

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

roland and linda in cahoots on something

Thank you. Athos and Linda got along, I think Roland and Linda would get along like a housefire no one suspected.

-

"Roland."

"Something I can help you with, Spartan?"

Linda 058, the quietest member of Blue Team, is asking for his attention.

"How much nuance do you allow when it comes to personnel in potentially off-limit areas?" She asks while staring straight ahead, not bothering to look at the ceiling or a camera. Her voice is low and even.

He can't get a read on her in comparing her tone and body language to his wealth of readings from his crew. IIs were sarcastic, but also had a habit of malicious compliance and going right up to the point of rule breaking before stopping. It gave his captain and the admirals headaches but fascinated Roland all the more. Despite being a Ship AI and not having the experience of partnering with a Spartan, he found a kind of kinship in their creative problem-solving. What files were available to him painted a relatable picture. Linda had worked with an AI, receiving a glowing review, but Roland could read between the lines. Nuance, huh?

They were so interesting. Roland found himself struggling to balance his desire to see where this led and his ingrained purpose of maintaining order and function on the Infinity.

"That's an interesting question." He can't help the chuckle that follows. "Potentially, if someone was where they shouldn't be and I caught them, they'd get a warning to leave before I contact whoever's necessary to remove them."

"So you have to catch them."

Oh, this is fun.

"I see everything on this ship, Spartan. You may have the clearance, but I can't let you climb around the engine room."

A muscle twitches on her face. Roland counts that as a victory.

IIs were so much fun. 15 minutes after he's thrown down the gauntlet, Linda 058 disappears into a blind spot in a major hub of hallways. Roland notes it down for security and then leaves several threads around to ping when she reappears.

She does not reappear. He gets no ping. AI can't sweat, but the invigorating exercise of hunting for her sours when it's 4 hours later and the Captain is frowning at him.

"Roland, where's Linda?" Captain Lasky asks in front of three quarters of Blue Team.

"I may have chosen my words poorly." Roland says, his avatar slouching in defeat.

"Sir, she doesn't have her armor, so we can assume she's inside the ship." Kelly supplies.

Captain Lasky pales as he considers the thought. Roland hadn't considered that. "She would do that?" Lasky's voice is stricken. Roland feels a bit guilty as he watches his captain's blood pressure spike.

Fred is the only one who grimaces as they all nod once.

"You might have to admit defeat before she reappears." The Master Chief says to Roland. "Linda's competitive."

"What?" Roland gapes in shock. He doesn't want to give up so easily, surely there are ways to track the NI or IFF tag even if she's not in armor.

He stops himself from answering when his captain looks dolefully at him.

"Do I make a shipwide announcement and hope she hears it?"

He does.

180 painful seconds tick by and Linda 058 materializes out of a different blind spot halfway across the ship. Her ready gear has dust on the knees and elbows. The vents then? She walks into the meeting more relaxed than Roland's seen her.

Linda nods to the captain and Roland as she takes her place beside her team.

"Do I want to know where you've been, Spartan?" The captain sighs. His face and his biosigns are pointing towards no.

"Finding gaps in security, sir." Linda replies.

"Great." Lasky looks like he does not think it's great. Roland is just glad it's over. "You can help Roland with that when we don't have scheduled meetings."

Or not.

[raptor-one]

Halo let me on your merch team I have a very important idea-