"Ida," Darius said softly when she stumbled sleepily into the kitchen. She'd stayed up incredibly late the night, growling at the computer the whole time.
He still wasn't sure how to interact with her after his last conversation with Courtney, where she'd made him realize that Ida was in fact a child. Ida herself seemed extra grumpy today as she turned to him.
"What?" she snapped.
"I'm going to be leaving for the evening. Cleo is having a party with her dad and I would like to go. May I?"
Wait, why did he need her permission?
"Rather," he amended, "I shall be going."
Ida glared at him.
"Going to a party? Seriously Darius? Who needs that noise?"
"Would you like to come as well? Cleo might like that."
"Hell no. I don't leave the Underwing, moron."
Darius paused, watching Ida as she dragged herself to the kitchen island and waited expectantly by her chair.
"Darius. Help me up," she said tensely.
With a sigh, Darius obliged. She couldn't even get on the tall island stools without his help. What would she do without him? Should he drag her to Cleo's dad's place?
No, she could handle herself for one evening. It would probably be good for her to learn a bit more independence. And good for Darius too. He did not exist solely for Ida.
For now, though, he quickly prepared a lunch for her. When he handed it to her, she ate in silence, not even showing one of her usual smiles.
"Do you need me to prepare anything before I leave?" he asked carefully as Ida picked at her food.
"No. Go have fun at your stupid party or whatever. Just make sure you don't eat or drink anything. Your hardware might break down on you. Short circuit or something."
"Of course." Darius was perfectly aware of that. Though, now that he thought of it, if food made people so happy, he might like to try it sometime. Too bad his creator hadn't given thought to any sort of taste receptors. Even his smell was limited to determining if there was anything potentially dangerous in the air - like CO, for example.
What would it be like to have human senses? Now that the thought had entered his head, it nagged at him.
He pushed it away and focused on his duties for the rest of the day. Ida said he didn't need to prepare anything before he left, but just in case he made a dinner she could eat cold and left it in the fridge where she could easily reach it.
Cleo got home from classes around 4:00. Two hours later, she gathered him, Joey, and Ned.
"Ready to go guys?" she asked, looking slightly nervous.
"Sure thing," Joey said with a smile.
Cleo smiled back and opened up the portal.
It was Darius's first time outside the Underwing since he'd awakened to his Miracle. The other humans had taken care of grocery runs, so he had had no reason to leave, though data indicated that he did go shopping for food for Ida regularly while he was still a mere AI program.
The streets were...overwhelming in a word. They came out in an empty alley, then moved to the main streets, where people were swarming about in incredible numbers. There were too many faces to memorize, too many voices to pick out, too many footsteps to count. The ceiling more or less vanished, and the open space overhead made him feel especially small.
Of course, outside Arx, there were almost no ceilings. Was this what it would be like to wander the earth and look up at the sky? Perhaps the cities of old looked something like this, though with cars racing down the roads instead of people, and all with a single street level instead of the multiple Arx boasted.
Darius had to keep focused on Joey, Ned and Cleo as they moved through the crowds. If he lost track of them, he'd feel rather foolish. In a burst of anxiety, he grabbed onto Ned's hand. The boy glanced at him in surprise, then smiled and kept going, keeping Darius with him.
It was the sort of thing a small child might do. Darius knew that full well. But following Ned helped keep him calmer. When was the last time Darius - whether with or without his Miracle - had been in the midst of so many people? He couldn't say. His shopping had always been done while everyone else was busy elsewhere, using the most efficient route to avoid crowds as possible. His programming had indicated he should remain unseen as much as possible then.
Now, he was free to let his eyes dart among the humans, taking in every detail to be analyzed later. The man with an especially round face. The woman with three subtle acne spots. The person with such heavy bags under their eyes they resembled a raccoon.
Cleo finally pulled them out of the river of humanity towards a simple door facing the street. She pulled out a keycard and swiped it to open the door and they all slipped inside.
"Dad, I'm here," she called, closing the door behind Darius.
"There she is!" A weary-looking man with a broad smile on his face came out to greet them, giving Cleo a bear hug and kissing her head.
"Dad!" she said, pulling away in embarrassment.
"Happy Birthday, sweetheart. And thank you for coming, Cleo's friends!" The man let go of Cleo and offered his hands for a handshake with each of them.
"Wait, it's your birthday?" Ned asked, his eyes widening in shock. Joey looked similarly surprised. Darius referenced his records for a moment and realized that today was, in fact, Cleo's birthday. November 8.
"I didn't want to make a big deal out of it," Cleo said quietly, stepping back.
"Happy Birthday, Cleo," Darius said, trying to bring forth his best smile. Which one was his best? Hopefully the one he settled on would do.
"Yeah, Happy Birthday," Joey said. "You should have told us."
"I'm glad you could come," Cleo's dad said, smiling again. "This might be the first time my girl's brought friends home for her birthday."
"Wait, seriously?" Ned asked. "The first time?"
"I...never had a lot of friends to begin with," Cleo said sheepishly, backing further into the house. "Anyway, Dad, this is Joey, and Ned, and Darius."
"Wonderful to meet you! You can call me Trevor. Now come in, come in! I've got a feast waiting for us."
"What did you get?" Cleo asked, now looking excited.
"Rice wraps of course! I trust your friends don't have any dietary restrictions?" Trevor glanced at the three of them. Joey and Ned both shook their heads, and Darius shrugged.
Dietary restrictions. He definitely had a few. One, really. Don't eat or drink.
"Great! Let's eat." Trevor led the way to the dining table, where five places were set, each with a takeout rice wrap on the plate. A small cake with nineteen glowing purple and blue candles took up the center of the table.
Darius carefully took his seat while Cleo picked up her rice wrap and grinned at her dad.
"Race?" she asked.
"Are we racing?" Ned asked, picking up his own wrap.
"Dad and I usually do. You guys want to join?" Cleo asked.
"Sure," Joey said, preparing himself.
"Darius?" Trevor asked. "What about you?"
"I...am not hungry," Darius said simply. Cleo nodded in understanding.
"Don't worry about him, Dad," she said. "We'll play games later and I'm sure Darius will demolish us in some of them. Now ready, set..."
The four of them started eating the wraps as quickly as they could. Joey tapped out first, not even making it halfway through before he had to put it down and take a drink. Next up, Ned gave in.
In the end, Cleo won by a narrow margin, and Trevor dramatically grasped a hand to his chest, moaning in defeat. The three youngsters laughed at him as Joey and Ned kept working their way through their wraps.
Next, Cleo blew out the imitation candles as everyone sang for her. Arx law required that candles be flameless, hence the little LED lights and sensor that would turn them off. The cake was apparently chocolate hazelnut, and Darius couldn't help but wonder what it tasted like. It certainly looked delectable. In the end, he gave in and took a small fingerful of icing and licked it up.
It tasted like nothing. And the icing started to gum up the delicate joints that allowed his tongue to function. Luckily enough, his tongue was mostly for decoration and he didn't need it for speech, but he'd get an earful when he got home for sure.
Finally, they moved to the living room where they played a variety of party games. Darius did end up winning about half of them, and he found the games to be quite enjoyable.
If he ever went to a party again, he'd have to make sure to bring plenty of games.
