Richard groaned in frustration. Motherboard had configured her portals in a way that was rather unorthodox, considering that they'd never been used for such a specific purpose before. He wiped his brow, and continued poring over her various notes on her setup, They weren't the difficult part though, he could understand them easily. The difficult part was implementing the system in a way where she would still have total control over it.
"Richard, are you alright?" Marbles asked, concerned. They had been working at it for three hours and it seemed that little progress was made.
Richard sighed. "I'm fine Marbles, just...a little frustrated. This hasn't really been done before. I think I might need a little breather, could you close Motherboard up for me?"
"Certainly," Marbles replied.
Richard walked out of the room, exhausted. On his way to the bathroom, he heard the doorbell ring. "Richard, could you answer that?" Motherboard called. "Yes, Motherboard," he replied, walking over and opening the door to reveal none other than her fiance, Antoine Klemmons standing there.
"Oh, hello Antoine, what brings you here?" he asked.
"I'm here to check up on my fiance, if that's alright with you, "Antoine replied, smiling.
"Of course, come in. I'm off to take a little break but Marbles is in with Motherboard if you three would like to chat," Richard said.
"Alright, thank you Richard. Don't stress yourself out too much," Antoine said, waving at him before heading into the main room.
Marbles had just finished closing Motherboard up when Antoine walked in, somewhat sheepishly.
"Ah, Antoine, it's good to see you!" Marbles said, greeting him with a hug. "How have your studies been going?"
"They're going alright. It's a large workload, but I'm on a break now, so I decided to use that time to visit you and my beloved Melissa."
"Hello darling, " Motherboard said, smiling warmly.
Antoine returned the smile. "How have you been adjusting?"
"It's been rather... interesting, to say the least. It feels strange to be doing so many things at once without breaking a sweat. The view of Cyberspace from here makes it all worth it though. I wish you two could see it like this, it's so beautiful!" she sighed.
"Although interesting is a mild way of putting it, considering my sister can keep an eye on me at all times of the day, " Marbles added wryly.
"Well, after that little adventure you had in Ann Arky's Triangle, somebody has to," Motherboard teased.
"You know we did not intend to go there, sister dear," Marbles retorted in mock annoyance.
"I'm sure you both had a lovely time there though," Motherboard smirked.
"Melissa!" Marbles exclaimed, blushing. He turned to Antoine in mock exasperation.
"You see Antoine, ever since the transfer, she's become a bit more...bold," he said.
"I can see that," Antoine smiled, stealing a quick glance at her. Even with her now mismatched eyes, the supercomputer seemed to enhance her beauty.
Motherboard seemed to notice his attempt at a covert glance and felt a come-hither smile cross her lips. "Having a good look, are we?" she teased flirtatiously.
Antoine turned, and startled slightly at the expression on her face. That look she was giving him was quite...powerful. "Uh, just a little bit, " he admitted sheepishly.
Motherboard smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry if I scared you Antoine. I haven't ever felt so confident before. It's been years since I've been able to have this much fun, so I apologize if I end up getting too playful."
"No need to apologize darling," Antoine said, smiling again. "In fact, I do like seeing this fun side of you more often."
"Affirmative. I also feel like it has been a long time since you've been this joyful Melissa," Marbles added. "I must admit, I rather enjoy it as well, even if it involves me being the frequent victim of your teasing."
"I expect nobody's ever really thought of the ruler of Cyberspace having a sense of humor before," Antoine commented.
"Actually, Sir Dalhart was quite well known for his sense of fun," Richard said from the front of the room. He'd been watching the banter since getting out of the shower and it was nice to see so much joy in Control Central again.
"Ah, Richard, are you feeling better?" Motherboard asked.
"I am indeed Motherboard, and I've figured out how to fully implement your portal setup into your systems. If we make it one of your central functions, you should be able to have full control with just your mind. Once it's fully implemented, you should just be able to picture the locations you'd like the portal to appear at and it'll appear," he explained.
"How soon can we have this done?" Motherboard asked.
"As soon as you'd like," Richard replied.
"Excellent. Antoine dear, would you like to spend a couple of nights here?"
"I'd love to, darling. I'm going to grab something to eat, so I'll leave you three to your work," Antoine said, walking out of the room.
"Alright, let's begin," Richard said.