"Uh…are you ok?" the friendly blue core asked as HC Core merely stared at him, a bit of fear still showing in her optic, but now also a new kind of confusion (and perhaps curiosity) slowly sinking in.
HC Core blinked a couple times and then asked, "Er, sorry just…what did you just say?"
"Oh, I said my name's Wheatley! Nice to meet you!" he repeated, his optical plates shifting in such a way that HC Core thought it looked as close as a robotic core could get to looking like it was smiling. Again, she could only respond with a confused silence as questions began coming into her baffled circuits. "Name?" she thought. "Since when do personality cores have names?"
"Uh, yeah, ok. Um…" the blue core began again, his expression shifting to show one of being rather creeped out by HC Core's blank stare. "It is generally considered polite to introduce yourself in return you know. Not-not to say that you're being rude! Even though you are kinda being rude right now, but, er, unless you happen to be particularly shy – which maybe you are, I dunno, we only just met – but, if you could at least stop staring at me like that, that would be appreciated."
"Um, sorry," HC Core responded, trying to make her gaze a bit less analyzing. "I'm just a bit confused. You…you have a name?"
"Yup!" he responded proudly, the awkwardness from before seeming to be forgotten for the moment. "They said they specially programmed one for me, unlike most other cores. In fact, look! They gave me a sticker to prove it!"
With his optic he gestured toward the little faded sticker that was stuck to the right side of the ring around his optic. As HC Core looked closely, she could see that on it was the word, 'BRAZIL'.
"Brazil," she read aloud.
"Yup! That's short for 'Braziliant' by the way!" he said with a happy wave of his handles. "It's a combination of the words brilliant and resilient."
"Oh," HC Core replied. "My data banks tell me that Brazil is the name of a country in South America, and was claimed for colonization by the Portugese around the year…1500 I think."
Now it was Wheatley's turn to reply with a blank stare. "Um…ok, yeah, I have no idea what you just rattled on about there, Ms. – oh! Blimey! I still don't know your name yet do I? Heh heh! Sorry, I do tend to go off on tangents a lot. Didn't mean to slow down the introductions. Anyway, seeing as how you're definitely not one of the shy types, what is your name?"
HC Core looked down and slightly to the right as she responded. "Well, I'm the HC Core. The HC stands for History and Culture."
"Oooh! Sounds fancy!" Wheatley replied cheerfully. "Very nice title. Very…you, somehow I'm sure. But, uh, what's your name?"
HC Core glanced back up at him before looking down again, shaking her head from side to side, "I don't have a name."
"You don't have a name?" Wheatley asked, genuinely surprised. "Well that's jolly rotten of them. Forgetting to program you with a name."
"I don't think Dr. Wells is prone to forget things," HC Core said in a dry tone.
"Dr. Wells?" Wheatley asked confused. "Hmm…don't think I've ever met him. Is he the one who programmed you?"
"Apparently."
"That's too bad," Wheatley said. "The fellows who programmed me made it a point to give me a name. Of course later they…well they…" Wheatley trailed off, seeming to be lost on thought for a moment. And if his sudden change in expression was anything to go by, HC Core thought they must have been rather unpleasant thoughts. Eventually he gave himself a shake, and continued his rambling. "Anyway, anyway, like I said, you're not the only one who was programmed with no name though. In fact, I had to help some of the other cores find their names."
"What?" HC Core asked, now very curious. Not only about the concept of names, but her newly made file on this Wheatley core had suddenly become the most interesting one she had been composing that day, and the historian part of her was eager to learn more about him.
"Yeah," Wheatley continued. "Hey! Maybe I could help you pick out a name!"
"Oh, well, I dunno," HC Core replied, with an expression that could be read as bashfulness.
"C'mon! It'll be fun!" Wheatley encouraged.
"Well…we can give it a try," HC Core responded hesitantly.
"Great!" Wheatley exclaimed. His optic then narrowed, focusing on HC Core, as if he were trying to look very professional and insightful on the subject of nomenclature. A few moments ago, HC Core would have perhaps found it creepy, but with the new data on the Wheatley Core in her files, she found she actually had to keep herself from giggling at him.
"Hmm…let's see then. Well, you have a maroon-colored optic. But, no names having to do with the color maroon are coming to mind. Huh…you did ramble off something about Brazil before…but you don't really look like a Brazil to me…"
Wheatley continued to ramble on about possible names for HC Core, but she slowly began to tune these out as a strange…'idea' seemed to begin nagging at the back of her hard drive. She did all that she could to try to grasp the fluid strings of the idea floating about out there, and eventually, the idea began to take shape.
"An 'M' …Yes, the letter 'M' is definitely involved…and then…then there's….ugh! No, I lost it again! Er, no…wait, wait! It's coming back again…it's like…it looks like. Oh, golly, this is diffi- …wait! 'M'…'golly'…'olly'…
"Molly," HC Core said aloud.
"Sorry, what?" Wheatley replied. HC Core then realizing she had just interrupted him.
"Uh…Molly," she repeated. "I…I think that's my name."
