Title taken from "Another Believer" from Meet the Robinsons.
"Well, looks like we don't have to worry about him" declared Jay.
Zane nodded in agreement, "Yes. He seems to be adjusting well to living in Ninjago".
Unagami listened to the exchange with a furrowed brow, confused at what the ninja were talking about. The conversation just didn't feel right. Speaking up, the AI asked the ninja, "Are you talking about me?"
Both ninjas' gazes shot to the child, and, not missing a beat Jay immediately replied, "Yup. But all good things, I promise".
"Ah" said Unagami looking pensively to the floor. The answer only made Unagami more sure about the next question, "Why do you keep calling me that?"
"Calling you what, Unagami?" asked Zane, worried that he had said something to hurt the young computer's feelings.
" 'he' 'him'" Unagami stated, pointing to the examples in the ninjas' previous dialogue.
Jay gave the child a puzzled look, "Well, because you're a person. We don't want to call you 'it'! That's just rude!"
The computer child nodded, understanding this explanation, to a certain extent. What Unagami didn't understand was the why. "Why specifically those terms? What do they signify?"
Jay suddenly shifted his stance nervously, uncertain about where this conversation was going, "Ummm, I dunno. Like, male? Like a boy, a dude, a...you know?"
"I do not" Unagami commented straightforwardly.
At the declaration, Zane got an understanding look. "So would you say that you are not male?"
The computer blinked at the nindroid, before stating, "I don't know what that means".
"Ah" said Zane to himself in realization, before telling Jay the conclusion he had come to, "Unagami is an AI, a computer" he told his friend as though that explained everything.
"Yeah, doy. It's almost like we met him when he trapped us in a video game or something" snarked Jay, giving the nindroid a raised eyebrow.
"You misunderstand my point. Unagami has no concept of gender. That's why it was so confusing when we said male pronouns" elaborated Zane.
Jay still looked confused, "Yeah, so? You're a nindroid, and you aren't confused when we call you 'he'."
"I am different. My father created me with the intention of making me as close to human as possible, including a programmed-in gender" gesturing to where Unigami was listening with interest, Zane concluded, "Unigami had no such parameters during their creation".
Unigami nodded their head, agreeing with Zane's proposal, "That sounds accurate. My maker did not even realize I was a person to think to program me with such an understanding"
"Oh" reacted Jay when this all finally sunk in. Laughing sheepishly, he mentioned, "Yeah, I guess we all just kinda assumed you were a guy because of the whole, like, beard and voice and things"
They gave Jay a confused look, reminding him in an annoyed voice, "As I told you, I can look like whatever I want. That appearance was just the default that I stole from the original boss of my game. I consider this" they gestured widely at their current appearance, "Far closer to my actual form".
"Uh..oh." he embarrassedly rubbed at the back of his head, feeling slightly guilty. "Sorry" he apologized. "Does, ah, did we hurt your feelings?" he asked nervously, knowing that Unagami was fairly sensitive.
Luckily they shook their head, telling him, "No. I'm not offended. It was confusing more than anything else. It just seems inaccurate. It's not what I am, after all."
Zane crouched down to the small AI's level, placing a reassuring hand on their shoulder, "We can call you something else, then, if 'he' makes you uncomfortable".
"I would prefer that" they admitted.
"Cool" replied Jay, looking relieved that all of this went over smoothly. "I guess we'll just have to let everyone else know about..erm, them, then".
I just got kinda annoyed when everyone started calling Unagami "him" even when knowing they were a computer program? Like, even Pixal did that, you figured she of all people wouldn't assume an AI was male. Normally this doesn't bug me, but Unagami doesn't seem to have any say, choice, or interaction with the people that call them 'he'? (Also Childgami's design, for being Lego, seems pretty NB to me.) So here, have this HC that literally no one asked for.