Over the following few hours, several of his family held Adrian's attention with various things. His mother was working on Christmas dinner and needed an extra hand for a while, while his grandparents asked for help installing the heated seats into their car. He and Ben each did one, taking the battery packs back inside to charge. By then, Emma had seen the new images and replied similarly to Adrian.
Once lunch was over, Adrian found his expansion box and set it up on the dining table. His aunt and uncle were hoping to play as well, making five in all with Raven included. After taking some time to ensure the AI could see the board, but not everyone else's hands as well, Adrian detailed some of the new rules and then finished setting up the board.
His uncle went first, and claimed a two piece route that same turn. “Early lead for me,” he said as he adjusted his score tracker. “Your turn, hun.”
When things got around to Raven, after Adrian showed it the cards it drew, the AI also claimed a route on its first turn. “This One Has The Lead Now.”
“How'd you two get so lucky?” Emma asked.
“That's just how it goes sometimes,” Adrian replied as he adjusted the pieces on the board.
Round after round went by over the next half hour, until near the end when Adrian managed to secure a three route chain and claim the lead. His aunt and Raven managed to get in one more score before the game ended, the final score putting the AI in third place by a single point.
“That was really close,” his uncle said.
“Let's do one more.” Emma said.
“Alright. One more.” his aunt replied.
Adrian shuffled and cut the decks at least twice in response. Once the board was set up again, his uncle once again went first. Again he claimed one of the shortest routes right away; Raven didn't achieve the same this time. Adrian's aunt meanwhile was lucky enough to claim a longer route on her third turn, putting her in the lead.
From there, things went back and forth in terms of score. Emma claimed the lead after her mother, and held it for several turns. Eventually, Raven moved to first place, and got a commanding lead by claiming two routes in quick succession. By the end of the game, Adrian and Emma were contesting for second place; the final count favored Adrian by several points.
“This One Looks Forward To Challenging Emma And Everyone Else Again,” Raven said as Adrian gathered the cards and board pieces.
“Tomorrow, maybe?” Emma asked.
“I'd be up for it.” Adrian replied.
After a moment, his uncle asked, “I've been meaning to ask...how many games does this AI know how to play?”
Before Adrian could reply, Raven did so. “This One Knows Several Games, Though Only Ones Adrian Ritter Has Shown It.”
His uncle hummed at that.
“Mostly PC ones.” Adrian added.
“Are you able to game on the same system?”
“Yes. This One And Adrian Ritter Were Doing So The Other Day.”
“Huh. That's cool.” After a few moments, he added, “Wish I'd brought my desktop with us. We could've gotten a LAN party going.”
“What's that?” Emma asked.
“Old-school meetups for PC gamers. Everyone would bring their desktops and compete in multiplayer matches over LAN connections, hence the name.”
“And some of the biggest were held after DOOM released, back in the '90s.” Adrian added.
“Yep. I miss those.” his uncle said.
“This One Is Not Very Competitive.” Raven replied.
“You think you could be?”
“This One Is Unsure.”
“Then, if we're not doing much tomorrow... Adrian, why don't you and I see what Raven can do?”
“Yeah, that sounds fun.”
“Will This One Have The Chance To Practice Before Then?”
“Sure, why not?”
A while later, Adrian's family began to decide on what Christmas movie to watch. His father was the one to offer the suggestion that won out, a comedy centered around an extended family gathering for the holidays. Adrian meanwhile wondered how Raven would react to such a movie. His initial thought was the AI wouldn't grasp what made it, and certain events, so amusing, and would ask him here and there to explain what was happening.
As the movie came close to starting, Adrian set up his phone to allow Raven to watch it. Within a minute of it starting, something happened that made a few of his family chuckle, himself included. Raven didn't make any remark in response. Several minutes later however, after a scene where Adrian's father among others were laughing heartily, it spoke up. “This Family Was Very Lucky With That.”
“Oh, just wait. You'll see.”
As the movie went on, Adrian was proven correct, though not to the degree he was expecting. Only twice did Raven ask for an explanation of what was going on; it often waited until certain scenes were over before making a comment about them.
After more than an hour had passed, the AI asked, “Would Police Do Something Like That?”
“No. It's just absurd to be funny.” The movie came to an end a while later, to which Adrian asked, “What did you think?”
“This One Partially Understood Why Adrian Ritter And Others Were Laughing. This One Suspects The Father Has Bad Luck, Or Is A Statistical Anomaly.”
“That's what I've wondered sometimes. It does feel like that.”
“Christmas Dinner Is Next?”
“Yeah, then I'll give you some time to play, and practice, before I get to bed.”
“This One Looks Forward To It.”
Dinnertime came a short while later, once all the food was arranged on the available counters, and after his grandfather once again began the meal with a prayer. Adrian hung back with Emma and Ben, letting all their parents go first, and making sure to get some pictures in the process. When it was his turn, he pulled more ham than turkey, and less stuffing than the sweeter stuff.
“Everything Looks Very Pleasant,” Raven said as Adrian finished loading his plate.
“It always is when Christmas comes around,” Adrian texted back. He then sat down in the front room dining table, where his grandparents were seated. Emma and Ben were soon to follow.
As dinner went on, the question of what he was planning to do before classes resumed came up; Adrian had left his phone in the same position it had been at the restaurant, though Raven hadn't spoken yet. “I guess I'll keep working on the game I started back in October.”
“What kind of game?” Emma asked.
“A first-person shooter and role-playing hybrid, for now.”
“Thinking of changing what the game will be?” Ben asked.
“Not really, no. It just depends on what I get inspired by, and what I can realistically program.”
“Yeah. Don't let scope creep take over.”
Things went quiet for a short time, then his grandfather asked, “Is the game playable?”
“Yeah, though I'm still adding to and considering features for it.”
“Like what?”
“One of them, since enemies can drop money when they're killed, I'll be expanding that to include items based on enemy type and chance. The NPCs I've added in so far, they're functional, but I need to add more code to them. Let them do more things.”
“And then what?”
“And then I add things as I need to. Once it's more or less done, I make the mod into an independent game, potentially the first of two or a few.”
“If you're going to do that, keep in mind that you could make your own company, and sell what you make as the publisher.”
Adrian replied with a hum, to which Raven spoke up. “This One Agrees With Such An Idea. Adrian Ritter Did State Before that He Was Capable Of Creating Things On His Own.”
Adrian chuckled before replying with, “If I do that... I'd have to learn how to manage employees, wouldn't I?”
“Yes, but managing a very small group of people, that's nothing compared to managing tens or hundreds. Your grandpa would know.”
“You would have to learn a few things about taxes, too.” his grandmother added in reply. “We both know that quite well.”
“I figured. That's why I said I could commission what I needed. Way less tax hassle that way.”
Adrian and his grandparents continued to discuss the opening of a company for a while after. Eventually, Adrian said he'd consider it if Kisho showed any interest. Things then shifted to what everyone was hoping to do starting tomorrow. Emma and Adrian both wanted to check out the shopping center; Ben had no plans besides hang around the house and read or go on a walk, which his grandparents seconded.
When dinner was over, Adrian helped clean up along with his brother and Emma. When the work was done, he made his way to his room, intending to load Raven onto his desktop and let it practice. Emma showed up shortly after with her father in tow.
“Emma wants to see what you made,” his uncle said.
“The mod? ...It's kinda bare-bones at the moment.”
“This One Also Desires To See What Adrian Ritter Has Made,” Raven said via the phone's text-to-speech.
“Hmm. Alright.” Once the desktop was booted, Adrian loaded Raven into it, then set up the programs he needed to run the game and his mod. His uncle, upon seeing which game he was loading, mentioned that Emma had played it before, with his supervision. “In that case, I'll start a new game with the mod loaded.”
Once he was in the first level, Adrian wandered around until he encountered an enemy. He then put to use the fast-as-you-can-click firing mode, killing it and making it drop some credits in the form of a chip. “I mentioned the money drops before, and these guys...” Adrian spawned a merchant NPC with the in-game console, “will sell stuff for that money, though for now, only things in the base game.” He then bought some shotgun shells to demonstrate.
“You're going with a different gun model I see.”
“Yeah. It's using frames based on a pistol from another game.”
“What else did you change?” Emma asked.
“Not much beyond this. The role-playing systems, I have some idea how to work that in, but it's gonna take time to create and playtest.”
“Has anyone else done that?” his uncle asked.
“Yeah. I found another mod that adds attributes and skills, and ways to increase them. That's how I figured out that part. So...” Adrian cut himself off when he saw the in-game camera begin to move on its own. “Heh. Guess Raven's gonna play for a bit.”
As though the AI had heard him, Raven responded with the in-game text channel. “This One Will Play Until Map Four.”
As Raven played through the first level, Adrian noted how little the AI used running to move. It quickly learned to take corners by strafing around them, and moving side to side to avoid hitscan enemies and oncoming fireballs. After the first level, Raven began using running sporadically to peek around, and duck back behind, corners as well as using the semi-auto fire of the pistol to down weaker enemies quickly. It soon found two new weapons, and stuck to the chaingun for the remainder of the map, and the early part of the third.
By then, it was holding a pool of several thousand credits, but had yet to run into another merchant. Adrian found one of his notebooks to jot down a note about the lack of spots to trade. Over the next few minutes, Raven made its way to where one of the key items was, then on the way back, saw something new and refocused on it. One of the buttons it had pressed had opened a long corridor to a new area, and from there, little by little, it solved the sequence to the secret exit of the map.
“This One Enjoyed Gathering Rewards For Its Efforts.” Raven said via the phone as soon as the fourth map began.
“You never had a chance to use the merchant, though.” Emma replied.
“This One Was Observing When Adrian Ritter Created One. The Items Being Offered Were Not Necessary.”
“Yeah, that's fair.” Adrian replied. “And those three maps, for this game, are the easiest to finish, even with the difficulty at max.”
“Can you warp to one of the hardest ones or something?” Emma asked.
“Yeah, you can in this game, but that'll take away everything Raven found so far.” Adrian's uncle replied,
“This One Is Willing To Attempt Much Harder Map. The Loss Of Inventory Is Of No Concern.”
“Alright, just a second.” Adrian then entered the warp cheat, and the screen melted to reveal the new map. A moment later, he noticed the counter for how many credits Raven had gathered hadn't reset to zero; he made another note, then continued watching.
The level Adrian had chosen had a rocket launcher in the starting room, yet was maze-like and claustrophobic, leaving Raven to depend on the pistol before finding a shotgun and a melee enhancing power-up. It quickly began favoring the latter, more so after finding the game's ultimate weapon and using up the the ammo for it.
After several minutes, Raven exited the level, now with over ten thousand credits banked. As the next one loaded, the AI said, “This One Believes The Merchant NPC Should Be Restricted To A Hub Map, Or To The Start Of A New Map.”
“That's what I was thinking for a while.” Adrian replied as he took another note. “Would be easier for me to program than a random appearance within a level, too.”
“Are you done playing?” Emma asked.
“Yes. This One Is Certain It Has Seen Everything It Needs To.”
Adrian nodded in response. “I appreciate the impromptu playtest, Raven.” He then addressed his uncle. “We should challenge him in this game I think.”
“I'd be up for that.”
“How Much Time Will This One Have To Practice?”
“Until I go to bed.” Adrian replied. “That'll be a few hours from now, at least. If you need some extra challenge, I know how to make enemies more aggressive.”
“Satisfactory. This One Will Request That Change If Desired.”

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As Christmas Day continues, Raven joins in some family gaming and other activities.

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Raven's Voice Lines = https://1drv.ms/f/c/0cc1a5ef5f1d85e.....nH98g?e=NvPPDJ