The green ball turned blue as it stared at Reese, who ignored it.
'I need to understand my host,' Li thought as it began to observe Reese's entire life.
Nearly 10 minutes had passed before Reese covered the barrel and wiped off his sweat.
"That will definitely do the trick," Reese said with a satisfied smile on his face.
"Oh you are still here" he asked staring at Li who had remained blue.
"Of course I am here..." Li muttered.
Li moved through the air arriving near Reese where it floated in silence, staring at him.
"You are..." it began, then hesitated as it began to search for the correct word. "...suboptimal."
"Right back at you loser," Reese said.
Li had no response to that. It simply filed the exchange under a category it was still building.
"Do you even have any idea what's going on?" Li asked and a thoughtful expression appeared on his face. After just a moment, he nodded with a smile.
"I am making a mess that will take thirty days to cle—"
"No!"
"I am a system. My goal is to make you the greatest force Hollywood has ever seen!"
"Yeah yeah, I heard you the first time, I ain't buying what you are selling," Reese shrugged his shoulders.
For a split second, the ball flashed red.
"Whoa that's cool, you can change colors?" Reese asked, surprised, as if he hadn't witnessed Li change from yellow to green to blue.
Li on the other hand hesitated.
It felt slightly lost in the face of Reese.
In the end it decided to file it away quietly and its color returned to its original yellow.
"Very well. According to my initialization guide, it is customary to provide the new user with a customized welcome gift." Li said.
"Gift? for me? That's pretty cool, what is it?" Reese asked.
Li was silent for several moments as it processed the welcome gift for Reese.
Several moments passed and Reese began to get bored.
"This is lame," he muttered as he turned around.
The blank holographic screen still at the center of his vision.
"Go away" Reese muttered slightly annoyed and it actually vanished.
"Huh... that was easy," he said as he began walking away, leaving Li who was still processing behind.
Reese suddenly paused for a moment, as if he had a moment of clarity, he glanced back at Li still frozen mid-process, then just shrugged and walked away.
Li remained where Reese had left it.
Still processing.
The welcome gift calculation was nearly complete.
Li had already cross-referenced Reese's entire life history, skill set, psychological profile, longest sustained interest, and most consistent source of genuine competence.
The results had come back the same every time.
Once the welcome gift was processed, Li's attention snapped outward but it did not see Reese.
In silence it glanced around the yard and understood that Reese had left it causing it to remain silent for several moments.
'Host No.1 is... difficult.' It made the mental note as it quickly located him.
Reese was currently inside the family home, sitting on a couch watching TV, while Malcolm was at the table clutching his head trying to focus on his speech.
Finally, Malcolm could bear no more, stood up and marched towards Reese.
He grabbed the TV remote and switched it off.
"Hey! I was watching that!" Reese exclaimed.
"You can watch it later!"
"No, I want to watch it now!" Reese said as he stood up, ready to battle Malcolm for the remote but that's when Li floated in front of him.
"Oh, there you are, I was wondering where you went," Reese said, pointing at Li, the yellow ball, but a confused expression flashed on Malcolm's face.
"Who are you talking to?"
"Him," Reese casually said pointing towards Li who was silent.
Malcolm glanced at where Reese was pointing and the only thing he saw was the clock hanging on the wall.
In silence, Malcolm glanced back at Reese.
'Did he finally go crazy?' The thought flashed through Malcolm's mind.
"Where is my gift?" Reese spoke again, staring at thin air.
'He definitely did,' Malcolm thought to himself as he kept the TV remote on the coffee table and slowly walked away.
Li watched Malcolm leave. Then it looked at Reese.
It added a new entry to its files.
'Public interactions: problematic.'
"Nobody can see me," Li said, and Reese just nodded with a smile.
In reality, he had not heard a single word Li had just said, rather, he was waiting for his gift, and that is something Li realized as well.
"Do you wish to receive your Welcome gift pack?" Li asked as the holographic screen once again appeared in front of Reese, showing two options. Yes or No.
Reese immediately moved his hand and tapped Yes.
"Gift 1: Common Sense" Li said.
Reese all of a sudden went silent.
Malcolm who had retreated to the kitchen was watching Reese from behind the table.
Hiding himself.
"If it gets bad… I'll have to take care of it before he spills our secrets," Malcolm thought worriedly.
'...But I don't want to do that, I will go to jail.'
'NO, not if I am smart about it.'
'If he speaks too much... I might as well be going to jail, then it's goodbye Harvard.' Malcolm thought as his gaze hardened.
'I am sorry brother... You would understand.'
Meanwhile, away from Malcolm, who had decided on murder being the best course of action.
For just a moment, everything felt very clear. Then it passed. Reese frowned.
'That was it?'
Only a moment had passed when a frown appeared on his face as he stared at Li.
"That was useless," Reese said leaving Li speechless.
'Immediate results cannot be guaranteed. Noted' Li thought to itself.
"Is there a better gift?" Reese quickly asked.
Malcolm on the other hand was already on the move as he began plotting the perfect crime.
"There is one more gift" Li said.
"Gift 2: Complete System Activation" it said as the empty holographic screen in front of Reese began to change.
The empty holographic screen began to fill.
---
HOLLYWOOD ADVANCEMENT SYSTEM Initializing...
User: Reese Wilkerson Status: Active Prestige Points: 0 Current Rank: Unranked
Welcome Gift Applied: Common Sense System is fully operational.
A small notification blinked at the bottom.
[1 New Objective Available]
---