"What do you mean, turn the music down?"

"Please? I can hardly think."

"Exactly. And this music is awesome, and I'm not turning it down."

Qualison covered their ears in an atavistic gesture that did nothing to dampen the music the implant channeled directly into their auditory nerves. "Look," they said, "It's distracting, and I really wasn't expecting it. Maybe you could start it quieter, then we could see about turning it up?"

"Listen," Ike's voice cut cleanly through the music, coming directly to the auditory nerves the same way. "I'm as stuck in this head as you are, and nobody asked if I wanted to live with you. At least you got a choice."

"I didn't know my installed artificial companion would be a jerk!"

"And I didn't know my host would be a fun-hating whinge. We're even." The music continued to blare in Qualison's brain.

"What if I told you to turn it down?"

In a faux robotic voice, Ike said, "You are right. I am an automaton here for your service. Shutting down all joy." The music stopped.

Qualison groaned. Ike would be useless to live with for the rest of the day. There was no winning.