Planet Telex

The bell attached to the door rang twice, as the bird and her companion stepped through.
"G'day." The bird said with a smirk as she approached the counter, pulling a mess of cards from her pocket. "The usual, thanks."
"Of course." The woman behind the counter smiled as she punched the order into the computer. "And you?" she asked, turning to the dragon companion.
"It'll have the usual, too." replied the bird, before the dragon could open its mouth -- or what blue pixels represented it on its jet black visor. "Extra whipped cream, though."
"Of course!" replied the server, punching numbers into the payment terminal. "I'll bring it over."
"Thanks." The bird pressed her card to the terminal, and gave the server a sly smile, which was responded to in kind.
The dragon was too busy wondering what was inside the plastic box they were carrying to notice.

"Isn't this a bit... fragile to be taking out for coffee?" The dragon asked, tapping against the visor helmet with a rubber claw. "You won't even let me go down stairs with it."
"Fortunately," the bird replied, "there wasn't any stairs on the way here, was there, toy?"
The dragon grumbled. It had been used to being called that in public now -- it wasn't like it was refutable, their very form alike the many other rubber toys that others kept. Even if they were a fair bit smarter (or at least so they said), the only real distinguishing feature was the steel collar kept around their neck. That, at least, was unique enough to prevent them getting mixed up with another of the same model. "Technically, Owner, you have a front step." The emphasised title of the bird wasn't really as much of a retort as the dragon had hoped.
"Mhm." replied the bird, opening up the plastic box and inspecting the mess of wires inside. "Step, that is. Not plural. Plurality is the difference between a single step and stairs, you know."
The toy grumbled, digital frown showing in large blocky blue pixels on their visor. "How am I even supposed to drink this?" it said, glancing at the clear plastic cup filled with an iced coffee-like substance, topped with what seemed like an entire cow's worth of whipped cream. It decided not to grumble about the rainbow sprinkles dotting the cream, though. Those were nice, even if it wouldn't admit it.
"You're not." replied the bird, pulling a lengthy ribbon cable from the plastic box and jamming one end into a chunky electronic device. "Head down, please."
It didn't know what it was, but the toy knew that the box likely wasn't a good thing for them. "Uh, Owner, what's that? And... why do we have it here?"
"Oh, a few people wanted me to demonstrate, you see." replied the bird, absent-mindedly pressing buttons on whatever it was she was holding.
The toy noticed in the corner of its digital eye that the server from before was flipping the 'closed' sign on the door, and that a few patrons sitting around them were giving little expectant glances. "Owner..."
"Head down, toy." she said, giving the back of the visor a little push to reveal the sealed access port on the back of the visor, under the dragon's artificial neon blue mane. "This thing is hard enough to get in as it is."

The coffeeshop had a nook in the back that the pair favoured -- out of the sun, surrounded by books that the place kept, and relatively private from looks in from the street. At least the toy had that to be thankful for.
"Owner, ah, um..." mumbled the toy, as the bird pressed the connector in a little more securely. "Did you organise, uh, something?"
"You could say." she replied, as the patrons around them finished whatever meals they had and gathered around the pair, seated on couches and chairs, talking amongst themselves. "Won't be long." she said to the gathering crowd.
The toy didn't know any of the faces that were almost staring at it, but had the thought that it probably wouldn't be allowed to recognise anyone even if it did. Being in known company was much more comfortable, after all, and Owner didn't like to keep it in its comfort zone too often. Why, she argued, would a toy even need one?
"Hooo... ooookay..." it mumbled as the bird switched on the device, the pairing feeling that of an uneasy sensation of existing in two places at once, subsiding after a few seconds. "Owner, be careful with... hnn, whatever it is you're doing..."
"It's just your head, don't worry." Owner replied. "I can replace it if need be."
This didn't make the toy any less uneasy, and the implication of doing things that might even need a replacement made it squirm a little in place. It was in public, she was implying she was demonstrating something, and surely she didn't want a reputation for frying toys... which meant whatever she was doing was...
"Hnngh..." the toy groaned as its Owner switched a button on the device, its vision going a little bit fuzzy around the edges. It found it unable to do much more than keep up its embarrassed squirming, any meaningful motion being pushed back on by the little device.
"So, a few of you were interested in the cyberhelmet developments." its Owner said, turning to the small gathering. "This here is a Generation IV dragon toy, relatively standard. I haven't tested directly on other models, but experimentation on neural standins has been promising."
A few nodded, eyes fixed on the toy before them. It knew it was being stared at in earnest now, but whatever that little box was doing made it difficult to do anything about it.

"Direct neural uplink isn't new, of course..." continued the bird, gesticulating with one hand as the other gripped the control box. "But optimisation has allowed the link to be performed over a mere forty pins, and a bandwidth closer to a potential wireless connection without degradation of quality."
"Great." thought the toy, unable to command its speakers to say it. "I'm being controlled over an IDE cable."
"The cyberhelmet does the needed compression and serialisation, as well as incorporating some of the Generation V features of the domestic model." continued the bird, ignoring the quiet protests of the dragon beside her. "As you can see, the visor allows for a wide range of communication potential without the development cost of a fully modelled facial features."
"You don't mind the facial features when you're fucking th-" the toy began grumbling in thought, only for a button press on the device to derail it with a hard wave of pleasure. It tried not to moan, but it wasn't really in control of its physical body at the moment. "Right... right... you can read these on that, I bet..."
A few of the gathering who were more focused on the toy gave a bit of a smirk at the sudden moan. It seemed these were the ones that used their toys for more than just cleaning the house, it reckoned.
"Of course, we can use this uplink to provide behavioural reinforcement, just at the press of a button."
The button press click registered after the corresponding wave of pleasure, listening circuits jammed up by the mental fuzz. The toy groaned a bit more, drifting to the side slightly, head almost resting on its Owner's shoulder.
It didn't hear much after that, or really have any idea about what was going on around it. Time was only broken up by subsequent button presses sending the toy further into bliss, and it surely knew it would be moaning for the audience, with some sort of embarrassing drooling face showing on their visor.

A moment of slight clarity allowed it a single thought, which it used to wonder if its iced coffee was still cold. The blush burning on its face felt like it might melt it before Owner was done with her demonstration.