The frigid wind of Copper-9 made itself known as it whistled around them. The lack of light, not helped by no apparent emergency power in the building, made their foraging an activity to be done by dronelight. Uzi cursed out loud over having not found a working flashlight yet. Her eye light and secondary lights being the only things she could see in the dark with. She looked over at her companion in sudden irritation, his many lights making him the biggest source of light available.
The way he walked she was sure he didn't even need it. Something told her his confidence was something built in, and that wasn't about his personality either. The guy could be clumsy, but this confidence was likely the work of one of many functions he was built with. He was a creature of the night, it was only natural he was built to see in it too.
She cursed out loud again, which finally prompted a reply, "you... good?".
Uzi kicked some object away. She couldn't tell what it was. "No! This stupid building is so dark! How am I supposed to find stuff in it?", she vented.
N set a hand on her shoulder, "we could always just do this some other time. Doesn't have to be tonight!".
Uzi pouted and then immediately backpedaled on that hoping her earlier theory was incorrect. If N had noticed, she couldn't tell. Curse this darkness and curse how easy he has it. She couldn't just open up and say the truth; how much she needed a break from fixing the pod and V's presence in general. They needed supplies and tonight felt like a good time to look anyway. The lack of light had become a huge problem.
"Nope", she loudly stated, "doing this tonight. Gotta be tonight!".
"Ok...", he trailed off saying this, "can you at least see alright?".
She flailed in his direction, hoping for contact. Her hand hit him, and she briefly smirked at the one thing that had gone right for her so far tonight, "I said I couldn't! Were you even listening?".
He rubbed the arm she'd slapped him on, "uh, yeah. Sorry. It's just that I don't really... have that problem?".
She frowned, an action he could see clearly. His mouth was a mystery to her. Uzi gave a repugnant look, "yeah, figures. Nightvision, huh?". She scowled at the five lights on the band on his head, his real eyes.
His display, which held the eyes he emoted with, suddenly changed expression, "yeah, is that what it's called? It's just always been there, so I don't really think about it much!".
Uzi gave him an uncomfortably long look before setting her sights on his tail specifically. She moved towards him and he moved away thinking she needed to go past him. However, as he turned she flailed again and struck something the same color as gold, the end of his tail. The vial on the end held within it some fluorescent fluid - acid - she figured it was better not to ask why it behaved this way. She had better questions to ask right now anyway.
Like why he yelped when she touched it.
"Dude, chill, it's the biggest source of light here!", she stated, moving her hold on it further towards the tip.
"U-Uzi, uh", he stammered, "ya'know, you might uh- Might... hurt yourself with it? Or, uh...".
She frowned, "So? I'll just be careful holding it. Obviously means we'll have to be glued at the hip for this venture, though".
"No, uh... I would rather you didn't touch it at all".
She pulled her face away from the bright light of the vial and noted a particularly bright hue on his screen. Uzi immediately released it, the cord snapping back to its owner like an obedient dog. Sensitive? The thing was sensitive ? Well, either that or it was some taboo she wasn't clued in on, or he was just particular about his tail. Uzi noted that the surroundings had become a little more tinted in her body's light's color than usual, catching a glimpse of her own face in a reflection and seeing that her expression had mirrored N's.
Uzi turned away, her sudden embarrassment not helping the situation, "I-I didn't know! I thought those things were just... Ya'know! I don't know!".
"It's fine, I'm fine", she heard him say. She didn't dare look at him. Knowing him he meant what he'd said, but she couldn't shake the idea this time he might not be honest since she's never seen him react like that before. She'd made this trip more awkward than it needed to be, even if this wasn't intentional.
Her vision was now becoming much more aware of her surroundings since she stopped looking at him. The apertures in the lenses for her sight now allowed to open greater, no longer having to be shut tighter to protect her internal optics from N's Christmas tree-esque light system. Really, even taking away all those additional vision systems, the guy would still be able to walk around fine with just basic vision.
Well, that settled it. "Hey", she said, "I think I'll be able to see better if we split up here".
"Oh...", came his reply. She was perturbed by the lack of emotion in it.
She attempted a wave at him without looking still. "Yeah, it's... it's not you, it's me. I see better if I'm not around you. That alright?", she asked him.
He was quiet for an uncomfortably long few seconds, "no, no, that's alright".
Uzi winced. That sounded like a really uncertain 'yes' to her. "Just... If you find anything we need, you should have no problem finding me", so much was counting on her keeping her vision off him even if she really wanted to check back and make sure the guy was ok. She'd blundered this mission so much that to do so would make everything come tumbling down. Curse her vision, and curse herself for not being prepared with a flashlight to begin with.
He gave her a thumbs up, a gesture out of habit and not so she would see it, "alright, if you need help just call me".
A growl tried to escape Uzi's audio output, but she was quick to stop it. Whatever happens, she could handle it. N was insurance, if anything. "Yeah, I'll do that", she stated, unable to think of anything better to say.
He watched her stumble off to another room feeling very confused by what he'd just witnessed. Concern was quick to set in, though it was also offset by the physical touch response his tail kept giving him. He took the extremity into his hands to soothe it. She'd told him what she was looking for before they left the spire, so that wasn't an issue. He just felt... alienated? She'd treated him fairly equally up to this point, it felt wrong to be seen as this - what he was - again. Looking at his surroundings again, he noticed how little of a difference Uzi's departure had made on the lighting on the area, and it sunk in again their differences. His visage was covered in hazard lines and yellow lights marking him as something to be seen and feared. She, by comparison, didn't need all these extra functions - all these markers to label her a predator. She was fearsome, something he could attest to, but not built intentionally as such, unlike him.
Some sickened feeling overcame him and he released the appendage. It was better to forget and just get to being useful. His tail kept its distance as he surveyed the surroundings. Some of the racks overhead held some strange objects. He took a look at them only to find out it was laundry supplies. Not useful.
He looked back over to the room Uzi disappeared off to wondering if he should see how she's doing, but had to quell that thought. She probably didn't want to see him, she'd literally said as much, it made sense that it meant more than that even. He frowned.
N took a look into an adjacent room and took stock. Nightvision was coming into use more as he identified the contents among the furniture of the room. Chairs, couch, an entertainment set-up which he looked at eagerly. The urge to see what could be experienced on that set-up took a firm grasp on him, and he almost sought out the remote control for it before remembering the night's goal. They needed mechanical parts for the pod which the entertainment set-up could provide. She wouldn't hate him any more than she already did if he took a quick at it, right? He reached for the remote and pressed a button, nothing happening. Another few presses happened before he remembered that the building had no power. Of course Uzi would remember that, but not him. He audibly sighed and pressed a hand to his face.
He could make it up to her, he supposed. Something of probable use was right there before him, all he had to do was disassemble it for parts - something he was literally designed to do, even if not in the traditional sense. He took a look at the monitor at the forefront of the set-up and quickly found the power cable for it. He unplugged it, carrying away the object to the couch. Next, he looked over various communication boxes. Didn't these used to be all one object? There certainly was a lot here. Various branding decorated the items, which at first distracted him, then he realized they weren't important. This wasn't on Uzi's list. He disregarded them and looked further into the strange electronics.
N didn't look long though before a loud bang happened elsewhere.
Uzi stumbled her way into the new room. Her optics had improved somewhat, but making sense of her surroundings was still mostly a guessing game. Her waist bumped into something soft and firm. Her hands flew over it, finding a mattress on a bed. Bedroom, likely nothing good in here. Still, she pressed on. Her hands identified a nightstand near the bed. The bulbs in the light might be useful, but not at this stage in the repairs.
She sighed and wandered over to another area of the room. Her weak eyesight could make out a wardrobe and she rushed over. Her hands quickly opened it, accidentally smacking herself with the doors. She shouted a curse and then covered her mouth with her hands hoping N hadn't heard it. He must not have, as he shouted no reply. Her face grew bright at the situation, though she was relieved he wasn't there to see this. Her hands flew over the various nooks and crannies of the object, hoping there would be a flashlight somewhere.
At last, her hands found some item that seemed like it could be a flashlight. She pulled and found it didn't budge. Was it stuck? In her frustration, she pulled at it harder. Still no difference. She cursed again and kicked the wardrobe. Back at the object, she pulled again with increased focus. In her focus though, she neglected to feel the weight of the wardrobe suddenly pressing itself to her. It fell on her, as did several other surrounding objects and a shelf overhead.
N literally flew through the house at the sound of the commotion. He pressed through the doorway to the room he knew Uzi had gone through. "Uzi?", he called out, "you good?". No response. He noted the obvious spill on one side of the room and wandered over to it. He looked at the pile and a disturbing feature pointed itself out to him, a hand. He gently took this hand that he recognized as Uzi's, and pulled.
To his horror, it pulled off.
His eyes hallowed at the hand in his hands. It leaked oil and the triangle on the backface of the hand still glowed purple.
"Uzi?", he shouted with concern, fear even. He started to lift off the various objects. The topmost objects from the overhead shelves were pulled off first, thrown aside without care. The wardrobe was next, hauled out of the way without much care either.
He finally beheld her body. A cracked diagnostic screen showed at him through the dark which he took an immediate interest in. N wasn't too good at these things, but it didn't seem fatal. It was almost relieving if it wasn't for the fact that her hand had come off moments ago. He looked over the rest of her and frowned, he noted an item had managed to shear itself into one of her legs. N took her into his hands, gently propping her up into him, "Uzi? I-It's ok. I'll fix this". He took the broken arm and took a good look at it. He didn't quite think his nanites could repair this yet, so he gently bent the ripped end of the appendage into shape and did the same thing to the ripped part of the hand. Now for the nanites, he was almost glad she was offline for this. Both ripped ends were coated in a layer of nanites thanks to his mouth. He placed the two together and watched as they worked to repair the damage. Soon enough, the arm became whole again.
The leg was still a huge issue, but he took a moment to wonder what to do about her cracked screen. The fix was obvious, but the application had him manifesting sweat drops on his own screen. Just do what he'd always wanted to do to the lips of another drone to her screen, that's all to it, right? His screen loudly exclaimed his fluster over this. This was wrong. She wasn't online to grant him that permission and knowing her, she'd kill him herself if he attempted that on her at all. Am I really considering kissing Uzi?
He shook his head. This was ridiculous. There's always another way, right? Just spit on her screen? Or... He took a look at his available hand and spat into that. N rubbed it into Uzi's face, looking away all the while. There, he hadn't done the deed and she still ended up being fixed. Problem solved, and all it involved was repression of the act that made it happen. Still better than kissing it all better, right?
His screen erupted into fluster again remembering that Uzi still had a leg to be fixed. He laid her torso down so he could get on all fours to inspect the leg. He removed the offending object, a floor lamp, and noted the leg was nearly severed by it. The lamp bent easily in his hand. He regarded her with sympathy. He didn't think the leg could be bent back into shape without the help of his nanites. N took the appendage into his mouth and quickly noted the taste of her oil dripping in. It was a surprising amount and he was very tempted to scarf down as much down as he could. No! No! Bad! She's your friend, and right now she's hurt! He coated the area in nanites and pulled away. He was shocked at how much oil had spilled from her wounds. The floor was covered in it. Soon enough, the nanites had repaired the leg too.
Hopeful, he took her back into his arms again, "Uzi?", he asked. No reply. His brows appeared, "Uzi, you good?". Nothing changed. The diagnostic screen laughed at him. He whimpered, "Uzi...". She wasn't dead, right? Her system hadn't registered it as such yet. That was good. Maybe she just needed a reboot? How do you reboot a Worker?
The solution came as something he'd been the subject of many times.
His hand was raised and he almost wasn't sure he could do it, but he had to. He swiftly took it and slapped her across the face. The action felt alien. It had always been done to him and never the other way around. Being the instigator of this felt awkward, and especially so considering he performed it on Uzi. He hoped she wouldn't know.
Soon enough, the diagnostic screen went away and was soon replaced by a short boot-up sequence. Her eyes appeared, "e-N?".
"Uzi! Uzi, you good?", he asked.
A warning popped up on her screen. He took a good look at it:
WARNING: OIL LEVEL CRITICALLY LOW.
(BRO YOU SHOULD PROBABLY GET A DRINK OR SOMETHING)
Her eyes returned, now hallowed and weary, "N? ...N?".
"Uzi, it's fine!", he pleaded, "I-I'll fix this too. Don't worry!".
"F-Fix...?", she questioned.
He nodded vigorously, "yeah, it'll be fine!". She looked at him unblinkingly and N found this extremely disturbing.
Her hand began to paw at his face. He thought she was trying to slap him, but quickly realized there didn't seem to be any meaning behind it. "Uh, Uzi?", he asked, "what are you uh... doing?". Her mouth opened, but nothing came out of her audio output. She began to feel unnaturally warm.
"Oh jeez, uh", he stammered as he struggled to think of a solution. He had a crazy thought. N brought her head to his neck, gently holding it in place with one hand while the other kept a hold on her body. "Uzi, this is probably really, really stupid of me, but I want you to bite me!", he stated. Part of this registered as her eyes dilated for a brief moment, only for it to fall through as enough of the processes that made up her digital mind had at this point been turned off to prevent overheat damage to her CPU and related internal mechanics. "Uzi!", he pleaded, "you need oil, so just drink mine! Ya'know, 'bite me'! That works for you guys too, right?".
He didn't feel her even attempt it. This was dumb, he didn't know if Worker teeth were capable of it in the first place and no doubt the oil running through his body was bound to be way more hot than hers usually got. Nothing was happening, and his screen again became more yellow at the useless intimacy of the moment. In any case, she was likely to overheat soon and his fireplace of a chassis wasn't going to help that one bit.
Taking a gentle, almost fearful, hold of her, he transported her to the bed and laid her down. She looked at him in that same semi-alert state, but the blinking process had evidently stopped and she made no attempts to move or speak.
"Hey", he began, "I'm gonna go find you some oil. Just... stay here. Please?". Her eyes tracked his movement, but said nothing. "Uzi, it's- It's really freaking me out seeing you like that...", his teeth were bared in a wide, agonized look. Her eyes finally blinked, which shook him out of it briefly.
He looked away, the environment fairly easy to see with his multiple different vision systems. He couldn't think of where he'd even find any oil within this building. He took good note of a window nearby though. That was the only place that came to mind where he'd find any. He felt so foolish for considering the outside world for this. Uzi could've figured out if there was any in the building. She would've known, she knew what to do in any situation. Here he was only being useful because he just so happened to be built with a feature that could repair her in almost any way but this oil issue.
N looked back at her, her eyes still on his figure. By now it had set in how little she saw in the dark compared to him. He figured she was focusing on his assorted lights to see him. She wasn't built to do this, to live in the world that she'd been created in. Not exactly literally at least. He and his kind were foreign entities to this planet, and if it wasn't for her railgun she'd have been killed when they first met. She may literally be small, but weak was something he'd never thought of her as, not until now. Well, no more wasted time, her condition would only get worse.
Sympathy and concern overcame him as he approached the bedside. He was almost considering the odds of returning and her system actually overheating between now and then. Dark thoughts that he really didn't want to consider, but led him to doing what he did next. He reached an arm over her and drew himself to her, pulling her into a hug. The temptation to savor the contact was strong. She hated being touched even on such innocuous acts, but the idea of this possibly being his last interaction with her did some disturbing things to his psyche. He pulled away and again cursed his body, the heat he provided definitely didn't help things.
"I'll be back, I promise".
He went over the window and carefully crawled out of it. There was a several story drop below him, so his wings came out as he turned around to close the window. His attention flew to the street below him, scanning for any signs of mechanical life on it. He soon spotted a corpse and jetted towards it. The Disassembler landed next to the corpse and looked over it. The Worker had been sheared through in multiple places, several limbs severed. Something he'd seen many times, grown used to looking forward to it even, but looking at it now brought an unease to him.
The drone's face was unaffected by the mayhem that had been launched on its body. He peered at it, finding the drone to have a hairpiece on under their helmet. Probably a newer drone, one built after humanity had been erased from the planet.
N ? He hadn't heard that, right? A pair of purple eyes peered back at him for a moment. He withdrew from the body, finding it still just a corpse as he initially saw it as. Their screen sat blank and their mouth likely hadn't been moved since it performed its dying breath, however long ago that was. Just a corpse. Just a corpse . He willed himself to approach it again. If he wasn't quick about this trip for oil, this same fate would befall Uzi. The Disassembler took a trembling hand to the body and lifted it up. To his horror, it bled dry. Any oil it once held had been sucked dry by him and his team. He froze in that realization. Did he kill this Worker? He'd killed so many he wouldn't be able to remember them all. The bodies all blurred together in his digital mind. Picking one out that he knew he had killed wasn't an easy task. He tried to recall any he could remember killing only for the wrecked body of a certain purple Worker to worm its way into that train of thought.
The Disassembler dropped the body and backed away. He tried looking away only for more corpses to introduce themselves. A small pile of them had been assembled a small distance away. All of them looked at him, pleading for help just as she had. He screamed and fled into an alley, collapsing against a wall. He buried his head into his knees and clutched his head. They were dead. They were already dead, idiot . Yet, they demanded his attention as though they were still alive - like how she should be demanding his attention at this moment. Just corpses. She needed oil from them so she wouldn't join them.
Uzi...
He rolled onto his side, snow evaporating as it touched him. His body shook, tail kinking in confusion. He wrestled with himself trying to disassociate what he'd seen with Uzi, but it was impossible. All those Workers could've been his friends too if things had gone differently, Uzi happened to be the one who got through. They're dead and Uzi needs help, go and find a corpse that isn't dry of oil already! Help her before she joins them!
Another scream echoed throughout the haunted street. It took him a moment to realize it came from his own mouth. This was too much. Too much! What kind of friend was he being miserable like this in her time of need? What kind of person was he befriending her in the first place? What kind of predator bonds with its prey?
Friends... They were friends... His shaking slowed down as his mind cleared. Uzi, he was doing this for Uzi.
He picked himself up off the ground and carefully regained the ability to stand. His hands flew to the wall to steady himself. It was strange that, for all of the tech that went into him to make him such a graceful killing machine, his body could still be reduced to this by just his mental state alone. It was messed up but it was almost hopeful, even, that maybe he really could turn over a new leaf. Misery did strange things to people, he thought.
Turning his sights and eyes over to the street, he laid his gaze upon the pile of corpses again. The Worker he initially took a look at he decided to blacklist from his vision. Something about them reminded him too much of her. This was actually a bit of a challenge since his 5 eyes gave him an almost 360 degree field of view. Curse his design and function.
N walked over steadying himself on a few vehicles on the walk over. This pile thankfully contained older-type Workers - Workers who didn't resemble her so much. He picked up a body and was thankful it felt heavy. There seemed to be a substantial amount of oil left in it. There was an open wound on the head, but nothing else looked off to him. He and his team must've hunted this Worker for sport. He shook again.
Now, how to get the oil out so that it could be consumed by someone who wasn't him? That was clearly the burning question. The body wasn't leaking, thankfully, so that meant that it could be drained without much of a hassle, perhaps. Into what was the next question.
Gently setting the body down, he dashed over to a building for any containers. He knocked over a display shelf, dropping to the floor a variety of strange objects. None of them looked useful. Objects that his database labeled 'cleaning supplies' caught his attention. He had no idea what these were, but he supposed he was about to find out. Mops, disinfectant, sponges, nothing stuck out until he saw it - a bucket. Perfect, it's literally designed to hold objects and liquid. He grabbed the item. On his way out of what his database had realized was a store, he caught sight of a similar object, but much smaller. He remembered seeing the Workers guarding the doors raising them to their faces to drink out of them. A cup. That seemed useful.
N rushed back to the body and set the objects down carefully. He grabbed the body and lifted it over the bucket. What way did it need to be positioned for the oil to flow out? Uzi would know this, she always knew what to do. He was not her. His hands vanished into his forearms to be replaced by his claws. He grimaced at what he was about to do. N took a hold on the torso with one hand and with the other he clawed the legs off, big globs of oil plopped into the bucket. His free hand carefully laid the legs down and then joined the other in holding the body up over the bucket. The bucket quickly filled, more oil in it than he thought Uzi even needed. He carefully set the body down and thanked it for the oil it provided.
Taking the bucket and cup into his real hands, he returned to the building he and Uzi had gone into earlier. He had a momentary panic when he couldn't remember which window he exited from, but then realized he was better off going in on foot instead of possibly spilling the result of his graverobbing. The trek back to the room he left Uzi in wasn't hard, and he found her exactly as he left her. Her eyes followed him still.
"Uzi!", he exclaimed, "I got it! It'll be fine!". He set the bucket and cup down on the nightstand next to the bed and crawled onto the bed between it and her. He propped her up against him and was shocked at her temperature. Workers really could overheat, huh? It freaked him out. Feverish , his database opted to describe her as.
N took the cup into his free hand and dunked it into the bucket. He brought the object up to Uzi's mouth, "you guys use these, right? Go on, drink". N knew he offered her to perform the action herself, but knowing how she practically shut down on him before he left made him doubt she even could. He maneuvered the arm holding her to him so that he could open her mouth with that hand. The other tipped the cup so the oil could enter her mouth. This lasted a few moments before he stopped to observe the sound of fluid running, thankfully, through her internals. He was glad he didn't manage to spill it on her clothes, or she'd definitely be upset at that. Encouraged, he repeated the process ensuring that she got a good drink of it.
Most of the cup had been emptied now. He set it down on the nightstand. He turned his focus back to her, "are you better now?".
Her mouth made a few wordless movements. Evidently, some process had restarted and she turned to look at him. His eyes hollowed at the action. Her arm raised, the rotors and related mechanics had yet to be affected by the fresh intake of oil yet so it produced a nasty sound, and she made that strange pawing motion at him again. It stopped, and her hand dropped to his chest. The contact left him with a strange, joyous tingle. He quelled whatever feeling rose in him. "Uzi? You good?", he asked.
Her eyes dilated again and then returned to normal. Uzi's mouth opened, but her lips did not move, "I-I'm fine-ne, idiot...". He squealed a horrendously loud noise and pulled her into a tight hug. Uzi attempted to push him away, but her body wasn't cooperating. "N, h-hey? What's w-with this?", her voice glitched.
"I was so, so worried about you!", the arm touching her upper back gently rubbed it as if in disbelief it was there.
Uzi wasn't one for contact, something she made sure N was aware of many times before. It felt bizarre he'd forget about that suddenly. Her internal diagnostics gave her an update: oil level now at tolerable level. Well, that seemed bizarre. "Hey", she said, "what happened?".
"Oh", he pulled himself away from her, "yeah. You um... a bunch of stuff fell on you and it crushed you pretty good".
She looked herself over as best as she could. His tail had curled closer to them and its light was a welcome gesture. Her state didn't show any obvious signs of this. "Is that really what happened, dude?', she questioned.
He looked away, she caught his screen flaring up, "you're gonna hate this. Um... It involved... A lot of saliva".
Uzi's own screen lit up in a wild fluster. "You licked me?", she accused, "where?".
"Uh... Your arm came off and a leg nearly did", she could see him trying to hide away from this still.
"Oh. That's... not so weird, I guess", the truth was she wasn't sure how to process this. She had been that broken? Explains the weird notification about her oil levels. Though, that only raised the question as to how they were replenished. "Hey, did you uh, give me your own oil?", she asked. He looked back at her, betraying the fluster he was still trying to hide. She tilted her head, "I take that as a 'yes'?". Disassembler oil, huh? It wasn't the strangest fluid he'd given her, that dishonor went to his nanite saliva. It could make her gag if she had the physical capacity to do so.
His face changed expression, blush disappeared and in its absence his brows appeared to meet his oval eyes, "no, not that. I... I had to... find it outside". She noted he looked haggard, which was a feat considering their limited range of expression.
That was strange and very un-N-like of him. "Do I want to know how you found it?", she asked, already knowing the answer.
He nodded no, "you don't. Please don't. I don't want to go out there for a little while...".
Oh, it was worse than she thought. She figured she'd give him this one time to not elaborate. Indeed, whatever happened did seem pretty bad, because he suddenly drew her closer. She could feel his hands on her back and his head against hers. Woah, contact. Her gut instinct to push against it, get her face out of his chest, but seeing him like this was odd. She felt... sympathy? Was that it? She hadn't really felt anything like this for another being. Her world for the longest time was just herself, having to think about how to act towards another drone was very confusing. How do you handle seeing someone go through angst? This was usually her, not the other way around.
"Hey", she tried, "you... good?". "No, no, that's not good", she berated herself.
He nuzzled his face into her beanie, "no, just reminded of... stuff".
How do you handle this? This would be the part where she got all sappy on him, right? How do you be a friend? Something suddenly registered to her. He hugged her before at some point earlier? Apparently? How did she know this? Something about that tugged at her strongly. She timidly wiggled her arms free, something she knew he noticed because he suddenly put a hand to the back of her head to help him lean into her more. It felt alien, but she carefully put her own arms around him.
"It's... fine? ...Oh come on, that's not right either!", she fumed at herself, not finding the right words.
A few moments passed, "thanks, Uzi. It means a lot".
A small laugh escaped her audio output. She found that embarrassing. "'Honesty's the best policy' and all that, huh?", she was almost thankful he couldn't see her face. Though, maybe that would've been better just so he'd know how awkward she felt.
"You good?", he asked in confusion. That wasn't the Uzi he knew, even if he kind of preferred it.
"Yeah! Yeah, good!", she quickly answered, hopeful to finish the topic.
"Alright", he said and groaned, "I need to be honest about something".
A brow appeared on her screen to demonstrate her confusion, "wait, what?".
"Your face was also cracked".
She pulled away in confusion, "what does that mean? So you just-".
N cut in, "I didn't kiss you or anything to fix it!".
"Hey! Who said anything about a k-kiss?", some terrified flustered feeling overcame her.
"I didn't!", N pleaded, "I just... uh...".
"You what?".
He spat off towards some other direction of the room. Her head followed the fluid as it traveled through the air until it left the light of N's tail.
She looked back at him, "you spat on my face?".
"No! No! I just- Into my hand... Then, ya'know...", this was probably the scariest situation he'd ever been in. He knew he shouldn't have disclosed this, but validation was a hell of a drug.
They exchanged mutually disturbed looks for different reasons. Nothing was said for a few tense moments as they sat down together.
"Ok", Uzi sighed, "at least it wasn't that". It sunk in that this was something she was going to have to get used to if she was going to keep her friendship with the guy. Why did he have to have such a useful ability in such a weird package?
He frowned, "you're not mad at me, right?".
"What? No. You just told me about it in such a weird way. I didn't understand what you were going for".
"Oh, ok", he untensed himself.
She put a hand on his shoulder, "hey, this is awkward for both of us, and I'm not mad at you or anything. Let's just drop it, alright?". He nodded and offered a smile. She found herself mirroring him. Something about his smile was downright infectious.
Wow, you're smiling, like, really smiling . He wanted to say that, but he knew Uzi would stop if he pointed it out. It was a rare treat, and one he wanted to savor. A genuine smile, not the insane or smug ones she sported when things were going her way.
Suddenly, he found himself shoved into the bed sheets onto his side. He rolled over to see her with his fake eyes, "what was that for?".
"You weren't honest with me. Next time, just don't tell me if you ever have to lick me again, it's easier for both of us", her own face seemed honest, that smile still plastered on it, "you actually lied to me about it. That's pretty bold of you".
Relief. "Learned it from the best. I'm still working on that whole 'rebellious' thing", he offered another warm smile.
She gave him another shove, this time clearly in jest, and sunk to the sheets beside him, "well, there's hope for you yet. Stick with me, and I might even teach you bad words".
An amused giggle erupted from N, "really? Is 'bite me' not bad enough?'.
"Hey, I know worse! You're just not at that level yet to hear it", she folded her arms and gave him an amused look.
"I'll keep working on it, that's a promise. Anything to hear some new colorful language come out of that mouth", he gave her a thumbs up. That got her to crack, and she laughed a few hearty laughs. An actual laugh too? He was seeing a lot of some previously unseen side of her tonight.
She put a hand over her mouth to stifle the sound, "so long as you keep your spit to yours, I think we'll be good". She set her other hand down between them and unknowingly set it on his. He looked at their hands, her gaze following and then hallowing when she realized what she'd done. Uzi recoiled her hand.
"It's- It's fine, Uzi", he stammered, "you can do that if you want".
"Do you?", she countered. His face lit up in a fluster, her own following. Her mouth creased in some unknown emotion and she turned her head into the bed sheets and put her other hand over what little of her face could still be seen.
"Uzi, hey", she heard him say, "I-I'm sorry. I made things really awkward".
She moved a bit and let him see one of her digital eyes, "it wasn't you, I just... I have some things to think about".
"...Likewise", he resigned himself to laying down with her on the sheets, fixated on her.
After a few moments, she felt him grab that same hand again. She didn't protest it, she actually preferred the touch. It was strange. New. In those ways it scared her even. She'd thought the outside world would kill her, but instead she found... whatever she had with N. Really, her life had seemingly become the reverse of what it had been since meeting him. It felt good. Sure, he'd killed some of the drones guarding the door during that day they'd met, but she supposed that was also her fault. Guilt. How often did he feel that? She didn't want to guess how much.
N played with her fingers a bit. She seemed ok with it. Not quite an act of rebellion, though he didn't exactly want to piss her off either. It felt nice to be able to share time with... anyone really. V would still rather forget that he exists and J's idea of spending time with him was definitely not what it was defined as. Sparing the life of this Worker was probably the best decision he'd ever made. Well, maybe it would be if she wasn't a walking drink to his systems. He could only imagine how wary she was of him most of the time knowing his function. His mouth returned to a neutral position.
She became aware of their hands again and looked over at them, her screen lighting up at it again. Her hand was held. They were holding hands . She hadn't even given it that much thought until now. Glancing up to him, she wasn't sure if he did either. His own focus was on their hands and his fidgeting around with them.
"Hey", she broke the silence, "what are we?".
He snapped out of his fixation, "oh what? Uh, friends, right?".
"What's this then?", she flashed a look at their hands.
His own display eyes looked between them, "...I need more time on this".
She kinda had to agree. She knew she wasn't ready to confront that little seed of suspicion in her mind either, and there wasn't anything wrong with taking things slow. Better ready than rush in.
"Yeah, I need more time too", she offered him a smile, "we've got the rest of the night at least".
He nodded, "yeah, I'd like that. Oh, um, the rest of the night I mean".
"What do you mean?".
He shied away and his voice came out timidly, "do you want to-to... spend the night together? Um, I... I still don't want to go outside... I don't think I'm ready for that yet".
Right, that thing earlier. Dude still seemed shook over it. Well, that was fine by her, she'd initially set out tonight to take a break anyway. Her first time really hanging out with someone, too. It was nice.
"Yeah", Uzi nodded, "we can do that".
Silence, and then a crash. The noise triggered some in-built function to activate within N as his eyes came online. He looked around, the biggest takeaway was that he wasn't on the ceiling - his usual sleeping position. He found himself looking up at it instead. So this is how Workers sleep, huh? It filled him with an odd sense of longing.
The fact that it was currently about midday was also mildly alarming. Thankfully the window was nowhere near the bed.
His attention shifted to near him. A mechanical click. He found himself peering towards his right arm. His companion was there nested between his arm and body. Uzi's head was turned away to him briefly, only for her face to meet his. She blinked. Another click.
He immediately felt the need to apologize, "Oh, sorry! Uh, did you recharge well?".
One of her brows appeared in questioning and then shortly afterward her eyes went hallow. She got up on her knees and backed away. "N? What were we doing before... this?", she fumed.
"Before recharge?", he questioned.
"Yes!".
A hand went to his chin in thought. What led up to this again? "Well, we looked through this place. Remember?".
Oh right, they had. Her eyes flew to the side of the room where the wardrobe had fallen on her. The thing had been tossed to another corner of the room entirely, as had the other objects that fell on her. N moved all that so she could be rescued. Her screen brightened at the revelation.
Her vision landed on a box in that spot where all those things had been. She pointed to it, "that's probably what woke us up".
His head tilted in confusion, "how do you know that?".
"You probably cleared out everything else. It's right under those broken shelves up on the wall, too. Probably just now fell or something", she explained.
N's mouth fell open in shock. She could guess that just from looking? Such a conclusion could never dawn on him. If he had time to try to think about it, he'd probably assume it was another drone around. That was usually what sounds were caused by in his experience.
He beamed at her ingenuity, "Uzi, that's incredible! Yeah, I did move everything, but I'd never guess that box was the sound!".
Uzi was quick to fluster, "y-yeah, it was obvious...".
"But I didn't think about it! You did, and that's awesome!", he flashed her a grin and handed over a thumbs-up.
It was quickly too much to handle, and she turned her head away and folded her arms. How dare he say these things to her! How dare he be so nice ! Nobody's ever treated her this way.
He looked at her in confusion, "Uzi? You good?".
"Bite me!", she growled.
Yep, there it was. There was that Uzi he knew, but it held none of that other side of her he saw before recharge. "Nah", he said, "I don't think you're good".
"I'm not!".
Well, that did it. He crawled over to her, sitting up on his knees. "You know what would help?", he asked.
Her face grimaced as it quickly swung around to face him, "wha-?".
Her voice cut off as N put his arms around her, "this helped me out a lot earlier by the way. It'll help you out, too!".
Her face became flustered again. Right, they had done this earlier, several times even, and she was ok with it? Had she lost enough oil that her systems thought that touching the guy was alright? He was a good guy, she could admit that even if he was literally a killing machine, but she wasn't some prep who went goo-goo over any guy who talked to her. She had more respect for herself than that. Thinking about it, she imagined that Lizzy would be too terrified of N to bully her anymore. Or, perhaps envious even? Was he too terrifying for her to even consider stealing him from her?
She froze. Those were dangerous thoughts. Their relationship hadn't crossed that threshold, right? Last night was an anomaly. She left her guard down, which allowed N to get that close to her. She didn't know if she should be mad or scared. For someone to see her like that was a terrifying thought.
"Uzi?", his voice snapped her out of her thoughts, "you're scaring me again. Can you still talk? You had a hard time with it last night, and it was really creepy...". Last night . Her eyes wandered over to the part of the room she had been crushed at. A disturbingly large pool of oil still covered the floor, which he'd been subjected to... something while getting her a refill. Maybe he's earned that after all .
"I'm talking to you right now, aren't I?", she stated. Uzi stopped to consider things up to this point. She'd figured out what the crash was, what made them recharge so close together? She could shiver at the possible reasons.
N held her tighter, "oh thank robo-God! I never want to see you like that again".
"N", she changed the topic, "why did we recharge like that? And you kept your hands and mouth off me, right?".
He pushed himself away in confusion, "w-what? Well, we did... uh".
"N!", she fumed, "what happened!".
His screen turned bright yellow. A few anxious moments passed as Uzi's eyes squinted harder at him. He finally pointed to his mouth, "healed you after the crash. That was it". She raised a brow at him, arms crossed. "Ok, ok!", he panicked, "you also uh, we kinda just...". His face tensed in uncertainty and he instead touched one of her hands, "held... them? You started it though!".
Her screen flushed purple again. She did? Oh, right, last night's events started to register more. The hugging, a friendly conversation on the bed, touching his hand and him touching hers in return. The bucket and cup still stood on the nightstand, a product of some event he refused to elaborate on. She'd been so open and comfortable around him last night and he hadn't abused that at all. If anything, he'd been very considerate of her. Embarrassment set in.
She ground her teeth together. How do you start this? "N?", she started, "sorry for saying, uh, those things".
"Uzi, you don't have to-".
He's too nice... and a bit of a doormat . Her arms wrapped tight around herself, "I thought you might've... done some stuff to me while I was out. Yeah, I know it sounds weird! That's all!".
He tilted his head again, "...why? How?".
Her arms parted and tensed up, "ya'know! I've seen humans do all sorts of weird stuff with their bodies".
"....How do you know so much about human anatomy?", needless to say, N was very confused. This was the same drone who said she was down with human extinction. Maybe it was research?
She growled, "I saw it in an anime once".
"....'Anime'?".
He doesn't know. Good . He can watch better anime with her later. "Just forget I said anything", she huffed, "and I'm sorry about that whole thing".
She felt silly, they weren't even capable of the horrors she saw in those files. Accused him of things he could never do. She also felt bad. She'd made things awkward again by assuming things about him. He was so nice and at this point she doubted he could intentionally hurt her. Her sight flew again to the oil he found for her and some bizarre feeling of appreciation overcame her.
So was that it? They hit that threshold of comfort around each other that, as processes closed down for recharge, they were ok with that level of contact?
She froze as her memory files finally opened up what happened last night. It was somehow more innocuous than she was expecting. N was first to enter recharge, and Uzi hadn't expected it to arrive so soon. She remembered crawling over to him to inspect him, until her own battery manager decided to enter her too into recharge. They just happened to end up in such a placement together. She felt even more silly for making such a big fuss over this.
N observed her as she clammed up after this. So all that over something human-related, huh? Well, she said sorry about it even if she didn't need to. He'd taken much worse before, courtesy of J. This was really nothing. However, she still seemed off. Was she still freaked out by whatever that was about? He hoped not, he didn't want to think about her being afraid of him.
So was he supposed to hug her again? They already did that and it didn't help things very much. His systems zeroed in on her hands. Oh, why those? Yeah, he liked touching them last night, but... well...
He could feel his body temperature rise a bit at the thought. He liked touching her hands. The realization hadn't come until then that it was one of the few times she let him do any physical contact with her. Did she like it? Would she let him do it again?
Well, guess he could only try and find out. He reached his arms forward and took her hands into his. She seemed to snap out of whatever overcame her quickly, "wha-! Hey! What are you doing?".
He paused, panicked to be correct, "uh. Well, the hug didn't go so great, so I figured this would help better".
"Ask me first before you touch me!", she retorted and then immediately regretted it. That smile, that infectious smile of his, vanished. He backed away from her a bit in shock. It hurt her in a strange way to see him recoil from her like that, and it definitely didn't help that she had the awful realization that she didn't mind her hands being held either. He's honest, Uzi. Are you just going to push him away like you do everyone else ?
She had to swallow down that obnoxious pride of hers for this. Her eyes flickered from side to side as if there could possibly be any witnesses for her succeeding actions - not that there possibly could be any. She crept forward a bit on the mattress to meet him again and then her vision flew to his hands. She knew what she had to do. Her hand took one of his and held it.
N looked down in shock at this. She initiated it again! He thought she was mad at him, but what was this about?
"Hey, don't think this means we're close enough for rumors to start up about us, or anything like that", she pouted, "it's not like I... nah, forget it".
That broke the tension enough for him to giggle, "what's that even mean?".
She became flustered again, "come on, dude! You know what my dumb classmates would say about this if they saw".
"I don't. I've never been to school before, Uzi", he said, some untraceable emotion permeating it.
Uzi's face untensed, "...good. You were spared".
He raised a questioning look, "it can't be that bad, can it? You got to be with other drones and not have to kill them, after all".
"You don't know what they did to me!", she shouted, "what they said to me! Did to me! I think I would've rather had to hunt and kill like you!". It was quickly apparent how quick N's mood dropped. Great, you messed this up again . Uzi took her free hand to her face to calm herself, "N, if we ever have the misfortune of going back to the colony, I will show you the school".
N found himself giddy at the idea. School was a mark of progress, and one he was very much aware he had no such milestones with. Uzi did. Uzi's existence was so... normal. He almost didn't care how the experience went, just being able to say he did felt like enough.
"Is that a promise?", he asked
"...Promise", Uzi pouted.
N gave her a big, toothy smile. One he'd often sport when on a hunt, but one Uzi had come to know in a different light. The infection came quickly as Uzi found herself smiling back. The excitement leapt to his hand, the digits fidgeting with her own.
"Alright, alright. Calm down, it's nothing special", she said, almost for both of their sakes.
"I guess", N said, "but I'm just really excited to know more about your life and all that".
I kinda wish you weren't, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't also flattered . "Yeah, just keep that excitement in check, got that?", she said.
He saluted with his free hand, "yeah, got it".
She tilted her head at the action in thought, "we gotta knock that out of you. Can't go around doing company stuff if you're gonna be a rebel and all that".
Another tingle of excitement, "I'll work on that".
She gave him an oddly long look with that rare genuine smile before untangling their fingers. Their hands parted ways, and she crawled off the bed. It almost felt like he could still feel her cold touch in his hand still, but this phantom touch could never compare to the real thing. He immediately found himself wanting to feel her hand on his again.
Uzi walked over to the nightstand, N's eyes following her and panicking when they realized what caught her attention. She picked up the cup, looking into it. She grimaced as she found the cup empty. "Hey", she called over to him, "you thirsty?".
His mouth fell open as he struggled to think of what to do. He watched as Uzi dipped the cup into the bucket, the item coming out with streams of oil coming off it. She looked back at him, "so uh, I'm still a little low on reserves after last night and we only have one cup. You'd be ok with drinking from the other side of the rim, right?".
He went into full out panic, "u-uh Uzi? I-I don't really know about tha-". He watched as she took a long drink from the cup. She stopped and looked back at him, a small trail of oil leaking from the corner of her mouth, "..what?". He was utterly transfixed, she'd never looked so terrifying before.
"U-Uh. I don't wanna really...", he started and stopped.
Uzi regarded him with a questioning look. If he didn't know any better, he kind of thought she looked concerned too. She set the cup down, "what's wrong? You've been really jumpy about this oil, dude. Where'd you find this stuff anyway? I don't think I've ever had anything this good before".
"T-That's because...", he squeaked out, "it's f-from a Worker corpse".
Her eyes hallowed as she looked again at the oil in the bucket and she immediately took a step away from the substance. "You gave me some dead guy's juice?", she asked in disbelief.
"What else was I supposed to give you?", he pleaded, "you needed something or else you'd die!".
"N! You know Workers can consume more than one type of-", she stopped. Of course he wouldn't know that. 'You'd die' . He did only what he knew he could and he still saved her life.
She looked back again at the bucket, terror and appreciation confusing her on how to regard it. Uzi backed away over to N on the bed. Their stares both fixated on the object until Uzi looked over to N, his stare following her. He pointed at her, "you got some of it on you".
Her face tensed, "well, yeah! It's in me now!".
"No, like", his finger danced in the air a bit, "you got some of it on your face".
"Well get it off me!".
"How?".
Uzi's hands flew open in confusion, "I don't know! Think of something!".
N pointed to a hand. Uzi's face displayed her confusion until he then spat into it. "Oh no!", she shouted, "you are not doing that to my face!".
"It'd get it off, though".
"Dude, what's wrong with you?", she said, appalled, "we know where it came from. What about it being on my face makes you wanna suggest that?".
N blushed. Confusion set in. He wasn't really sure why something about it made sense, the reason eluded him. He tossed her one of the pillows on the bed, "this work?".
His aim was right, but the force he put behind it was not so. A mere pillow managed to knock Uzi down and she fell with a loud thud. N rushed over to her, "you good?".
"Do I look good?", she said sarcastically.
"Yeah...", he said, his gaze lingering on her a bit longer than she thought he should.
"...Ok", she stated, "the pillow's not gonna work, by the way".
He snapped out of it, "oh, hold on I got another idea". He cut a section out of the bedspread. The cloth in hand, he approached Uzi on the floor. "Ok, this should work", he said.
"Well yeah. That's something that should have been an obvious pick from the sta-", she cut off as N took a kneel beside her and took a grip on her arm. "Hey!", she questioned, "what are you doing? My face is over here!".
His eyes hallowed as he looked between her and the thrown objects from last night. She looked over and caught the implication, "oh... yeah, sorry bud. I'm alright, I can run a diagnostic for any damages even".
"Please do", he said as he set her arm down. Torn cloth in hand, he turned his attention over to her face. N leaned in, taking a gentle hold on her face. Uzi looked up at him with a questioning look, her confusion arising to a fluster. He backed away a bit, "uh, this is fine, right?".
She blinked, "uh, yeah".
He came back in with renewed ambition. Trying to ignore her probing eyes, he pressed the cloth to the corner of her mouth. The cloth quickly took a hold on the fluid and soon not a trace of it was left on her faceplate. "There", he said, discarding the cloth, "that's it".
"Really?", she gave him an incredulous look, "you made it sound like there was a lot of it".
He shook his head, "nah, just runoff".
"Ok", she sighed, "by the way, diagnostic came back clear". He gave her what almost looked like an absent-minded nod, his tail making a slow travel from side-to-side behind him. She tilted her head, "hey, you alright?". He said nothing as he lowered himself to her, pulling her into a hug. Her face froze in a silent scream as she processed this. He didn't ask, so some emotion must've overloaded him for a moment. You need to tell him that he can just do this without asking, it's not bad . What caused this? Oh right, the crash last night must've messed him up badly. Really, it was her fault for not being more careful.
N took a gentle, yet protective hold on her as if she could be taken away at any time. It wasn't her actions that caused it this time, it was his. He hadn't meant to throw it that hard. It was his design -his function- that made what should have been a simple action into this whole moment. He felt her hold him back and something in him broke a bit as he felt the need to shove his face into her shoulder, the same one he'd stabbed her through with his wing.
"H-Hey", he heard her say, "you sure you're not thirsty?".
Thirsty? Why would she think that? His real eyes found themselves closer to her head than he thought either of them were comfortable with. His face was in a bit of blind spot, he realized. Must be close to her shoulder. There it was. She was accusing him of trying to bite her. Guilt set in.
"No, I'm not", he said, hoping it would convince the both of them. He found himself believing her most of all. He was a little thirsty, but that wasn't why he was doing this. He just had such a strong need to know she was ok. Maybe it was subconscious that he'd also want to drink her oil. It was his function, after all.
Uzi wasn't sure how to feel about the situation. His mood kept flipping and she was already really bad at talking to other drones. He did save her last night, maybe it was only fair she let him drink from her systems, they were both pretty freaked out still over the nature of the oil he found last night.
"Listen, you helped me, maybe it's only fair I repay that", she said without thinking too much about it.
"...Is that really what you think is fair?", he questioned. Offering up her own oil to him felt like a step too far. Like a dangerous slope to something he couldn't place yet. He couldn't stop himself from wondering about how hers tasted, though.
Uzi squirmed, unsure of whatever she was getting herself into. Think Uzi, think! "Ok, alright", she started, "yeah, I'm not thinking this through".
This baffled him so much he eased himself out of the hug so he could see her face, "you? Not thinking things through?".
Uzi pouted, "yeah, and? There's a first time for everything!".
His eyes glanced over to the wardrobe. Probably not the first time, actually. Come to think of it, their first encounter with each other was also probably one such other time. She was a fallible being, he realized. Their mistakes brought them together, and this was a fact that suddenly made him feel better about his own shortcomings.
He shrugged, "yeah, guess that's right". Well, he felt better after all that, he just hoped she didn't feel too awkward about it. "Oh, uh", he offered a hand to her, "need help up?".
Uzi briefly felt the need to slap him for even asking. She'd ask him if she ever needed help before, but the events of last night came in like a hurricane. He just went and did without asking, and that's the reason she's still alive in the first place.
She grabbed his hand, "yeah, go for it". He pulled her up into a sitting position and picked her up. She looked at him in confusion as he set her on the side of the bed. Not what I expected . "Hey", she told him, "thanks".
He gave her a thumbs-up, "you're welcome!".
Well, that was settled, now neither of them were sure what to do next. There was still a few hours left of sunlight outside, so N was stuck here until the night came, Uzi too by extension.
Uzi looked around at a loss on what to do or say next. Her vision settled back to the oil bucket. It'd be a waste to just leave it here, right? "So", she pointed to it, "what are we doing with that?".
N froze, "uh, yeah. I don't know".
"Ok", Uzi started, "so I gotta ask, what exactly's got you so weird over this? Isn't that how you always get your oil or something?".
"Well, uh...", he tried to speak and lost the words, "I was scared over what happened with you, and one of the Workers out there kind of... vaguely looked like you. Sorry, it's me, not your fault".
She felt some bizarre emotions over this, but ultimately felt sympathy for him. In his place, she supposed she'd probably feel similarly in a similar situation.
"It's alright. I'm not mad about it", she gave him an uncertain thumbs-up in return. She needed to work on this, she thought.
He smiled, "it means a lot". He glanced over to the object in question, "I don't think it should go to waste, I'll take it back for V, I guess".
Uzi nodded. Probably a good choice. Though, she did find herself concerned about him. He couldn't be freaked out over drinking dead Worker oil for too much longer or else he'd be in trouble. She hoped it wouldn't come to her making him that offer again.
He'd apparently become aware of his own boredom and settled in beside her on the edge of the bed. "So... We've got kind of a while until night. What'da ya want to do?", he asked.
She gave him that crazy grin, "wanna loot the place for stuff other than what we need for the pod? Have a bit of a no-rules houseparty?". Boy, had she always wanted to go to one.
This time, N's smile mimicked Uzi's, "well, I've always wanted to break the rules a little more. Care to give me a lesson, professor".
She gave him a playful shove, "not so formal, bud. Loosen up that tongue of yours".
"I gotta hear some new language from you to get some ideas on that".
She tilted her head, "you sure you've earned it?".
He held that same crazy smile as her, "I dunno. Have I?".
"Eh. Maybe you have", she got off the bed, "wanna hear some?".
N nodded aggressively.
She placed her hands on her hips, "alright bud, let's have a fucking awesome time".
The two found themselves looking over the contents of the apartment's kitchen. A cabinet on the bottom row of cabinets was pulled open, the contents inside being pulled apart by the duo.
"'Onion rings'? What kind of stuff's this?, Uzi asked, a bag of the snack food in hand.
"Maybe you should open it", N suggested.
Uzi took her other hand to the bag and pulled it open. It quickly pulled apart and the decomposed contents within exploded out, falling all over the immediate area. She dropped the bag and immediately began to brush off the soiled food item from herself.
N couldn't help but laugh at the scene. She was clearly pissed about the bag exploding all over her, but the sight was still humorous. She raised an accusatory glare at him, "you knew that would happen didn't you?".
He shook his head through laughter, "nope, nuh-uh. Just thought it might open".
"Alright funny guy", she glared, "how about you open that one over there".
He followed the object of her implication, a bottle off to the side they hadn't yet touched. The colorful label caught his attention, and he immediately took the item into his hands. He turned the thing over looking for some way to open it.
"It's a bottle", Uzi said, "just turn the cap".
He gave it a look, "the thing at the top?".
"Yep", Uzi said, a smug look taking its usual place on her face, "you should also try shaking it around a bit before opening it though. 'Contents may settle' and all that".
He took an enthusiastic shake of the item and then immediately set a hand on the cap. With an easy twist, the cap came off and so did a large blast of the liquid inside right into his face. He flailed around a bit and threw the object away.
Uzi laughed, "oh wow, that worked!".
"Ok", he pointed a dripping finger at Uzi, "you did that on purpose! How did you know it'd do that?".
An innocent look, or as much of one as could physically manifest on Uzi, appeared on her face, "I don't know what you're talking about. It's as much of a mystery as the bag you told me to open". She gave a few quick fluttering blinks of her digital eyes to boot.
N grimaced at the sticky fluid covering him, "so, how do you expect to get this off me?".
Another smug smile, "I dunno, you're the one with the smart ideas".
"I don't know!", he stressed, his arms thrown wide in confusion, "I want this off me!".
Uzi laughed. "Ok, ok", she calmed down, "I've got an idea. Hold on a second".
She walked over to another part of the kitchen and grabbed a large metal container, a pot. "Wait here a moment, I need to grab something else", she said and hurried off. He watched her exit the apartment and the urge to follow her out hit him hard. What was she doing? What if she got hurt again? He then remembered what time of day it still was and knew better. He was also a fragile creature once the windows got involved. They were lucky this apartment faced away from the sun.
It took a short moment later for her to return. The pot now held a substantial amount of snow in it. "Alright bud", she called over to him, "your missile launcher's a little much for this job. Got something else that can heat this up?".
His various weapons danced around in his head until he landed on something much saner. He pointed at himself, "I can".
She raised a brow in confusion, "yeah? I get that. What weapon are you going with?".
"I'm constantly overheating, remember?", he said, a frown appearing on him.
She handed over the pot to him, "don't let it get too hot or you'll lose it".
"Lose what?".
She smirked, "you'll see. Consider it your first school lesson".
He hugged the pot and peered in to see what she meant. His first lesson from Uzi might be a good one if referring to it as such was what she went with. His heat quickly conducted through the metal and he observed as the snow within began to turn into a liquid.
"Oh! It's changing!", he exclaimed as his tail made amused waves through the air behind him.
Uzi smiled, "yep, we learned this pretty early on in school. Copper-9's so cold this stuff usually stays solid".
"Uh, Professor Uzi?", he brought the pot away from him, "it's all changed now".
She raised a questioning look to him, "'Professor '? We're trying to cut loose and be rebellious here".
"Hey", he said sternly but clearly not trying to start anything, "you made it a lesson in the first place. Figured I'd go for a high mark".
"Alright, yeah, go for it. I'll give you this much, you're much more invested in this than I was".
He took a glance between the pot and Uzi, "um, well to be hones... I don't really know what a mark means. I know things but a lot of it is kinda... lacking in substance".
"It's a grade. It shows you how much you understand the material", she explained.
He nodded, "oh, ok. I'll be sure to get a really high one then! Or... get a lot of them?".
She evidently gave up, not that she wanted to spend much time on this anyway as there was still a lot of daylight to burn. Uzi pointed at the pot, "you can rinse off the stuff on you with that".
"How?".
Uzi tried really hard to not make her annoyance known, "it's liquid, just get yourself wet".
He looked at her strangely. She gave up. "Here", she walked closer to him, "you can dunk it over you, which was my original plan, but that might not be enough? Eh, whatever, I can fill the pot with more snow".
"So just... Let it pour on me?", he asked.
"Yeah? Didn't I just say that?", Uzi replied.
N wasted no time and tipped the contents over his head. "Is it gone?", he asked out loud to himself as he felt over himself for the now-dried sticky substance.
Uzi crossed her arms, "got some of that on me, it better have come off".
N's eyes hallowed as he looked at her, "well, not exactly". His fingers returned from his probing covered in the substance again.
Uzi groaned, "alright, gotta make another trip then". She grabbed the pot out of his hands and nearly dropped it once she realized the handles were now covered in it too. "Ew! Gross!", she exclaimed in her surprise.
"Uh, s-sorry about that...", N apologized.
Uzi paid him no mind and exited the apartment again, pot held as far away from her body as possible. N was left alone with only his thoughts for company again. If it wasn't for the sun, he'd be right there with her helping out in this situation he ended up in. If it wasn't for that overheat problem the stuff would probably come off easier. If it wasn't for... a lot of things really. He stopped himself from thinking further.
She eventually returned with a fresh pot of snow and immediately stuck it into his hands, "same thing as before, but this time we'll get the rest out a different way than just dunking it over you".
"'We'll '?", he asked, but before she could respond she was out of the kitchen and searching through the apartment for something. He distracted himself by watching the snow melt.
She returned with another cup and a cloth in hand, both of which N hadn't seen before, "alright, tell me where it's still on you".
His hat, which was still kind of soaked from the water before and vaguely drying off from his body heat, was cast aside. He pointed to his hair, "it's still in there and uh, well, I can get the rest off my jacket myself".
She looked at him questioningly, "you got it on your jacket, too?".
"It's not that bad! I'll get it", he waved his hands at her.
"You better!", Uzi shouted, "but you are not taking that off in front of me!".
The implication got N flustered, "no, no! Of course not! It stays on!".
Change of topic. Uzi pointed at the floor, "sit down so I can get this off you". N obeyed immediately.
"Sorry about this, Uzi".
Uzi grit her teeth. Why was he always so nice about things? She did this to him in the first place, and he's acting like he did something wrong.
Something tugged at her about that. Like she should instead be the one on the floor apologizing to him. Was that what a real friend would do? Is that what she should be doing? It was impossible, that headstrong pride of hers wouldn't allow that. She could only follow through with what she told him.
She stood beside him, not because she wanted to but because he was too tall to work with. He watched as she put the cloth into the pot he still held and let it soak so the water could collect. "Lean over", she commanded and he obliged. She squeezed the rag over a stuck clump, the runoff going back into the pot. Her hands got to work working out the last of the sticky substance out of the clump.
"Uzi?", she heard him say, "you're a great friend for doing this. I hope you're not mad at me for it".
She stopped what she was doing. Everything always came back to him being the reason for anything bad happening. Could he not understand that sometimes things just happen? This wasn't his fault, Uzi had just played a prank on him that ended up going this way. He didn't do anything he knew he shouldn't.
"Stop it", her mechanical jaw clenched as she fought the words out of her mouth, "you didn't do anything wrong".
His posture shifted a bit away from her. "I-It's ok, Uzi. You can say what you mean to", it was a meek reply.
"Oh! Grow a spine already!", she shouted. Her eyes hallowed and a hand nearly went to cover her mouth in shock only for her to remember what she'd been doing with it moments before. Her arms tensed.
N crouched over further, as much as the pot in his hands could allow. His tail flew flat to the floor.
She was surprised. If this was about anything else she'd be amazed, proud even, of his response. To see him react like that to her saying something she shouldn't have was a whole other experience.
"Hey", she took a cautious hand towards him, guiding it to one of his upper arms but not outright touching it, "I didn't mean it like that".
"No... No, you're right", he refused to look up, "maybe I should, I'm just scared of hurting or upsetting you".
She frowned, "N...". She retracted the hand and retreated into herself. A few long moments passed until she finally spoke again, "why does it keep turning out this way? You're not the only one doing it, I do it to a far greater degree".
He clenched the pot still in his arms, "it doesn't hurt, Uzi! Y-You've been really good to me, honest! Ya'know, J would get physical with-".
"N, J is a low bar to set", Uzi growled, "I'm a terrible friend".
He looked behind himself in confusion. Her figure was softly outlined with the diffused sunlight from outside filtering through the window. He'd never seen her look so defeated.
She turned away, "sorry, just... Let's drop this and finish this".
He faced forward again. She asked for it, might as well comply.
Returning her hands to the previous task, she reached around him again to put fresh water into the rag. When her hands pulled away, he leaned over again into the pot. She set the rag to another rogue clump of stickied hair and cleansed it of its formerly-carbonated taint. She performed this action several more times.
As she worked, she began to notice something peculiar about his hair. Unlike the wigs of the Workers, his seemed to be worked into his head in some fashion. Her gaze looked over to the optic band on his head that she was trying to avoid looking at for too long. Yeah, that's probably why. That strange band of lights that served as his actual eyes, it was very peculiar and she kept her hands as far away from them as possible.
He noticed the runoff began to taint the pot's water in some color he couldn't pick up on. He supposed he could switch his visual input to another setting, but then he'd be missing out on watching Uzi work. Every action she made felt calculated and precise. Despite his earlier apologies for it, he found himself enjoying her company like this. Her hands had rarely ever felt him over as tenderly as they were now.
"I think I got it all out", she said behind him still, "let me check".
Her hands sank deeper into his hair and it was a sensation he didn't expect to feel as it did. It was so strangely relaxing. Not something he ever felt much, and not from Uzi. Her fingers crept closer to his face and he was almost scared to see how far she would go. It was strange, exciting even.
Uzi walked around him to his frontside, her hands investigating further. Her hands investigated his face some, his face flustering in response. She took another dab at it with the wet rag, evidently finding some more of the dried liquid on it. "H-Hey wait", he choked out, "what's this about?".
"Huh?", she said absentmindedly and drew away from him in confusion. She realized then that she was so drawn into her work she forgot how weird this might seem. Her own face flustered in response, "uh, well, just making sure it was all accounted for. You know, just... Worker stuff, I guess".
Sounded logical to him. "Yeah", he sighed, "that's alright". Her lips pressed in discomfort and she held the rag unclear of what to do with it. His head tilted at the display, "Uzi? You can keep doing that. It's alright. Or you can let me finish up instead".
Her face turned away at the exchange, "well, you know, you made this awkward! I'm this far already, might as well finish". She pressed a hand to her face, willing her simulated emotions to calm down.
She returned to the task at hand, he caught a glimpse of a tense look on her before it came out of sight of his real eyes. Sight for him was strange below his real eye-level, some vision settings worked and others didn't. He could see her work through a thermal reading, but her eyes were a mystery to him. Was she mad? He wasn't sure. Thinking back, maybe that anger he thought she had wasn't directed at him. Her? A terrible friend? It was lucidious. She was prickly, but she still made an honest effort. After all, it wasn't like she didn't do things for him, this interaction being one such occasion.
The wet cloth was swapped across another area of his face. Uzi put much effort into ignoring his digital eyes which had begun to dance around his face. This seemed to be the last spot of the sticky fluid, thankfully, so she drew back and tossed the rag aside. "I think that's it", she announced.
"Oh, thank you". Truthfully, he sort of wished it had lasted longer.
She bent down and grabbed the pot in his hands, "the last step, more snow so you can wash your coat".
Oh right, his coat. He'd almost forgotten that it had gotten some of the liquid on it. Of course Uzi would remember it and have a plan.
The object escaped his grasp as she collected it. She hurried out of the kitchen and the apartment entrance beyond it, his gaze following her expectantly.
Uzi held the pot as far away from her as possible, the stickied fluid coated the handles from N's earlier hold on it. She trotted down the several flights of stairs to ground level and exited the building. Now that he was mostly clean, she wasn't quite so bothered to return so quickly. The smaller drone decided to take in her surroundings a bit more. They had made their way into this area under the cover of night, seeing it in daylight was a different matter. Her sights settled briefly over the disturbed snow from her precious venture out here to collect it. Further beyond that lay a vehicle that hadn't been disturbed in who knows how long.
Further beyond this lay a pile of corpses, Workers obviously. Some macabre fascination took over her as she lay the pot down where she stood and crept over to the pile. Her vision locked onto a Worker's visor in particular, a white light seemingly obfuscated her vision.
She backed away in confusion. Dad? She ran a manual dump of her visual cache and whatever it was that caught her attention was gone. They were old-gen Workers, of course they'd remind her so much of him.
Creeping away from the pile, she noted a set of larger footprints in the snow around her. She had no doubt they were N's. She stopped to reorient herself and spotted them. It was the corpse of a Worker, which she did have to admit had a striking resemblance to her. So this is what he saw that upset him so much? She felt... flattered? She wasn't sure what she felt, but it left her with pleasant feelings. Then, came the horror. The body was in such disarray it could make her sick had she the capacity to be so.
She was reminded of how easily this could've been her.
Uzi shook her head. Alright, stop looking at dead people, it's about time I gave N his water already. She walked back over to the entrance of the building, picking up the pot on the way. She filled the kitchenware with snow and reentered the building.
The apartment door opened and closed, Uzi stepping into the living room and then making her way to the kitchen. N's gaze locked onto her as soon as she entered, his expression quickly shifted to excitement. "Here", she shoved the pot into his arms, "warm this up and do with it what you need to".
"Alright, thanks Uzi", he replied warmly.
"Bathroom's over there", she pointed, "use the shower or tub or whatever for runoff".
Again, he replied the same way.
He held the pot tightly to his body and rushed past her to the bathroom. Closing the door behind him, he sat cross-legged on the floor watching the snow in the pot melt against him. It soon turned to liquid and he directed his attention to the tub in the room with him. Well, she's not watching... He set the pot down and undid the belt on his coat. As he crossed his arms to take off the coat, his eyes glanced towards the door. She's not watching, don't be so self-conscious. He forced his vision away from the door and took off his coat.
Suddenly naked, he found himself glancing at himself in the mirror. He hadn't seen himself like this in... a while? It's been a long time, at least. So much white all of a sudden. His function hidden by thin sheets of metal. A weapon thrust into such a compact form.
He tore his sight from the mirror and focused on the tub instead. His coat in hand, he knelt down and began to scrub the object in the heated water.
It took a small while in the bathroom and Uzi quickly found herself bored. After a small while, N emerged out of the bathroom, a wet coat on his shoulders.
Uzi gave him an amused look, "well, guess that solves that, huh?".
"Yeah, guess so", he nonchalantly replied.
Uzi shrugged, "so, wanna get back to that houseparty?".
N nodded enthusiastically, "yeah, that'd be neat".
Uzi couldn't quite place her finger on what it was, but something seemed off to her. That way he kept such strong eyesight over her? Maybe? She wasn't sure. His real eyes were a mystery to her, after all.
She dug into the lower cabinets again, her body managing to crawl into it a bit. N watched her in morbid fascination. She pushed a few more strange bags out, her attention not catching on any of them. Uzi crawled back out, "well, guess that was a bust".
N nodded. He wasn't sure what to do.
Uzi gave him a reply with her digital brows and hopped off to some other part of the apartment. She quickly found the entertainment system and took interest in it. "Hey N", she called, "you took a look at this yet?".
He stuck his head into the living room, recognizing the entertainment system, "yep, took a quick look at it".
"Let's give it a little power!", Uzi boasted while clasping her hands together. She took out an auxiliary cable from her casing and plugged it into her system. Her lighting briefly dimmed as the system demanded power from her. The screen turned on and a loading bar appeared. The entertainment system demanded she stop so that it may install an update.
Uzi groaned, "aww, come on! Really?". She kicked the casing in which the entertainment system was held in her frustration. N took a seat on the nearby sofa.
His face held a small smile, "let it do it, maybe it'll have some fun stuff to watch!", he suggested. Uzi groaned and picked up the remote to select the 'yes' option". The update began.
And the update went on and on. N and Uzi caught each other's gaze as the software attempted to update and evidently stuck on some process. After a few minutes, it displayed a message on the monitor: NO INTERNET CONNECTION DETECTED.
Uzi groaned and pressed her hands to her face. "Really?", she questioned, "all that for nothing?".
N fanned his hands, "well, it's just the system. There's other stuff to go after, after all".
"Yeah?", Uzi questioned, "like what?".
N took a glance around the room and quickly found nothing to settle on. "Well, I don't know, truth or dare I guess", he suggested.
"Deal", Uzi stated and sat next to him. He found the proximity between them alarming in some fashion. He offered a weary smile in return.
"So", he tested, "truth or dare?".
"Truth. Not that I couldn't do a dare, but that I'm in the mood for truth", Uzi replied.
N swallowed. "You good?", he asked.
Uzi coughed. Fake one, not one she really needed to do. "What's that supposed to mean?", she asked and waved her hands a bit.
N shrugged, "I dunno. Just making sure you're fine".
Uzi looked at him. He was really concerned about her well-being, huh? She was fine, might as well convey that much, "it's good, I'm fine. You know you just wasted your turn to ask me such a casual thing, right?".
He nodded, "good. And, uh, yeah. It was the first thing that came to mind".
She took a cocky air, "as for you: truth?".
"Truth".
She frowned, unsure of how exactly to put this, "hey, well, you haven't had oil in a bit, so-".
He cut her off, "I'm fine ", he stressed.
She raised a brow at this, "sure? I'm wasting my turn to ask you this".
"Positive".
She sighed, "it's been a little while, I even offered up my own earlier. You should have-".
He countered, "no, I'm fine ! I have more self-control than you think, Uzi".
Uzi took a long skeptical look at him, "really now?".
"Yeah".
"N", she stressed, "just tell me and I'll-".
"Don't", he cut her off, suddenly more confident than usual, "I don't need it".
"And why?", she questioned, "I'm good to lose a little oil now and then! You do enough for me, might as well go the other way too!".
N froze, some shaken look coming over him. Uzi sighed and left the couch. His head followed her body as it departed the living area for another area of the apartment. She soon re-entered with a selection of strange products in hand.
She held an object high, "see this?".
N gave a good look at it. "Oil?", he questioned.
"Yeah", Uzi unscrewed the bottle, "lets see what it does to me".
N grimaced, "uh, Uzi? That's not-". He watched her scarf down most of the fluid.
She stopped drinking and looked at him, "oh come on, if you're concerned about draining me of my oil, this is the next best bet".
He looked at her in disbelief, "Uzi no, you don't need to do that".
The strange liquid dripped down her mouth, "really now? I should have enough spare oil for you to drink from".
"Uzi", he stressed, "I don't want to-''.
"See this?", she asked, some other type of oil in her hands, "I can drink this fine, after it's processed by my body it should be fine for you to drink".
"Uzi!", he rushed up towards her, "don't do this! Stop it! I'm fine, I don't need-".
"And what are you gonna do about it?", she smirked, "well come on, vamp boy, bite me already!".
N looked at her oddly, "no, no let's just stop here. No more drinking whatever that stuff is".
She grabbed another strange container of common oil and waved it in front of his face, "see this", she teased, "I'mma drink this too".
He took the container away from her, "no, this is making you act really weird". She made a weak pass at grabbing it from him only to fall to the ground. He looked at her in concern, "you good?".
"Yeah, yeah, good", she said, her face in the carpet.
He sighed and grabbed her upright from the floor, "Uzi, I'm not letting you do whatever this is to yourself".
Uzi laughed, "doing what to myself?".
"How much oil have you consumed?", he asked.
"Like, overall?", she replied, her eyes dancing around.
"Tonight", he stressed, "how much tonight?".
She shrugged, "I don't know". Her body slid out of his grasp and hit the ground again.
He sighed, "Uzi...". N leaned down and picked her up, holding her closely to his body. He tossed to the container away from them. "Uzi", he said again, "how do you feel?".
She gave a few strange laughs, "little weird, but I can manage".
He dragged her to the couch, his mind racing at what to do. How could drinking some strange oils get her like this? She definitely seemed to know what she was up to, but his fangs refused to do it. How could she force him into this situation? How much he both wanted to and detested the idea of drinking her. Taking a gentle hold of her, he propped her torso up against himself as they sat together on the couch.
Uzi took a few strange looks around herself and giggled, "...where are we again? And- Dude, you're so warm. It feels good".
"Yeah", N stated, "feels good, but you know how things came to this, right?".
"Nope!", she smiled. A real smile, not her usual crazy smile. It felt disingenuous to him because of her loopy state. This wasn't a smile he had earned.
Wow, this was a different Uzi. So her drinking these strange oils can lead to this, huh? "Uzi", he asked, "just chill here, ok?".
"Ok", she said and leaned into him. A wild excitement coursed through him at her reciprocating the touch, but this wasn't really her. How much he wanted normal Uzi to do this with him...
He became distressingly aware of one of her hands feeling his chest. He squeaked, "U-Uzi, what are you-".
"Where's your hand at?".
"My hand?...". Oh. How much he liked the feeling of her cold hands on his, and she liked it as well? It was welcome news to him. But, no. He shook his head. Not like this.
She pouted at him, "come on! I just wanna!".
"No", he firmly stated, "not like this".
The situation was starting to freak him out in many ways. Was she always going to act like this until he finally bit down on his own fear and could drink her? Was she going to die from this? What should he do?
He didn't have to wonder long until she groaned, causing his train of worry to derail. "Uzi?", he asked.
She pulled herself away and lurched over to the back of the couch, an awful noise and the splattering of fluid following. He got on his knees beside her and put a hand over her back, "what's happening? You good?".
"Uh, I think so", she replied, something about it felt more familiar than the Uzi he'd been sitting with moments prior.
"Run a diagnostic", he suggested. The concern about what she just did behind the couch was gnawing at him.
She slumped her torso against the back of the couch, too out of it to keep herself upright. "It's in", she suddenly announced, "too much low quality stuff, a lot of it couldn't be processed".
"That's good, right?", he asked, suddenly more upbeat about the whole thing.
She wiped her mouth off on the couch, "yeah. I'd just never done that before and... I don't think I will again". She found herself missing the rich mixture from the colony's supplies. The oil back there was now the only thing she'd gladly go back for.
N nodded slowly, not that she could see it, and rubbed her back. "That's good. You were kinda freaky all loopy like that". And kind-of exciting, not gonna lie.
"N?", she turned to him, pushing her upper body off the couch, "I'm sorry I did that. I shouldn't have tried to force you to drink oil. It's messed up. I'm... really sorry".
He put his hands on her shoulders, "yeah, it was messed up, but you did that for my sake. It's more than anyone's done for me in... a while at least".
Uzi's face tensed, "but I'm still a bad friend! I tried to force you to drink my oil and I got all freaky on this junk oil. I made things weird and I freaked you out!".
"Uzi", he gave a gentle squeeze of her shoulders, "it's fine. Don't worry about it".
"...Are you sure?", it was almost a whisper.
He nodded and gave her a smile, which she soon found herself mirroring again. "Good, good. You're good", he said as he drew her in for a hug.
Whatever part of her still begging to put up her defenses was crushed by the overwhelming and peculiar desire to allow him this. She felt his arms wrap around her and his head rested on one of her shoulders. Her face was thrust into the faux fur of his coat's collar. The temperature coming off him, usually so concerning, was suddenly a very welcome addition, as though it was there to melt away her worries. It was relaxing.
The fact she accepted the hug was a relief to N. The talk they just had was taxing, but it felt worth it. He swore he could feel himself get hotter as she timidly put her own arms around him.
"Hey, um", she started, "I'm still sorry about what I did, but I don't want you overheating. If I'm the easiest way, just... just let me know, ok? You can drink me right now if you want to".
He swallowed. He knew he couldn't keep this up forever, a fact she was also painfully aware of. Using a hand, he grabbed the side of her coat collar his head was looming over and pulled it away enough for his mouth to reach her bare shoulder. His mouth opened and his fangs lightly touched her bare metal. A gasp was heard, it came from her. His focus broke and his grasp on the coat moved. As he moved it back and readjusted his position, he noticed how unusually rigid she felt. She was tense.
She was scared.
He pulled away, covering up her shoulder as he parted.
The afternoon came and went and with it, the cover of nightfall arrived. N was relieved. It felt like the two had spent a week in that apartment. Uzi retrieved the oil bucket, a cap thrown on to help them ignore the contents within.
"You ready?", she asked.
He nodded. "Yeah, I think I can handle things out there. And, uh, sorry that houseparty didn't go as planned", he gave her a thumbs-up. She gave him an amused look and opened the front door to the building, the snowy environment outside illuminated by moonlight.
She looked back at him, "can you fly us back? Or...". She didn't want to consider it - that he might end up hurting himself trying to get them back.
At first he nodded yes, but then that turned to a no. He rubbed the back of his head, "things aren't exactly optimal for that right now...".
She offered him a sympathetic look. We'll work on that... "Alright, it's gonna be kind of a long walk back, so let's get going".
Together, they walked into the light of the two moons and quickly avoided walking near the bodies nearby. Uzi could tell that he was still focusing on them some. She grabbed his hand with her available hand and walked faster, urging him onwards past the massacre. A block or so past it, she slowed down to her normal walking speed. N held her hand firmly, she found herself not caring about that and left it be. It was a welcome physical stimulus to distract her from the slow walk through the streets.
"Hey, look at that!", N pointed out.
"What?", she asked and looked down a street to where he was pointing at. It was a tall skyscraper.
"That building", he said, still pointing at it, "it's one of the tallest around. I've been on top of it before. There's a really nice view of the city you can get on it".
Uzi looked up at it, her eyes widening at the size of the thing. She'd often felt small among the buildings of the city, but this one reignited that discomfort. "Yeah, uh", she tried, "would be... cool to be up there?".
"Really would", N added. "I could fly us up there-", he stopped that train of thought, "um, maybe sometime else".
They marched ahead, ignoring the sight behind them. Soon, Uzi quickly felt the surroundings becoming a tad too familiar for comfort. The buildings were beginning to thin out and some sort of expanse could be seen beyond them. "Hey, do you know where we are?", she asked.
N looked around, a wide smile gracing his face, "oh yeah! This is about where your colony lives!".
She looked at him, shock on her face, "uh, yeah, let's not go there". He gave her a look. She couldn't quite place it, but it was definitely meant to change her mind. She gave him a skeptical look, "alright, why do you want to go there?".
"You guys have oil supplies, right? We can stock up on fresh juice that I- we didn't have to get from corpses". Or from each other.
Oh , how much that made sense. Her own mouth could salivate at the thought of drinking the colony's clean oil supply again if she had the capacity to do so. However, this was still the colony, the place that never gave a care towards her. The place where he lived.
She looked at N practically beaming at the idea, his tail made happy twists in the air behind him. He was still traumatized over the events of the last day, and he still needed oil for his systems. Was this really going to end up being the easiest way to help him? There was that thought again - of how her body reacted to the common oils in the city around them. She needed this too.
She obliged, "alright, but we make this quick".
Uzi grimaced as the two made their way further into the barren area, the buildings finally thinning out and leaving them in a small expanse of snow-covered machinery. Looking over at one side of the urban meadow, she could see snow-covered shapes and on the other the path to the spire. Unnaturally, they shifted towards the former.
The taller drone trotted ahead, their hands having parted finally. Uzi focused her now freed hand to help its counterpart out holding the bucket. The liquid inside sloshed with a disturbing sound. She found some amusement in watching N's tail drift around like some kind of Earth creature she'd only seen before in data files.
As they neared the entrance, Uzi rushed ahead, grabbing him on the upper arm. "Hey, wait", she said, "not this route in".
"Why not?".
"That's... Well, the only entrance, but it's always guarded. We should see if that hole we made on our way out isn't patched yet".
N smirked, "kinda like breaking and entering, 'cept we did the breaking some other time, huh?".
Uzi gave him a playful shove, "pretty rebellious, huh? You're picking it up pretty well".
He rubbed the back of his head, "yeah, uh, I had practice". He didn't elaborate further.
She wandered ahead, taking the lead. He followed as she redirected them towards a warehouse. "Hey", she glanced behind her, "you can make a short flight, right? You're getting fresh oil in here anyway".
He trotted around ahead of her, "of course! Up to the roof, right?".
She nodded. "I'll drop this here", she set the bucket down, "it'll lighten us up. Plus, we need to find another in there anyway for this supply run".
He gave her a thumbs-up and then grimanced. He doubled over as his wings emerged, the process catching a few times. As he stood up, she noted his lips drawn back, which definitely didn't help things.
"Are you... alright?", her hand raised, prepared to try to comfort him in some way that eluded her.
"It's fine, don't worry about me", he extended a hand towards her, "you ready?".
She clasped his hand, "yeah". He hauled her up into his arms, her expression changing to shock, "h-hey, I can just ride on your back or shoulders again!".
"First thing that came to mind", he said. She pouted at him from her head's place between his upper arm and his chest. "D'aww, come on, Uzi. You don't have to be cute and angry about it".
"What".
"What?".
"Just...", Uzi covered her face with a hand, "just get us up there".
He nodded and leapt into the air, his face tensing as his wings briefly struggled to trigger their flight capabilities. His wings swept back as they ascended the building and could finally observe the roof.
The hole they made on their previous visit was quickly spotted by a pair of purple eyes. "Hey, there", Uzi pointed out. As she looked at N she noted a dis-focus about him.
He shook his head, "oh, yeah, that's it".
Uzi gave him a soft smirk, it was the best she could do to encourage him, "just head in, bud, we'll get you oil soon".
"Alright". He floated over towards it, his wings angling back again to fit them through. Uzi's eyes darted around for any witnesses, ultimately spotting none - not that she could see much in the pitch black they were descending into.
"Hey, N", she whispered, "you see anything around here?".
"Not much", he replied, voice louder than hers, "it all looks the same as we left it".
She sighed in relief. Having anyone be witness to this sneaking mission would kill the mood badly.
They landed and Uzi patted him on the chest a few times to catch his attention. "Oh, yeah", he sat her down carefully.
Uzi looked around and sent a hateful expression into the dark surroundings. Of course they did loot that apartment after all and she still didn't possess a flashlight! How stupid of her to neglect the one item that could've prevented the whole situation in the apartment from happening to begin with. Now, these surroundings tortured her with the idea of another apartment fiasco. She instinctively flailed for N's tail, the biggest source of light once again, and held it.
At contact, he squeaked and pried her hands over the appendage. "U-Uzi!", his voice shrill, "remember what I t-told you?".
"Dude, is that thing seriously sensitive?", she pointed at it casually.
He took a defensive stance, "yeah but also it kinda gets me jumpy and I don't like that".
A brow appeared and raised itself on her screen, "you tied V up in hers".
His screen flustered, "it was the only thing I could do without killing her! If I didn't do that, you and this colony would all be dead and I'd be very unhappy. So just... I don't know, don't think about it!".
Uzi nodded, the only reply she could even think of giving him. "So uh", she switched gears, "is my railgun still around here?".
He looked around, his array cycling through various visual inputs. "I dunno... I see all the shipping containers and stuff, J's cor- body ".
"You don't see it around that? Huh, they must've taken it away", Uzi tapped a boot against the floor. How would she hope to find it now?
N faced her, worry apparent, "I don't see it anywhere and I don't want to stay here too long either. This area specifically".
At this, her expression mirrored, "yeah, same. Let's get out here and go to the storage room already". N gave her a thumbs-up and held it there for an obnoxiously long time, she figured he was waiting on her lead. With her hands suddenly on her hips, she tilted her head at him, "keep your tail ahead of us so I can see. Some of us don't have those fancy sight modes, ya'know".
"...Do you ever want those?".
Uzi shrugged and broke eye contact with him, "in times like this? Yeah, absolutely. But otherwise, that lightband on your head is a little... little uh... much".
"Yeah, they're also kind of sensitive", he said, reaching a hand up just below the array. He did have to agree with her that sometimes it was a bit much. Though it would quickly repair, he was always mindful of bumping his head against things. Beyond that, some of his vision settings he found little use for.
His tail flew over between them like a small lantern. Extending his hand, he asked, "the cord only goes so far, so you might want to hold on".
Uzi gave a mechanical sigh as her emote protocols slipped in a few diagonal lines under her eyes. She took his hand and worked her grasp on him higher until she was gripping his upper arm. N shivered at the touch, and she could only hope she hadn't made things awkward between them again. If he was uncomfortable, he didn't state it and instead guided them towards the entrance of the area.
On another note, her thermostat readings were interesting to go over, and a welcome distraction from her pathetic state. She'd never noticed how much colder the outpost was at night. All the electronics they ran didn't quite get things much warmer than outside. Though, perhaps this room was just colder because of its function and the hole in the roof they made. Didn't help that being so close to N threw her readings off. Though... regarding those readings... was he hotter than usual? She blushed at her own thoughts. Not like that. He was in the process of overheating, this heat was own body threatening to cook itself. Yet, her own enjoyed the heat and the defrosting it brought with it on her mechanics.
She shook her head a bit, mindful of accidentally alerting N. That's enough of that . A piece of debris lay just ahead of her, barely illuminated by the tail light. She could feel him nudge her out of the way of it.
"Hey, we're at the big door now", N stated as they stopped. The lights around his body making the object clear.
Uzi groaned. How much she hated hearing that word. "Ok, well, I should have the-", she stopped.
"The what?".
"The key card", she explained, "I lost it when you... yeah".
N's gaze fell, "oh...".
She looked over it as much as the light permitted her to, "is there any other way to open it? Can you open it apart with your hands?".
"I think I have a better idea", N pointed to something outside her field of view, "there's a vent up there".
"Oh", Uzi stated, unsure of the idea.
N walked them over to a side of the door, looking up. "It's a bit of a climb", he said as his hands switched to his claws.
Uzi crossed her arms, "and how am I supposed to get up there, huh?".
N stared blankly at her and then crouched to the floor. "On my shoulders again, I guess?", his tail hovered above him.
"You guess, huh?", Uzi said and saddled herself on him.
"You holding on good?", he asked.
"Yeah".
N stood up, Uzi swayed a bit as her center of gravity shifted. She took a firm grip of his head. "Ok", N said, "up we go!".
The Disassembler sunk his claws into the wall, and began scaling the surface like some kind of cat. As they ascended, Uzi noted the progress slowed down gradually. As they finally reached the vent, he spoke, "ok, can you open it?".
Uzi grabbed the bars and at first it seemed like it wouldn't budge. She applied more force, her legs trying to keep a hold on N while her feet braced the wall for support. The thing broke off with a horrid metallic snap and Uzi quickly found herself falling off N as the force of getting the plate off suddenly took effect on her. The plate fell out of her hands and Uzi's legs flew off N's shoulders.
"Uzi!", N cried as he took a claw off the wall and quickly grabbed her by the arm. She yelped as his claws punctured her plating. Their gazes locked as hollowed purple eyes met their yellow counterparts. N winced and Uzi blinked. "Wha- What do we do now?", he asked. Uzi swung her other arm to grab N's leg and once she had a good hold, she wiggled out of his grasp on her other arm and used it to move completely over to hang off his leg. N looked down in confusion, "hey, um, what's this plan about?".
Uzi began to climb him, "using you as a ladder". Her legs wrapped around his as she directed her arms towards his waist. This is so awkward... His tail was now between them as she moved it to the side, hoping it wouldn't interfere with this task again. She kept shuffling upwards, thankful no one was around to see this.
At last she made it back to his shoulders and using this position she entered the ventilation shaft. "Wow, you sure this'll fit you?", she asked and when she got no immediate reply she looked back. He looked up at her with pleading eyes. "You can't make it in?", she asked.
His eyes shifted around uncomfortably, "I'm, uh, tired".
She extended a hand, "no claws this time".
He looked back at her with concern but then retracted a set of claws for his regular hand again. Their hands met, and Uzi braced herself as she pulled him up. With a final effort, he went into the vent with their combined effort. In his exhaustion, he collapsed on Uzi, who in turn collapsed backwards under his weight.
As things settled, they began to register the tiny cramped space of the vents and the compromising position they found themselves in. "Oh, um, sorry", he mumbled.
Neither made any move as both of their screens emoted their stunned, flushed state. Uzi was torn between pushing him off or letting the moment last. N found himself in no state to be able to do anything about it. Uzi found herself able to break the silence, "hey, you're kinda uh, hot".
N squeaked as the diagonal lines of his blush extended further on his screen than Uzi had ever seen happen to a drone before. "U-Uzi? Look I- I really appreciate the compliment, but-".
Uzi's blush began to mirror his, "not like that! Not like that! Ugh. Why did I say it like that?". She sunk her head back as far as it could to avoid looking at him, which was not much.
Oh, suddenly it dawned on him what she was talking about. As much as he was trying to avoid thinking about it, even she could see how bad the situation was getting. He knew he couldn't keep this up for much longer.
"N", her voice broke through his thoughts, "hey, when you grabbed me earlier it kinda cut my arm up a bit. C-Can you... heal that?". Apprehension in her voice? That was odd.
"Yeah, which one was it-", he froze as she presented him with the arm. Globs of oil leaked from the wounds on her arm and every instinct in him wanted nothing more than to lap it up. Warm oil, and he reasoned the likelihood of it being sweet too. Thoughts of licking it clean and doing what she asked of him ran through his mind, only for the reality of seeing her wounded arm to sink in. A broken Worker, much like her, dead. Never to boot again. A wound much like those, but here on Uzi.
Unable to handle it, he forced his overheating joints to push himself off her and get a little distance between them. Uzi propped herself up on her good arm, "N? You alright?".
Something about that broke him out of his terror. It took him a moment to process her concern, it left a pleasant feeling in him. "Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine", he said, mostly to convince himself.
She nodded, unsure of what to do next. "Uh, yeah, good. That doesn't fix my arm, though".
He was doing something she couldn't see, his body turned towards the entrance of the vent hunched over with little space they had. A small startled squeak, "it's on it!".
"What are you talking about?".
This was pushed to the side as she overheard a horrid wet sound in his direction. "N, what's going on?", she asked and did not receive an answer as the sound happened again a few more times.
He finally shoved an arm behind him towards her, "you can take it".
"And what's that?".
"My saliva".
Uzi bristled at the reveal. Indeed, cupped in his hand was a liquid she realized she knew much too well at this point. "You can't do it yourself?".
"No".
Uzi swallowed down her revulsion at the task and sat down within reach of his hand. As she dipped her unharmed hand into the fluid, she grimaced as she realized there was finally something that beat out him licking her as the most gross thing about him. She rubbed the fluid onto her and quickly found herself wishing he had actually taken care of this himself. How strange it was that she would find herself in a position where him licking her was the preferred route. Oh well.
As she worked, her arm and his hand became discolored from the oil that had dislodged itself off her wounds. She frowned, knowing he wouldn't like that. A very short time later, she was done, and the scratches he had given her could no longer be seen. "There, done", she announced.
He withdrew his hand and her thoughts were proven right, "it's all over it now!".
"Your idea, bud".
He frowned. It was his idea after all, he just didn't want any more of her oil on him. The temptation to lick it off was strong, but his horror kept him at bay. Focus, don't look at it. I'll find something to clean it off with later .
"It was, sorry".
Uzi sighed, not in annoyance like usual, he'd been able to pick up on her tones pretty quick. She laid a hand on his shoulder, "don't worry about it. Let's get this mission over with".
A mission, huh? First time she's ever referred to one of these ventures as one. Usually that would be how J would refer to their tasks. As Uzi took the lead guiding them through the vents, a sense of familiarity took over. Nostalgia? Whatever it was. It was the first time he'd felt like things were back to normal in a while. Well, perhaps not totally. Uzi treated him much better than J, and as for V... He was surprised to realize that he hadn't thought of her much the past day. Was she alright back on the pod? Would she finally turn around to their plans? He still hoped so, he wanted her to see how much better Uzi was as a leader despite the Worker not being a Disassembler like them. It was kind-of a funny thought, Uzi was a lot like them, really. She was prickly and she was also cunning and over the course of this trip she had treated him so well. She's pretty awesom...
"Hey, N?", Uzi whispered, "we're gonna keep using the vents as far as we can. They've probably got drones out on night watch or something. I dunno".
"Oh, cool". He had no idea where they were anymore and wholeheartedly trusted her with the directions. His aching body however was screaming at her to get them to their destination already.
As they passed by a vent opening, he asked her where they were. "Residential quarters. We need to be extra quiet", she whispered.
"So you lived around here?", he whispered back.
Uzi rolled her eyes, "that wasn't obvious? Yeah. We're not far from my old room".
"Do you wanna see it again?".
"No". It was a lie.
"Oh...". N returned to peering through the vents to catch whatever glimpses of the lives of the Workers as he could.
Uzi seemed to be leading them away from this area. It was unfortunate, but he was glad they would soon approach their destination.
As N approached a vent, he noted movement below him. He crawled to the side to investigate. Below him in a hallway he could see a drone creeping along the wall. "Uzi", he whispered, "there's someone moving over here".
"N!", she hissed, trying to keep quiet, "we are not getting caught so far in!". As she reached over to pull him away, she glanced down and noticed something familiar about this drone. "Is that Thad? What the hell's he doing up so late?".
"Who?", N asked.
"That guy who talked to us after we beat up J and V".
"Oh that guy! He seems cool", N peered down at the jock's strange antics.
"Enough about him, let's keep going", Uzi crawled over to coax him forward. As she moved, however, the two of them ended up both on the vent grate which quickly found itself unable to support their combined weight. The grate fell open, dropping the two of them to the floor below. They landed with a loud thud, causing Thad to visibly tense up at the commotion.
N sat up rubbing his head, Uzi stunned on his legs, "oh wow, uh, oops".
Uzi looked up at him with unblinking eyes, "ouch".
"Uzi?", Thad looked over at them, "and... what was your name again?".
N beamed, "N, that's the name!". He pointed at himself for emphasis. Uzi put her hands over her eyes at this.
Thad stopped hugging the wall at this point, too enraptured by the odd encounter, "what are you two doing here? I thought you were still banished and all that".
Uzi grumbled, "it's a sneaking mission. I don't have to tell you anything more about it".
"Oh, ok... I'm also on a super cool mission so I guess it was fate", Thad mused aloud.
N stood himself and Uzi up, suddenly very interested about this, "what kind of super cool mission is it?".
"Oh, ya'know", Thad shrugged, "forgot my homework in class. Any teen'd do it".
"Really?", N beamed, "Uzi, did you do that often?".
No. "Pft, yeah. Used to do it all the time for fun even!", she boasted.
"Ooh! That must be why you're so good at this stuff!", he had that damn smile again. Uzi folded her arms and avoided looking at him as much as possible as her screen betrayed her fluster just a bit.
"So uh, it's late and I really should be getting my homework done, so...", Thad trailed off, unsure. On one hand, this encounter has never happened before, on the other was his academics.
N took a few steps towards him, Thad taking a step back, "are you going to school?".
"Y-Yeah", Thad replied, his persona briefly breaking from the presence of the Disassembler. No matter how much he thought about it, the idea of the two of them being friendly with each other was absurd. Yet, the proof was before him.
N looked over at Uzi and she could've sworn it was like his eyes sparkled, "can we join him? I really wanna see it".
"I dunno, N. We're kind of already-".
"But Uzi!", N whined, "I really want to".
Uzi huffed, "so why'd you bother asking me?".
N relaxed and completely deadpan went, "I don't want to split up and lose you in here". Uzi's hands flew to her face again.
Thad shuffled his feet uncertainly, his usual demeanor eluding him. "Well", he rubbed the back of his neck, "I guess it couldn't hurt to let you guys tag along".
N pumped his fist into the air as Uzi rolled her eyes at his display. "Ugh, alright, let's get this over with", Uzi sighed.
Taking the lead, Thad motioned them along, "I guess no one heard you guys drop from the vent, but there's some new guards in the place so I'm trying not to get caught".
"So, sneaking mission?", N asked.
Thad gave him a playful finger gun, "that's the plan!". N replied with a vigorous nod, a stupid smile plastered on his face.
The two boys proceeded with caution, trying to sneak around the various hallways with little sound. Uzi, in contrast, wasn't giving the whole thing much effort. While the boys were ahead pretending to be ninjas, she only adjusted her walk to be quieter, her boots softly meeting the floor every step. She looked ahead at the two's dumb antics, her annoyance softening at the goofy sight.
As the two crept along the wall of this new hallway, Uzi soon noticed a familiar sight. She hissed at them, "hey, we're already there!".
"Oh wow!", N turned around keeping what he thought was a cool crouch, "I can't believe we walked past that".
Thad folded his arms, "that's the price of being cool, sometimes the less cool stuff just passes you by".
Uzi gave him a look. As I'm personally aware of.
"How cool were we?", N asked, "I don't wanna be uncool to my first day of class".
Thad gave it a few seconds of thought before returning his answer, "pretty cool, probably. Never thought I'd be breaking into school with a Murder Drone before".
"A what now?".
"Oh! Uh...", Thad panicked, "it's uh, what we call you guys".
N looked back over at Uzi, "that true? You guys actually call us that?".
"You heard my dad say it", Uzi folded her arms, "surprised it took you this long to figure it out".
"Oh...", N appeared sheepish, his glee fading away, "I guess it fits...".
Thad leaned in, curious, "what are you guys actually called, anyway? You got these cool abilities, what did the humans think they were putting them to?".
An oddly complicated thought, Uzi noticed. Uzi had been directly told what N's kind were and their purpose for being. Thad was already on some good questions regarding that and he'd only been talking to N for a bit.
When N failed to reply, Uzi noting a distant look on him, she instead answered, "Disassembly Drone. The story's not much different, actually, they were told we were corrupted".
"Oh", Thad leaned back, "and the oil drinking?".
Uzi looked back at N to see if he'd answer and again found him unresponsive. Some unfamiliar instinct took over as she put a hand on his shoulder, this action helped by his vacant slump. She could only guess that he was still caught up over what happened in the apartments. "Hey", she said slowly, as if testing the word, "are you good?".
A spark of recognition crossed his features. "Oh, uh, yeah. I'll be fine", he told her. As he refocused, he noticed Thad looking at them with a confused look that quickly vanished when N looked back at him. The other male drone shifted back and forth on his feet seeming out of place.
As this happened, Uzi stepped in front of N to catch his attention. She set both her hands down on his shoulders, "let's get inside the classroom already. That sound fun?".
N perked up at this, "yeah. That'll be fun".
The corners of Uzi's mouth twitched upwards. She gave him a few pats with her hands before pulling away from him, "alright, let's get going, then".
As she made her way over to the door, Thad stepped aside to give her room and N followed her with his gaze. She looked over the door, irritation building up as she realized she was playing into the interest her father wished she had. Her original task thrown out, she kicked the thing and pouted.
"Is the door no good?", N asked.
Uzi crossed her arms, "stupid door".
Thad shrugged, "well, you are a 'Doorman' after all. If any of us had any good ideas with it, it'd be you".
"Not anymore I'm not!", Uzi fumed, "my dad left me for dead, I don't need to keep the family name anymore".
At her outburst, Thad recoiled. "I... uh, didn't think about that", Thad timidly replied. He'd never been so intimidated by the purple drone before.
"...Your last name is 'Doorman '?", N tilted his head inquisitively at the information.
Uzi huffed, "says the guy whose name is a single letter".
"Well, if you can ditch your last name, then I guess I could give myself a real name", N said, mostly to think aloud, "I kind of don't want to, though".
"It's fine, the letter name's pretty cool", Thad said.
Well, if Thad said it was cool, it must not be an issue, right? He really didn't want to imagine changing his name, but being with Uzi and Thad was making that stick out in a way he didn't like. They had real names, granted Uzi's was strange, but it still came off as a real name. Their names were personal and him, in contrast, was defined only by a single letter.
"N", Uzi's voice broke through his thoughts, "I don't know what to do with the door. Maybe you could, I don't know, force it open with your fingers or something?".
He straightened up at her command and walked over to investigate it with her. She gave him some room as he jabbed his fingers into the edge of the door trying to feel around. "Well, I don't think it's gonna open easily", he announced, taking his fingers away from it.
Uzi nodded, "that's obvious".
"So should I just open it like that?".
"That's the only option I can think of".
N gave her a thumbs-up and jammed his fingers between the door and the wall it slid into. Something creaked as he applied force onto the set-up, Uzi was uncertain if it was the door or his body. The metal warped some as it finally pulled apart, the door trying to close still. He looked over at his companions, a tense look sewn onto his face, "it's not gonna stay open".
"Hold it for us", Uzi said as she approached. N held it apart as far as possible as she stepped inside, Thad following soon after. N then carefully made his own entrance in, allowing the door to shut on them.
Uzi looked over at N and the door, "you let it close in on us?".
"I can just open it again", N shrugged. Uzi sighed and let it stay at that.
Thad rushed over to a pair of books on one desk and picked them up. "Sweet, this was my homework by the way", he said, "thanks".
"You off to your place then?", Uzi asked.
"Oh, uh", he freed one arm to rub the back of his neck, "I don't have to leave just yet".
N practically leapt into the seat of a desk, "cool! You and Uzi can show me what school's like!".
Thad went over to Uzi and tapped her shoulder, whispering, "he's never been to school?".
Uzi's display arched a digital brow, her arms crossed, "I don't think he's done a lot of things before. This has been kind of a bucket list thing for him lately".
"Oh, ok", Thad started, unsure of where he was going with this, "I'll uh... lead class then". He wandered over to the teacher's desk and set his books down on it.
N beamed in delight as Uzi swallowed down her annoyance again to take a seat beside him at the front of the classroom. The taller drone's tail swayed from side to side slowly with a stiffness she couldn't place a reason for. N, however, was in great spirits over the situation. He turned to her with a wide smile plastered on his face, "now I can see what I've been missing out on! Oh, this lesson's gonna be so cool!". He added as an afterthought, "I think your grade-level is about where I'd be if I had taken school".
"Yeah, yeah... real cool", Uzi tried to play along but really couldn't. So they were also similar in age? She'd had suspicions before, but that sealed the deal.
Thad gave a mechanical clearing of his throat as he finally decided on what to teach. "Alright", he started, "today in Thathletics, we're gonna discuss the optimal angles for passing a ball".
N nodded with vigor at the introduction given and turned to whisper at Uzi, "I haven't heard of this subject before".
She rolled her digital eyes, "he's making a pun".
N's eyes seemed to enlarge as the information digested itself. "Wow, you guys are smart".
"N, it's really not that cool".
"Hey", Thad interrupted, "are we stopping this?".
N waved his hands in a panic, "no! I'll be quiet. Sorry".
"So", Thad tried again, "when you throw the ball to one of your teammates, you don't want it going too far and missing them completely. A good choice is-".
Thad droned on and on about this interest of his to the other two occupants of the room, Uzi found herself wanting to shut off her audio receptors already. She had no idea he could go on about sports like this. That was just his thing, right? She'd known of him for ages, but they'd never talked before until she ended up in the infirmary. He was always so out of reach, being in touch with the popular cliche. Speaking of, was he friends with Lizzy? She couldn't remember anymore. Things had changed so much lately that her old life was starting to feel like it was years ago.
Her fingers dug into the desk. Focus on something else. N's tail caught her attention again and she looked at the taller drone. Oh jeez, he was still invested in this.
Thad stopped his lesson on robo-Jesus-knows-what as N interrupted him. "Hey, um, Professor Thad? What am I gonna use this for anyway?".
"Oh, uh", Thad's face tensed in thought, "...I don't know? Winning the big game maybe?".
"Game?".
"Sports!", Thad lit up again at the topic, "we play games with balls and hoops in teams. Whoever wins gets a trophy".
N leaned forward onto his desk, "and a trophy looks like?".
"Like a shiny statue or whatever", Uzi replied.
"So what happens to the losing team? Do the winners kill them?", N directed his position so he could see Thad and Uzi better.
"Kill?", Thad grimaced, "no, they just don't win anything".
"...Show me a trophy".
Thad pointed to the back of the class where a display cabinet was. "See the gold metal thing? That's a trophy", he replied pointing to it specifically.
N rushed over to the cabinet to view the object, his face and hands pressed to the glass. "It's so shiny! Woah!".
"Yeah, we won that just last week", Thad boasted.
"It's cool... that's cool".
"Hey, N", Uzi casually stated, "you know you need to be excused from your seat while class is in session, right?".
"Uh", he slowly turned himself around, "I didn't. Sorry".
Thad chuckled, "Uzi, you know we're not seriously in class, right?".
Uzi huffed, "wise words, professor". That got an actual laugh from Thad as N timidly made his way back to his desk. "Hey", Uzi caught his attention, "don't take any of this seriously, it's just pretend".
"Yeah... yeah". N didn't say anything more, just looked at them with a blank look.
"Hey", Uzi called to Thad, "why don't you teach him something from your homework like this is a real session of class".
Thad nodded, "yeah, sure can!". He opened his book to a section and began reading aloud. Uzi found this about as boring as the sports talk quickly and regretted the idea almost immediately. Well, this could technically be her last session of class as well as being N's first. Which, speaking of...
He caught her attention this time, seemingly not invested too much with the reading. "Hey, Uzi?", he timidly whispered, which Uzi immediately noted as odd, "can I ask something?".
"Like what you're doing right now?", she stated, an amused look crossing her face. Was he finally bored of this?
"Yeah... uh", his face tensed, "do you think, if things were different... W-We would... Would...".
"Spit it out, it can't be that bad".
N swallowed as he realized the hole he dug for himself, the only way out to own up to it. "If... If I had grown up here like you, do you think we would've still been friends?".
Uzi's eyes hollowed, "that's a... weird question. Why do you wanna know?".
"Oh, uh. Just... realizing things", his gaze wandered the room briefly, "Workers and Disassemblers aren't so different, but the pens you guys chase don't have that kind of cost to them".
"The trophies? N, those are just for the drones who like sports. Not all of us aspire to that kind of thing". A look of realization overcame them both quickly and then some appalled look settled in.
"Yeah... You guys have options. I just... I kinda wish things had been different for me... us". N looked at his hands to distract himself as Uzi worked out in her head how he was feeling. She couldn't imagine it was anything good. The guy was already edging an existential crisis, she hoped he hadn't quite hit that point yet.
Well, she could only distract him from this, she guessed. His question was making her head spin though. Her gut reaction was a firm no, and she knew that was right but how much she wished it wasn't. He was so abrasively friendly with her, and though she knew now it wasn't in jest, it wasn't something she clicked with easily. She couldn't imagine befriending him in any other context and, hell, she still wasn't the greatest friend to him anyway. The problem was her, she knew she'd just have pushed him away just like she's been doing. Yeah, what a friend she was.
His tail caught her attention again and she realized it was intentional this time, "that question, it's a 'no', huh?".
Her eyes hollowed, "how did you guess?".
"You don't look happy about it".
Her lips pressed together in discomfort. Some friend she was, he was invested enough into this friendship to be able to read her like a book. What good was she, just a loser who can only make friends when they walk into her life first?
"I'm a terrible friend, you wouldn't want to saddle yourself with me", she frowned.
"No, it's me".
"You? No! I'm terrible, I'm-!".
"-Uzi, I can't help being what I am".
Her eyes gained brows again in her confusion, "we're talking hypotheticals here. You wouldn't be-", she stopped as she noticed his gaze locked on her, his mouth salivating. "Oh, ok. That's what you're talking about. How bad is it? We can ditch Thad here and-".
"Maybe you should ditch me instead", she could see the steam beginning to waft off him.
"N!", she got up and wasn't quite sure what to do.
Thad stopped his reading, they'd long blocked out his voice until now, "uh, what's up?".
Uzi pointed at the door, "it's been a bit so maybe you should look outside and make sure we're alone. Uh, patrols and all that!".
"Oh, uh, ok", Thad stated as he walked over to the door, "can N move the door for me though?".
Uzi rushed over to the door, "I'll do it". She found N's grip had created places for her fingers to grip on the door. She pushed the thing open, thoughts of how much, even now, the cursed objects were always a centerpiece of annoyance for her.
The thing budged forward and Thad quickly darted through it. "Alright, through", he stated.
"Good, go look for five minutes".
"Why five minutes?", he asked and then was quickly shut off from her as the door slid back into place.
Uzi's sights snapped back over to where N sat. Her body ached a bit from the excursion of pushing the door, but she knew that must feel like nothing compared to him right now. She got up and rushed towards him, "hey, are you good to go to the store rooms?".
He looked back at her with wild, hollowed eyes, "I'm good for nothing".
"You're good at plenty of things! I don't even mean the stuff you were built for", she stood by him unsure of what to do.
His lips curled slightly, "thanks, but not what I meant... Not entirely anyway".
"How bad is it?", she put a hand down on his shoulder and noted the temperature.
"Pretty bad".
Well, he was honest about it. "Dude, what are we gonna do about this?", her face tensed in concern.
"I'm never going to stop being this, Uzi. It's always gonna be a problem", he tensed, "let me burn up somewhere in peace".
Uzi was appalled, "are you stupid? Don't even consider that!".
"Well maybe I am", he pushed her aside as he got up, his joints stiffening and the air around him shimmering with the temperature. He took a few steps towards the door, but stopped short and had to lean onto another desk.
She rushed to steady him, "oh no, you are not doing this!".
"Uzi, don't", he swatted her hands off him, "don't do anything that might tempt me. I don't wanna hurt you".
She put her hands back on him, grabbing him by the shoulders, "N, I am not letting this happen".
One of his eyes flickered to an X briefly, startling Uzi. "What can you do? I've been losing this fight for a while, maybe I should just let things run their course".
Uzi froze. It wasn't even a question of what she could do, but if they could go through with it. It really was now or never, huh? They both couldn't go through with it back in the apartment, but that wasn't such a tense situation, this time it was different. She coaxed him onto the desk without pushback from him.
"I'm ready if you're ready", she put her hand on the zipper on her jacket, unzipping it slightly.
N wasn't sure what to think for a moment until things worked out in his mind, "woah, woah! Wait a minute here!".
"What?".
His voice squeaked, "uh, I mean, you're being really forward about this and I don't think this is the best time to... do... that".
Uzi's face lit up in a fluster as it clicked. "Not that! Oh robo-Jesus it did come off that way, huh?".
"So what's this about?", he demanded, a blush lightly emerging on his own display.
"Bite me! Literally!", she confronted him, drawing back one of the sides of the collar of her jacket.
N shook his head, "I can't do that. It'll hurt or kill you".
"You have to! Come on, dude!", she crawled up on the desk with him, his legs between her knees, so she could be face-to-face with him.
"Don't make this hard, Uzi". His eyes, as wild as they looked, pleaded with her.
"You're the one being so dramatic!", she fumed, "we're both against the wall here. If I can do this, you can".
"You're just going to panic at the last second like last time. Don't force yourself".
She grabbed his face, "N! Listen to me, you are going to do this. I know you can". He said nothing, his digital eyes lowered in defeat. Uzi's face scrunched up in concern, "damn it, N". No other way around it. She took one hand to expose her shoulder for him and the other to press his face into it. "I know- I know it's weird for the both of us, but I can't let my first and only friend suffer like this", she pleaded, "please, N, just bite into me already and get this over with".
His breath came hot on her exposed exterior. Oh good, he's trying . Then, came pin pricks on her chassis. She could feel him shaking, his teeth grinding against her. "Come on, N. You can do it", she encouraged him. The truth was, she was terrified of what was coming next. Something happened, she wasn't sure if his own terror accidentally forced his teeth into her or not, but sharp pain shot across her as he at last got her oil into his mouth. She yelped at the feeling, the sensation of his teeth shearing into her frightening her. He attempted to back away from her, only for her to snap to attention and firm her grip on his head, pushing him back into her.
Oil had been drawn, and N's subprogramming begged and pleaded to consume more. This won out as he resigned himself to this fate. A sort of out-of-body experience took over as N disassociated with what he was doing. A line had been crossed and his mind was terrified of confronting that. His feeding was oddly calm and it stopped as soon as he shot back to reality.
Some horrid, animalistic noise seemed to escape his audio output, instantly catching her attention. She almost wasn't sure if she had somehow imaged it, he'd taken enough from her that her mainframe was still throwing errors her way. Dismissing it, she focused on him. Soon enough, it happened again. A wailing, guttural noise.
She rubbed his back in concern, "i-it's alright. I'm ok. Are you?".
He put his arms around her waist and held her there. He said nothing.
"Hey, N?", Uzi's face tensed as another round of errors were sent her way, "can you heal that spot?". He did so lethargically, but soon enough her chassis was unpunctured. She adjusted her arms to make this a hug, a move he seemed to like as he buried his face into her torso.
"N?", she tried again. He groaned in response. She was already trying her best at this. Was he upset at her for forcing this? That might be it.
His hold on her tightened. "Uzi", his voice sounded labored, "are you sure you're ok?".
"Yeah", she nodded, "I'm fine now. Enough about me, how are you?".
His teeth ground together as he loosened his grip on her to look her in the face. "Uzi, I just bit into you and drained you. Why wouldn't I be concerned about you?".
"You told me... you said...", her voice weakened, "you said that you wanted to burn up somewhere... You understand why I'm concerned?". Her face was once again tensed in emotion, but this time it was a side of her N rarely saw.
"Oh, yeah, fair", he frowned at the reminder. "Sorry for making you worried about me, it's just...", he looked away, "I had a bad moment and then overheat starting to kick in wasn't a good combination. I'm fine now, please don't cry over me".
She blinked. Cry? She checked her processes in her CPU. Indeed, her emote protocol had a tear program running. If only she could terminate that process... She groaned, "look at what you made me do".
"I'm sorry!'.
"Don't be", she countered, their faces meeting again, "I don't do this easily!".
He stared into her face, finding it a reflection of how he felt inside. His sobbing from before had completely vanished, replaced with something approaching a neutral look. Internally though, that was a different story.
His gaze fell, but a smile formed on his lips, "you're a really good friend, Uzi. You really didn't have to".
She blinked. A good friend? This was hardly something normal, but perhaps it was a good sign. A chuckle escaped her mouth, "I never imagined friendship would be so painful".
His face tensed, "literally... for the both of us".
She gave him a slow nod and after a few moments something clicked. "I forgot about Thad", she said, pushing herself off him.
"He's still out there?", N asked.
She walked over to the door and took a quick glance back at him, "yeah? Were you too out of it to remember?".
"I could ask the same about you", N pointed out.
Uzi huffed and opened the door some, her head poking out into the hallway, "hey, Thad you there?".
He was leaning against a wall nearby and visibly reacted to her voice. "Yeah! Yeah, I'm here!".
"You can come back in", she told him. He cautiously made his way back inside, N waving a greeting at him as he walked in. Thad made his way over to the books he had originally made this trip for.
"Are you headed back home?", Uzi asked Thad.
He tensed again. "Uh, yeah. I probably should".
She noted he was avoiding looking at her. Weird, but whatever. "What? Is hanging out with us not fun anymore?".
"Oh, no it's not that. Just, um", he looked around a bit as if looking for an answer, "Uzi? Could you and I talk out in the hallway for a second?".
An odd request. "Sure", she replied and headed over to the door again. By now the sliding function was pretty much restored by the previous openings of it. Uzi entered the hallway first and Thad followed her out, N watching this all with a peculiar look. She closed the door and addressed him, "so what's up?".
He leaned up against the wall, still avoiding looking at her. "So uh, first off. Could you uh... fix and zip up your jacket?".
Oh . That was still unfixed. N, why didn't you tell me about that! She blushed angrily as she corrected her jacket. "So what", she asked, "did you call me out just to tell me that?".
"Oh, uh", he rubbed the back of his neck, "it... relates to that".
"Thad, what are you talking about".
He glanced at the tiny window on the door and replied in hushed tones, "so are you and him a thing?".
It was an immediate reaction as Uzi's angry blush returned, "wh-what got you that impression, huh? I could never! I mean, we're so... different and all!".
"Hey, I can't explain what I saw, but it was definitely something real strange", he tried to unveil his reasoning, "you and him all close and stuff. I kinda thought you guys were kissing in there to be honest".
"D-Don't get those ideas in my head, please", Uzi pleaded as she crossed her arms.
"Uzi, that's exactly what it looked like to me".
"It wasn't! I swear!".
"Ok, ok...", Thad mused, "but if he did ask you, would you be interested?".
Uzi put a hand out, "Thad, I don't want to talk about it".
"That should've been an easy answer. You're hiding it aren't you?", Thad teased.
"Oh no ", Uzi pointed a finger at him, "I'm hiding nothing! ".
"...So you like N, then?".
Her teeth mashed together, "I do not like N".
"Hey", he gave her a chill look, "you know you can tell me anything, right?".
"Why should I tell you anything?", she fumed, "you and I never spoke until my railgun exploded on me. That was like two months ago!".
"Uzi, it's only been three weeks. How long have you known him for?".
She grumbled and looked away, "...the night after we first talked. So, yeah, three weeks".
Thad gave her a concerned look, "uh, is that safe? I mean, you two barely know each other and he's a... well, you know".
"I have more reason to trust him than you. Get in enough life-or-death situations with someone and that's an easy thing to build up", she huffed, "we're both in a position where we can't go back to how things used to be. We've done things we can't take back".
Thad frowned and put a hand on her shoulder, "you can come back to the colony though! I don't think anyone cares, I mean, you're really a hero to us to be honest".
"Thad, people died because of me", she swatted his hand off her, "I put myself in exile for a good reason".
"It's safer if you live here! You made an accident, yeah, but people will forgive you. I swear on it!", for emphasis, he pounded his chassis a few times.
Uzi was unfazed. "I invite bad luck with me. At least out there, I know N can handle it", it was a painful partial lie. N's strength didn't help when he began overheating, and even with him at full alert she was nearly killed during the looting spree. The quest for oil had led to some tense moments between them. She hoped another time like it would not come to occur any time soon.
"We can handle it here too. The front door's already fixed even".
Her lips pressed together uncomfortably, "sorry, I've already made up my mind about this. I have a new life, new priorities. I can't carry that all over here". Under her breath, she grumbled, "though I wish I could leave V somewhere and never think of her again".
"Who?".
Oh, Thad heard that. "The Disassembly Drone chick we didn't kill. She almost killed you", she huffed, "she's good for nothing except getting on my nerves, but I can't do anything about her because N likes her".
Thad winced, "oh wow, I couldn't imagine living with one like that".
Uzi glared, "so? N's fine. He's the reason she hasn't killed me yet".
"And if V were gone you think things would be better?".
An arrogant look was flashed in his direction, "yeah, oh definitely. She has no idea how good she has it. She's the worst housemate ever and she's only with us since N can't see what's really there".
"...So you do like N".
"I do not! What even gave you that impression?", she showed him a good view of her teeth causing the guy to recoil a bit.
"Well I don't think acting like that around him is gonna help things", Thad said, "he probably doesn't like having to cater to both of you".
"He needs to just ditch her already!".
Thad looked at her inquisitively, "do I need to ask it again?".
Uzi immediately softened up at the implication. With a much calmer tone of voice, she replied, "I don't like him that way". She crossed her arms, leaning against the wall, "who'd want a guy who would gladly burn up if it meant not hurting you anyway. He's too nice. It's a problem".
"Really now, too nice?".
"Yeah. I had to force him to drink my oil so he wouldn't fucking die... all because he got spooked over the idea of accidentally killing me for it", she paused thinking back to moments prior, "humans are scum. Who builds a guy like that and forces him to kill? It's messed up. He deserves better than that".
Well, there was his answer about the drinking thing... and explains the scene he saw earlier. He kicked back against the wall, face tensed in thought, "sounds like he likes you a lot if he'll go that far for you, and you'll do the same for him. That's pretty cool. Badass, even". He looked at her out of the corner of his visual receptors to behold her standing there with wide eyes.
"I-I don't know what to say... You really think-", she cut herself off, "um, yeah. Cool".
He put a hand on her shoulder, "it's weird that things have gone so far between you two so quickly, but I think that's ended up being a good thing for the both of you. Maybe you shouldn't be afraid of wherever that leads you".
Uzi gave him a hard look, "where'd you pull that from? I never took you as the kind of guy to get all philosophical".
He shrugged, "you find some interesting words on the posters in the gym".
"Right. I'm gonna head back in", she casually pointed with her thumb behind her, "we've been out here for a little while".
"Wait", Thad stopped her.
"What".
"I just wanted to say, if you want another friend, I'll be that", he said, a softer look on him, "I know you're not alone out there, but you should know that not everyone here's like your dad".
She raised him a questioning look in disbelief, "you wanna be friends with some freak like me?".
"Yeah!", he nodded his head, "N's not the only one who deserves better. Maybe in time I can befriend you both, even!".
Uzi chuckled, "the guy probably already considers you one, to be honest".
Thad went slack, "oh wow, really?".
Uzi shook her head, content to leave it at that. She made her way back to the door with Thad following and they re-entered the room. N's eyes went wide as he visually followed them in. Thad went over to his books and picked them up.
"Going already?", N asked him.
Thad shrugged, "yeah, I still gotta work on this anyway. It was fun seeing you two, though".
"Oh...".
"Alright, I guess we'll see you later?", Uzi asked.
"If you're up to it. I know where to find you guys", Thad made his way over to the door.
N waved, "well, see you!". Thad shot him a finger gun back and then departed from the room.
Several moments passed as Uzi looked at the door, "well, this has been one of the weirdest nights of my life".
"Right?", N relaxed in his too-small-for-him chair, "I nearly died again".
"And if we don't get to the storage, you actually will", Uzi reminded him.
N got up and made his way over to her, "I wanna look in here a little longer though. Is that ok?".
She sighed, "yeah, sure".
"But first, uh", he looked a little apprehensive, "what did you two talk about out there?".
She looked away as she could instantly tell whatever her expression was, she didn't want to explain it. "We just... caught up on stuff. That was kind-of it".
His digital eyes probed her form questioningly. "Uzi", he asked, "he didn't do anything to you, did he?".
Her eyes met his, her expression overcome with offense, "no! No, it was just a talk".
"You two were weird about it, so I figured I'd ask".
"Weird how? It was just a talk". She froze as he put a hand on her shoulder. A moment passed as she stared at him wondering what this was about, only for him to shyly retract his hand.
His attention suddenly switched over to their surroundings, "sorry, I'm not used to people doing stuff without me anymore. I got nosey and a little-". Something was said under his breath, but she couldn't pick up on it. She decided it wasn't important.
"Well, you're honest is what you are, and I... appreciate that".
His tail wagged at the praise, and he wrapped his arms around her. Unusually, the urge to shoo him off didn't come. He let go of her and wandered off to get distracted by the environment.
The taller Drone wandered over to the teacher's desk, inspecting it. "So this is where the professor instructs from, huh?".
"Yup", Uzi explained, "the guy's not very invested in teaching to be honest".
"What's he look like?".
Uzi shrugged, "eh, vest, orange eyes. He's not very remarkable".
"Oh, cool?", N lost interest with the desk and walked into the rows of desks, "what are your classmates like?".
She crossed her arms, "you already met one".
His head tilted at her, "so are these desks all empty then?".
"No, that's not-".
"Who sits in that desk?", he pointed at one in particular.
"That's Braiden's seat. He stole my homework once, so I stole his sentience".
N gave her a long, hollow stare. "I don't think I've ever been this terrified of you. You wouldn't do that to me though, right?".
"You? No. You'd have to do something really bad for me to consider it, and honestly, you couldn't hurt me in that way if you wanted to", she playfully added as an afterthought, "you're too soft for that".
That silly little process happened again, and generated the diagonal lines of fluster on his screen. Too soft? "Thanks? But, how can you say that when I've hurt you before?".
"Don't worry about it", she wandered through the rows with him, "I didn't mean that literally, you dork".
"Oh. Uh", he pointed at another seat, "who sits here then?".
Uzi went cold at the question. "That's Lizzy's seat. Doll sits next to her. Usually her or some other girl from her cliche. Gah, I don't remember".
"They're other girls? Do you talk to them?".
He instantly regretted asking as Uzi gave him a frigid look, "those girls have never once treated me like a person. Just some bug to squish when they see it".
N averted his eyes, whether it was from the intensity of her glare or the shame of bringing this state upon her, he didn't know. He rubbed his arm, "I've also been there".
"And you know how humiliating it is to be treated like that! Lizzy, Doll, J, V... they're all the same!", she flicked her head to the side and spat on one of the offending desks.
"V's not like that though".
Uzi rounded on him immediately, "N, I see how she treats you! She's toying with you every move she makes!".
N fidgeted as he spoke, "she's not like that all the time, at least from what I remember..."
Uzi groaned, "you're so blinded by whatever-the-fuck you see in her to get the bigger picture here! She's abusing you - us ! Have you seen the way she treats me when I'm in the pod?".
"Uzi, I really don't want to talk about this".
"And why not?", she stomped her foot down, "we're here dragging out details of my old personal life, why can't I talk about yours?".
N froze. The childish glee he had about the whole classroom experience turned to an icky, bile feeling. He gulped, "I didn't mean for things to turn out this way. I won't ask you about anything in here again".
Uzi fumed, "no! I want to talk about it! Why do you keep clinging to her? She's just another Lizzy! She doesn't care!".
"Uzi...", he put a hand on her shoulder again, "I can't explain it, I just know that's not the whole picture...".
She swatted his hand off her, "you're too nice ! You don't get it!". She glared at him a few seconds before deciding to unleash her anger out on the desk that sparked this. She grabbed a writing utensil and used it on the surface of the desk.
Another touch, this time on her shoulder, "just drop it, please. I don't want to see you like this or talk about this".
Uzi ignored him and continued to write crude language on her desk, the writing instrument digging into the surface of the desk. "Fuck Lizzy and anyone like her", the thing creaked in her hand. His hand parted.
N cautioned her, "Uzi, let's not do anything irrational, ok?".
"She deserves it!", Uzi complained, "after all she's put me through, this is the least she deserves!".
"Lizzy?".
Uzi grunted a response, too preoccupied with her vandalization to bother with a real one. She reached into the cubby the object possessed, finding a few miscellaneous items Lizzy had to abuse.
He watched her with concerned eyes, her vented anger being directed to this solitary desk. "Uzi", he tried, "please stop. It's just a desk".
"It means more than just a desk!", she protested, "she wanted me to die, anything I could do to her couldn't possibly top that. She's lucky I don't have my railgun or I'd-".
"Please, please stop", N pleaded, "I don't like seeing you like this".
"She deserves it! She-", a loud crack could be heard in the room. He instantly wondered what it was. Taking stock of things, he noted Uzi's tense form, the other drone hiding her face as she stood by the desk. In a state of apparent panic, she turned her back on him.
A cautious hand was raised to her, "hey, what's going on".
"I mean it this time, don't come near me!".
"Uzi, what are you talking abou-". Another loud crack and then a sharp pain. His fingers, which had been reaching towards her form, snapped backwards. A strange symbol floated in the air briefly.
She peeked her head behind her, the one visible eye hollowing as she observed the state of his hand. "Oh robo-Jesus! I'm so sorry!".
N continued to look at his hand in disbelief, "what did you do?".
She hid her face again, "I-I don't really know".
"It's ok, this'll repair", he could see a few streams of nanites already working on the fractures, "are you ok?". She didn't say anything. He walked around to better get a hold of her, "what's wrong? Did you hurt yourself?".
"Don't... Don't ask. Don't look".
Too late, N already had a grasp on her hand covering her face. He moved her hand away, finding her not resisting it. "It can't be that bad, I can fix-", as he moved her hand, he immediately noticed the same symbol replacing the eye she was hiding from him. "What's that?", his face tensed in confusion as she looked away.
"I don't know!", she growled, "it just happens sometimes".
N raised a brow, "how long's this been happening? I've never seen you do that before".
"...Ever since I left the colony".
"That long?", his face lit up in concern, "you never told me about it".
I didn't want you to know . "I-It was never important".
He blinked, "it seems pretty important. What do you think caused it?".
Uzi fidgeted, "I was kind-of hoping you knew something about it. You guys are the biggest factor here". A look of recognition crossed his face as he went after her right hand. "Have a little caution, N!", she exclaimed, "I just hurt you moments ago for doing something sudden like that!".
"That's the thing", he said, taking her hand into his, "I stabbed you when we first met. That's the one thing that sticks out to me".
"Right, the nanites and your... spit ", she grimaced. She looked at her held hand in his. Looking at his, it was the one she'd bent. Uzi took the appendage into her hands, "you're fixing up, right?".
He nodded, "yeah, don't worry about it. I don't think your eye thing could really hurt me, to be honest".
Her hands tenderly held his, her eyes as somber as he'd ever seen them, "I still hurt you. I've been such a bad friend to you, now this?".
A pleasant feeling from the physical contact threatened him with a good time, but the way she was acting tore into him. "Uzi", he began to counter, "I stabbed you - multiple times even! Yeah, that was before I realized things, but it still happened. I told you stuff I shouldn't have, I should've never said I wanted to di- burn up to you. And another thing - don't even pretend you didn't mess yourself up for my sake before. We've both done things we really shouldn't have".
Her expression softened, "...is that what friends do? Just... hurt ourselves? Each other?".
"No, I don't think friends do that to each other".
"...So are we bad friends?", the reply was faint, but he still heard it.
"Uzi, just... Just stop worrying about it", he pleaded, "you're not a bad person".
Uzi looked away, "I'm just a bad friend, then".
"You're not, and this thing can't hurt me, I'll prove it", he untangled his hand from hers. She looked at him in concern, her eyes hollow. He spread his arms wide, "this is a hug I'm not letting you get out of!". He smiled as he wrapped his arms around her, her body going stiff at the contact.
A few moments passed. A grin spread across N's face, "see? Nothing happened".
Uzi's lips pressed together in tension. Leave it to N to think up something like this to prove to her a point. "Uh...thank you?", she tried. Was that how she should reply to this?
"Don't worry about it", he chirped, "your weird eye thing doesn't make you a freak or anything. It certainly can't hurt me".
"Yeah...I think you might want to work on the uplift on that one", she frowned, "do you really think people will see me that way?".
His eyes shot wide as he realized his flub. "Uh, I mean... Maybe? Oh jeez, I'm sorry I even said that".
Uzi softly chuckled, "yeah, and this is coming from the guy with more eyes than he needs and a tail. I think I'll be in good company".
He decided not to remind her that he was probably the reason for her situation. He gently rubbed her back, "we're alright, don't worry about anything".
She eased into it, returning the hug. "Thank you... for everything", she softly said. She was shocked she blurted that out-loud, but was thankful it came so naturally.
N's face flushed, "uh, yeah. You're welcome". Even he was surprised at her reply.
As they pulled apart, some force overcame her, a desire to cross one last line tonight. Was it worth it? He was just so warm with her, it was becoming hard not to think about certain things. "N?", she swallowed, "I...uh...".
One of his digital brows raised at the question, "what?". She coaxed him to sit on the adjacent desk, their lines of sight now mostly equalized. "So what's this about, Uzi", he asked.
"D-Do you promise not to get mad?", she fidgeted now completely aware of the commitment she'd gotten herself into.
He smiled, "yeah, it'll be fine!".
Oh, if only he knew what she had in mind. She leaned towards him, her eyes wide. The vial on his tail nearby covered his face in a sharp light, his teeth glinted. She leaned further, further towards his face. One of her hands found itself on his shoulder. As she inched closer, panic set in. What was she doing blindly following some urge like this? Her eyes widened, as did his. Her form was poor, but she could see he had figured out her intent.
He quickly took his own hands and placed them on Uzi's shoulders, drawing them apart. "Woah, woah! Hold up!", he exclaimed as fluster set in again, "d-do you know what you're doing?".
She stared back at him, "...yeah. I've just never done this before, so...".
He glanced away, his mouth frowning as some emotion overcame him. "I... I'm not mad at you, it's just...I don't want to complicate things right now", he said, returning to her.
Her expression fell, "yeah, fair". Too soon for that .
He offered her a smile, "it's alright, let's just repress this".
She nodded, eager to leave this topic behind, "ok. Maybe we should finish this mission already".
He gave her a thumbs up and got off the desk. As they walked over to the door, he pointed out, "aren't they gonna notice the door's broken?".
She gave him a look, "probably, but I don't care".
They emerged from the vents in a different area of the base. N's tail hung over them for light as Uzi made her way deeper into the room.
"I think it's over there", N pointed an area out.
"It look big?".
He nodded, "yeah".
They walked over and ended up in-front of a large storage tank. She led them around to where a large valve and faucet was. "There's containers over there", she pointed a very distance away. N picked one up, looking it over to find it was a metal container of some kind. He walked back over with it. She grabbed the container and placed it under the faucet. "You're gonna have to help me with this", she asked him.
"What do you need?".
She pointed to the valve, "it's kind of hard to turn, that's your job".
He looked at her nervously, "I'm not gonna break it, right?".
"No, don't worry about it".
He looked at the valve and carefully put his hands on it. With a small, testing push, he found the valve did not budge. "Oh, you weren't kidding". With a firmer grasp, he twisted the valve and then came a slow flow from the tap into the smaller container.
"I can't see it that well", she told him, "when it's almost full, shut the valve off".
"Got it". He took a good look at the container, watching the liquid fill it. It felt uncanny knowing this oil was as fresh as it could be, that it wasn't harvested from a Worker. It was strange, but he was eager to try it. "So how's this taste?", he asked.
She shrugged, "tastes fine, I guess".
He nodded. It was soon full and he shut the valve off. "We're ready!", he exclaimed.
"Let's get a quick drink before we leave", she suggested. He nodded and watched as she brushed her hair back and put her face over the container. She took a few sips, as much as she could from the weird angle and lack of a cup to drink from. She stepped away, cleaning a dip of it off her face, "your turn, just don't get any saliva in it".
He cautiously lowered himself to the container. The liquid within glinted from the many lights on his body. Slowly, he approached the liquid and gave it an experimental lick. The taste was so much different than what he was used to, it was curious. No use waiting, he sipped the liquid and swallowed. A few moments passed. "Nothing happened...", he said as if in disbelief.
"Go for it. Drink as much as you need", Uzi encouraged him.
He took several more sips, swallowing the liquid more. He soon felt finished and stepped away. "Alright, time for the...cap?", he looked around for the object, find it nearby. As he placed it on the container, he felt off. He couldn't place what it was until he backed away, flicking his face to the side as he coughed up oil.
Uzi approached him in concern, "are you ok?".
She got a reply in the form of more horrid noises and the splashing of liquid on the floor as he coughed up more oil. He looked at the mess on the floor in horror. "I can't drink this...", he quietly stated in his disbelief, "they thought of everything...".
A look of horrible realization crossed Uzi's face as his words sank in, "you mean...the humans also...".
"Yeah", he turned around a bit, bent over from the liquid still dripping from his mouth, "that... that seems to be it, doesn't it?".
"That's disgusting!", she fumed, "they really made you guys unable to drink anything but oil from a Worker! Is there something in our bodies the oil, uh, bonds with or something? How did they do that?".
He gave her a pleading look, "what do we do now? I can't drink you forever. I don't want to ever again in the first place".
She looked at him a few moments trying to figure that out herself. Uzi wandered over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, "we'll figure it out just like we'll figure out my issue. Count on it".
He gave her a small smile, surprised by the gesture. "Thanks". Uzi returned him the smile.
They located the other container of oil outside. The snow crunched under their feet as they took in their surroundings. Away in the distance, the spire loomed and behind it, the sky had turned an orange hue.
"Are you ready", N asked, the metal container held in a hand.
She gave a long look over the form of the outpost behind them. "Yeah", she nodded.
His wings emerged as he took the other container in his free hand. Uzi looked at him in confusion. "I can make a short flight", she reassured her, "hop on".
Confusion faded to a smile, "I'd like that". She climbed onto him, giving him an affectionate pat on his head.
With everything in order, he stood up, wings at the ready. A quick leap into the air, and they were airborne heading back to the spire.
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