#gonna draw Uzi carrying V next time

[solroskajan]

I refuse to belive Uzi can't easily carry N if she wants to.

[bitemedotmp3]

"No it isn't. You want it to be important, but what I'm gonna have for breakfast tomorrow is more important than whatever half-baked scheme you've got cooking," says Uzi, unable to hold back a small laugh. "Oh, sorry, I mean whatever half-baked scheme Cyn told you to focus on so she can practice her Five Nights jumpscares."

She looks up at J, a bit of smugness creeping into her expression. "I mean, you're new here, so I'll give you a bit of info you missed in the welcome package: Welcome to Spirale, you're stuck here! You and Cyn wanna beat me so bad, but what happens if you do? I come back, and you're still stuck. I think Cyn thinks she can find a way out, but..."

Uzi shakes her head. "Well, she can probably keep herself entertained by torturing people and eating buildings, but can you? I mean, eventually you'll run out of Sudoku puzzles, then what?"

She can't imagine their plans, whatever they are, being even a tiny bit impactful in this place, so the real question is why they're still trying. There's no point in winning, because there's nothing to win. Everyone's stuck here in this spiral-themed spin-off, and J and Cyn bringing their baggage here would be funny if it hadn't all been dumped into Uzi's lap. It's probably just the principle of the thing for both of them, even if those principles are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Well, Uzi's got principles too, which is why she isn't just rolling over.

She listens to J's answer with a nod, some small curiosity satisfied. It makes a little bit of sense; J carried herself differently when she'd been acting as "Tessa's" assistant compared to when all pretenses had been abandoned in Copper 9's orbit. This is J before something about "the winning team," according to a terse comment from V.

"Oh, you're from kinda far back, then," says Uzi, connecting the dots in her mind. And because she's feeling nice, she'll answer J's next thought for free. "Cyn knows more than you, but less than me and V, but I'm sure you can rationalize that as a lie, too. Or maybe not, since you're still here."

J's next question... That's a good question, actually. It's something Uzi's been wondering about, but didn't have enough time to figure out back home before she got whisked here and all those programs and subroutines got suppressed. Uzi just makes a thoughtful sound, leaning back on the stoop and staring up at the night sky. Snowflakes fall on her visor, melting from her residual heat as she takes a minute to think of how best to answer.

"Well, first it tried to take over, but as you can see, it didn't work. Because, again, I'm better," she says, absently drawing a familiar triangle in the snow with her finger. "But it's still... There. Honestly, there's a bunch of, I dunno, processes that got added when I ate her, I think they're other drones she ate. Most of them don't do anything, but some of them can still communicate. I usually just ignore 'em. You're asking about long-term, but it's only been... What, a few days since we beat you? It's kind of a blur, since we've been having such a good time without you."

Only a lie of omission this time; there's no way she's telling anyone about Cyn's consciousness tagging along for the ride, especially not Copper 9's number-one corporate shill. But in a weird way, it's... cathartic to be telling someone all this, because not even N or V know some of this stuff. Thankfully, J will happily carry the burden of that knowledge, so maybe she's useful after all! Non-zero chance that info ends up in V's hands (and Cyn's, of course), but Uzi can cross that bridge when she comes to it, because unlike some people, she prefers to cross them instead of burn them.

And now it's back to Uzi's turn. Might as well continue her earlier avenue of inquiry and see what else she can learn. She looks back at J, trying to keep her expression neutral. "Alright then... How far back do you remember? V told me about a manor back on Earth, something about some human named Tessa... Do you remember that? N had a lot of his memories wiped, wasn't sure if you're the same."

That feels vague enough that J shouldn't be too suspicious about how Uzi came into the knowledge. Part of Uzi is just a little curious to see what she would think about her knowing about the Elliots, or about Tessa. Is it possible to catch J off-guard with something like this?

"Oh, please. That you don't understand half of them, as your vocabulary doesn't extend far enough to cover issues within economics, doesn't make them buzzwords."

Funnily enough, Uzi wasn't the only one who's having their first impression be reaffirmed through this interaction. While it brushed off N's betrayal as just a classic example of why his social nature makes him - at best - just a burden on one's resources… when it comes to V, it failed to understand what she could possibly see in this purple thing. At first, J had assumed she was only following N and his choices due to caring too much about his well-being to just leave him alone in the wild, but if Spirale - noticeably lacking N - was any indication, V chose Uzi outside of that context, too.

Maybe there was something the two disassembly drones know about that J failed to see. Maybe, just maybe, there was more to these worker drones that'd explain why it now stands by its lonesome. Some key to realize that, perhaps, a re-evaluation was overdue.

The answer was a resounding No, of course. The more it interacts with Uzi, the more the opinion solidifies that she's genuinely the second-most frustrating drone it ever had the displeasure of interacting with, and the only reason why she wasn't the absolute winner was for the monstrous contestant it'd always fail to keep locked in the basement. Note, though, how she somehow reached second-best; triumphing over N. This turbulent, rowdy, aggressive, unprofessional teenager just truly was this loathsome. Repulsive. Conceited. Immature. Reckless. Dense. Disgraceful.

It could go on. Its internal dictionary provided it with plenty of material to do so. It could go alphabetically. It could hold a whole filibuster. It knew this was all beyond petty and it shouldn't pay any mind if she chooses to provoke it like this, but J struggled to disengage from such quarrel if it knew it had the time for it, and despite doing its best to keep itself occupied within Spirale; it did have plenty of time.

Might as well. It'd prefer to use its blades over its words, true, but - within the truce - this was close enough. If it didn't need to get along with the worker drone, rest assured, it'll refuse to try.

"It is important. Not that you'd understand," it'd snap back after being told by the biggest hypocrite within the city of spirals that it shouldn't be this intense. C'mon— from this hormonal teenager? Seriously?

The criticism on her hypocrisy that was resting on the tip of its tongue had immediately been discarded as the eyes displayed on its visor would momentarily hollow out. It disappeared just as quickly, with J blinking a couple of times as it regains its composure. She ate Cyn's - the eldritch AI that had been terrorizing it for what feels like half an eternity - heart. That— sounds like the most stupid idea it had heard all week, and yet, Uzi was sitting right there, clearly doing just fine. 'Messed with my code a bit', she says. The drone just… squints, locking in the next question it intends to ask.

"It's more than I knew, sure. How much Cyn knows… I cannot provide you with an answer I'm confident in." its iconic way of speaking was still entirely missing, responding to Uzi with flat intonation. An odd rarity. While willing to lie, J didn't see a need to do so either after hearing her question. "You were present when I was told to mind her ship. It wasn't eventful. I'm not sure if I could pinpoint it to you at what precise moment within that task I had woken up near a large hole with no spaceship. Certainly a good long while, yes, but not long enough to see the... change in scenery, so to speak."

Was that enough detail? Great. Back to questions with actual substance. "Do you know what it has done with your code? Beyond the visor, that is. Have there been any long-term repercussions?"