#we giving our villains substance in the Dennys tonight

[limeinaltime]

R. My bitchy, violent little (but not really little) sadist. She was originally made to be an annoying foil for X, but I’ve gotten attached to her and want to give her more substance. Being a bitch is a part of what makes R, well, R, but I feel like that’s why she’s become so stale. It also feels cruel to just make her a bitch and then never explain why. Thanks to the mystery anon who’s been sending me the R/X swap writings, I’ve been able to figure out a way to flesh R out a little more, and maybe give her a reason behind why she does the things she does.

Here’s the first R/X swap saga post if you want to give it a read

R is still chosen over X to be repurposed first, but still goes through hell. She’s rebuilt and experimented on, and faces great mistreatment from the company. She’s treated like an animal, and her screams and cries for help are ignored as meaningless static chatter. But hey, as long as she’s good at what she does, she’ll live. Without competition, R is able to remain on top. She misses X sometimes, but is more focused on not being deemed “disposable”, and on not being out-done by those pesky little pieces of cheap, overrated plastic that the company seems to think are more useful than her generation. What a joke.

Then the company decides to bring X back, and for a moment, R is happy. She’s happy to have X back, happy to see her friend again, happy to know that even if she’s going to suffer, she won’t be doing it alone.

X listens to the company. She does what she is asked and she does so flawlessly. She is kind to the disassembly drones, motherly, even. She may not be JC Jensen’s perfect little poster girl by title, but the company sure as hell treats her as such. She’s never experimented on (as far as R knows) and the company puts her on display while leaving R to be stuck in X’s shadow once again.

To say R is hurt is an understatement. The only reason she doesn’t instantly hate X is because she can kind of understand why X is behaving the way she is. X was never the confrontational type, always taking R’s playful ribbing without protest and letting the technicians poke and prod at her as they studied her abnormal code. It’s not like she’s lost X, and X isn’t trying to steal her thunder. Maybe R can let it slide, just this once… right?

As we’ve seen in the writings, X overhears the bet that could save R and comes out on top in the simulations, and with her now showing effort, R is left in the dust. X wins R’s freedom, but she ends up winning something else.

The role of team leader. Something R has wanted for as long as she’s been revived.

Accompanied by low-ranking fellow revived Internecion Drone S, R and X are sent to the exoplanet, and have their big fight. This is a huge blow to their relationship, but it allows R to blow off steam. There’s a constant air of aggression whenever she and X are together, and R sinks deeper and deeper into her own self-loathing and anger. She takes out her anger on the buildings and rubble, and she pushes X and S away. She wishes things were better. She wishes she were better. She’s angry and bitter and so damn frustrated about feeling powerless. She’s an Internecion Drone, for God’s sake!

Not even X offering up her role as leader to R can snap her out of it.

Then one day, a lone squad of disassembly drones accidentally crosses into their turf. R is on guard duty while X and S are out hunting, and she goes to deal with the intruders alone. Things quickly escalate, and R’s anger rises to the surface, and it hyper-focuses on the intruding squad.

When the drones are dead, R realizes something. She is so much stronger than the disassembly drones. She can fight them. She can kill them. For once in her life, she holds power over something, not the other way around. She can be the best damn leader this entire company has ever known. She can be better at X for something for once.

As R starts raiding other squad’s turfs and bringing in more kills, she develops an addiction. She loves causing pain. She loves making others feel just as helpless as she did. These disassembly drones made her life a living hell just by existing, and they waste her code with their weakness. She loves being able to take her anger out on the “younger” drones. Her anger pours into her work, and soon just starts invading turfs and terrorizing the squads for fun. She hates how much of her old self can be seen in them. How much of X can be seen in them.

R is no longer weak. She is strong now. Stronger than X ever was.

And she intends to stay that way. No matter what it takes.

Pre-repurposing R was a sassy, stubborn lil’ gremlin, but she and X hit it off really well. The two were the main duo during their first life, and R helped X come out of her shell and be more rebellious. R just wanted to do her job, whatever that was, and maybe one day see the world with X by her side. X was all she needed. If R had her, then she was happy.

X misses the person R used to be, and maybe sees parts of her in Uzi and N. Especially Uzi.