Of Ponies and Puppies

History/Visit

Uzi watched N return to their living space. He gave her a friendly wave and excused himself to their bedroom. She was almost glad he didn't waste time in doing whatever he was up to, she was nose-deep into another volume of Maintenancing Offspring Unit (as much as she loathed these manuals) with a notepad at her side. She'd been careful to grab these copies, if the librarian caught her their little secret would be all over the colony. Such a scandal, as if their social lives weren't already one.

As it turns out, saving the universe didn't do much to change opinions of her in the colony. It was mostly sort of a reset. The colony seeing her for who she really was instead of the girl who acted out for attention was an odd change of pace, and one that came with its own problems. She now had some level of respect with the younger generation, but that's about as far as it went. Some of the older models wouldn't let her being Khan's failure of a daughter go. "She's still not interested in doors like her old man", they'd say, "she's doing it all wrong. She has a role to fill and she's running away from it". Damn oppressive bastards, didn't they know firsthand how awful being forced to live a life you didn't want was?

They tried to hide their nasty thoughts about it, but she could still hear under their breath . "How could Khan let her marry one of those things?". The first time she heard that, she nearly punched the drone who dared utter that in her presence.

It had been some ceremony she barely cared about. Dad was up on stage congratulating everyone for a great job over some project she quickly forgot about.

"But wait", Khan suddenly said, "I'd like to take this moment to demonstrate how resilient this new open-out model is!". Khan pointed out to the crowd to the tallest drone in the room, "I'd like my son-in-law to take a stab at it! Come on up, boy!". N looked around in confusion before gleefully shooting up out of his chair to hop up on stage.

As he took a bow, she heard those words she grew to loathe so much. Off to her side somewhere, she saw the drone who muttered it -some bastard with a bowler cap. Her teeth bared as she scowled at the offender, who continued to stare up at the stage with a look of boredom. Uzi's fingers made an all too familiar pose before she realized what she was trying to do. Appalled, she grabbed her hand, the offending hand clenching into a fist as she mulled over what happened. She had really wanted that guy to die, huh? That was a fucked up reaction. Gross. To pour salt in the wound, she couldn't even do what she was trying to do anymore.

She looked back over at him and instantly noticed that Bowler Cap was looking back at her. Fresh anger boiled up in her as she raised her fist at him before it quickly ran out and she meekly broke eye contact. Her fist lowered as she deflated. Her sight returned to Khan and N demoing the material. After a nod from Khan, N stabbed his claws into it, the material swinging back on the hinge but remaining seemingly unharmed. Khan declared it a successful trial and patted both N and his creation for the successful demonstration.

N's gaze caught her own, and his expression quickly shifted to one of concern. He gave Khan a quick smile before practically leaping off the stage back to where she was in the crowd. He quickly sat in his chair next to her and asked her if she was ok. She briefly considered not telling him in case he tried to kill Bowler Cap too, but that thought disgusted her as bad as her own attempt to kill him. After all, weren't they just proving him right if they tried anything? N would never do that anyway.

She told him what happened, and N leaned back in his chair to give the guy a look. She joined his gaze at the offending drone, her expression one of anger. Uzi wouldn't know it, but N looked at the guy with disappointment and hurt etched on his face. A far cry from what he deserved.