{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "canonicalUrl": "https://serpentsquiggles.neocities.org//posts/fiction/murder-drones/nonverbal",
  "path": "/posts/fiction/murder-drones/nonverbal",
  "publishedAt": "2024-09-25T00:00:00.000Z",
  "site": "at://did:plc:ivoe7cntxuy6at7uzmxzs2ft/site.standard.publication/3mfk6cpprzt2t",
  "textContent": "J narrowed her eyes, eyeing the two disassembly drones in the pod.  N\nand V leaned against the wall, white sheets of A2 paper in their\nhands.  V rolled her eyes, but N raised a finger, as if requesting\npermission to ask a question.  What a waste of time --- just ask.\n\n\"Hey captain, what's this?\"\n\n\"It's your schedule for the next week.  Memorize it, or keep it safe.\nI won't be printing out another.\"\n\n\"What's the point of this?\" V asked.  J jerked her gaze to her other\nsquadmate with a frown and a click of her tongue.  As if I gave her\npermission to ask a question.  \"Fly around, kill whatever, drag em\nback.  's worked just fine so far.\"\n\n\"I selected our patrol routes so that---\" J's lecture was interrupted\nby a paper airplane sniping point-first into her temple.  A pixel-vein\npopped above one eye, and her gaze snapped to the last drone in the\npod.\n\nUzi sat in the pilot's chair, legs kicked up on the console.  She held\na Nintendo Game Boy Advance® in front of her, buttons clicking ---\nhands busy, as if she were innocent of the crime, but there was only\none drone without a printed schedule.\n\nThe worker smirked, and J glared back.\n\n\"We're robots,\" Uzi said.  \"Just save it to a file and airdrop it.\nThought you of all drones would be happy to use a spreadsheet.\"\n\n\"We did use a shared database, until someone went in and gave\nthemselves an entire month of time off, corrupting my access\ncredentials in the process.\"\n\nV shot a dirty look at Uzi.  \"And you didn't share it with anyone?\nStingy little dork.\"\n\n\"Hey, I earned it!\"  Uzi dropped her Game Boy®, crossing her\narms. \"Testing security is job too, you know!\"\n\n\"Nice work, Uzi!  Preventing hacks with hacking, I like it.\"\n\nN made a finger guns gesture, and Uzi smiled back.\n\nJ scowled deep enough you could hear it.  \"Enough,\" she said.  \"N,\nV, get out.  I need to talk with Uzi, in private.  We'll conclude this\nmeeting later.\"\n\nN gave a salute, while V glanced between J and Uzi and snorted.  She\nleft first, and N tailed after her.\n\nJ stalked forward, the stabs of her stiletto pegs resounding in the\nnow-vacated pod.  Uzi didn't flinch at her approach.  No, that smirk\nturned into a grin, even as the reflection of yellow eyes raced up her\nvisor.\n\nThe murder drone loomed over the worker, and the worker lifted a hand\nand tapped J between the eyes where visor met synthskin.\n\n\"Boop.\"\n\nJ grabbed the hand by the wrist and squeezed.  The metal protested,\nand plastic bent.\n\n\"Uzi.\"  The voiced sibilant in her name was made both a hiss and a\ngrowl.\n\n\"Hey, J.\"\n\nAmber eyes stared, narrow and getting narrower.\n\nThe goth sighed.  She amended, \"Hey, captain.\"\n\n\"That's right.  Captain.  I'm in charge here.  Do you think you're\ndoing this team any favors when you undermine my authority?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\nEyes wide now, an eyebrow quirked.  \"Excuse me?\"\n\n\"What, did you think having a stick up your butt all the time was\nhelping more?  I think things are going smoother now that everyone\nknows you even aren't all strict business all the time.\"\n\n\"And what is that supposed to mean?\"  J's tail rose now, tip\npointing straight up.\n\n\"Come on, J.  You suck at hiding it.  You can't even glare at me\nwithout blushing.\"\n\nJ's tail swished back and forth until she caught it, and carefully\nlowered it.  \"A small detail.  A coincidence --- hardly a leak of\nconfidential information.\"\n\n\"And you don't think anyone wonders why it is you let me get away with\nanything?\"\n\n\"You do not get away with anything.\"  Behind her, J's tail lashed.\n\n\"Yeah, I guess I have the bite marks to prove it.  Think if I pull\ndown my jacket it'll clear that up for them?\"\n\n\"Don't you dare.\"\n\n\"But how can you maintain your authority if the team doesn't know what\nyour punishments looks like?  C'mon J, be consistent.\"\n\n\"Uzi, I swear, if you don't---\" J's words were low growls, lower and\nlower until it was just inarticulate sputtering.  \"Gah!\"\n\nA predator snarling and flashing teeth over her, and Uzi pressed her\nface closer.  She could feel J's hot breath on her faceplate, and when\nshe spoke, their exhausts fought for the air between them.\n\n\"Hey, J, it's okay.  You don't have to use your words.  I know it's\nhard to think when I make you go off script.\"  Uzi reached up with her\none free hand now, touching J's cheek.  \"Honestly, probably my\nfavorite exploit I've found.  Just push the right buttons, and---\"\n\nStill growling, hissing.  \"Uzi!  This was supposed to be a meeting.\nKeep it professional.\"  It was J who pulled back, standing up\nstraight, looking down at the goth.\n\n\"A private meeting.  I'm sure you had only the most managerial\nintentions when you glared N away from me.  Wanted me all to\nyourself.\"\n\n\"Are you insinuating I'm... jealous?\"\n\n\"I dunno.\"  Uzi glanced down at the floor, where her paper airplane\nhad landed.  \"Why don't you unfold my schedule and tell me how many of\nmy assignments you're supervising.\"\n\nJ turned up her (lack of a) nose.  She raised the pitch of her voice\n--- no more undignified growling, instead composed and airy-toned.\n\"But of course.  You have a terrible work ethic and an appalling lack\nof experience.  You---\"\n\n\"So you're taking a hands-on approach?\"  Uzi wiggled the arm still\nheld in J's death-grip.\n\nStill high-pitched, if strained.  \"Only as is appropriate---\"\n\n\"Kinda raising the same question you're answering.  Why's your first\nthought about whether it's 'appropriate'?\"\n\nJ released Uzi's arm.  \"Because I would never---\"\n\n\"C'mon.  Just tell me what improper thoughts popped in your head.\"\n\nJ screamed.  Between the constant interruptions and allegations, her\nvisor was a mess of bright blush ticks and throbbing digital veins.\nShe was back to growl-sputtering.  \"If you don't shut up, I'll...\"\n\n\"What?  Kill me over a little teasing?\"  Uzi let the smirk drop.\n\"Okay, J.  If you want me to stop... just ask sincerely.\"\n\nJ froze.  A loading icon.  Then she huffed, crossed her arms, and\nturned away.  \"I don't need to ask you to stop.  It's just a little\nteasing.  Really, that's all you are.  Little.  Insignificant.\nMiniscu---\"\n\nThat was when Uzi launched herself out of the pilot's chair.  The\nsudden motion drew J's gaze back to the worker, and she didn't\nflinch at irked-tensed, clenched-fist purple threat in front of her.\n\n\"Bite me!  I'd rather be short, if the alternative is impractical\nstripper pole legs!\"\n\n\"Impractical?  Remind me, how many missions have you completed?\"  J\nlaughed, eyes tracking Uzi from the bottom of her visor.\n\n\"Not a fair comparison.\"  Uzi crossed her arms.  \"Quit looking down on\nme!\"\n\n\"Maintaining eye contact is essential for---\"\n\nBut Uzi huffed.  \"Then how about this?\"  As she spoke, she was already\nacting, or otherwise J would have had time to react.  Uzi jumped, arms\nand legs thrown forward, pouncing.\n\nShe held on by J's shoulder, and wrapped her legs around her hips,\nshimmying higher as the murder drone yelped.  Thrown off-balance, J's\narms were flailing before she even tried pulling the worker off her.\nAnd now Uzi was climbing higher, holding secure.\n\nThe momentum from Uzi's pounce sent J backwards, and her ~~stripper\nlegs~~ stiletto-heels struggled to find purchase on the pod's metal\nfloor.  The stumble-fall didn't end until J's back was too the wall,\npinned by Uzi.\n\nA grin beneath purple eyes narrowed devious --- held high, looking\ndown.\n\n\"I,\" J started, voice breathy.  \"We've gotten v-very off-track.\"\n\n\"This meeting could've been a date,\" Uzi drawled.\n\nJ still panted, cycling exhaust.  It took a moment before she could\nspeak steady again.  \"I can arrange a sight-seeing trip downtown,\ntonight.  Is that what it takes for you to accept the new schedules?\"\n\n\"It'd be an improvement.\"\n\n\"What else do you require?\"\n\n\"Hm... how about a kiss?\"\n\nJ stared at her --- but she wasn't blushing or breathing hot because\nshe didn't want to.  A deep intake, then J parted her lips and\nleaned forward---\n\nAnd Uzi leaned back, causing J to miss.  Vein pop.  Hiss.  J leaned\nfurther, far as her neck would allow, and Uzi teased her like a dog on\na leash.  The goth brought her face back, and J darted after it, only\nfor Uzi to keep dodging, laughing softly.\n\nThen J reached up grabbed the goth with a fistful of hair, and shoved\nher face toward her scowling maw.  Lips meet lips with almost palpable\nelectric shock.\n\nJ's tongue slipped forward into Uzi, inflicting this annoyance in\nretribution for playing hard to get, and Uzi bit back against J's\ninvasion, holding it there between her teeth, slowly increasing the\npressure.\n\nBut J still had a fistful of hair, and now she pulled, until Uzi's\nbite released itself to make way for a moan.\n\nThe seal of their lips didn't break, and that touch persisted as Uzi\nmelted into J's embrace, teasing resistance falling away bit by bit.\n\nThen it was interrupted by an abrupt tug on purple hair.  Uzi was\npulled out of her tongues-twined, arms-enwrapped sense-bath into cold,\nseparate air.\n\nThe first sound she made wasn't a word, but a whine.  Then, \"C'mon, J.\nWhy'd you stop?\"\n\n\"Mmm.  Will you behave yourself around my team, now?\"\n\nClosed eyes opened to meet eye with J.  The worker said, \"No.  Never.\n's too much fun.\"\n\nJ's lashing tail smacked against the pod wall.  \"Why do I even keep\nyou around?\"\n\nUzi smiled, and brought a hand up to caress her murder drone's cheek.\n\"Because.  It's something you can't put into words or schedules.  It's\njust:\"\n\nAnd they kissed again.",
  "title": "Non-Verbal Communication Skills"
}