Chapter Text
For as interesting as the grocery store was, N-3.0.144 quickly grew bored of it. There wasn’t much to see or do. He kinda just sat there observing Uzi deciding on what cereal she wanted, or testing the freshness of fruits.
The most interesting thing about the whole trip was probably the live lobsters that were kept in their tiny tank. When Uzi told him that some people buy live lobsters to boil and broil, he grew sad.
On top of that, he couldn’t stop wondering…
“...Why are you humans so cruel…?” N-3.0.144’s quiet voice asked on the way back to the dorms.
“What do you mean?” Uzi questioned back, making a turn.
“You all… Why do you boil lobsters alive? Why crabs? Shouldn’t you kill them first?” He tried to elaborate.
“I really don’t know the answer to that. I don’t work in the crab industry, so I have no idea.” The human replied, feeling nervous about the conversation all of a sudden.
“...” N-3.0.144 went quiet.
“How about we change the subject. Any news about the school?” Uzi suggested, growing anxious over the tense atmosphere.
There was a moment of quietude before N-3.0.144 spoke. He brought up her school’s website and scrolled down to where they give announcements.
“They’ve finally gotten started on fixing the power. Some buildings are back up, but others aren’t.” He told her.
“What about the dorms? Are they still down?” The human asked, reaching the road leading to the said buildings.
“They’re the first buildings they got back up and running. You should have power now!” N-3.0.144 told her cheerily.
“Good. What’s my phone’s battery?” Uzi questioned as she looked for a parking space.
“31%. I advise you to start charging it before it reaches 15%.” The A.I. returned.
“I know. It’s a lot easier said than done if I don’t have any power to do so though.” Uzi told him with a small sigh.
“Ah, right! I’m sorry!” N-3.0.144 realized his mistake, coming back up onto her phone’s screen with furrowed brows.
“It’s fine! Geez, you worry too much.” Uzi huffed, a tiny smile on her lips.
“Do you want me to worry less?” N-3.0.144 inquired with a cock of his floating head.
“...You can do that?” Uzi asked quietly, turning to stare quizzically at the A.I.
“Well- Sort of.” N-3.0.144 scratched the back of his head. “I believe worrying has just become part of my personality. I’m not sure whether or not that’s something I can change so easily.” He elaborated with swaying tail jacks.
“At least, not without rewriting even more of my personality.” N-3.0.144 then said, looking worried.
“So you can just rewrite your code on your own?” Uzi questioned as she parked her car.
“For the most part, yes. I might need some outside assistance, however.” N-3.0.144 nodded truthfully. “You… Don’t want to do that to me, do you…?” He then asked her, growing worried for his safety.
“I dunno. I was just curious-” Uzi went to say, turning off her car.
“I-I-I can stop worrying so much if you want me to! And-d I’ll be even more helpful, I swear! I’ll do whatever you want me to!!” N-3.0.144 suddenly started to beg, becoming frantic and fearful.
Uzi startled at the sudden increase in volume. She whipped her head back to the sentient A.I., his bi-pupil optical lights frenetic and terrified.
“Jesus, dude! Chill out! I’m not gonna rewire your code, or whatever!” Uzi exclaimed. “I’m not even sure I have enough experience to do that…” She then said.
N-3.0.144 stared at her for a few moments. There was a shaky, simulated breath he let out as he retreated from the phone’s screen. He sat back onto his haunches, his three tails curling around him.
“Sorry…” He mumbled behind his knees.
Uzi’s brows creased in a growing sense of worry and pity.
“It’s fine. I’m not gonna change you up.” She reassured. “Let’s just get these groceries inside. I can plug my phone in and do my laundry then.”
Uzi took her phone from the stand and hopped out of her vehicle. She pulled out the small hover-cart to assist in her groceries inside. Maybe it was a little bit lazy, but Uzi was going for convenience over ‘spending way too much time going back-and-forth from my car to my dorm room a dozen times.’
Stuffing as many of her reusable bags in there as possible, Uzi locked her car and began scooting the cart away. Things were very quiet between her and N-3.0.144, even as they went inside the elevator going up.
“You’ve been kinda quiet.” Uzi noted in the lonely elevator, leaning on the cart’s handlebar.
“Sorry.” N-3.0.144 replied quietly.
“Is there something on your-... Virtual mind?” The human inquired.
“...Not really.” N-3.0.144 admitted truthfully.
Uzi made an acknowledging hum.
The elevator opened up and the two went down the hall. It didn’t take long for Uzi to reach room 404, nor for the feeling of relief to wash over her at seeing her lights come on. Even though the elevator was working, Uzi was still worried her room would be left without power.
But she plugged in her phone and began putting groceries away. N-3.0.144 watched from the stand the device was put on. Things were still quiet between the two.
“Hey, why don’t you put on some music? It usually helps me put things away faster.” Uzi suggested.
N-3.0.144 startled at hearing her voice, so caught up in his thoughts and merely observing her.
“Wha-t kind of music? Is there a specific playlist you want?” He questioned back, floating on the homescreen.
Uzi gave a thinking hum, putting some fruits in the fridge.
“What about a lofi playlist? I don’t feel like listening to something too energetic.” She replied, opening another bag.
“Okay! I’ll pull something right up!” The A.I. nodded eagerly.
He pulled up the music app she used and turned on “Disassembly Required-Lofi Radio.” The mellow song drifted through the apartment, Uzi humming along to it. N-3.0.144 continued to watch her put things away.
But his gaze soon trailed over to the hover-cart she used to get everything to her dorm room. The smooth metal and small neon lights reminded him of a certain company’s inventions. The style was so similar to his own…
“Once I’m done with my laundry, I’m going to get some schoolwork done.” Uzi spoke up, startling N-3.0.144 back to reality.
“Th-That’s fine! I’ll just hang out here in your phone for a while!” He returned, sitting back onto his little platform.
“You’re not going to get bored or anything?” The human questioned back with a quirked brow.
“Uh- Well-” The A.I. fumbled his words.
Uzi sighed but felt the tiniest of grins form on her face.
“You can watch some videos or something. Pretty sure I have Netflix or whatever on there, too.” She said, folding up her bags.
“Ar-re you sure? That’s not going to be a violation of one of your rules, is it?” The sentient computer program asked back.
“Not if I allow it.” Uzi returned with an amused huff. “Just don’t be watching anything weird. I don’t want that on my Youtube history.” She sighed, already dreading what he could watch unsupervised.
“Of course I won’t! I just like watching animal videos, mostly.” N-3.0.144 told her, floating closer to the phone’s screen.
“Alright, alright. Whatever you say.” She waved dismissively back. “But I’m going to do my laundry now. Dunno when I’ll get my schoolwork done, but I’ll come and check in on you occasionally.” The human added as she walked away.
“Don’t worry, Uzi! I’ll be right here!” N-3.0.144 saluted back with a smile.
“I don’t think you can go anywhere.” She chuckled back, her grin getting wider.
‘You’d be surprised.’ N-3.0.144 couldn’t help but think.
But he left the conversation at that instead. He pulled up Youtube and searched up the cute animal videos he liked. N-3.0.144 scrolled for a little while until he found one he knew he hadn’t seen before.
In fact, it seemed to be a series. Some sort of ASMR cat spa roleplay-type thing. Whatever it was, the cat was super fluffy and super adorable and super pretty!! There was no way N-3.0.144 couldn’t watch it!!!
Quite a few hours went by as Uzi did her chores and schoolwork. At times when she needed to use the bathroom or get a drink, she’d check in on the A.I. holed up in her phone. He was always busy watching some animal video or another. Today it seemed like he was obsessed with some sort of cat spa series…
But night had fallen by now and Uzi was growing too tired to keep working. She closed her computer and let it charge, stretching her arms and legs until she felt cramps coming on. Getting up, she found her legs were starting to go numb.
“Alright, N. I’m done with schoolwork for today.” Uzi notified as she entered the tiny ‘living room’ of her dorm space. “You still watching those cat videos?” She questioned as she looked for something to eat.
“Mhm!” He hummed back jovially.
“You’ve been watching them all day. Aren’t you tired of them by now?” The human wondered, pulling out some steak.
“I’ve watched a few dog videos in between them!” N-3.0.144 told her, barely paying attention.
“Uh-huh.” Uzi hummed back. “Well, I’m going to eat dinner, then I guess we could do something?? I’m not sure what you really do though…” She offered, taking a pan out.
N-3.0.144 paused the video, popping back up onto her homescreen. He gave her a quizzical look. What did she mean by that?
“What do you mean ‘do something’ with me?” He voiced his confusion.
“Like, uhh… Watch a movie, play a game, I dunno.” Uzi shrugged back, pulling out seasonings.
N-3.0.144 was quiet.
“Are you giving me a test?” He asked, his tails waving nervously.
“No? I’m not even sure how I would do that.” The human replied with a confused look.
The sentient A.I. went quiet again.
“I don’t understand…” He spoke.
‘Evidently.’ Uzi couldn’t help but think.
“Listen, if I’m gonna be stuck with you and you’re gonna be stuck with me, we might as well get along as much as we can.” Uzi started, preparing her steak. “So, why not get to know each other by doing something together? I’ve got Netflix for movies, Youtube for videos, even a console with some games on it.” She then listed.
N-3.0.144 took in her words. They felt so foreign to him. Was this an act of kindness? No test, no puzzle to solve, no punishment if he failed?
“Why do you want to get to know me?” He then inquired, his voice soft. “Why are you offering this to me? Shouldn’t you want to-... To test me? To see if I win or fail? To punish me if I do fail…?” His gaze turned down, his bi-pupils becoming bolder and his bluetooth blue eye lights becoming thinner.
Uzi turned to stare at him. She still wondered why he was so stuck on tests and failure. She had no desire to test him, nor punish him. The rules were set just so he wouldn’t go doing weird things or something illegal and get her in trouble.
“Listen, I don’t know why you- Are so hooked on failure and stuff, but I don’t have the time nor the energy to go creating tests.” She told him with a wave of her hand. “I just figured that we could do something together to pass the time before I head to bed.”
N-3.0.144 slowly turned his gaze up to her. Uzi had resumed seasoning her steak. She put it on a small pan and let it sizzle. The human walked towards the TV and turned on her console, booting up Netflix.
“If you want, you can pick the movie. It can even be about animals.” Uzi offered as she turned to look back at N-3.0.144.
The said A.I. still couldn’t comprehend what she was doing. It was so far removed from what he’s known. It was a totally new experience to him.
‘This whole thing is a new experience…’ He thought.
“Do you need me to move the phone to face the TV?” Uzi asked with a cock of her head.
N-3.0.144 shook his head.
“No. I just need to be plugged into the wall for a moment.” He told her.
One of Uzi’s brows came down but she obliged. Once the phone was plugged into another charger, N-3.0.144 left the device. Uzi waited a few moments, staring at the black screen. She startled when she heard her TV start playing a movie.
Uzi whipped around, spotting N-3.0.144 hovering in the corner of the TV’s screen. He was small, just slightly larger than her phone. Probably so he wouldn’t be in the way of the movie itself.
“How did-?! Huh!?!” Uzi tried to ask, only for words to fail her.
“It’s not hard to travel through wires into other devices. At least, for me it isn’t.” N-3.0.144 told her, focusing on the documentary. “It’s how I got into your phone in the first place, remember?” He turned back to stare at her.
Uzi gaped at him for a moment. She had to take a moment to cover her face with her hands to process this.
“Right. I remember.” She spoke. “I’m going to-... Make sure my steak doesn’t burn.” Uzi then sighed, pointing a thumb in its direction.
“Okay. Do you want me to pause the movie?” N-3.0.144 asked back.
“No, I can hear it from here.” Uzi shook her head, checking on her dinner. “But turn it up a little please?” She requested.
N-3.0.144 did just that. The two watched the movie for a while as Uzi made her dinner. She made a little bit of mashed potatoes to go with her food. Once she had her plate, she sat down and watched the movie whilst eating.
The documentary was nice, it being about some wild animals. Uzi probably wouldn’t have picked this, but it was entertaining enough, so she’ll let it slide.
As for N-3.0.144, he felt… Glad, that this wasn’t some sort of test or problem. He liked just sitting here with the human and watching the film. The human that was…
Oddly nice.