Chapter Text
It’s already noon but it feels like the day has barely started. N’s gotten through most of his labor-heavy chores, but he can feel them weighing on him. Even with Sparky’s help, it’s been hell just getting through them all.
The said Sentinel whines as N leans against him. He lifts his foot off the ground and takes a deep vent. Some pain fades but it never goes away completely.
‘It’d be nice if it did.’ N thinks as he tentatively sets his foot back on the ground. ‘Ugh, nevermind it all. I’ve still got more work to do.’ He shakes his head and carries on.
Leaning off his Sentinel, N returns to cleaning out Sparky’s stall. At least this chore isn’t too heavy on his foot. Though, it doesn’t mean all the standing around doesn’t agitate it.
N cleans up the rest of the dirty straw, raking it into a dustpan. It’s tilted over a trashcan to dump out before being set back on the ground. N goes over to the back of the stable to get some new hay and a fresh blanket.
Sparky’s head cocks, staring at his stall. He turns back to his rider and growls. N looks up to meet Sparky’s disgruntled look.
“I know! I gave it a lick and a promise, you don’t have to tell me!” N huffs back with pinning ears. “I promise I'll get it spick-and-span next time. Besides, it weren't all that filthy.” He turns back to cutting the hay bale’s twine.
Sparky growls again, more narked than before. N rolls his optics and turns away. That just irritates his Sentinel further, Sparky batting the Bull Drone’s back with his tail.
N yelps and stumbles forward. He lands particularly hard on his injured foot and he howls. In his aching flailing, he ends up falling onto his butt. The hay bale gives under his weight. N grunts as he meets the hay and ground, hissing as he hovers his foot above the ground.
“Yer a… Pain in my ass, ya know that?” N seethes up at his Sentinel.
Sparky at least has the decency to look guilty and sheepish. N puffs and slowly rises back up. He glances at his foot, wires bursting with newfound pain.
‘Do I even want to give it a looksie?’ He grimaces at the limb.
N sighs and figures he might as well, if only to be safe. Tentatively, he pries off his boot. He bites his lip until it finally comes free. Even Sparky winces at the fresh oil soaking into the bandage.
“Great goin’, Sparky. Ya made it worse.” N sends a pointed look the Sentinel’s way.
Sparky just huffs and turns away. At least he’s not denying it.
Taking in another deep vent, N slips his boot back on and hauls himself to his feet using his Sentinel. He goes right back to work, raking the fresh hay into Sparky’s stall. He lets his steed rummage it around and flick it all over the place until he deems it comfortable. N throws the blanket over it afterwards.
“Now I gotta clean yer saddle.” The Bull Drone vents. “Guess I’ll get it outta the way now.”
Turning away, N goes to the enclosed stall just next door to begin saddle cleaning. Just as he opens the door, a car pulls up to the byre. N’s ears flick up with intrigue.
‘We weren't 'sposed to be gettin' no shipments today.’ He thinks as he walks over.
N’s intrigue piques even more when he sees Damien trotting on over, and on the back of some brown thing, no less.
“Hiii!! Are you the robo-hoof guys?!” Damien asks cheerily.
“We are. Still got the Bull Drone here?” A woman coming out of the pick-up returns.
“He’s here!” Damien turns to find N. “Oh! He’s right there!” He points.
N stops at the fences to give the newcomers a curious but friendly look. “Good afternoon, y’all! I wasn't countin' on any supplies or nothin' comin' my way today.” He tips his hat, setting his free hand on his waist.
“No supplies. We’re here for a call about a possible damaged foot.” A man fiddling with some contraption corrects.
N’s look falls, only becoming more curious. He turns to Damien and his apparent stee–
“Uzi!?” N yelps in shock. “Whu– Uh– N-Nice outfit there, darlin’…” His tail waves as he tries holding back a grin.
“Shut it.” The Worker Drone growls back, visor going flush. “There’s your problem right there. That foot.” She proceeds to point at the Cowboy.
N startled again. “Ah! No, no! It’s fine! It ain’t that bad!” He holds his hands up placatingly. “I can still do work, it ain't holdin' me back none!”
“‘Ain’t getting in the way,’ or ‘ain’t painful enough to not try and ignore?’” Uzi questions back pointedly.
The Bull Drone stiffens, tail swaying again. “It ain't all that bad, now! I'll be right as rain if I just take it easy fer a spell!”
The humans just ignore him, freeing the odd machine from the truck. They wheel it into the byre to further set it up. One of the humans herds N over to the machine’s back.
“Huh. So that’s what it looks like when a Bull Drone gets herded.” Uzi comments more so to herself, watching the scene. “Yelp, I guess I should take you around the byre again.” She sighs, heading to trot around another lap.
“No! I wanna watch!” But Damien tugs on her collar to steer her back.
Uzi chokes and follows his lead. She gets them over to a better view and sets the boy down. Finally, she’s able to plop onto the ground and take a breather. But Uzi still sits up to watch the magic happen alongside Damien.
N’s prodded into the machine, looking like a mess of pipes, panels, and levers. Someone tightens a strap around his chest while another takes off the boot on his injured foot. His ankle is wrapped with a strap right after. N grabs onto some supportive bars, a sweat drop marking his visor.
“Have you seen this before?” Uzi asks the boy.
“A couple times!” Damien answers, head in his hands.
Uzi hums in acknowledgement. She remains quiet for a while as the older humans start the process of fixing N’s foot. The first step starts with them checking it and analyzing it.
“Hey, uh, thanks.” Uzi speaks.
Damien glances at her curiously.
“For the favor, I mean.” The Worker Drone clarifies. “I guess… I owe you now…” She sighs, letting her head hang a little.
The boy’s look brightens like the sun. Uzi’s already feeling the dread of what his favor might be.
‘Dear Robo-God, please don’t let it be something outrageous.’ Uzi pleads in her CPU.
Turning her gaze back up to the contraption, Uzi watches N get his foot fixed. Some smaller devices are brought out to work on it. The moment Uzi gets a good look at the injury, she’s recoiling with a scrunched face.
“Holy–! That is bad! What the hell could’ve happened?!” She exclaims to herself. “How the hell was he even able to walk on that thing? And for so long, too…”
“It looks like something crushed it.” Damien commented, brows creased. “It’s flat like a pancake!”
‘Very insightful, Damien.’ Uzi rolls her optics.
They return to her Cowboy. N sits calmly within the machine while his foot gets the care it’s needed for a while now. With the sounds of the humans’ tools, some Disassembly Drones become curious. They saunter over or take perches whilst whispering among themselves.
N’s ears swerve around towards them and their hushed voices. The sounds of tools giving him repairs suppresses them.
“We need to fix up these wires.” The woman says, pulling her tool away. “We might even need to replace the toe joint entirely.”
“I was thinking the same thing.” Her partner nods. “Do you want me to grab one now?”
“Yeah, I would.” The woman replies. “Oi, what model species are you?” She turns to N, prodding his side.
“Andalusian Black Bull.” He supplies.
The man heads back to the truck to grab a new toe joint. The woman turns back to his suspended foot to detach the crushed metal piece. In her work, she strikes a sensitive, busted wire.
N startles and kicks. The woman pulls away just in time to not get her tool flung from her arms. N struggles for another moment until the pain fades. The woman’s coos of ‘Calm down’ and ‘Easy there’ do little to ease his anxiety.
Uzi’s brows knit as she continues to observe the repairs. Truth be told, it’s a admittedly somewhat fascinating. But it’d be more entertaining if Damien would shut up about all the Bull Drone facts he knows.
‘Why does he know all this?’ Uzi wonders.
Whatever the case, she proceeds to keep ignoring him. Uzi gazes at N’s face. He looks rather miserable in that thing, and he sure as hell doesn’t look very relaxed.
The said Herder jerks again. It forces the repairs to another stop for a minute. Uzi feels something scratching at her core, though it’s hard to tell what.
‘Do those humans seriously not see how anxious N looks?’ The worker wonders. ‘Hah. Even if they did, I doubt they actually care. Typical humans.’ She quickly adds a bitter note.
The cloven toe joint comes off. The woman exchanges it with a new, shiny one. Before she attaches it, she digs back into the cavity to check it over and fix up anymore busted wires or crushed tubes.
“You think this thing’s nanites will heal up all this?” The woman questions, flashing a light into the cavity.
“Probably. JCJ nanites aren’t the best on the market for no reason.” Her coworker says back. “But I’d tape up any wires just in case. Cut them and replace them if we have to.”
“Then get me a spool. There’s a few that don’t look too salvageable.” His associate replies, pulling her flashlight away.
It’s propped up on a holder made specifically for it. The bulkier man heads back towards the truck to grab a small spool of wire. The woman cuts out old, severely-damaged ones so that her coworker can tape some new ones onto the severed ends.
“We gonna do maintenance on the other foot?” The woman questions.
“Might as well.” The man answers.
‘So I guess this is how Bull Drones get maintenance, huh?’ Uzi figures with a short huff. ‘I didn’t realize they didn’t just go to a mechanic or something. Or maybe they still do?’
“Do Bull Drones have mechanics like us other drones?” She asks the child next to her.
Damien shuts up for once to think it over. “They do! They need specialized ones since they have certain parts that you guys don’t have!”
‘Huh. The more you know.’ Uzi thinks back.
“Tessa would probably more about them more than I do. She once told me she wants to be an engineer one day!” Damien exclaims chipperly. “But I don’t think her parents want her to. They don’t like you robots very much.”
“I can imagine…” Uzi trails off, opting not to think about it too hard.
“Got the joint on. Let’s move on to the other foot.” The human woman’s voice stirs Uzi’s focus.
She and her coworker side onto the other side. They lower N’s foot, now good as new and standing stable on the machine’s floor. The strap is undone just for his other foot to become suspended.
His uninjured foot is a much quicker, cleaner job. Clean off the dirt, check the inside, fix up any minor ruminants, clean the inside, polish the joint, wax it, and send N on his merry way.
Said Bull Drone can’t be any happier. He hops out of the contraption as soon as the door-like panels permit. N tests his foot on the ground, first softly, then stomping it hard. He starts to beam as he hops and kicks around without so much as a throb!
“Well, he looks happy.” Uzi smirks in mild amusement.
“Maybe he can take me around the byre now!” Damien gets up to jog towards the Bull Drone.
“Of course that’s all you can think of.” Uzi rolls her optics again.
But she vents and gets up to trot up to N as well. He turns to them with a beaming simper. Uzi can’t tell if it’s physically bright or if it’s just the sun in her visor.
“Did they fix you up, N?! Did they, they did?!” Damien bounces around in sheer excitement.
“They sure did, bud!” He pats the boy’s head. “I ain’t hardly even know ya knew! I gotta thank ya real good!”
“It was Uzi who told me about it!” Damien points, relishing in N’s noogie.
Said worker stiffens.
“She asked if I could call some people to help you! I’ll get my butler to pay them real good since they helped you!” The boy goes on.
N turns up to the Worker Drone. Uzi refuses to make optic-contact. A tender smile forms on his lips and he steps closer. Uzi still refuses to look at him.
“Thanks fer this, Uzi.” N says softly.
Uzi is quiet for a moment. “…No problem. Just didn’t want you to do something stupid.”
N chuckles and his tail waves. “Well, I just didn't wanna worry y'all none. Gotta make sure my heifers are safe and sound.”
The worker scoffs. “Well, no one is going to stay safe if you don’t take care of yourself first!” She argues back, finally meeting his gaze. “You’re lucky I was even able to notice at all! Because it sure as hell seemed that no one else here knew!” Her finger jabs into N’s chest.
“Alright, alright, I get it! I ain’t got no lick of sense.” N huffs back, though he quickly smiles again. “Still, thank ya kindly. Means the world that ya'd go outta yer way to do all this fer me.”
Uzi glowers at him. She clicks her tongue and snaps her head away.
“You better be thanking me. Because now I have to owe Damien a favor.” She retorts bitterly. “And you better hope for your sake that it’s not something outrageous.” She hisses under her vents.
N lifts his hands in mock surrender. “Okay, okay! I’ve learned my lesson!”
His shortest heifer gives him another narrow look. It turns away as some silence falls between the two. For some reason, Uzi’s finding it increasingly harder to keep a scowl on her face plates.
“You better have.” Is all she can think to mutter back.
Again, N chuckles. “Alright then, how 'bout this; Seein' as how ya done helped me out, I'll help ya out right back. So, I reckon I owe ya a favor. That sit well with ya?” He proposes with a cock of his head.
Uzi thinks it over for a minute. “Deal!” She turns back to hold out her hand.
N laughs as he shakes it. Damien cuts through their arms to chime back in again.
“I’ve gotta go! It was fun hanging out with you, Uzi!!” She tackles into the female robot with a hug.
She grunts and stumbles but stays standing, awkwardly hugging him back with one arm. “N-No problem, kid.”
Damien turns to give N a hug, too. “Next time I come over, we’re gonna play together!” He promises enthusiastically.
“I look forward to it, buddy!” N laughs back, giving him a firm squeeze.
Damien giggles before skipping off. His butler waits for him at the byre’s front gates. Damien waves fervently at the two as he’s corralled into his limo. N waves back while Uzi just gives him a half-assed shrug of her shoulder.
“Are you seriously looking forward to that bouncy-ball?” The worker questions, giving the Cowboy a flat look.
“‘Course! It gets me outta work fer a day!” N snickers back mischievously. “Besides, he's a good kid. Better than most others, wouldn't ya reckon?”
Uzi hums, rubbing her arm. “I guess.”
N titters again. “Well, he certainly loves ya.”
“Unfortunately.”
That makes N bark out a bout of laughter. “Yer always sweet as a peach, Ya know that, Uzi!”
“Uh, yeah, sure. Whatever that means.” Uzi just shrugs back, giving him a confused look.
N’s laughter turns into a titter before dying off. Now, the two are left with some silence. Uzi looks away to the sun to note the time. N keeps his stare on her.
He ends up lifting a hand. Uzi takes notice and returns her attention into him. But N hesitates. He sighs and lowers it.
“I really do appreciate this, Uzi.” He repeats softly. “It, uhm… It means a lot.” His thumbs hook around the corners of his jean pockets.
“Like I said before; I don’t need you acting stupid.” The worker retorts.
N’s ears swerve. Uzi can’t make out his expression. It honestly makes her uneasy. Did she do something wrong?
‘If I did, does that mean he’ll finally kick me out of here–?’ The worker wonders with mild hope.
“Most of tha other heifers, they ain't usually pay no mind to somethin' like this. M-Me gettin' hurt, that is.” N continues, breaking the female robot’s train of thought. “It uh– Honestly, I ain’t really used to it, ya know?” N’s tail swats and his head tilts towards the dirt.
Uzi stares at him for a minute. “Yeah. No one really cares to notice if there’s something wrong. You just end up learning to take notice eventually.” She turns her head away, too.
There’s another bout of silence. Not tense or even awkward. But there’s something that rides along it. But neither drone can identify what.
And for a split second, N and Uzi’s optics connect again. Heads positioned opposite ways but optics finding the same path towards one another. If either drone knew any better, they’d say that this sentiment feels a lot like understanding.
Before the two can confirm just what this strange tension is carrying, the sound of flapping, bladed wings snaps them out of their staring contest. They turn to find a group of Disassembly Drones returning to the byre after a hard day of work.
“Ah. Looks like them other heifers are headin’ back..” N states, pinching the dip of his hat. “That means supper's comin' right quick. Ya best hightail it to tha mess hall 'fore them heifers leave ya nothin' but scraps. A-Again…” He smiles at Uzi.
“R-Right.” She startles back to reality.
With a dip of his hat, N bids farewell and heads over to greet the returning heifers. Uzi watches him walk away for a moment before sighing. She heads for the canteen for an early dinner.
For some reason, Uzi can feel her core pulsate hard in her chest. ‘What the hell… Was all that…?’
Uzi doesn’t know. She doesn’t even know if it was good or bad. Though, for some reason, she wants to say it was good.