On-Brand Loyalty - Off the Clock

Day Off

Dror glared at the frozen lake before him, ice reaching far off into the distance beyond his orange line of sight. He tested its foundation with an experimental tap of his foot. "Huh..."

The squad had just achieved another successful quarter, and as a result, J had granted them all a "day off". (Not that it actually benefited them, being drones and all, but the squad leader loved her business lingo). Dror had zero ideas what a bunch of Disassembly Drones and a Worker could do with free time, but then V of all drones managed to convince them all that spending the night hanging out by the nearby frozen body of water would somehow be fun.

Now that they were all there, Dror still didn't get why their resident murder-maniac wanted to do this for their one day off.

"So why exactly are we-..." Dror was immediately cut off by something zipping past him fast enough to spin him around on the spot. "Hey watch it!"

The culprit was N, excitedly sliding all over the ice with a surprising level of grace. A confused Dror spied a pair of ice skates pulled over N's feet. "C'mon buddy, this'll be super fun!"

Releasing a sigh, Dror muttered. "Yeah... sure..." He decided not to give it too much thought, instead wondering if and how J and V planned to join in given their creator's.... interesting choice in lower appendages. They were already less practical than normal feet for walking, but trying to skate on them seemed like a fever dream to the small worker.

Turns out he was living said dream as his musing was quickly answered by V sliding over the frozen water with her wings out to keep her level while her pointed feet easily served the purpose of normal ice skates as she expertly spun loops around N and grinded to a halt beside him. V smirked and placed her elbow upon N's shoulder, who fought hard not to blush and react to the incredibly rare moment of contact with his crush.

She mockingly waved over to Dror. "C'mon short stack, gonna just leave us all hanging? Or are you scared of 'drowning' in frozen water?"

"Oh yeah sure, because ice is a totally consistent and stable surface." Dror said as he rolled his eyes. An epiphany then came over him. "Actually wait... are you guys even waterproof?"

Dror could instantly feel the burning intensity of V's annoyed glare, while merely N tilted his head like a confused puppy. Glancing to his side, the Worker also saw J looking at him weirdly. Feeling awkward, he quickly explained himself. "What? Your big fatal weakness is a sun tan, of course I'm gonna have some weird sounding questions about you guys!" He was met with complete silence and judgmental stares. "...just gimme me the damn skates."

Once finally being fitted, Dror shakily scraped his way onto the ice. "Okay here we-AH!" Instantly his feet slipped, sending him backflipping through the air and face first into the ice with a deafening THUD. V's laughter at his misfortune echoed obnoxiously through the air, practically to the point of coughing.

Well, know he knew why V wanted to come here so badly...

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Dror barely contained his blushing as he glanced to his side. "This is demeaning..."

J was beside him, her tail tangled around his middle as she skated to prevent him from falling on his face. She caught his eye with a mocking smile. "Well then learn to stand on your own two feet and you'll get a say."

As cute as an angry Dror was, J did not like the idea of his visor getting cracked or broken from stubbornness. Not to mention V's amused glances being sent her way didn't help her feelings of embarrassment that Dror definitely shared. J did her best to shove them down and enjoy the moment as it was. A few yards away, V casually skated around while N tried his absolute best to impress her with all manner of fancy tricks, V would only pretend to be disinterested.

J's attention turned back to Dror as he slipped once again, this time being caught by the tightened tail around him. Normally a Disassembly Drone tail was powerful enough to easily bisect unfortunate drones who get ensnared by them, so J had to make sure not to entrap her small friend too hard. She reached out her hand to him. "Alright showoff, lemme help you out."

Dror shot a glare. "I'm not a kid..." He said before immediately losing composure and slipping again.

"Yeah yeah I know." J frowned and rolled her eyes. "So how about you man up and just accept you suck at this?"

With a grumble of frustration, Dror grabbed her hand. A small but familiar spark shot between their fingers, but they both ignored it, looking away from each other with flushed faces. Taking the lead J started by slowly skating around while Dror tried his best to mimic the movements. Eventually he managed to maintain a rhythm, which J somehow picked up on and took as her cue to move gradually faster. Both drones refused to look at each other the whole time.

It was only the sound of V's laughter gracing their audio receptors again that caused both their vision to snap to the same place to glare at the other disassembler who (barely) hid her amusement from them. N also sent an amused smile in their direction, despite not being quite as entertained for the same reason.

"J, a quick favor?"

Before N and V could return to their own activities, a bullet streaked its way between them. Their surprise only lasted a second or two before the ice below their feet collapsed and both drones yelped and dropped into the freezing water.

J blew the smoke off her gun barrel as her subordinates desperately clambered back onto the ice looking like soaked animals. This time it was Dror and J's turn to lose themselves to laughter and manic amusement, leading to Dror falling back-first onto the ice as J's tail lost its grip on him. He'd have to spend the next night cleaning off J's merch collection but it was definitely worth it to see V's enraged face, which even N couldn't resist smirking at.

Having had their night of fun, the Disassembly trio and their Worker tag-along flew back home before daytime. Unlike Dror's usual role of riding piggyback on N or being carried by the jacket by V, J opted to be his ride this time, holding him by the abdomen as her abnormal body heat kept him plenty warm while he took in the sight of the beautiful night sky.

Not a bad way to spend Valentine's Day.