"Welcome back Uzi," Alex casually greeted from behind the counter, ignoring Okarun freaking out with Momo in the corner. "Interested in buying something this time around?"
Uzi glares at the two off to the side, rolling her eyes and approaching the counter. "Eh, yes and no. Remember that offer you had last time?"
"Yeah, the one you said absolutely not, never in a million years, go drown and die-"
She shoots forward, slamming a hand on the counter. "I DIDN'T-" She pauses, taking a deep breath and continuing. "I said literally none of that." She basically growls out.
"True." He readily admits to her increasing ire. "But it hurt my feelings~" He frowns at her, holding his hands up in a heart shape, then pulling them apart.
"I'm gonna freakin-" She whispers, genuine steam coming off of her head, before N thankfully calms her down.
For Alex's sake, since he knows Uzi could snap his neck with her Solver, he's just in a good mood now! Which, of course, means stupid mistakes.
"Hey, hey, it's ok." N pulls her back by the shoulder a bit, her tense body softening a bit at his touch. "He's just joking, it's fine right?"
Uzi's eye twitches a bit, murder clearly her main motive now, before she sighs. "Fine, whatever." She relents, crossing her arms. "I'm not talking to him now!" She tilts her head, hmphing at him.
N just smiles and nods. "Sure, I know what we were here for anyway." He takes her spot at the counter, an apologetic smile on his face. "Sorry about her, but it would help if you didn't poke fun at her."
Alex nods, only a bit reluctantly. "Yeah, my bad. Probably shouldn't have poked fun."
'Next time I'll wait till we're better acquainted.'
"Appreciate it." N says, seemingly genuinely relived. "But we had an issue with Uzi's little guest a few days back-"
'A few DAYS?'
If that didn't confirm that time doesn't pass the same between the shop and other universes, nothing would.
"-and I happened to remember the whole shop that Uzi was getting currency for, and you're offer about taking care of Cyn permanently..."
"Did she change her mind?" Alex deadpans.
"Yeah." N drops his head in defeat. "We were supposed to come in with a strong front and 'get as much as we could', but-"
"V?"
"V."
Alex sighs, looking up at the ceiling before meeting their eyes again. "Alright, next time please bring her, but also I don't have a problem giving you all some supplies for little to no cost. Wouldn't be the first time."
"Really?!" N's tail stinger suddenly wagging like an excited dog. "You mean it."
'Please stop acting like a dog.'
"Yes, I mean it." He confirms tiredly, N's boundless energy already wearing him down. "Now, what happened that caused Uzi to completely change her mind?"
"Eh, Cyn managed to make some sort of virus of some kind? Bit a random drone in the hallway between classes, next thing we know, everyone's like a zombie from College of the Dead."
"Not called that." Alex whispers. "I guess she's tired of Cyn's shenanigans?"
"Yeah, she tried to cut her off a few times, but-"
"Smug Expression. I grow back. Smiley Face." Cyn in Uzi's tail pops up at the counter, yellow eyes piercing through Alex. "I cannot be. Contained."
"First, you're actively being contained right now." He casually points out her predicament of being a prisoner in Uzi's tail. "Second, what were you hoping to get for her?" He turns back to N.
"How much ya got?" Uzi interjects, literally appearing in front of N to cut into the conversation.
"Weren't you ignoring me?" Alex deadpanned.
"Bite Me. How much for her?" Uzi snaps right back, holding her tail in a choke hold as Cyn makes exaggerated strangulation noises.
"You know you shouldn't go into a deal showing your entire hand and motivation, right?" He calmly pointed out, Uzi freezing a bit at the remark. "If I really wanted to, I could give you significantly less than you were expecting simply because I know you want her gone, right?"
"Uh..." Uzi trails off, not really knowing what to say to that-
"Bite Me!"
Ah, she decides on her signature catchphrase. Lovely.
"Whatever." He sighs, rubbing his forehead gently. "What were you wanting to get out of this trade?" He relents, figuring it'd be easier to just give up whatever they wanted.
"I, uh..." She trails off again as a faint holographic blush flickered across her visor.
"...you don't know, do you?"
"Bite Me!"
Uzi pulls N back, whispering to him for a second as Alex decides to double check something with the System, assuming it actually wanted to answer.
'Hey, how does trading a conscious being work?'
Sure, he remembers the rules involved in getting a companion, but the Static he traded Mono for was an actual powerset and fell outside of those parameters. Would Cyn be the same, or would she be considered a Solver powerset?
Essentially, would Cyn be Cyn, or is she just the Solver now?
*Unique Circumstances will be given Unique Solutions*
That was it.
"Might as well have stayed silent." He sighed, getting a whole lot of jack shit from the System again.
Uzi and N continued to whisper violently for a few minutes as they turned back to the counter. Walking up, Uzi had a crazy smile on her face.
She slams a hand down onto the counter. "I want to travel the Multiverse!" She declares victoriously.
"No." Alex immediately shuts her down, watching her freeze at the suddenness of it. "I can't trade multiversal travel, it isn't something I have any control over." He explains as she slouches down, a hollow look in her eyes as she clearly didn't have a backup plan for if she was denied.
'Poor planning on her part I guess-'
*Owner can trade travel in the Multiverse for something of high value*
'Wait what?'
The information slammed into his head like a ton of bricks — simple, stupidly clear, and somehow even more annoying because of it.
"Never mind." Alex grumbles, rubbing his forehead to get rid of the sudden headache. "Turns out it's actually incredibly simple to trade that."
"Wait, really?" Uzi shoots back up, almost vibrating with excitement. "I can actually travel the multiverse?" She looks at him with hopeful eyes.
"Yeah, I can facilitate that." He agrees, coughing to clear his throat. "Ok, so I will take Cyn off of your hands, in return you gain the ability to travel across the multiverse. Deal?" He holds out his hand questioningly.
"Hell Yeah!" She slaps her hand into his without hesitation.