#nuzvi

- They feel the need to groom the ones they care about/bond with. (Not wing grooming, stuff like fixing hair, helping each other with clothes, helping them not rust or get stuff lodged in their servos) Their tongues were remade for this purpose, like a cat's.

This instinct is DD only, given the fact it was added by Cyn to add cohesion to the squads, and keep them in top shape. Feral DD squads are very close knit, and will curl up to clean each other up near dawn before heading to sleep. J outright refuses to do this and V doesn't feel safe enough to let this instinct come out, so it's only N attempting to help them for a while before he ends up focusing all of this energy onto Uzi, who has to get a crash course on this instinct pretty quickly. (Uzi also attempts to reciprocate, which makes N so happy)

- DDs are only supposed to be territorial about their personal spaces/Dens.

Their Dens, supposed to be a safe space hidden within the Spires, though can just count as their own rooms, are for that Drone alone. To be trusted to enter a DDs Den is something special, and speaks a lot. To enter a DD's Den without permission is also a high betrayal. Not even J at her worst has entered into another's Den. N and V are therefore a bit shocked Uzi would let them into her "Den" — This is an instinct brought in by Solver Drones, and Uzi DEFINITELY has this instinct.

N and V get help from Uzi and each other when moving their stuff into the bunker. They help each other set their spaces up (or in Uzi's case, help her clean up after the planet gets ripped apart)

- They need a Squad of Three and a Squad Leader

Cyn figured this was the perfect number. J, V, and N were a trio after all, why not make it set as a standard rule? To be a true Squadmate to a DD is a high honor when it's not just forced upon you, though Uzi doesn't realize she'd been made their Squad Leader for a while.

Feral DDs who lose a member will also reach out to find other Feral DDs who have lost one or more of their Squad, even having disputes and breaking the Squad up and recreating different ones. The only Squad to not be broken up is J, N, and V until Uzi arrives on the scene.

Squad Leader is also not instinctively an all powerful role. It just means, unless there's reason for pushback, they'll most likely listen to what the Squad Leader has planned. Useful for constantly hunting, kinda annoying for day to day life in the Bunker. Uzi has to be careful to not make anything sound like an order because those two will just go with it because they trust her.

J suffers a lot because of this, desperately in need of help while also rejecting the idea of being around the Feral DDs, as their intelligence is firmly the same as an Anti-Drone Sentinel's. And she refuses to "play by Uzi's rules" so to speak to redeem herself and join Outpost 3 for a while.

- DD Wing Grooming

Probably the most intimate a DD (or any Drone with Wings) can get with someone is by trusting them to work on their wings. Oil can easily get clogged up in their gears, feathers can become misaligned and prevent flight, and in general they are the parts of a DD especially that need the most maintenance to remain in service.

Daily wing grooming is recommended. Feral DDs will sometimes groom their wings twice a night if the weather is bad. The only times a Feral DD's wings will be cut off by another on purpose is if the damage is truly that bad.

J wouldn't let anyone touch her wings. V couldn't handle letting N close enough to help her just for him to forget before she distanced herself from him, and once V went distant, N had nobody to help him. Before V was distant, V and N would groom each other's wings twice a week as that was as much as V could handle.

It became commonplace in their "squad" to just cut off their wings and let them regenerate instead. This also ended up using more of their Oil Reserves, as their wings are very detailed, and have to be just right or else they need to be cut off again. This led to the three of them being VERY closed off about their wings in general, with Uzi finding out the hard way that N and V would just slice them off instead of getting help for minor issues like "they got too dirty."

N and V eventually let Uzi help them, and after a long talk about their past history, N and V also help each other out again, slowly going from weekly to daily check ins.

Bonus, Uzi's wings need groomed too, and their cat tongues are perfect for the job. Otherwise, and the first thing she does use, a slightly wet towel is used for her wings, though only by herself for a bit with the help of her tail. V has the theory and N tests it out post series.

- Biting as Affection

Pretty simple, DDs will give other drones nibbles or false bites to show affection. It's mostly a pullover from Solver instincts— who have duller fangs that take much more effort to do any damage.

N, V, and Uzi will just randomly bite each other post series (Uzi biting N with her tail in episode 6 too lol), and while at first Workers think it's an aggressive act and freak out, the ones getting bit don't really mind, as it's not intended to hurt or scare at all. If they do want to bite their Worker friends in affection they do ask beforehand.

- Kneading

When they're really happy, DDs can't seem to control themselves. They'll shift between their claws and usual hands at a rapid pace, and will just grasp at anything or anyone. Not intentionally hurting or destroying anything, but they might rip holes in things on accident.

- Chin Scratches

DDs LOVE getting pet by the ones they trust, but the sacred chin scritches are the BEST for them. They turn to putty and become so relaxed. You can make a DD sleep by scratching them just right.

Uzi might use this against V when she won't calm down or relax enough.

- Showing Their Bellies

A DD's belly is their weakest point. It's the softest part of their bodies, in order to be the most flexible. It's also where most of their flesh is, outside of their chests. This makes it the point of their body they'll protect the most. Showing off their stomachs can mean a variety of things, so context is important!

The first, and intended reasoning behind this, is submission displays. Beheading a DD doesn't kill them for long, if they really want to prove themselves, then giving easy access to their cores is the only real way to "prove" they're genuinely submitting to someone above them. It's also used by Feral DDs to show others they're not a threat. N would do this to Uzi the first few nights she was banished to show he wasn't a threat to her.

For a while, N did this to Uzi, as it had been beaten into him to do it constantly for J when she was mad, and N wasn't quite sure at first when Uzi was just being prickly with him or if she was actually upset. Uzi didn't understand, and N slowly stopped doing it when he realized Uzi wasn't going to hurt him for every minor annoyance or mess up. Then, post series, V also does it for Uzi, which freaks her out enough to finally ask what's going on. Upon learning what they're doing, Uzi shuts it down instantly.

The second reason is just feeling safe! They're usually sleeping by hanging upside down, and so if they do lay down on anything else, they have to feel really safe to do so and it's usually reserved for their Dens. But if they feel safe enough around someone, they'll also happily show their belly, without any fanfare and without making sure the person they feel safe around is watching them. It's the only real way to tell the difference.

Uzi's first experience with N and V showing their bellies because they trust her was met with confusion again and a lot of concern that she'd dine something wrong, but it's elaborated on so she understands why they're doing it. N and V didn't even realize they'd done it until Uzi had pointed it out.

- Nesting

Nests are THE most comfortable bed for any drone with wings, and they'll take whatever fluffy things they can get to make them (or whatever's comfortable in the absence of anything else). They'll also choose items with the smell of their closest people there too.

Uzi's hoodie was constantly being fought for between N and V, until she found them having the pettiest and most pathetic fight she'd ever heard or seen in her life (because they still didn't want to hurt each other, or destroy Uzi's hoodie in the process) and she stopped it by grabbing her hoodie from them, and sleeping with 2 other hoodies she didn't wear much anymore, before tossing one to each of them.

Uzi then stole their coat and jacket and just watched as they couldn't figure out where the hell their clothes had gone, while Uzi was literally laying in the nest she'd made.

N and V mostly have each other's, Uzi's, and Thad (N) and Lizzy's (V) things around their nests, but Uzi has N's, V's, Thad's, and her parents things in hers. She wasn't aware she was building a nest until Khan questioned where some of his more casual shirts went, and caught her stuffing into her nest with a hiss.

- Prey Drive

A leftover from Solver Drones in general, DDs actually have a lesser prey drive. Solver Drones outpace them in this 10 to 1.

A Solver Drone's prey drive is Intense, and if they have the time, they're very patient. They take a thrill in watching their prey get cornered, and they'll analyze the weakest drones in a "pack" with glee and wait for them to separate. It's intense and rare for a Solver Drone to get cocky enough to ignore the cover their mimicry gives them to blend in with regular Workers. Because Solver Drones can blend in, and need to remain hidden, they instinctually know they need a large cache of oil— usually very well hidden and not out in the open. They'll also need to eat materials that a normal Worker diet doesn't allow for, that are easily obtained by eating parts of the bodies of their kills. Once a Solver Drone locks onto a target, it takes a LOT of willpower to not track them down to kill them once they're alone.

Uzi finds this out the hard way, because despite having her oil needs met, she's not meeting the actual material needs— which are worse as THE Solver Host. And even after fixing that (thankfully without issue given the.. plethora of alternative sources) Uzi knows what to watch for, and so do her friends, and the instincts are not settled. Seemingly ever. Thad ends up playing what he calls "Danger Tag" with her, where he'll purposely do what he can to make her instincts target him, and then he'll see how long he can avoid her. Uzi is both angry at him for it because he didn't know she could stop herself, and because he didn't have backup. But she's grateful because she won't actually hurt her friend and killing anyone doesn't seem to actually be a requirement, just as long as she corners her "prey."

DD's, by comparison, were made to catch a LOT of prey at once, without bothering to actually track them most of the time, and mostly ignoring all stealth, and totally ignoring all mimicry. Their prey drive isn't as intense, but is still very persistent. N and V can track any given Worker and simply drink some oil for a moderate fulfillment of their prey drives, though they will absolutely "drone watch" in the vents without getting caught during the busiest times of the day, though they do occasionally get their remaining energy out by flying or by playing rough.

Khan actually discovered the best bonding activity by far with an accidental flick of a laser pointer, at first totally enrapturing N and V, V to the point of actually going for the little red dot, but it works very well on Uzi too. Most Workers don't understand, and find it weird, but it's some of the best bonding time the two have ever had. They'll spend a whole day with Uzi following her dad around and chasing that fucking red dot like it owed her personally. (Nori can NOT be there during this time, because Uzi will freak out at the idea of accidentally hurting her, Nori is very sure at this point that Uzi wouldn't but acknowledges that Uzi's not willing to even test that, and Nori does need alone time sometimes due to her years of solitude.)

- Preferring the dark over light.

Solver and Disassembly Drones can't be out in the daylight, and have adapted to be in darker places. N and V outright have night vision built in, but Uzi does not. Even before Uzi's full transformation, this was always an instinct. It also helped to fuel her love of the color purple, as outside of red, it's one of the darkest colors of light that exists and was easy on her optics.