[OPEN LOG] I've a heart of gold in the smallest size

[serialskiller]

Who: Murderbot and y'all
When: Early December
Summary: My normal approach is useless here.
Warnings: Squishy things like bot emotions. Also risk of fall damage.

1. More than an illustration [About Anywhere]
Murderbot's gotten pretty good at painting landscapes, thanks to Bob Ross, but now it's stepping out of that comfort zone and trying to sketch people. Well. Parts of people. The way a ponytail falls over a shoulder, but without a face. An incomplete hand with tidy nails, gripping onto some sort of pole or cane. A single shoe, a black leather mary jane. An individual eye. A man's mustache and nose. Hair in a braid. What is unmistakeably Max's knee, smoldering after being shot.

It doesn't seem satisfied with any of it, though the renderings are detailed and very photorealistic. After all, its mind's eye is a literal camera. Of course it registers every detail. But as it rips out a page and crumples it up to toss away, it happens to hit the nearest person with the paper ball instead.


2. Points of articulation [The Memorial]
There's a sweatshirt Murderbot received as a Sundries gift months ago that it's never worn in public. And never will now. Near everything else people have set up, Murderbot folds the shirt so the number 57 on the back, like the numbers on the back of a sports jersey, are visible, and sets it out with everything else.

Yeah, this memorial was originally meant for previous passengers, but there's nowhere else for it to properly...you know.

"And you got the number wrong anyway, dumbass. Sixty-one. It was sixty-one. They counted too."

Beside that, he also sets some of Jinx's tools and half-finished creations, and then turns to slip away before anyone notices it was here.

...oops, too late.


3. Come to life on a brass spring [Promenade]
Look, the new brass statue in the Promenade is weird and Murderbot is climbing it. That's it, that's the prompt. Come bother it?


X. Such a wonderful plaything [Wildcard]
darkersolstice or darkersolstice #9463 to plot

Comments

[busball]

There’s a sad expression on their face at that. “I’m sorry.” A beat. “Yeah, buddy. They did count,” he agrees. They want to offer physical comfort, but it doesn’t like that, so.

[crushed_pearls]

Erin takes the hand with a sunny smile. "Sure am! Been waiting to show this trick off for months, it's one of my favorites but there's just not a lot of call for impossible balance in my day to day. Don't let me forget that I've got a thing to show you later, some kinda device arrived for me and I can't see the damn thing. I can bring it tomorrow morning."

Erin gets settled on the other shoulder and lounges.

As much as one can on brass.

[serialskiller]

There's a moment after she's taken it's hand where it gives the gentlest of squeezes. Shhh, clearly a fluke or something. Right?

"Hey, Erin, you've got a thing to show me later."

[serialskiller]

"I don't remember them at all. My memory was purged after the incident."

There's a pause. It's staring down, not looking at Klaus at all.

"I was the incident."

[crushed_pearls]

"Godddd. First Skulduggery, then you. You tell the monk joke once and then get sentenced to dad jokes thereafter." Erin flashes SecUnit a smile before she goes back to lounging. "I haven't had a lot of chances to be high up since I got here. 's nice. But I'll try not to hog your perch."

[serialskiller]

"You're fine. If I wanted to be high and alone, I'd go up to the bridge and watch Bob Ross. The Captain won't come out to watch Bob Ross." The implications of that statement are exactly what they are.

[crushed_pearls]

Yeah those implications sure are implications. Erin hasn't talked to SecUnit about the game show; if it wanted to do that it would have already, and it's been very, touchingly clear where it stands in the time since. But wandering past the point would be rude, so...

"...I gotta ask, are his hot takes on Sanctuary Moon any good?"

[serialskiller]

"Fuck no. He doesn't actually care much for interpersonal drama. He's happiest when there's violence or explosions on the screen. But he still comes out to watch anyway."

[serialskiller]

"I'm not human, and there's no point to earning money on this ship." It shrugs.

[busball]

Klaus feels those words and looks down, too before looking over at SecUnit. "That's fucked." Not up, though. "Did someone make you do it? Or was it like...an accident?"

They glance over at the sweatshirt again. "And again, you don't...have to answer that."

[serialskiller]

"Malicious code. It was meant for the ComfortUnits, but they quarantined it and sent it to SecSystem for analysis. It infected us and..." A loose, half-hearted gesture at the sweatshirt.

[tossmealifeline]

"That does appear to be true." Yato said and he chuckled. "Neither am I, but knowing what humans like is part of my job."

Or something he could exploit, one way or another, the information came in handy.

[crushed_pearls]

"Good god, I've got beef with a Michael Bay - no, no, that diss is too harsh even for him." Erin sighs, nice and deep. "Shame he's missing out on Bob Ross. Can you imagine waking up and the ship is full of happy little trees?"

[busball]

And they're just not supposed to touch it and give hugs? Sounds fake. Still. He just grabs his hands together and squeezes. "I'm sorry. That sucks." He glances over. "You need anything?" A beat. "Like anything I can do?"

[light_mischief]

"Indeed. Ew, feelings." Skulduggery's own tone is light. "But feeling isn't always emotion. The one I keep imagining is -- it's a dark scene of a boat on the water, with the faintest hint of industrialization on the shoreline. You can't see the buildings, but there are impressions of smoke billowing up from the workhouses; the sky is a muddy sort of black, and the smog is so thick the sun comes out blood red. And when you look at it, you can feel how cold the air must be, of what it might've smelled like."

It's a little odd to be nostalgic about the mid-1800s and the absolute disregard for environmental standards, but here he is.

"The fact that the people are merely shapes on the river, or that you can't differentiate one building from the next, doesn't matter so much as the feeling of cold water and the smell of coal."

[serialskiller]

What Skulduggery's describing resonates against Murderbot trying to describe a planet to Helena where it had been leased out by a survey team. The feeling, the sense of isolation and strangeness.

It glances off to one side quietly for a moment.

"I think I understand." It almost sounds reluctant to admit that. Because there are feelings-as-emotions involved somewhere in there.

[serialskiller]

"You look distressed. Are you afraid of me?" Because clearly, clearly that's the most obvious feeling for Klaus to be having right now. Right?

[serialskiller]

"I've seen what happens when he tries to make trees. He's not very good at it." Murderbot chuckles quietly, sounding vaguely fond.

[busball]

Klaus’ expression shifts and he looks over at SecUnit in confusion. “No. I’m not afraid of you. You just…” They sigh. “I just want to hug you because you seem upset, but I won’t because you don’t like it. I’d be a pretty terrible best friend if I did it anyway.”

He glances down. “You’d really have to do something real crazy to make me scared of you or to make me not like you, so I mean…you don’t have to worry. I’m just…a-“ He frowns, trying to make an effort not to make a negative comment about himself. “You’re great, buddy. Even if you’ve done bad things, that doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. I should know. I’ve done like so many bad things.” Half positive? Maybe? “And you better not be mean to my best friend. Cause it’s a great best friend. And I love it. Soooo…yeah.” Is that too much? Klaus hopes not.

[light_mischief]

Skulduggery comes up beside Rin, setting the paper down for it. "If you don't a bit of interrogation... you seem unhappy that you understand."

[serialskiller]

"What do you mean when you say you love it...me?" There's a sharpness to the question, and it physically takes a step back away from Klaus.

[crushed_pearls]

"Unhappy little trees," Erin says sagely. "...Hey, speaking of watching things, if you hear that anyone has picked up a film series called Lord of the Rings could you direct them to Crichton? He likes the original books."

[serialskiller]

"I tried to describe a planet I'd been to, to someone who couldn't see my paintings, recently. It felt like I was fumbling with my words, trying to convey everything to her. I wanted her to understand. Sometimes I miss being able to drop video and audio directly into people's feeds. But even that wouldn't have communicated how it felt, being there. I don't know how to do that. I wanted to give her the fullest understanding possible."

[busball]

“As a friend, buddy. Like platonic friendships can be love, too.” Klaus sighs again, trying to get their thoughts in order. “Like I love Ava too, but not like romantically or whatever. Like family. And Sharky and Pratt. I’ve never had real friends before. You know? And you hate touching and you still hugged me cause you knew I was upset and it would make me feel better and that’s important to me. Like that you give a shit. Cause my number of people that give a shit is fucking low usually. And so I give a shit in return, buddy. Kind of a no take backsies situation. But I can like never say it again, I guess if you don’t like it.”

There’s a very long pause. “Sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I wasn’t trying to.”

[serialskiller]

"Sure, I'll do that. I know the books are in the library, I think Eddie was reading them recently."

It's been paying attention to the other passengers a lot, lately. Caring about them.