September Catch-All [OPEN]

[be_seeing_you]

Who: Number 6 & YOU
What: Trying out the new fencing gear he got, drawing portraits, casino daydreaming, trying to steal jewelry & more!
When: September 1st for fencing, thru the month for other prompts
Where: All over the ship, see individual prompts
Warnings Potential for violence, alcohol/smoking, will warn for more as necessary



Challenge him to a friendly duel

When the notification comes that he has a package waiting in Sundries, he has no earthly idea what to expect. But, he must say, once he's torn the nautical paper off to find a fencing practice kit inside, he is rather pleased. Well, with one exception. The Epee he's been provided is neither blunted nor is it tipped with plastic the way it should be for safety. It very much seems to be a live and dangerous blade. Admittedly, he's not too sorry to have a functional weapon given the characters around here, but it means he'll have to be especially careful when practicing with it.

He's up on the sports deck making use of one of the empty tennis courts as his makeshift practice arena. In the absence of a tip protector, he's wrapped some gauze and medical tape from the infirmary around the sharp tip in an effort to achieve close to the same effect. That way, when he stabs the wall at the back of the court, it leaves slightly less of a divot.

He puts himself through some familiar drills, re-familiarizing himself with his technique and generally working to improve his stance and remember his form. It's clear just from looking that he's had some experience with this. If only he had a proper partner to fence, alas.


Have your portrait drawn

He doesn't tend to flaunt it often, but Number 6 actually does have a bit of talent for the arts. Perhaps he's not the most creative of minds, but he's rather good at capturing likenesses in portraiture. So, on various days and in various places throughout the ship, such as the dining hall, the sports deck, the library, and even in some of the pubs and bars (or anywhere, your choice), he will sit himself down quietly in the corner with a pad of paper over his knee and a pencil in hand. Anyone who catches his interest may become the new subject of his drawing. For the most part, they are flattering renditions. He doesn't mind if someone wants to observe, he'll simply nod to them and keep scratching with his pencil until he's satisfied.

Once he completes his drawing, he'll approach his subject and hold out the sketch to ask, "Excuse me, I wondered if you might like this?"


Lost in the game

With a cigarette in hand and whiskey in front of him, he sits at one of the blackjack tables idly playing against an invisible dealer. It's hard to tell if he's enjoying himself. He's got a far-off look on his face as he idly scratches the table to request another "hit." Win or lose, he doesn't seem to have much of a reaction. His mind is obviously elsewhere. He's so zoned out, in fact, that on this rare occasion even someone who isn't particularly stealthy might be able to sneak up behind him unawares.


Jewelry shopping

Right. The time has come to investigate that jewelry store. Why is it that no one is allowed to take anything? Of all the places on this ship, why there? He can be found bending over the displays, scrutinizing the various pieces through the glass. There doesn't appear to be any way to get at them. Not any way that doesn't involve a bit of violence, that is. So be it.

He goes, briefly, to the nearest bar and brings back with him one of the bar stools. Raising it over his head, he prepares to bring it down on one of the cases. Little does he know, that won't be enough to shatter it no matter how many times he bashes the glass.

But, he has to try.


Wildcard!
Hit me up with anything! Feel free to plot with me over on plurk KansaiBanzai or on discord Cmdr.Crackers#5481

Comments

[be_seeing_you]

"It is." He's impressed Rin can tell since the sketch is mostly hair and loose facial impressions. She's not exactly a still model. He agrees that the hair would be a nice way to practice blue, so he happily hands it over.

"I didn't know. How is it sharing a living space with her? She's rather... spirited." That's being kind.

[serialskiller]

"She's loud, explosive, unpredictable, intrusive and bitchy."

Was that what you wanted to say, 6?

"But. We died on the same day of the battle royale. And woke up after dying in our cabin together. I put on a serial for us to watch and shared my favorite blanket and we just. She's not always bad, you know? She's also the one who upgrades my drones."

[be_seeing_you]

"I don't dispute that any of those things are true, though I wouldn't have said the last one." Still a stickler for bad language, even now.

"I never suggested she was always bad. I think means well in her own way, but that makes her no less dangerous." Something else he suspects that Rin and Jinx have in common.

"It's good that the two of you can cohabitate well."

[serialskiller]

"It doesn't hurt that we don't often actually spend time in the room. I don't sleep there, and I'm pretty sure she isn't either."

It shrugs, beginning to paint with the soft tones of Jinx's skin, careful and precise as it can be.

[be_seeing_you]

"But, you do actually require sleep?" Number 6 is letting his curiosity get the better of him again. He still understands so little about how Rin operates.

He takes a quick glance at it's work so far and nods in quiet approval. The brush work is a bit stiff, but that's to be expected of a beginner.

[serialskiller]

"Not sleep. I shut down completely for recharge cycles. Which are more vulnerable than just sleep, but shorter."

When it gets to Jinx's eyes, it almost seems to debate about color for a moment, staring at the palette. What it eventually decides is blue eyes with pink encroaching from the edges.

[be_seeing_you]

"I see. Do you usually have someone guarding you during that time?" Between saying it doesn't sleep in its cabin and explaining the vulnerability, that's the conclusion Number 6 comes to first.

He's watching Rin work, deciding on the color, and something strikes him about it. "You've a very good memory, haven't you?"

[serialskiller]

"Sarge and I watch one another. Him when I recharge, me when he sleeps. We usually use his cabin for that."

Murderbot glances from the sketch to Number 6. "I have a digital memory. Why?"

[be_seeing_you]

"I'm happy for you that you have someone with whom you can feel safe." A subtle nod to that last parting of theirs. More than this, he doesn't dare bring up.

"I just noticed the way you picked those colors for her eyes. Often, it takes heavy practice and a good eye for detail for a human, like myself, to recreate something with that level of fidelity."

[serialskiller]

"Her eyes were blue when she arrived. They're pink now. They changed at some point, and when they did, she became...more volatile. I don't know exactly what happened, but I know whatever did, it hurt her."

And so it made the pink in her eyes like an infection, an incursion. It has more poetry in its soul than it likes to admit.

(Hell, it's not comfortable claiming a soul at all, to begin with.)

[be_seeing_you]

"I'm sorry to hear that. She seemed to be a troubled young woman the times I spoke with her. I do wonder if the sort of experiences she's had here could be affecting her badly enough to cause it? But, I'm no doctor." And he's never heard of emotional trauma changing a person's eye color.

"But what you've done here is an especially poignant interpretation of that change in her, I think."

[serialskiller]

"Thanks."

It doesn't really know what else to say, as it moves from the face to Jinx's hair. It actually tries a few things on a page in its sketchbook, working out how to do the shadows in her hair and a few possible ways to try to get strands of hair without it looking stripey.

"I think...sometimes what people need when they're troubled is space to be troubled in. Where it's okay that not everything's together." It is Very Clearly still talking about Jinx here. Obviously.

[be_seeing_you]

Number 6 is reading more into that now than he might have if not for Cesar's text explanation. So, perhaps he's taken in more of the lesson than even he realized.

"It's sometimes difficult to find a space like that, isn't it? Especially for those of us who find it difficult to trust."

[serialskiller]

"Yeah. Though it's not always trust that's the only problem. I can trust that someone means well, that they want the best for me, but not find them suitable for company when it's bad."

It's not going to try to keep up the pretense that they're talking about Jinx, now. It's also not going to define what's bad.

[be_seeing_you]

Thank goodness they've dropped the pretense now. Maybe there's a chance to resolve some of this.

"I acknowledge that my company is not often soothing. Cesar did contact me that day, at your behest as I understand it. He had some suggestions for how I might have been more...accommodating."

[serialskiller]

"I wanted to be sure you knew I had found someplace safe and was recovering my performance reliability. I thought you might worry, otherwise." There's a flickering glance up at Number 6, as if checking if that was an accurate assessment.

"I don't want any more apologies from you. I think I'm good to take questions, if you have them. Just. Please don't touch me."

[be_seeing_you]

"I was very worried. I'm grateful that you let me know you were safe." It will find that Number 6 looks very sincere in that. He would have stewed on his worry for days if Cesar hadn't contacted him.

"No apologies, if you insist." He knows it does. "But I would like to know--not that I ever intend to cause you a reaction like that again--what you would prefer me to do for you if it does? I will, of course, not touch you."

[serialskiller]

"If I'm just quiet, processing something, then it's best to wait. I don't always know how to decipher emotional data and get hung up on it sometimes. My creators did not intend for me to have feelings. Or rather, they knew it was a risk of incorporating human parts, but they did not allow us to acknowledge feelings. It was part of the purpose of the governor modules, along with ensuring obedience."

Yeah, it knows that's going to get a reaction. It's trying not to care.

"If I'm completely shut down, though. That's harder."

[be_seeing_you]

Number 6 swallows down the instinctual rage that follows that revelation. If Murderbot is watching, it might see Number 6's Adam's apple bouncing from the effort of it. If no apologies are welcome; what should he wager that more sympathetic comments may not be either?

"I will do my best to be mindful when you are seeking to process such things." That's as neutral an answer as he is capable of giving. He's managed to stay mostly composed, save for his hand tightening on the pencil he was using to sketch with.

"When Skulduggery made his unfortunate comment, your reaction suggested certain things to me. Is that something you would permit me to ask about?"

[serialskiller]

Murderbot sets down the paintbrush in its water glass. Flaps the paper gently in the air to help it dry.

"You can ask whatever you like. I'll make it clear if you cross a line."

[be_seeing_you]

Number 6 consciously loosens his grip to let the pencil fall the short distance to the table. Then he shoves his hand into a pocket of his blazer to keep from drumming the table.

"I've inferred that your reaction to being touched stems from the ways you were handled while still under your master's control. Based on what you say, they had absolutely no regards for your feelings on the matter; rather they never allowed for the possibility that you would have them at all. Did they hurt you often?"

[serialskiller]

"They didn't usually hit me or anything, if that's what you're asking. But I'm a SecUnit; sent into danger first because I'm expendable. And then there's the governor module, which would shock me when I misbehaved, worse for larger offenses. The shock for straying more than 100 meters from a client was usually strong enough to be fatal. I've had my memory purged on multiple occasions, the most recent time a bit over 35,000 hours before I arrived here."

It wonders if the human's beginning to get the picture, why it doesn't know how to function as a person.

"The governor module's disabled now. I'm a rogue, and would be destroyed if the wrong person discovered that, in the Corporate Rim."

[be_seeing_you]

"Torment comes in many forms, some more insidious than violence. I would know." Rin can choose to prod at that small admission or not. Number 6 can't help feeling that it's only fair to offer a little something in the way of honesty in return for all this.

"What they've done to you is unforgivable. I don't need to tell you that. But I wonder if you fully realize that you fit a very classic description of an individual suffering from Post Traumatic Stress?"

[serialskiller]

"That's something humans suffer."

This is, of course, complete and utter denial. It's malfunctioning, not mentally ill. There's a difference. It can't be traumatized. It was made to be traumatized.

[be_seeing_you]

Number 6 half expected this. Dare he push? Maybe a little. This time he will know what to do if he's gone too far.

"You have admitted that you have feelings, that it is a result of having human parts incorporated into you. Why, then, could something like human trauma not also be a byproduct of that incorporation? If you can feel, then you can be emotionally injured. Doesn't the logic follow?"