[OTA] All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend

[serialskiller]

Who: Murderbot and You
When: Post Info Meeting, Post Muppets
Where: All over the place!
Summary: Critical failure to cope
Warnings: Discussion of slavery, exploitation of sentient beings, capitalism, death all likely here.


1. And I was runnin' far away [STELLAR DINING ROOM]
With no food being served in the dining room, there's no reason anyone is going to be there, so it's where a Murderbot hides while breaking down, while breaking apart internally. Those who regularly check in on it will find their messages returned unopened, because...look. It's too much. It's all too much.


2. Would I run off the world someday? [ANYWHERE PUBLIC]
As sense returns, Murderbot realizes others will be in similar broken states, emotionally. For the first time since Jinx expanded its drone fleet, it's going to be flying them all at once, trying to seek out those who have hidden away, those who need company but not people. Don't be surprised if a drone just comes and hovers near your character, listening and saying nothing. It means well, really it does.


A few of the drones do have speakers, though, so if you attempt to engage it in a conversation, you'll get that.


3. Nobody knows, nobody knows [ADULT POOL]
While not the same sort of Event the Muppets showing, there's a couple times early in October that the projector over the Adult Pool will inexplicably be showing episodes of The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross. If someone looks for the source of this, they'll notice MB up by the projector itself, its media player auxed into the projector.

You know. Good calming relaxing material. Right?


4. And I was dancing in the rain [SAND DOLLARS]
Finally, coming back to itself, trying to figure out a path forward, Murderbot...it finds itself wanting to having something to hold onto of its crew that it now knows it'll never see again. Find it hiding in a closed cafe, where no one will look for company, surely. Find it with the one photograph it has of the PreservationAux survey team and its watercolors, trying desperately to capture the faces it has in memory and the personalities that go with it. A young woman with black hair and sharp eyes, looking like she's arguing about something. A motherly older woman with deep skin, smiling like she's proud of the viewer. A man with pale eyes and visible augmentations along one side of his face, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. Another man, a man too pretty for his own good, reaching out a tentative hand, compassion written across his face.

The paintings, they aren't enough to capture the personalities, but it has to try, it has to do something, it has to hold onto these people. Memories can be erased, but it wants the people it loves down on paper, for others to see.


5. I felt alive and I can't complain [WILDCARD]
darkersolstice or darkersolstice#9463 to plot

Comments

4

[be_seeing_you]

He still comes here despite it being closed. More out of habit than need. Because even he finds himself falling back on comforting routines while the ship is rocked by a cascade of shocking revelations. Today, someone has beat him to the same idea. Because he's come carrying his new chalk pastels and drawing pad, only to find Rin already here with its watercolors.

He sets the wooden box of pastels down opposite Rin at the table and quietly observes the portraits it's making. "Are those old friends?"

2

[theweakhavepurpose]

The drones are new for Pratt, he watches as one hovers around, and then he tries to catch one like a firefly in his hands, not realizing he's literally trying to grab somethings eyes.

"Hello there. What are you?"

2 [cw: drugs]

[ss_buttcrack]

Crichton got tired of Arthur's low-key fidgeting and fussing over his apparent mental state in the cabin, so he's decided to go for a walk to catch some air on his own. All he really ends up doing is finding a secluded spot tucked behind some lifeboats to sit and mope in instead.

Discretely, he pulls a small black vial out of his pocket and holds it to his nose for one long inhalation. A quick jolt, and then his limbs visibly relax. He casts a furtive glance around as he goes to stick the bottle back in his pocket, and that's when he sees the drone. Aw, crap. He didn't think anyone would find him back here.

"Hey, don't you know it's not polite to snoop on a guy when he's having a moment?" He's trying to act naturally, like he didn't just get caught doing something he shouldn't.

2

[littlefairytale]

Ruby's doing better than the other night—for a certain measure of 'better'. She only isn't holed up in her cabin because she doesn't feel like being a despondent mess in front of Clarke if she comes by, and truth be told the room is still much more... Clarke's than hers, with all the stockpiled food and notes and such, but she's still more functional than she was.

So the drone finds her tucked into the quietest corner of the library with that one fairy tale book from home in her lap, closed with her fingers tracing the letters of the word 'Remnant' on the cover. As soon as she notices it, she raises her hand in a little wave.

"...hey. Keeping an eye out for everyone, huh?"

2

[cacophonish]

Jeff's nose is pretty much buried in a notebook, where he's been filling out page after page with what looks like song lyrics, guitar tabs, scribbled notes, and the occasional doodle, for when he can't figure out how to articulate his thoughts in words. He's humming a little, singing under his breath, trying to work something out, way too distracted to notice the drone at first.

Eventually, though, he looks up and spots one hovering nearby.

"Oh! Hey, little dude."

[actuallyawolf]

Ylva, pacing the deck like a caged animal, tenses automatically at the first sign of the drone, before she remembers. She gives a tired sort of smile, and a wave.

"Hi, SecUnit. See anything interesting today?"

3. Nobody knows, nobody knows

[crushed_pearls]

Erin whiles away an hour and a half just listening to Bob Ross while sitting at the edge of the pool. Her boots are off, for once, and her socks with them so she can dangle her feet in the water and just listen. When she decides she's done and filters her way to the projector (someone's changing the episodes, after all), she looks much relaxed.

Oh. Hey!

"SecUnit, pleasant surprise," Erin greets. "For some reason I'd vaguely assumed someone from an Earth more like mine would have had Bob Ross up."

2

[theotherright]

Usually when Crichton says he's heading somewhere, it's an invitation. On this occasion, it was very flatly not.

Arthur kind of wants to disappear into Tauva, but he doesn't. Instead he's out on the deck by himself, walking without really going anywhere, alternating between pacing and leaning on the rail. It's the closest he can get to walking along the coast at home. He tries not to think about how there should be sea-birds.

Or about whether he'll hear sea-birds again.

Christ. Even with some lead time to get used to the idea, it's... a lot, having it announced as fact to everyone, hearing people's reactions. Hearing Crichton's reaction. Thinking about the fact that there are young people here, people who had life plans here. Wondering if he's sad, or relieved, or guilty for being relieved. It's not the most rudderless he's ever felt in his life, but it's up there.

Lost in his thoughts and muttering disconnectedly to himself, it takes him several moments to notice the sound of the drone. It's not an unfamiliar sound by now, but it still puts the image in his mind of a strange tropical insect, just as it did the first time he encountered one.

He sighs, but honestly, he doesn't mind. It's kind of nice to be able to know that something's nearby. He talks to it as one might a small animal that's wandered close.

"Hello, little friend. Looking for gulls?"

[prince_of_beasts]

Dimitri did a disappearing act of his own not too long ago. In all honesty, the promise he made Rich and Darcy is all that's stopping him from repeating the performance. But he also can't be a person right now, and when his messages to SecUnit (on an increasingly cracked phone screen) seem to drop into a void, Dimitri can guess what's happened.

It's not even too hard to find, once Dimitri looks. He just checks the same places he'd haunted. Stellar in the slow hours was a good hiding-spot -- quiet, and so spacious that if anyone did come in, they could easily miss Dimitri jammed into a corner or huddled under a table. SecUnit is somewhat easier to spot, but still well-hidden.

Not well enough for a dedicated searcher who knows where to look. Dimitri takes up a spot with his back to the wall a fair distance away, just close enough that it's obvious what he's doing.

He doesn't say anything yet. If SecUnit wants to talk (or text, or otherwise communicate) first, Dimitri will give it the chance.

2

[ring_for_giles]

Giles doesn't notice the presence of the drone for a long time, consumed as he is with what he's doing. Which in this instance is setting things to rights as best he can in the empty Hurikane, chairs and tables where they ought to be, bottles returned to shelves behind the bar, glasses washed and returned to their places. He works with a practiced ease, but it's clear his heart's not in it, just going through the motions because someone has to.

Once the bar is as neat and tidy as he can get it, he pours himself a drink, something large and with an awful lot of whiskey in it, and seats himself at the end of the bar furthest from the door.

It's then that he finally seems to take notice of the drone, and finds himself watching it as it watches him.

"I've seen you before, haven't I? Or... One of you at least."