[OTA] Man of Steel, Pray and Kneel

[serialskiller]

Who: Murderbot and Friends
When: Mid-November
Where: A little bit of everywhere
Summary: Snacktime, Naptime, Recess
Warnings: None yet

1. But I gave you life! [Buffet and other restaurants]
A body must be sustained, or performance reliability drops. Murderbot knows this.

Food has flavor. Murderbot also knows this.

Look, early on in the stomach-having experience, Murderbot found dinosaur chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese and declared those 'safe' foods and generally rejected most of everything else on the ship because...because it wasn't ready to expand yet. Something was safe and something became familiar and something soon became a comfort food. But it's been a few months of this. Murderbot is now ready to start trying new things.

It's not hard to tell that's what's going on, either, as the cyborg begins loading plates at the buffet with tiny sample servings of everything, or taking things at Mikabo one at a time in single plate portions, or even visiting Scoops to try a single spoonful of everything available (except the long pig).

Perhaps you can suggest combinations of food or offer context for some of what's going on (like that gravy goes on potatoes instead of being spooned directly into one's mouth). Or perhaps you just want to watch its experiments.


2. What else could you do? [Pool Deck, Night]
The stars are a lie. The stars have always been a lie.

But on a cool breezy summer night (they're all cool breezy summer nights), lying out on a deck chair under them and staring up isn't not a little bit relaxing.

Murderbot isn't flying any of its drones right now. It's not paying attention to everyone and everything around, just for this moment. It's here wholly in itself, eyeing the universeless sky, and feeling very small. Which is okay. Sometimes small is a good thing. Sometimes you want to wrap the blackness around yourself like a blanket and just be.

Of course, if left alone for too long, eventually its eyes slip closed. There may be a soft sound heard from the cyborg, if one walks past. A low, rhythmic rumble paired with a hushed little puff. Murderbot...is snoring.


3. To do what was right! [Around the Ship, previous CR]
The time has come for a change, a subtle shift in perception and a very tiny assertion of preference. If your character is someone in the habit of referring to Murderbot as Rin, expect to be approached at some point in this month.

"Do you have a moment?" It sounds a little uncertain, its posture an apology.


4. I'm perfect, are you? [Wildcard]
darkersolstice or darkersolstice#9463 to plot

Comments

1 buffet

[be_seeing_you]

From across the buffet Number 6 is watching SecUnit portion out small bits of this and that onto its plates. What seems like such a small and inconsequential thing under other circumstances has this ex-spy smiling quietly to himself. He decides to come over and say something rather than stay lingering and watching.

"The lemon meringue is quite good if you would like my recommendation. I'm fond of the crab legs as well." He must be since he has some on his own plate, accompanied by a wedge of lemon.

"Would you like company?"

[serialskiller]

"The crab legs look...challenging." Like you have to do the equivalent of disarming a bomb to get to the explosive compound beneath, in order to eat them. It's not sure where to even begin. But, perhaps with a demonstration?

"As for company, yes. Maybe. I don't know that I'm up for large groups? But if it's just you, then yes."

[be_seeing_you]

"They can be. There's a trick to it. I'll show you." He makes that offer unprompted in the hopes it will be welcome.

"Just me. It's a tad early for Ava, yet. I would otherwise be eating alone today. With you would be far more pleasant."

[serialskiller]

"Alright." With great efficiency, that's a response to both conversational lines at once. "Do you have a table already?"

2

[busball]

For once, Klaus isn't so drunk he can't find his way to his room. It's just a slightly tipsy evening. He's trying. Not that well, but...he's trying. So when they stumble across SecUnit...snoring? Is it snoring? Yes. The answer is yes.

Klaus pauses, looking around for a moment before finding the closest towel that seems dry to cover it up with. It's not miraculously having a weighted blanket kind of kindness, but it's like...if you had a drunk cousin that was like...doing Their Best. They are the drunk cousin. Once it's been covered in a towel, Klaus goes to the pool bar to get a drink they probably definitely do not need before coming back to sit down in a chair next to SecUnit.

At least this way someone is around. Not that he even knows if SecUnit likes people around when it's sleeping, but...woops? They're still gonna drink this margarita and sit here a while.

[serialskiller]

It startles slightly at the touch of the towel, opening an eye and glancing around like it's not sure if it's being attacked. "Wh--?"

[busball]

Klaus glances over. "Oh. You're up. I figured you were like...maybe gonna keep sleeping. You seemed tired."

3!

[not_the_last]

Cassandra turns at being addressed, blinking in surprise and then, on registering the uncertain look, smiling in quick reassurance. "Of course. What can I do for you?"

(No one here has any way of recognizing it, but this is Cassandra's Lady de Rolo mode engaging: someone has come to her with a petition or a complaint, and she will hear it with the kind of warmth and grace her parents would have shown, whether or not it turns out to be something she'll grant.)

[serialskiller]

"Do you think you could...would you be willing to call me SecUnit, in the future, instead of Rin?"

Murderbot does not blush, because that's not how its circulatory fluid works, but everything else about it is radiating bashfulness, because it's very not used to requesting things for itself, especially things like this. This doesn't matter except to the degree that it does, so it feels both trivial and like way too much fuss to make over something to ask that.

[not_the_last]

She takes half a moment to be sure she's understood the request. Mostly because it seems so ... inconsequential?

"Certainly, if you prefer it," she says. "Please remind me, if I should happen to forget; I assure you it will not be intentional."

03. i come out of the woods for you.

[opheliac]

(jinx's been in the infirmary a good bit of her days. it was good of ebalon to heal all of her wounds, but sadly not the venom. she spoke with natsuno briefly through via shiptalk and decided to do her best to have little interaction with others as possible for safety.

on the light of this, she doesn't appear deathly looking. there's color on her skin and she is able to move around the room (to do some exercising) at least. so when rin enters in, jinx had just finished doing small laps and is now in bed with a cup of water.)

(and despite how she's feeling, she always manages to joke around:)

It's your lucky day! My schedule is empty 'till who knows.

[serialskiller]

"It...isn't a long talk. Though there's a few things you should know." It pulls a chair over to beside the bed, to sit right next to her. "The first is that I got the second most fucked-up Sundries gift, topped only by 'the ability to eat'."

[opheliac]

Yyyeah, I've heard these gifts aren't always sparkles and flowers. (although, she can't see how it believes the ability to eat is bad. food is amazing! but perhaps for something like it, it's bothersome.)

So, whatcha get? An organ you didn't want?

2.

[decrypter]

It's too late to be doing swimming proper, but no one can fault her for dipping her feet in. Even if the water smells a bit too chemical for her tastes, it's still water, and she supposes that with a source now, it might be worth going back to swimming again like she used to do for fun on hot days.

She can hear the snoring when she passes by, but she figures that whoever's resting out here needs it, or likes the fresh air. It won't stop Helena from finding what feels like the proper spot - from sitting down, and yielding shoes to the joy of simply touching water.

And then, the delight of finding that somewhere on the wall, there's a place where the water pushes out, a jet of steady pressure. Not harmful, but intriguing, and enough to make her laugh - a bright and easy thing, and a bit loud compared to the silence, but honest in how it slips from her.

[serialskiller]

For better or worse, Murderbot sleeps like a baby. That is, the slightest sound can startle it at times and it wakes up cranky. "The fuck?" It sits up all at once, looking around with confusion before it spots...

...a single small human woman. Oh.

"Oh."

Very articulate, Murderbot.

[decrypter]

A small human woman who is looking rather guilty, having heard his reply where she sits on the pool edge. Oops, stranger. But to her credit, she had no idea they were such a light sleeper.

"Sorry...have I disturbed you?"

All the joy of the moment is sucked out, temporarily.

1 !!! food buddies

[qliphoths]

[ tear, having grown up isolated from much of society, is privately fond
of exploring new things: food combinations, cultures, terrain ... it's just as
she's pouring honey on pizza that she spots someone else doing much of the same.

except ... ]

Excuse me ... Are you really just going to eat that by itself?

[ he had a small soup bowl filled with only gravy, and part of her is a
little concerned. perhaps he was bringing it back to his table, where he had more
food though. ]

[serialskiller]

I didn't know what else to do with it.

[It looks down at the bowl sheepishly.]

I normally stick to foods that I know how to eat, but there's so much here. I thought...I don't know what I thought. Maybe I should just go back to chicken nuggets.

[qliphoths]

O-oh ...

[ tear grows a little sheepish herself all of a sudden, the even tone of
her voice softening. she'd been in this situation before, making someone feel
anxious about their choices due to her coldness -- often coming across as
judgmental even in moments where she wasn't trying to be. ]

It's okay! You can eat it on its own if you really want to... Food is just for
the body to have energy, so as long as what you're consuming is edible then it
shouldn't really matter how you eat it ...

[ the phrasing of 'know how to eat' is striking to her though ... she
knew someone who had to completely relearn everything, even his parents faces.
he's probably not like luke was, but ... ]

Are the chicken nuggets your favourite? Or is it just something you know how
to eat?

3

[lightconductor]

Watson has been reading in the library, but he looks up at the sound of Murderbot's voice, with a ready smile. "Of course. What did you need?"

[serialskiller]

Gaaaaawd, Watson, you have to be so kind and gentle and accommodating?

"I was wondering if you might call me SecUnit, instead of Rin, if I asked you to?" It remains standing, but not too close, so it's not looming over Watson, and it just. It feels the eyes on it and looks away for no particular reason and certainly not because it's shy.

[lightconductor]

No, definitely not shy. Perish the thought.

The request is a surprise to him, and he pauses as he tries to work out exactly what he thinks about this. "I can," Watson says, slowly, "if that is truly what you want, but might I ask why? It seems to me that 'SecUnit' is a description more than a name. Rather like you calling me 'human,' isn't it?"

3 flavoured

[littlefairytale]

Ruby pops up onto her toes as the cabin door shuts, swinging her arms a little. All things and drones considered, this serials session probably isn't the first time SecUnit has seen Ruby back in her normal red cloak or weaponless, but it is a change that seems to be sticking.

"Um, so, there was something you wanted to talk about before we actually watch stuff?" There is something she was going to bring up, too, but it's only polite to let it go first, right?

[serialskiller]

"Kind of, yeah. If it's okay." It moves back to the bed, grabbing its weighted blanket as it sits. "It's not a huge deal, though."

[littlefairytale]

"Yeah, it's fine! And, I mean, if it helps I was going to ask about something too, but you go first still. No takebacks."

She flips the back of her cloak up as she sits herself on the bed so she can do so without without sitting on it. Because sitting on your cloak sometimes leads to garrotting yourself with it.