o1 . january catchall

[sanctuarymoon]

Who: sanctuarymoon and you!
What: A rogue murderbot arrives in Trench.
When: Throughout January.
Where: Throughout Trench.

Warnings: Will be marked as needed.

Comments

[hearuthinking]

[Hm. Yes, it is a little strange that this guy is climbing up so easily. Like Jason's weight is nothing to him. But he's not going to ask, as getting away from the thing trying to drown them is way more important.

Jason grunts and looks around for a handhold. He sees a little crack where he can jam his tent peg in. This thing has all sorts of uses! He pushes it in as deep as it'll go]

Okay. Don't think I'll be able to hold myself up for long, so for fuck's sake hurry up when I let go. On three. One, two, three.

[He shifts his weight from Murderbot to the little section of wall where he jammed the peg. Jason tries to put as much of his weight on the wall as he can. And just then, the girl in the well has recovered enough to start climbing up after him]

Fuck! She's comin'!

[That's when his Omen decides to jump into action. With a yowl a bobcat pops out and latches onto the girl's face, scratching and clawing with all its angry might]

Fuck! What the fuck?!

[sanctuarymoon]

[ Okay. Okay. The human can sustain that position for, it would guess, four to eight seconds before things get dicey.

And now there's total fucking chaos from down below. ]

It's on our side!

[ Fuck, that's a good idea. If Murderbot starts calling out its drones, that will definitely out it as not a normal human, but it's kind of late for that. Still, the aggressive yowling creature seems to have this handled for now, so Murderbot can focus on digging the toes of its stupid shoes into the stones, clinging with one hand, and using the other to find the edge and push up—

SecUnits are stronger than humans. The weight of the well-cover still has performance reliability errors screaming at it. But the well cover creaks upward, then to the side, then off with a rattle and bang that echoes all down through the well. Sunlight floods in. ]

[hearuthinking]

[At this point, he doesn't really care how non-human Murderbot is acting right now. They just need to get the fuck out while the bobcat is distracting that well lady. And from the angry yowling, it is putting up a hell of a fight. It gets that spirit from its person Jason, who it is protecting with all its furry little might.

Meanwhile that sweet, sweet sunlight has never looked better. Jason's arms are getting to feel like jelly from holding up his weight. Jason dares to glance down to see what's going on with the creature. The bobcat has grown to be the size of a lion to better combat the well lady]

Shit. This fuckin' place... Hey, any day now? My arms are about to fuckin' fall off!

[sanctuarymoon]

I've got it.

[ Murderbot grabs onto the lip of the well, shifts itself up, reaches down for Jason's hand. ]

I'll pull you up. You won't fall. Go.

[ There is a greater than 38% chance he will fall, but lying kind of helps. ]

[hearuthinking]

[At the moment he doesn't have too many other options. He grabs at the hand and the lion-sized bobcat pivots so it's just below him. On the off-chance he does fall, the Omen is ready to catch him.

But not falling would be better]

[sanctuarymoon]

[ He doesn't fall. Murderbot's reflexes are good and its balance is better: it takes hold and hauls him up, its feet braced against the stones at the base. It gets the human up and over, and the two of them go down in kind of a heap on solid ground.

Murderbot considers, for a moment, then says: ]

Fucking hell.

[hearuthinking]

[He collapses on the ground, his arms still feeling a little like jelly after holding his weight. The bobcat appears, back to its normal size, and deposits the tent peg nearby]

Oorah. We fuckin' made it. Did you see how this weird-ass cat fought that fuckin' thing? [He's quiet for a moment and corrects:] Esfir.

[Esfir looks pleased to hear her name, and she gets close enough to allow petting]

[sanctuarymoon]

[ Oorah. It sounds like a celebratory nonsense-word, and Murderbot is pretty sure it fits. They lived. Oorah. ]

Yeah. [ Murderbot levers itself back up to sitting, eyes the weird-ass cat briefly, then shifts forward to drag the cover back over the top of the well. It looks down, for a moment: there is nothing but darkness and rippling water. Cool. The cover slides home. ]

Well, let's never do that again.

[hearuthinking]

I hear that.

[He manages to get to his feet. The Omen stays by his side for a moment checking to make sure he's okay, and then is gone. She's done her job in keeping her person safe]

I'm Jason. Thanks for haulin' my ass outta there.

[sanctuarymoon]

Rin.

[ Isn't actually its name, but introducing yourself as Murderbot raises a lot of questions. So. Rin it is. ]

Thanks for not dying on me.

[hearuthinking]

If ever you wanna wrestle with another monster, you call on me.

[He tips his hat in a friendly goodbye]

[sanctuarymoon]

I will never want to. [ Deadpan. But, after a beat: ] But when it happens anyway, I know who to call.

[ Tapping humans with guns to help out is firmly in the terrible idea column. But... yeah, as far as humans with guns go, this one did an okay job of not being a nightmare. Murderbot will remember the name. ]