Chapter Text
It’s not that bad being a droplet.
Every droplet counts in making a body of water - a puddle, a pond, a sea, an ocean. Of course, it’s true that taking away a droplet doesn’t diminish said body of water, but that doesn’t make the droplets unimportant. Just replaceable.
The thought of the last words that came out of her mouth just kept coming back to Beo. It felt a little silly, to be dwelling on it so much, but it wasn’t like she had anything better to do right now. Her only other company was the slow dripping of red from where her hydraulics got damaged.
More droplets. Honestly, could anyone really blame her for thinking the way she was?
The ocean that was her was slowly draining. Drip by drip. She never really thought about death, but it felt almost…serene.
A selfish part of her wished that that Elster unit that had passed by would stay. But it wouldn’t do her any good, wouldn’t do either of them any good. Besides, she spoke to her. She stayed for a moment. That was already better than what she’d hoped for now.
With a slightly labored, deeper inhale, the MNHR unit rested her well-protected head backwards against the concrete of the tunnel she laid in. Apart from the dripping and the movements of herself, it was pretty quiet. She thought she heard distant crying once, and then faint gunfire when that LSTR unit passed, but nothing since…
How long ago? She gave the thought a little time but then gave up. She felt tired, and knew that ruminating on time that she couldn’t track wouldn’t lead anywhere.
She wished she had her teddy with her. She always found it more comfortable to fall asleep with a plushie. Something soft and…’cuddleable’. But this wasn’t bad. She closed her eyes and-
Heard a noise.
Her eyes opened once more. The mining unit’s breath stopped, as she listened, but heard nothing more. For a while. In a few seconds, another sound. The direction was hard to determine - up? South? Not south, no…
There was another. It sounded closer. A bump in the vents, a shuffle, a scrape of something against metal.
Beo hesitated for a while. She couldn’t know what it was - she’s seen what kind of ‘things’ roamed the halls of the facility - and the mines - now. But she also remembered something else.
And the sound was different than the mindless, careless sounds that the creatures elicited. This was more subdued, accidental, and quiet. If it wasn’t so silent here she wouldn’t have heard it, and as she was, she barely did already.
She dripped again. And mustered a “Hello?”
She waited for an answer, though it wasn’t like she could do much else. The sound was gone now.
Perhaps it was foolish to hold out hope…for what, even? Whatever scurried in the vents was more likely to harm her than to greet her. If there even was anything. Maybe the loss of oxidant was finally getting to her.
She closed her eyes, and let out a slow, quiet, grounding sigh.
The vent hatch suddenly fell to the ground with a loud, metallic sound, piercing the quiet and giving Beo a startle. A twitch, as she focused her eyes upon it.
Then she aimed them higher. And she met another’s. A Replika’s eyes, exceedingly neutral, staring back at her, framed by unkempt, synthetic black hair. Even without the welding mask atop her head, Beo had no trouble guessing that this was most likely an ARAR. In fact, something about her face seemed familiar.
The Ara seemed to think so as well, as her eyes studied the Mynah. A few seconds passed in silence; the vent dweller’s eyes scanned the area instead now. Beo waited, patiently, though she couldn’t help a little smile forming on her face.
“It’s nice to see someone else here.”
The Ara’s eyes finally turned back to her. Focusing on her dripping leg.
“...you need help.”
“I-...”
The ARAR left Beo no room to object, as she moved forward, grabbing onto the rim of the vent’s opening, while sliding her legs out. She let her body dangle for a moment. Beo watched her - she looked like every other ARAR unit, with the exception of the toolbelt and pouch on her side being stuffed full. She definitely was not following the Rule of Six.
She landed on her feet, bending the knees to brace the landing. Optics trained on Beo, she approached. The looming Replika’s gaze soon wandered to her damaged leg.
“The Hydraulic failed. You shouldn’t worry about it. It’ll take too much to repair an old unit like me.” Beo spoke in a reassuring tone. When her eyes lifted, she almost faltered, met with a focused look - no, a glare, from the ARAR, who stood right beside her. It confused the MNHR. But she continued. “There’s a mining office, just South of here. If you-”
“Can you walk?”
The Ara interrupted her, neutral tone holding back some frustration, though she was unable to keep some of it from seeping through.
Beo shook her head. There was a little confusion that creeped into her expression, as the ARAR crouched down near her leg, and shoved her hand into her pouch, rifling through it in search for something.
“You shouldn’t waste your supplies on me.”
As the Ara pulled out a patch of coagulant K and a repair spray, she looked back up to Beo, without hesitation. “Stop with that, and let me take a look.”
There was more she could say, there was more she wanted to say. But now wasn’t the time.
Beo didn’t object any further. What could she do, after all; petulantly cover her damaged leg? She’d rather oblige. She didn’t want to make herself more of an obstacle for this Ara.
So she just silently observed the engineering unit assessing the damage. Her eyes occasionally wandered to the open wound, to where the plating had been ripped through, exposing Beo’s hydraulics. Artificial tissue, metal and some wires were cut through. She didn’t like seeing it. So she did her best to remain looking at the ARAR. On the focused expression she made, on the hand she eventually raised to it. On the slight furrow of her brow, perhaps in concern, in thought.
Beo found herself smiling a little bit. She wondered what was going through the ARAR’s mind. Despite her earlier protests and a little residual guilt, she found some tension within her frame, within her mind, giving way under the Ara’s discerning gaze.
Perhaps it simply felt nice not being alone.
The ARAR began moving around a minute later, shifting Beo’s attention to her hands as they tore open the packet of the coagulant. “I can’t fix you properly right now. I don’t have the parts.” her inflection was neutral as she spoke, with a hint of frustration again. It wasn’t aimed at Beo this time, rather, at herself. At the inability to fix the problem in front of her right now.
“I’ll patch the wound up for now and stop the bleeding. Then we’ll get somewhere safe.” she looked up to Beo, a simple determination meeting a gentle surprise. “You said there’s a mining office close. Can you make it there, with help?”
A small pause followed. But Beo soon nodded. It’s as if that determination was infectious. “...yes.”
And the Ara simply nodded in return. Her eyes returned to the task, no effort wasted elsewhere as she focused on patching up the damage the best she could. First, she applied the coagulant, then affixed the wires - and any other misaligned parts to their correct placement, as best as she could in the moment. The repair spray came next, expanding fast to plug the cavity.
“Give it a minute to cure.” Beo nodded. She knew that. But it felt oddly affirming. Maybe it was just the sound of someone’s voice. Maybe it was the way that the Ara carefully brushed off some excess foam before it could cure, to not have it poke out too much past the plating. She flicked her hand with the finger extended, sending the excess bit of foam flying onto the oxidant-covered floor.
Then she looked back to Beo. And the MNHR couldn’t get rid of the feeling that she wanted to say something. Thoughts swirling behind that focused look. Was this familiar?
Was she familiar?
Brows were mildly furrowed in thought on both sides now, focused upon each other’s faces, within each other’s eyes. There were small ways, minor tells, of telling her Replika peers apart. Little mannerisms, alterations to hairstyle; small accessories and blemishes, sometimes deniably purposeful. She could see this ARAR’s, the way she tucked her bangs behind her ears, a small scratch on her chin, and the discerning, almost piercing look in her eyes.
The silence between them wasn’t uncomfortable, but Beo felt the need to disturb it. A “Thank you.” felt sufficient, warranted, fitting. It paired with a small smile. And she’d swear that she saw a tug at the corner of the Ara’s lips, before her head shook.
“Wasn’t that hard, now, was it?” She’d utter, though it lacked that previous frustration in her tone. It was more of a sigh, as she distracted herself with packing up the repair spray into her pouch, and putting a finger to check if the one used on Beo was cured. Leaving her little time to think on that retort, as she stood up from her kneeling next to Beo.
“Try standing up. Careful.” She beckoned the larger Replika up. And she nodded. Looking to her side, she already got an idea of what to use for assistance, as while one of her hands held to the wall of the tunnel, the other one rested upon her mining laser.
The oxidant leak had been fixed, but the leg was still inoperable, unable to move correctly. It could bear a little weight now, at least, affixed with the repair spray, but Beo knew she shouldn’t put much weight upon it. That could be done.
Slowly, carefully, she did begin to stand. Standing the laser in such a way and angle as to be able to help support her, she first made it to a crouch, and then heaved her body up to stand.
It’s been a while since she’d looked at the world from this height - and the first time she’d seen the Ara like this. A look was cast her way, and Beo nodded with a little smile in response. And she began by taking the first careful step away from the wall. The damaged leg held enough with just some weight applied onto it. That’ll be enough.
It was still a bit arduous. But she felt a drive within her. An infection of determination. Emboldened, when after a couple steps more, she looked at the ARAR and realized she still was by her side. Despite the terrible slowness of the mining unit, the other stayed by her side.
Their eyes met again. “Everything alright?”
“Yes. Don’t worry.” Beo smiled a little, this time not really on purpose. There was a little scrutiny from the Ara, or perhaps Beo imagined so, given how the look lingered. But she soon turned her optics back forward. Perhaps she was assured of how the Mynah’s tone, unknowing to herself, sounded a little different than earlier.
The rest of the walk was quiet, only gentle thuds of Beo’s and the footsteps of the Ara filling the silence as they made their way to the Mining Office.