#diggybot

It was quiet out in the wilderness. A tense but somewhat peaceful quiet. The large reploid wasn't sure what to make of it, being quite a contrast to that deathtrap of a cave he'd escaped from a few days ago.

Basalt was snuffling around a small pile of large rocks, just curious to see if there was anything interesting he could find. Rough, heavily static croaks and huffs could be heard coming from him every so often, as sharp claws scrapped at rocks leaving shallow scratches in the hard surfaces.

When he finds them, he blinks, lowering his head down to read the note. Squeeze...them?

Lifting one of his foremost front paws, he carefully lowers it on one of the rubber chickens. He stumbles back when it makes a noise, staring at the toy for a few, tense moments.

Then his eyes light up in excitement and awe.

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Hunters and staff alike look up and around in confusion at the cacophony of noise that starts up and moves closer.

Here comes Basalt, a rubber chicken held in his mouth and one held by his clam-shell bucket tail, happily trotting by while squeezing the squeaky toys repeatedly.

The large reploid had remained in shutdown for most of that time after being brought back to Hunter HQ, allowing lifesavers to work without interruption; replacing parts here and there that had started melting from the heat, making sure his core was undamaged and scanning him thoroughly.

It had seemed like something had affected his code, but what couldn't be determined as there was no trace left whatsoever. An unfortunate mystery, but at least it appeared it was through no fault of his own he'd gone berserk, and didn't seem to be the Maverick Virus either.

For now, Basalt was recovering in a large medbay room meant for big reploids, and had been completely restricted to the Hunter HQ until further notice so he could be monitored closely.

After being repaired by the lifesavers, it had taken a couple of days for the big guy to initially wake up for the first time since the rampage. He'd woken up groggy and weak, perhaps only up for ten minutes before he gave up and fell back asleep for another day or two.

Second time was better. He still didn't seem to have all his strength back, but he stayed conscious. A few hours later was when he'd been questioned what he remembered, and gave the worrying answer of not remembering anything from after he'd started leaving the base. That's when he'd been told what had happened, what he'd caused.

Of course, Basalt had been devastated, wracked with guilt as he realised how eerily similar this all was to the incident that'd led to his disappearance years ago. And he'd felt worse when he'd been given silence when he asked if he'd hurt anyone.

Since then, he'd curled himself into a corner of the medbay room, feeling utterly miserable and guilt-ridden. Despite being told it hadn't been his fault, that he'd been 'hacked', it had done little to help him feel better.

Glowing eyes under a protective helmet blinked up at the overcast sky above, a rough, heavily static coo leaving the reploid.

It had been a couple days since he finally escaped that deathtrap of a cave. He couldn't remember how he ended up in there or how he got buried, or even how long he'd been trapped, but one thing was for sure; he'd survived. It had left him a bit damaged, and a little screwed up memory-wise, sure, but it wasn't going to stop him. He’d keep going for as long as he could.

Turning his head to look at his surroundings, Basalt started just slowly walking through the undergrowth, which didn't look all that healthy. The large reploid couldn't help but shake the feeling something had happened. Something awful.

((Decided to try something yesterday evening. I often describe Basalt’s purring as similar to Cheetah purring only a good bit louder and deeper in tone. So, after listening to a couple Cheetah purring vids, I grabbed a small clip from this video; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TVTxk01aNc and edited it in Audacity so it sounds deeper.

🔪 Umbran

the dark ⋆ fire ⋆ open water ⋆ deep water ⋆ being alone ⋆ crowded spaces ⋆ confined spaces ⋆ change ⋆ failure ⋆ war ⋆ loss of control ⋆ powerlessness ⋆ prison ⋆ blood ⋆ drowning ⋆ suffocation ⋆ public speaking ⋆ natural animals ⋆ the supernatural ⋆ heights ⋆ death/dying ⋆ intimacy ⋆ rejection ⋆ abandonment ⋆ loss ⋆ the unknown ⋆ the future ⋆ not being good enough ⋆ scary stories ⋆ speaking to new people ⋆ poverty ⋆ loud noises ⋆ being touched ⋆ forgetting ⋆ remembering ⋆ loving ⋆ spiders

🚧 Basalt

the dark ⋆ fire ⋆ open water ⋆ deep water ⋆ being alone ⋆ crowded spaces ⋆ confined spaces ⋆ change ⋆ failure ⋆ war ⋆ loss of control ⋆ powerlessness ⋆ prison ⋆ blood ⋆ drowning ⋆ suffocation ⋆ public speaking ⋆ natural animals ⋆ the supernatural ⋆ heights ⋆ death/dying ⋆ intimacy ⋆ rejection ⋆ abandonment ⋆ loss ⋆ the unknown ⋆ the future ⋆ not being good enough ⋆ scary stories ⋆ speaking to new people ⋆ poverty ⋆ loud noises ⋆ being touched ⋆ forgetting ⋆ remembering ⋆ loving ⋆ spiders

🎧 Nexux

the dark ⋆ fire ⋆ open water ⋆ deep water ⋆ being alone ⋆ crowded spaces ⋆ confined spaces ⋆ change ⋆ failure ⋆ war ⋆ loss of control ⋆ powerlessness ⋆ prison ⋆ blood ⋆ drowning ⋆ suffocation ⋆ public speaking ⋆ natural animals ⋆ the supernatural ⋆ heights ⋆ death/dying ⋆ intimacy ⋆ rejection ⋆ abandonment ⋆ loss ⋆ the unknown ⋆ the future ⋆ not being good enough ⋆ scary stories ⋆ speaking to new people ⋆ poverty ⋆ loud noises ⋆ being touched ⋆ forgetting ⋆ remembering ⋆ loving ⋆ spiders

Tagged by: @reportingforrobots

It had been a decent day. He had been getting used to being outside again, after escaping that deathtrap of a cave a few days ago.

Of course, he had no idea the crash of the Eurasia into Earth had been what eventually woke and freed him, nor did he have any idea how he’d gotten stuck in a cave-in or how long he’d been stuck in there. And despite the damage he gained, Basalt was just happy to be alive and free.

He was, at least, until today.

He’d just been minding his own business, turning over a few boulders trying to find something shiny/pretty interesting. But then he’d heard a noise, and before he could properly react, cables were shot at him, winding around him and pinning him to the ground. Basalt had let out a very static-y shriek of fear with his badly damaged voice box, and tried to strain against the cables so he could run. Flee. Get away from whatever threat was attacking him.

The more the large reploid struggled though, the more cables were used to pin him down. Until it was all he could do to flail his tail around to keep his attackers, which he could now see were small humanoid reploids, from getting too close. One hit from that clam-shell bucket could knock anyone out if they weren’t careful, but really, Basalt didn’t want that.

☠ - angry/violent headcanon

Basalt doesn’t get angry often. And even if he’s angry, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll get violent. When he does get angry, it comes with growling and hissing and most likely him snapping his clam-shell bucket at the instigator. If the instigator doesn’t back off, he’ll start snarling and barking low as a second warning. If things escalate from that, that’s usually when Basalt gets violent ‘cause then he’ll feel especially threatened and attacks out of self-defence.

Being an excavation-type reploid, he was never designed with actual weapons. But, he does have his claws on his front legs, so his style of attacks will be much like a bear in using his claws to slash, lifting himself up to make himself look larger (than he already is) and ramming into the threat.

He also has the added bonus of his tail, so if he’s able to get a hold of the threat with the clam-shell bucket, he’ll swing that sucker around if he’s able and slam them into the floor a few times. Like a dog with a chew toy. And, he may even YEET them as far as he can if just wants the threat to be as far away from him as possible.

Basalt typically doesn’t stop until the threat has been neutralized, usually when they’re knocked out. He really tries not to kill if he can help it.

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Umbran; Before he went Maverick, there wasn’t much that got him mad. It was mostly extreme stuff that really pissed him off; like anything to do with Sigma, or the Emerald Spears and other terrorist groups. What most didn’t know was that stuff like that made him prone to going on long rants/vents about it, just to help him get it off his chest.

But he only ever went on these rants with those he was super close to, and he always asked if it was okay for him to do so first, since he didn’t want to bother them if they weren’t in the mood/right mindset to listen to him go off. It always made him feel better when he was able to do so.

Now though, after becoming a Maverick, Umbran doesn’t have anyone to rant to anymore. So he ends up ranting to himself when he’s alone instead, which doesn’t really help at all ‘cause it ends up with him going in circles in his own head. Until, eventually, Umbran gets so wound up he snaps and goes off to do something about it. Which typically ends up with him tracking down a gang or an Emerald Spears hideout, and just slaughtering everyone.