Work Text:
Mutual Interest
(rough draft)
A Murderbot Diaries fanfic by Raberba girl
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Summary: AU where PresAux are studying fauna in the wilderness, their work taking place in the territory of a large wild feline (Murderbot).
Written for fandom event: Mensah & Murderbot March 2026
https://mbmensah.tumblr.com/
https://archiveofourown.org/collections/TMBD_MB_Mensah_March_2026/requests
Prompt by Anonymous:
Inspired by Noma Duwezweni narrating "Tuskers: Brotherhood of Elephants." AU where Murderbot (probably has another name in this AU, lol) is an elephant under threat of poaching and PresAux is a band of people dedicated to protecting elephants in general. Optional: GrayChris as a band of trophy hunters that seem to be hunting in legal areas, but that might also be poaching. The Company as [unnamed country] government that is as morally corrupt as real life governments and could be swayed to help Preservation or GrayChris.
Maybe a scene where GrayChris are threatening or attacking Preservation and MB comes to the rescue because it knows what humans are its friends?
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A/N: This is more "inspired by" than a proper fill, but I liked the idea of Murderbot being a large wild fauna catching the attention of PresAux.
o.o.o
Ratthi didn't make a sound, but he was grinning hugely and making excited 'Come here!!!' motions. Mensah immediately swung the camera around and approached him, still filming.
They both lowered themselves behind cover and she cautiously poked her camera around the edge of the bush.
She finally spotted what Ratthi was so excited about, and adjusted the camera accordingly. Ratthi was now rapidly tapping at his phone (Mensah would later see Rin's here!!! 8D X3 <3 <3 in the group chat).
Rin, named after a character from some silly show Ratthi liked, was a rare all-black feline from an endangered species. Despite the fact that it was big enough that its head would reach Mensah's chest even when it stood on all four paws, the creature was still elusive and silent. They saw signs of its activity everywhere around this region, but this was only the second time they were seeing the creature itself.
Rin was prowling through shadows, head lowered, occasionally pausing to sniff at one thing or another. Mensah followed its progress with her camera, hardly daring to breathe and risk alerting it to their presence.
She got several minutes of footage before Ratthi shifted and snapped a twig. He sucked in a horrified breath and froze.
Rin's head shot up. It stared straight at them, and Mensah's back prickled. She wondered if it would attack, and hoped that the camera would still be retrievable in the event of their deaths.
The staredown lasted for three seconds but felt like much longer.
Then Rin turned into the next shadow and seemed to vanish.
o.o.o
Evenings spent in the wilderness were dangerous and dirty and cold (or hot) and wonderful. The two vehicles were parked on opposite sides of their camp. Thorny brush barriers formed the rest of the perimeter, with the fire in the middle.
It had been Pin-Lee and Bharadwaj's turn to cook, and the stew was delicious. There weren't enough bowls to go around because of that pack they'd lost two days ago, so Arada, Overse, and Ratthi were sharing a bowl and taking multiple helpings.
The conversation over dinner and dish-washing was lively. Once everything was cleaned up, everyone wrapped up in blankets and sang songs together as Volescu played his guitar.
Afterward, as they were all bidding each other good night, Gurathin said, "Rin was watching us."
There was a chorus of exclamations.
Gurathin smiled his small, quiet smile and elaborated, "About five minutes after we started singing, I noticed some tapetum lucidum on the hillside and eventually determined it was Rin. It sat there the entire time we were singing and left just a minute ago." He shared the footage from his camera as proof. (Mensah had thought he was recording the moment of fellowship. This was even better.)
"Rin likes music!" Ratthi crowed. "Bait unlocked!"
o.o.o
They started singing sometimes during the daytime as they worked. It scared off the fauna they were actually here to study, but the payoff was worth it. Almost without fail, every time one or more of them started singing, Rin would show up within five minutes and just sit there, watching them.
It stayed throughout Overse's entire rendition of The Ballad of Glittersmear, tail neatly curled around its paws, eyes half-lidded. When it became obvious she was finished, it stood up and padded away over a ridge.
o.o.o
Rin continued to keep its distance from them in the field but it no longer seemed to mind being noticed and filmed. It would go about its business - sniffing at things, hunting and eating things, marking its territory - and seemed to be entirely unconcerned with its fan club of humans trailing after it with cameras and notebooks and excited whispers.
Some of the nonchalance might have been an act - once, when Gurathin lost his balance and tumbled halfway down a hill before managing to catch himself, Rin startled and stared up at Gurathin, eyes wide, shoulders hunched, and tail lashing. It ran as soon as it became evident that Gurathin wasn't going to approach.
But the next time they sheepishly edged closer to it with a camera, it only looked at them warily for a few seconds before visibly deciding to ignore them and return to its business.
o.o.o
Mensah was the first one awake that particular morning. She lay in her sleeping bag for a while, nuzzling into the warmth of Pin-Lee's back and happy to stay ensconced in her cozy nest. Eventually, though, she grew awake enough that staying in bed was boring, so she wriggled out of the sleeping bag and rolled it up, shivering in the cold of dawn.
She climbed out of the vehicle and stopped short. Debris was scattered across the ground, one of the camp chairs was broken, and giant paw prints were tracked all over the camp site.
Apparently, Rin's curiosity was not deterred by thorns.
o.o.o
They all stayed awake this time. None of them moved or made a sound, but their silenced phones lit up with a flurry of reactions when a dark feline shadow leapt onto the hood of one of the vehicles, paused, then tipped downward and landed inside the camp.
They all watched with bated breath as Rin prowled around. It sniffed at the banked fire. It lifted its leg against a wheel of each vehicle. It ate the raw steak Bharadwaj had (against Gurathin's recommendation) left out as an offering, swallowing the thing in two delicate gulps. It blinked around consideringly.
Then it sniffed at the door of the vehicle Mensah, Pin-Lee, and Volescu were in (Gurathin was in the pop-top tent above). Rin peered in through the window. They all stared back, frozen, wondering if it could see them through the tint. Regardless, it surely knew they were there. It gazed calmly. Mensah knew that the door was locked, but she had the distinct feeling that that barrier would be a flimsy one to Rin.
Then the feline reared up and braced its front paws on the vehicle so it could inspect the pop-top. "Shit," Gurathin's whisper drifted down from the access hatch. The pop-top was a lot flimsier than the body of the vehicle.
They heard the thump as Rin dropped back down to all fours. As soon as they sensed Rin moving away, they scrambled back to watch as the feline loped over to the other vehicle to inspect it. Even through the windows, Mensah thought she heard a faint squeal.
There was a tense wait as they all watched to see what the animal would do. At one point, Rin pawed at the vehicle in a way that looked casual, but was powerful enough to shove the whole thing half a meter to the side. There was a chorus of shrieks that quickly cut off.
Rin considered a moment, tail lashing curiously, then gave the vehicle another casual shove.
There were no shouts this time, and Rin lost interest. It turned away, did a meandering circuit of the camp, then peaced out the same way it had come.
No one dared leave the vehicles the rest of the night, but no one slept, either. Their group chat was active for hours.
o.o.o
After Rin failed to appear for three days straight, the team returned to their official work. They documented the traits and habits of the various species native to this region and analyzed the data they collected. They filmed and photographed and took notes and recorded sounds and took samples.
Mensah was filming a nest of juvenile avians one afternoon when the hairs on the back of her neck rose. She frowned. She started to look around-- and nearly screamed when she realized that Rin was literally looming over her. She would have screamed if the air hadn't frozen in her lungs with shock. She lay sprawled and vulnerable practically right under its paws, propping herself up on her elbows, in no position to defend herself quickly.
Rin's eyes were narrowed, and as the moment of eye contact dragged on, the feline started to growl softly deep in its throat.
Mensah cut her eyes to the side. She stared at the grass for a while, feeling her breath heaving in her chest, her thoughts too scattered to even wonder what might happen.
After a while, Rin leaned forward to sniff at her. Its hot breath ghosted across her face, and she shivered.
Then Rin stepped over to sniff at her fallen camera.
"Oh no," she breathed. Turning cautiously onto her side, she reached out for the camera strap. Grasping it, she slowly pulled the camera out from under Rin's nose.
Rin looked at her, affronted. She kept her eyes averted and continued pulling until the camera was close enough that she could scoop it up and hug it. "Please, Rin," she murmured. "This has a lot of valuable data on it. We have a lot of toys we can give you, but not this one."
After a moment, Rin turned away dismissively and began to groom itself.
Breathless with delight, Mensah raised the camera to her face and started capturing photos. Right after she snapped a glorious one, Rin stopped licking its fur and glared at her around its own fully vertically extended hind leg.
"I'm sorry," she apologized as she lowered the camera, though she could feel herself grinning like a fool. "You're just so beautiful, and you are posing for me. What did you expect?"
Rin swirled to its feet and loped off.
o.o.o
That night, as Volescu was tuning his guitar, a giant shadow hopped over one of the vehicles, stalked straight to Mensah, and dropped down to sprawl like a pool of midnight at her feet.
Ratthi squealed and clapped his hands over his own mouth. Gurathin had already scrambled into the nearest vehicle. The rest of them were all stunned still.
After a moment, Rin raised its head and growled quietly at Volescu.
"Volescu," Mensah said, her voice sounding much calmer than she felt, "please continue."
Volescu swallowed and resumed tuning his guitar. Rin stopped growling. Volescu strummed a chord and started singing. Mensah quickly joined in, then Bharadwaj, then the others. Rin laid its head back down and relaxed, paws splayed comfortably.
During the third song, Mensah slowly reached out. For just a second, her fingertips relished the wondrously soft sensation of Rin's ear.
Then Rin jerked and in the next second, Mensah's wrist was gripped in the animal's carnivore jaws.
The music halted. Everyone stared in horror. Gurathin eased open the vehicle door, holding a gun, but subsided when Mensah sharply shook her head at him.
She braced herself and glanced at her wrist, but despite it being immobilized by sharp teeth, there was no blood (yet?).
She turned her eyes away and said, "I'm sorry, Rin. I shouldn't have tried to touch you without your consent." She waited. After a long moment, Rin let go and padded to the closest vehicle, hopping up and over it with no apparent effort.
Everyone rushed over to Mensah and were astonished to find that her bones and skin were unbroken. Even the toothmarks were gone by morning.
o.o.o
Rin was scarce the following day and spent the next evening music session watching from the hillside. However, the night after that, it came slinking into camp and settled down near Mensah, behind her this time and perched on its folded legs rather than lying in the relaxed sprawl of before.
Still, tears of relief and gratitude came to Mensah's eyes. "Thank you for forgiving me," she murmured, carefully not looking at Rin.
The cat stayed for the duration of the session. When everyone stopped singing and Volescu started to put his guitar away as everyone made sleepy noises about going to bed, Rin picked itself up and left.
It returned every subsequent evening as if summoned by the sounds of Volescu's guitar being tuned. After two nights, Rin deigned to sprawl again, this time next to Mensah rather than in front of or behind her.
After a couple of songs, while the others were arguing amiably about what to sing next, Ratthi approached and knelt in front of Rin with his eyes averted. Rin raised its head and watched him, its eyes narrowing and its ears flattening.
"Hi, Rin," Ratthi said politely. "I'm really happy you've been joining us in the evenings! I was wondering if I could ask for permission to pet you?"
There was no response, of course. After a moment, Ratthi lifted his hand, eyes still averted, and slowly reached toward Rin.
Rin didn't move, but when Ratthi's fingers were a few centimeters away from the top of its head, it started a soft growl.
"All right, I understand," Ratthi said, slowly retracting his hand. "Thanks for turning me down gently!" He scooted back a safe distance, carefully stood, and retreated back to his seat.
Rin made a thoughtful noise. Then it rested its head on its forelegs and exhaled. A few songs later, it relaxed so much that when it shifted to the side and bumped up against Mensah's leg, it lay where it had flopped and didn't attempt to move away. It felt warm against her.
Mensah looked up with shining eyes. Ratthi made a silent screaming face and wriggled his upper body in a half-dance. Gurathin took a photo and sent it to the group chat. Volescu smiled widely and everyone else made silent congratulatory gestures.
When the last song ended and everyone started shuffling around to go to bed, Rin abruptly started up so it was half-sitting. It looked around wildly and everyone froze, looking back at it. Mensah wondered if it had been asleep.
Then it slumped back, shook itself, yawned widely, and hauled itself to its feet, padding off into the night.
o.o.o
One morning, Mensah was shocked awake by a horrible noise: an odd rumbling, grinding, cracking sound, very loud. She staggered out of her sleeping bag and the vehicle, sensing the others doing the same around her.
"What the fuck?" Pin-Lee screamed, outraged.
"We made sure this was illegal, didn't we?" Volescu demanded, turning to Gurathin when it became clear that Pin-Lee was too preoccupied to answer him.
"We did," Gurathin said grimly, watching the landscaping engine being assembled. "It seems that matters little to GrayCris."
Pin-Lee, her feet bare and her hair mussed, was already marching toward the corporates to presumably yeet them off the preserve. Mensah wasn't about to let her friend do battle alone, so she shoved on her boots and followed, hearing the rest of her team scrambling after her.
o.o.o
The eight of them sat fuming and helpless, hands bound as multiple armed goons stood guard.
"You are going to regret this!" Arada cried.
"There are so many endangered species in this region, the courts will eat you alive," Ratthi promised. One of the guards kicked him. Ratthi spat on his boot, and the man hauled him up to start beating him. Gurathin lurched to his feet and rammed the guard; then suddenly it was a free-for-all, except PresAux were tied up and in their sleepwear.
Screams started up from somewhere nearby and the guards paused, squinting around in confusion. Then there was a sick squelching, crunching sound and the landscaping engine stuttered to a halt, emitting a continuous low buzz after it powered down improperly.
Mensah raised her head, blinking blood out of her eyes. Some of the GrayCris workers were fleeing to their trucks. A few were lying motionless on the ground. As Mensah watched, a large dark animal wrenched its head up with a spray of blood, then raced after the workers with astonishing speed.
The guards started shooting and Mensah cried out in horror, then gasped in relief when Rin fled.
"What the void was that?!" one of the guards swore, looking around wildly.
"It's the curse," Volescu said calmly. "Your crew violated the land, and now it has sent its guardian to avenge the wrong done to it."
"Shut up, you crazy old man--" The weapon was raised in preparation to smash down, but something leaped on the guard instead. Rin must have circled around to get at its prey from behind. The guard screamed, first in shock and fear, then in desperate agony as he was ripped limb from limb.
Rin raised its head, mouth dripping with blood, and howled. All the corporate survivors were either in the trucks, which were starting to peel away, or running desperately after the trucks, shouting after them in vain.
Rin chuffed in satisfaction and then vomited a clump of gore. It casually turned away and started nosing at and licking Overse, who was closest.
"Ew...ew ew ew, Rin, please, you touched someone's guts with that tongue!" she pleaded, cringing away in vain.
"Rin, you were amazing!" Ratthi gushed. Attention caught, Rin turned and padded over to him. Ratthi's expression of gratitude and admiration morphed into dismay. "Oh, wait, no, Rin, vomit breath, no no no, vomit breath...!" He squeezed his eyes shut as Rin started licking the blood from his skin.
Meanwhile, Gurathin had worked his way to his feet and walked over to a piece of sharp metal. He turned his back to it and started sawing at his bonds.
Rin ambled over to him and sniffed at his hands. "Thanks for the offer," Gurathin said. "I think I've got this, though."
Rin roamed around, checking on each member of PresAux. Once Gurathin managed to get his hands free, he started releasing the others. Bharadwaj fetched a bucket of water and a rag and started carefully cleaning the blood from Rin's fur. Rin cringed away, but tolerated the treatment without growling.
The rest of the day was spent making reports to the closest authorities and cleaning up as best they could. They were all exhausted by the time night fell and only had the energy to roast bits of meat and vegetables over the fire. They all alternated tossing raw tidbits to Rin, who ate most of them. Ratthi made a note of which vegetables the feline turned up its nose at.
GrayCris had been dishonorable, but PresAux still sang a lament for the dead. Afterward, no one had the stomach for cheerful songs, but Pin-Lee started up a ballad with a recurrent chorus that everyone could join in with.
At one point, Rin, sprawled in its customary spot beside Mensah, laid its head down on her thigh. She showed it her hand, then slowly rested it on Rin's shoulder. The feline tensed for a moment, then exhaled and nuzzled closer against her. Mensah smiled and returned her attention to the ballad, feeling safe as she sat surrounded by her friends.
o.o.o
Comments are appreciated, even on old fics!
A/N: I had to doublecheck whether I was conjugating "to lie" properly and found this fantastic video: https://youtu.be/mrKrO5pf2-8
I didn't submit this to the Collection because A) I am paranoid about AO3 Collections even though AO3 said they patched the vulnerability, and B) I don't want to step on anyone's toes, so I guess my participation is unofficial. I still loved the idea of the event and enjoyed reading through all the prompts, and am now enjoying reading the wonderful stories people wrote for them! I made a list of other ones I'd like to try my hand at in the future, even after the event ends.
---
Unrelated to the fic, but I plan to include certain Scripture on every chapter or story I post unless/until the situation IRL improves.
Matthew 7
Matthew 18:7
Matthew 23
Luke 12:22-34
Psalm 37