Work Text:
The sewers.
The most filthy place one could find themselves at. This is where Pump Man had been working for most of his existence, cleaning countless amounts of filthy water and making sure everything was working well down this dark and unwelcoming place.
He had seen all the filth in the world down this place, him mot minding such much thanks to his lack ability to feel any sort of disgust and the like. At least, that's what he thought.
That day, before his eyes laid a pitiful sight: a sickly looking cat laying on the floor, dirty in sewer water and shivering from a state of hypothermia, barely even able to move. This wasn't the first time he saw a pet abandoned in such a cruel and inhumane way, but never had he seen one still alive so the impact he felt from the sight was quite different. Instinctively, one of his hands reached out to the poor thing, carefully picking it up as he connected the outlet on his other arm to the nearest hydraulic system to get access to the clean water of the city. Gently rubbing away the filth from the barely moving animal, he began pouring lukewarm water on it from the big outlet embedded in his chest to help him clean it and giving some much-needed warmth. The animal's shivers lessened gently until they were all but a sore memory.
Although it breathed quite unevenly, the cat began to purr loudly, barely having the strength for anything else. Silently listening to the strange sound the cat made, Pump Man began to walk back to the surface, feeling a need to get help as he realized the cold hadn't been the only thing that was making this animal suffer.
[...]
It had been an hour since he found the cat and Pump Man had now stepped foot in the emergency side of an animal hospital. After showing the still purring but pitiful looking cat and explaining what happened to the poor thing to a veterinarian that had promptly come to see his, the robot was meet with a look he had not quite seen yet for an instant: it was a look full of... Sorrow, he'd understand later in his existence. Yet the veterinarian was quick to offer him a much less grave look as he would calmly say.
"We'll take care of it from here.
"Will it be better soon?" The water robot asked quite naively almost instantly, his tone barely showing emotion.
"...Yes. It... won't have to suffer anymore."
Something about those words felt... Heavy. He knew they weren't bad in any way, but couldn't help but feel like that, with the way they were said, they had some deeper meaning that he didn't have the mental nor emotional capacity to decipher. He could only slowly nod after a short moment and say quietly while looking at the animal with mild notes of concern.
"Alright. I trust you.
See you soon kitty."
"...You won't have to come back to get it. It's... going to a better place, mmh."
The man interjected, visibly avoiding eye contact. Was he okay? What did this mean? Pump Man couldn't tell or more so... He'd rather not ask.
"Ah."
Lifting the cat up to his face until their eyes meet, he began to think about this for a moment. Pump man didn't understand fully what this human meant there, but this was the best he could get for this cat so he didn't think about it too much further and continued with those words as he gently pets it on the head.
"I guess it's a farewell then. I hope you'll be okay from on."
The cat slowly blinked still purring a storm, giving Pump the impression some sort of silent message had been just delivered to him which made Pump feel... strange as he handed the cat over to the man before him. He carefully watched the man walk away, the strange feeling only deepening when he couldn't see them anymore. His little mission done, Pump Man took his leave, that bothersome feeling still clinging to him with its ominous grasp and making his will to go back to work low.
Why was this so unbearable? He couldn't tell. He never felt an unknown emotion this intensely before and all that he wanted to do was try to find something to comfort himself from it.
So, walking around aimlessly in the busy city's dark alleys for some time while deeply lost in thought, Pump Man came across an old man with a bucket of soapy water and many peculiar cleaning tools bathing in said water. The man was scrubbing off some graffiti on the wall with a fervor Pump Man hadn't quite seen before. "How... strange" Pump Man thought approaching the man out of pure curiosity.
It appeared the man was so absorbed by his task, he never took notice of him. The water cleaning robot felt compelled to ask the hard-working man who flinched and dropped the sponge he had been holding as he realized someone was talking to him.
"Do you... Need help with this, sir?"
Rapidly composing himself once he acknowledged he wasn't interacting with some dangerous individual but only a sanitary robot, the old fellow replied in a friendly voice, apparently very glad to see someone else that cared about such a thing as cleanliness even it was only a robot.
"Well of course! Anything to make this filthy thing go away faster! Here, take this and follow my lead!"
The robot was given a brand new sponge that came from the man's bucket and, right after a quietly said "thank you", began to do as the man instructed. Pump rapidly noticed that the man was really talkative and listened as carefully as he could manage while working on this new task of his yet...
No matter how distracted he had been, that feeling didn't leave. But working like this helped him ignore it so he kept on doing this, following the friendly man around as they went from a dirtied wall to another until the sun was out. Here, the man he never got the name of thanked him and gave him the bucket, telling him he earned it before being on his way not before giving him a rough pat on the shoulder.
Staring at the bucket for something that felt like a solid 30 minutes, Pump Man then went ahead and got back to his small apartment to recharge for the night, the bucket being placed in a corner of his equivalent of a "bedroom". He knew he'd have to work in the sewers a lot harder tomorrow to compensate for all the hours where he didn't, but he didn't care much for it. All he could think about has he prepared to rest was the sound of that purring cat resonating through his robotic mind. His systems slowly making his consciousness fade, Pump Man uttered in a saddened tone.
"Goodnight, Kitty."
Nowadays, the strange robot still sometimes thinks about this day and whenever he did... One might see him cleaning the city's walls with a similar fervor to the old man he met that day.