#making friends is hard also. in general

[samaspic31]

My irl social circle became so so trans dominated while dropping out i had forgor how bad it feels being in cis dominated institutions

[scificrows]

Okay, my brain refuses to think about anything other than Murderbot, so I looked at every use of the word "friend[s]" in TMBD and... created some pie charts. Normal human activities.

Some Thoughts™ I had while putting this together (under the cut):

In All Systems Red, Murderbot notes that the PresAux crew are all close friends (twice! and goes on to explain their internal relationships which I think is very cute). This is pretty much the only use of 'friends' in ASR, except for when Murderbot says that SecUnits can't be friends with each other.

It seems that this may be one of the first times Murderbot has ever really been around a group of friends before? Murderbot notes that this is not the norm for its contracts and admits that the fact that they are all friends and the way they interact with each other make it actually enjoy that contract (before!!!! the hostile attack, so it already enjoys this contract before they start seeing it as a person etc ghghhhh). [Inference: Friendship seems enjoyable.]

The first character that calls Murderbot its friend is ART in Artificial Condition. Murderbot immediately refutes this (and then goes on to call ART its friend to its clients for the rest of the book). [Inference: Maybe ART is Murderbot's friend. And maybe that is... agreeable]

Rogue Protocol has more than twice as many instances of the word 'friend' as any of the other novellas. Why? Miki. Friendship and its implications for non-humans are a central theme because Miki is friends with everyone. Murderbot initially scoffs at the notion that Miki and Miki's humans are friends. At the end of the book, after witnessing how desperately Don Abene tried to stop Miki from trying to save them, and her grief after its death, Murderbot has to admit that she had in fact been Miki's friend. [Inference: Humans can be friends with bots and can sincerely care about them]

In Exit Strategy, Murderbot tentatively uses the word "friends" for its humans for the first time (several times actually). It questions whether it can actually call them its friends or not and later realizes that it had been afraid what admitting that the humans are its friends would do to it. At the end of the book, Mensah tells Murderbot the PresAux crew are its friends, which is the first time a human has directly said that to it (at least on-page). [Inference: Humans can and want to be Murderbot's friends]

In Network Effect, Murderbot seems to be more habituated to the word 'friend', confidently calling ART and Ratthi its friends, like it is no longer just trying the concept on unsure if it fits. There are many instances in which other characters refer to MB as ART's friend or the other way around and Murderbot's humans refer to Murderbot as their friend several times. Generally, there seems to be less hesitancy, because yes, all of them are Murderbot's friends, why wouldn't they be. [Inference: SecUnits can have friends. This SecUnit has friends. They care about it a lot.]

Conclusion: The Murderbot Diaries tell the story of a construct that does not seem to consider the possibility of friendship for itself and is fine with that - until it accidentally starts caring a little too much and suddenly more and more people annex it as a friend (ew) to the point where it can no longer deny that this is happening and has to begrudgingly admit that yes, it has friends now and maybe that is actually not a bad thing.

[alienglowgarden]

There is no needle and thread that will mend you, so

Don't you break, I will not let you

[lady-harrowhark]

lol not me crying because someone from my program texted me to ask how i was doing and that they hadn't seen me around in a while

[musubiki]

lately ive been thinking about the contrast going on in Early Lime where hes like "tbh im pretty sure i could have any girl i wanted including mochi i mean i guess if she wanted we could give it a shot one day but i dont really care lol" and then very easily becoming completely unhinged for her the second he gets a tinge of romantic affection

[luna-the-cretar]

You’d think that, between Gideon and Kremy, Gideon would be the easier one to get a read on (in terms of feelings towards certain situations and party members), but no. I can read Kremy like a motherfucking book. The way he spins lies and half-truths like a spiderweb; the way his tone will shift subtly depending on who he’s talking to, what they’re talking about, his feelings on the situation/subject/towards the person, etc; all of it. Kremy is so fucking easy to read for someone who’s supposed to be a silver-tongued conman.

But Gideon? His tone doesn’t shift all that much. He generally has a happy, confused, or entertained tone in his voice, with the exception of when he’s angry, frustrated, or upset.

Idk, maybe it’s harder for me to read Gideon because I listen to the podcast (it’s just easier for me since I can listen while driving or working), so I have to rely on tone shifts and other verbal cues. That, or maybe it’s because all of my past blorbos have been emotionally constipated men, who would only express their actual feelings about a situation based on tonal shifts, body language, and reading into what they’re saying.

[captaindeinony]

Pokemas canon but

[thevioletcaptain]

if you as a fic reader ever become possessed by the urge to do a popularity bracket with the fics other people wrote and shared for fun and for free, consider:

don't ❤️ 

[sundial-bee-scribbles]

is this outfit historically accurate? probably the fuck not. is it practical in any way shape or form? also probably not! but does it serve cunt? YES 😩🙏💅 and that's all that matters!

[mrmeepsmadmind]

he drew the abs on with sharpie, don't fall for the gremlin's tricks

[cathalbravecog]

veep dad comfort art

[icewindandboringhorror]

recent lounging babey images

[yellowocaballero]

in love with both the roleswap ficlet you have as well as Utopia. im curious, what are your thoughts/hopes with rin? i feel like she always gets the short end of the stick when it comes to fics and id love to hear anything about her from you

I do have a soft spot for characters who haunt the narrative - who create an empty space so tangible that the void is its own character. When Obito and Kakashi stood in the same room in Utopia, I always considered the imprint she left on them as a third character. Not Rin herself - just how she damaged them. I think it's heartwarmingly toxic yaoi how Kakashi stole Obito's personality, so I decided that Kakashi actually stole the erotic novels from Rin. She was a superfan of bodice ripper steamy romance novels, as it turns out.

You have to make up your own personality for Rin. So I made decisions as an author about writing her for the roleswap. I wanted her to be the Naruto figure - the leader, the glue who held everybody together, the one who was very smart about people. She was just as stubborn and fiercely smart as the boys, but because her genius was in noncombat arts it was overlooked. The idealist and optimist, who hoped so genuinely for a better world. One where she could protect the people she loved. I think Rin loved far, far too much. She and the boys were thrown into insanely traumatic situations far too young, and as a result I think they developed a codependent trauma bond that resulted in over-emotional reliance and falling in desperate teenage love with each other.

As we all know, in Naruto these traits are the recipe for either the greatest hero or the most insane supervillain in the series. The most dangerous person in Naruto is the person who loves too much, who believes in a better world where peace and love and happiness can reign, and who has the power to make it a reality. The person who's lost everything, and as such has nothing to lose.

I don't think one little sword and seal can kill a jinchuuriki.

Yeah, Rin plays a major role in the AU lmfao. Personally, I support women's wrongs. As does Kakashi. #feminisminnaruto

[calicoartie]

I HATE MY ROOMMATEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[itsalwaysdark]

i like overthink everything now it makes me feel so dumb. i used 2 be able to just talk 2 ppl but nowadays every single thing im like Is that actually going to make them hate me. Yes probably. and then i just dont respond which makes ppl hate me. this is how it is

[skyward-floored]

Been feeling kinda removed from the lu fandom lately. Idk. I still love lu and making stuff for it (don't worry about that lol), but I've just felt like... I dunno how to put it. Washed up, maybe.