#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.

[ghostofsnails]

so did you guys know theres this character called tristan vik disventure camp and

[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.

[axellis]

https://www.tumblr.com/axellis/755289937639882752/if-you-see-these-ppl-in-your-vicinity-run-far-far?source=share

Now I'm curious how they'd end up in a polycule in the first place lol

my face when i get to talk about lore

i wrote a whole lot so im gonna put it under a readmore but TLDR:

hollyberry & powdered sugar have known each other since they were littleeee-- before she finds her soul jam & everything! so they were already pretty close. in my head powdered sugar is at the very least acquainted w/ the others. hollyberry & powdered sugar were adventurers together until the berry families get united & the hollyberry kingdom is founded.

hollyberry & powdered sugar both fight pitaya! pitaya isn't one to back down and rest, but powdered sugar is insistent on bandaging the dragon up. hes just not one to leave someone injured. this quickly becomes a cycle where they fight and powdered sugar patches it up before it thinks about flying off. pitaya starts not minding (bc then it can get back to fighting faster)

this is at the very least the beginnings of their relationships w/ eachother.

as a brief summary: powdered sugar is able to get pseudo-immortality but has to stay in an inn of his founding in order to keep it up. the inn is created post-dark flour war and powdered sugar presumes hollyberry to be either dead or missing

so when a certain unnamed huntress comes across an inn and sees her childhood friend of so many years ago-- safe to say they're both surprised to see each other! hollyberry doesn't really ask, but she will still try to visit.

...but by legend of the red dragon she's starting to think that some answers on how powdered sugar is still alive after YEARS are needed. especially if it's some kind of sinister magic. this story powdered sugar gets to tag along with ^___^ by force. but it also lets the trio do some necessary rekindling that eventually pushes them into considering romanticisms

im actually like writing the legend of the red dragon retelling w/ powdered sugar's inclusion as a fic but idk if ill ever post it

post legend of the red dragon i think pitayasugar happens first. they kind of always had moments but never really talked about it. hollyberry & powdered sugar sort of resolve themselves into thinking that they'll just be friends for eternity. until eventually somebody pushes them into getting together. (like no you two making out w/ eachother when youre drunk is NOT typically a normal friend thing!)

but yeah i think theyre all cute together and um ilike them a lot smiles i think theyre very complicated but also so uncomplicated bc thats just how it is when youre friends/lovers as immortal beings

[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!

[idsb]

dude the property management company is now like, very unprofessionally texting us like a Karen in a Facebook flame war (keep in mind I'm talking to them like, "hey, I feel really badly about this! there were some severe miscommunications gone on from everyone involved and I don't think any of this was in bad faith. I hope that's understood and have done nothing ill intended, here's what we thought but I get it now! thank you!" and being as earnest as humanly possible) and threatening to destroy our credit and sue us and all this shit (all of this is blatantly illegal btw and they can't but I don't want to be in a lawsuit back at them so whatever thats not the point) and in my head I'm like 'okay you're kind of proving that you're the most psycho property management company to ever exist actually' but like? I am TRYING TO APOLOGIZE TO YOU!!! SO HARD!!! what is going on!!!!

[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 ❤️ 

[mrmeepsmadmind]

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

[laurellala-comics]

there are two wolves inside of you. One of them is fretting that you went through all the effort of making a new art account just to pigeonhole yourself once more into a specific fandom, which holds you back from exploring original art concepts that you care about. The other one came up with three separate ace attorney comic ideas in the last hour alone and isn't stopping anytime soon

[cathalbravecog]

veep dad comfort art

[kashilascorner]

Is it normal to feel some kind of boundary has been violated when someone over shares with you