#system collapse spoilers

[heyitsrink]

Thinking about a young Perihelion babysitting Iris and crying forever.

[wigglybunfish]

I know they’re the same, it’s all just Peri. That the drone will be repaired and the next time we need it, it’ll be the same. But still, when something happens like this, it scares me. I just don’t want to lose any piece of Peri, you know?

I know, I said. And I did know, and now I was having an emotion.

From System Collapse, Chapter 11.

Original line art is here

[crispinkiss]

did you know i have to draw the characters or ill die

[murderbot-moodboard]

[keydekyie]

Go you funky little SecUnit! Go!

(One of my favorite scenes from the newest Murderbot novel: System Collapse)

[mockingnerd]

I finished System Collapse and this is all I can offer at this time

[idiosyncreant]

The most autistic joke in System Collapse is actually when MB says “Give me a minute”, AdaCol2 says “Mark time, 60 seconds” and you’re like LOL, it didn’t mean it literally, silly hub system

And then at 60 seconds, AdaCol2 pings and MB did mean it literally

[douche-canoe-regatta]

OH OKAY

[le-trash-prince]

It’s been two days and I am still thinking about You know I am not kind. There is just so much of ART’s character wrapped up in this line.

[cherismomish]

I love that other characters canonically think Murderbot is a good writer. Both ART and Ratthi were both like "yeah you should be in charge of writing the narration for this emotionally persuasive documentary".

Murderbot spends much of System Collapse thinking it's basically useless now because it's too traumatised – but first of all, its friends value its company beyond just utility, and also it has a whole bunch of other valuable skills that help people beyond basic security functions

[ineedlelittlespace]

I think it's very telling that as of right now (System Collapse), every single Rogue Secunit we've met has not only not attacked anyone, but has immediately gone "yes, I'm going to help, actually." No matter how much even Murderbot itself frets about the dangers of Rogue units to its humans, the only place that danger seems to come from is corporate propaganda.

[ames-draws]

but it also knows stories are a tool and can therefore be misused - just like itself 😭😭😭

[wigglybunfish]

Handoff initiated.

[sanctuarymoonfan397]

Murderbot trying not to have an emotional breakdown

[radiantmists]

so murderbot assumes that three offered its armor because it doesn't understand that the armor can belong to it and thinks mb taking the armor is just good resource allocation.

but if it assumes it doesnt have control over the armor, it would probably let whoever it sees as in charge (maybe ART?) handle it, or at least make the suggestion directly to that person. even newly freed in NE, it's willing to give its security advice (on hostage situations being undesirable) even if it doesn't expect to be taken seriously. it doesn't make sense to me that it would have so much trouble expressing the offer if it were just a security suggestion.

and then i think about how murderbot says later in the book that even if three felt fondly toward its fellow SecUnits, the govmod would prevent it from expressing that care or knowing it was returned.

so-- imagine you're three, and you havent yet internalized that you can just say "i care about you and dont want you to get hurt" to another SecUnit; but you can make sure that it has every resource it might need; you could probably do that even before the govmod was hacked.

you can't explain why, but you can hope that the gesture is explanation enough, and you can look for similar caretaking gestures in return; things like being given code and advice to do your job better, and being reassured when you express that you're finding said job difficult.

i think *murderbot* isn't aware of this language of care, because it hasnt had much opportunity to bond with other constructs. but three probably is, and probably knows how to read between the lines and guess that murderbot is starting to care about it, too.

[crispinkiss]

"the resulting silence on the feed was stony"