Murderbot!prompt: one of the "inferior" shows (like Strife Of The Galaxy) does an episode/arc about shock collars, which Murderbot finds <i>very</i> relatable... the humans at first fail to see the appeal ("it's even more implausible than usual!"), then when they finally make the governor module connection they struggle to see the humour/comfort of it
alternatively, Murderbot never did the Sweet/Sour oversharing game! In true Gurathin parallel he shoud share some horrifying abuse from his past in the Sweet part and then huh... how do you do the Sour when you start out with that, again? :-D
"This one again?" Ratthi settled on the couch, sprawling out until Pin-Lee gave his feet an impatient shove. "How many times have we watched this?"
"It's SecUnit's night to pick," Bharadwaj said. She was lying with her head in Gurathin's lap. Gurathin, as usual, was doing something in the feed, eyelids and fingertips flickering, paying only a little attention to whatever the team had picked out to watch.
Mensah was also working in her interface, but as usual, she had an eye on her team as well. And especially SecUnit, who was the reason -- although she didn't know if it realized it; she rather hoped it didn't -- that Team Games Night had morphed over time into Team Media Night. SecUnit was curled up in its favorite corner chair with its knees tucked up, eyes jerking in the way that suggested it might even be watching something else. Mensah suspected it was just trying to distract itself from the handing out of snacks and drinks, which it didn't particularly enjoy. But it liked being here with them; that much was evident. It could easily have watched anything it wanted in its own room on the station.
And so they watched the bot prisoner arc of Strife in the Galaxy again.
Afterwards, while everyone else cleaned up and chatted in the kitchen, with light spilling from the bright kitchen lights into the dimmed living room suite, Mensah moved to sit beside SecUnit's chair. "Do you enjoy these episodes?" she asked quietly. "Or is it just that you want them to see?"
"To see what?" SecUnit asked. It was dividing its attention, doing something in the feed; she couldn't quite tell how she knew whether its full attention was on her now, but she did know.
"Never mind, just me being human about it, I suppose." If SecUnit didn't know why it was so fascinated by that storyline, she didn't plan to tell it.
But a message dropped into her interface with Ratthi's signature. Hey, so - we're having a general conversation in here, not exactly about SecUnit, but also kinda, and we just wanted to know if you two, uh, if it -
Ratthi, shut up!! That was Gurathin.
I can hear you, you know, SecUnit said, dropping casually into their private feed.
HEY. Uh. Hi, Secc! We weren't saying anything bad, I swear!
Someone terminated the connection, probably Gurathin, she suspected.
SecUnit turned its head, eyes glinting in the semi-dark. "I know why I like those episodes," it said to her quietly. "I mean, I know how the episodes are going to end, and what happens to everyone. I know how they make me feel, and that doesn't really change, or if it does, I can think about the changes."
"You don't have to explain," Mensah said. "I'll tell them not to bother you about it."
It smiled a little, in the dark. "It is an inferior show," it said.
"Sometimes we feel the strongest emotions about those, because it's easier to see straight through to the parts that mean the most to us," she said, and somehow that seemed to be the right thing, because a quick vulnerable expression flashed across its face, and then its mouth flickered in that tiny little smile again.
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