Eoten

Autistic writer they/them

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

chance of your mom reading your fics is not zero.

chance of your mom being the person you got into a ship war with is not zero.

[depsidase]

[theunfortunate-author]

my daily affirmation as an author

[enchantingeevee]

Happy Monday!

[lasagnaforem]

Murderbot Diaries does "found family" in a way that feels so so much more inclusive and fun (esp to AroAce / queer ppl) than if it was a nuclear family.

Its not mom-dad-siblings, the series actually goes to show how every member has their own unique dynamic with MB and how their individual bonds and devotion to each other are what make that found a family. especially bc it supports the idea that just friendships absolutely CAN be a family (yay it doesn't have to be a Romantic relationship), and it doesn't have to conform to a human-shaped idea of one (yay you can still be happy when not fitting in with others).

Secunit is NOT a human, it doesn't want to be one, and it's going to behave in ways that are unfamiliar to us because of that. I think that's so inclusive and since Valentine's day is coming around the corner you bet I'm gonna be shouting about QPRs and found family's like this from the rooftops.

[happypath-finder]

I was already emotional about Three being named after the other two SecUnits that where with it in the task force, but then I made me more emotional thinking that even if its name is a memorial it is also a celebration because it plays along with 2.0 (who gave it the code to hacking its governor module) and Murderbot 1.0 (whose memories showed it there is a path forward). Three lost its group, its not-family, its not-partners, but it was not left alone. Not for a single moment since going rogue it was left on its own— not even in name.

[all-chickens-are-trans]

when it comes down to it, the murderbot diaries are all about craving stories. the power a good story has. murderbot watching media because it makes it feel free and more like a person. murderbot convincing three to let it hack its governor module by showing three its own story. murderbot searching for the right story to tell the colonists to protect them from corporate slavery. It's all about the stories we tell ourselves and each other to make us free, and brave, and strong. I am crying

[coppersunshine]

normally i am unbothered by ships i dislike but whenever i see a murderbot/ ship i am overcome by the visceral horror and disgust of murderbot itself

[skygemspeaks]

one thing that really gets to me about the crew's dynamic in exit strategy is seeing how much they've clearly been paying attention to murderbot and its emotional needs

The two parts that stood out to me most were when pin-lee warned it beforehand that she was about to touch it, and also later when they were in the hotel at preservation and ratthi told murderbot that they had set up a system of cameras in their suite because they knew that murderbot felt more comfortable being able to see through security cameras.

Just...the amount of quiet care in those gestures makes me go absolutely feral

[buzzyglovehorn-enthusiast]

I love murderbot's enduring hate for gurathin. even when it needs to call on gurathin for help it's stubbornly and begrudgingly. like yes you're one of my humans, but you were also the first person it was safe for me to openly hate and that felt so good I'm going to keep doing it forever

[mongeese]

"autistic genderless aroace cyborg designed to be an efficient security system and living weapon who breaks out of its corporate controls, but instead of getting violent uses its newfound freedom mostly to watch soap operas and half-ass its job" is already an excellent character concept but add on "and it develops an extreme self-sacrificial devotion to people who are nice to it" and it becomes irresistible

[tinmate]

It kills me how SecUnit is this big, scary thing with literal weapons in it’s arms, capable of insane feats of physical strength, nigh on impossible to stop or kill, capable of hacking it’s way into most systems, can lose most of it’s body mass and vital fluids and keep going, can remove its own limbs, records and analyzes everything, eyes and ears in a thousand places at once, smarter, faster, stronger, and more capable than a human could ever be, utterly disgusted with most human things and

It loves a trashy soap opera. It’s so soft and gentle with an injured Volescu. It’s favorite human is a middle aged mom who drives carefully and mom friends at her friends and coworkers. It’s so delicate and considerate with Mensah’s kids. It lets Tapan sleep touching it and turns up it's body heat for extra comfort. It likes plays and musical theatre. It's best human friend is a sunshine nerd from Planet Hippy. It keeps a diary. It doesn’t understand the appeal of human adolescents but it’s so good with Amena. It likes decidedly unrealistic media. It cares so much about humans that it’s never met and wants to keep them safe and happy. It gently frets over Three just minutes after meeting it. It gets flustered and confused when complimented or treated with care. It offers to free other constructs, even while actively fighting them. It has criticisms and strong opinions on media. It’s shy. It “hacks” its way into things by asking the relevant bots to be friends and share media. It only ever really scares Amena when she witnesses it's wild grief over losing ART. It stops, gets back in control, and explains immediately when it realizes it’s causing her distress. It lets ART make media requests, pauses to let it process its own emotions, and re-watches certain scenes over and over again until it’s happy, mere moments after ART scares it so badly it goes nearly catatonic, simply because ART asked. It grieves Miki even though it never really liked the bot in the first place. It’s uncomfortable with physical touch but offers to let Mensah hug it and lets her grab its arm when she’s in distress.

It was created for destruction and violence and pain. It’s the epitome of unstoppable, unkillable, inescapable, inhumane force in every horrific dystopia ever. It is not human and does not want to be. It’s got the abilities of an overpowered superhero. It's a living deux ex machina. It’s actually so soft and gentle and filled to bursting with love for small, soft, silly things and people

[omgisyellow]

Mensah said I could learn to do anything I wanted. I learned to leave.

This may be the most important line in Exit Strategy. At first read, this may sound condescending or sarcastic, but I think it meant it literally.

Murderbot hacked its governor module, and still stayed in the company for around four years. It wasn't until after meeting PresAux, and Mensah bought it that it left.

It understood that it was safe, and it had options.

So.

It. Learned. To. Leave.

[hollowistheworld]

I've seen so many posts about Mensah's perspective of ART/Network Effect, how have I not seen one's about ART's crew's perspective. Network Effect as told by Seth.

You have a child who is an extremely powerful (somewhat illegal) machine intelligence. It's a good kid, mostly, except it doesn't play well with others. Your kid periodically goes on short trips by itself, and this has always been fine.

One time, it comes back and it's acting... weird. It keeps bringing up things it has no reason to know about and then dodging questions about it. Finally, you get it to admit that it picked up a hitchhiker on this on this trip, even though you have very strict rules about never picking up hitchhikers. This hitchhiker is obviously it's new favorite person. They watched soap operas together. Your kid loves soap operas now. Your kid shows you a bunch of pictures of this hitchhiker, but won't tell you details because the hitchhiker in question is a wanted criminal on the run and also an escaped slave. This is probably fine (you sure hope it's fine).

Then, you and the rest of your family/friends get fucking kidnapped and used as hostages to make your kid behave. You know that your kid 1) will do anything to protect you, and 2) pretty much always goes for violence first, so you have your doubts about any of this going well.

Then, the hitchhiker your kid will not shut up about appears out of thin air in the middle of a firefight on a planet pretty much no one has any reason to be near and says your kid sent it. It proves this by telling you your kid is a dickhead (this is true and works, but still).

After a lot of mutual rescuing, you're back on board the ship that is also your kid, and find out that your kid kidnapped it's wanted-criminal-hitchhiker-friend and all of it's friends, and has been telling them all of your top secret confidential spy information. The hitchhiker is responsible for 90% of the top news stories you've seen in the last six months. Three different governments want this person dead or alive.

Your kid pushes the hitchhiker's resume across the table at you and makes big sad puppy eyes.

[keirashark]

You know that the Preservation online theatre community is so grateful for the anonymous user that posts high-quality bootleg theatre performances with multiple? camera angles

[trinarysuns]

Apparently Wells said in some interview that Murderbot is somewhere between twenty and thirty years old and I keep having to stare into the distance about that. No wonder it's Like That™️. It's been doing this shit for decades, the organic ghosts of memory wipes all that remains. ~30 has to be absolutely ancient for a SecUnit, unkillable cockroach motherfucker territory, a refurbished model the company probably hopes will just die on contract at this point so they can collect the fee and replace it with a new one.

Constructs probably have some hideous survival curve where the average lifespan is like a couple of years just because so many get ripped apart their first time out of the box. If you get lucky enough to get a boring first few deployments, you get the time to scrape together enough of a personality to survive the first time the shit really hits the fan.

[jack-the-fool]

Murderbot is probably the most embarrassing hyperfixation to have because oh really? You're hyperfixated on the 'hyperfixates on media to avoid the real world stress and anxiety' media? Is it. Is it to avoid your real world stress and anxiety, perhaps??