Ahem. So. Time ran away with me. But it's still the 1st so I'm counting it as a win. AO3 collection will be up very shortly.
Some of the prompts are book- or TV-show only, but since there's three prompts for each day plus alts there should be enough whether you've read/watched both or not. Also I tried not to duplicate last year's prompts (except Three's quote which I adore) but that does mean some characters are kinda obscure so feel to ask if you've forgotten who (or what) they are!
Rules and alt text below the cut:
Prompts
Farai | family | epistolary
Leebeebee | corporate takeovers | red
Martyn | company mergers | apocalyptic
Tech Tural | investigations | news clippings
Dr Mensah | Glaw and Ji-Min historical play | orange
Specialist Rajpreet | FirstLanding | meta
Overse | Preservation festival | prose
Arada | trauma | yellow
Gerth | relationships | canon
Iris | Mihira and New Tideland | blackout poetry
Perihelion | transports | green
Murderbot | drones | comic
Combatunit | weaponry | diary
Ratthi | Preservation responder | blue
Trinh | Adamantine documentary | space opera
Gurathin | ex-corporate | social feed
Maro | Umro | indigo
Hirune | grief | dialogue
Karime | UplandGateway one | 5+1
Dr Sunara | Starkwether Shipping Alliance | purple
Bellagaia | Faction One | silence
Sum Total | machine intelligences | poetry
Lutran | people smuggling | pink
Corian | libraries and archives | cyberpunk
Bharadwaj | Makeba Central Medical | found footage
Ras | alien contamination | grey
Landers | drugs | white
Pin-lee | law | outsider pov
Matteo | undercover | black
AdaCol1 | pre-corporation rim structures | military
Alternatives
"There is a lot about what is going on here that I do not understand but I am participating anyway."
"You haven't spoken to me that way in weeks. I've missed it."
"I still didn't know what I wanted. But maybe I had a place to be while I figured it out."
"Fuck you."
"The only choice they are ever offered is obedience or pain and death."
"Human words, there's too many of them."
Rules
Runs September 1-30.
Any kind of media is acceptable (and any length).
There are three prompts per day. You can use one, two, or all three.
Alternative prompts can be used to replace any of the days.
You can complete the prompts in any order.
The prompts can be used as separate chapters in one fic (or equivalent in other media).
You are a completionist if you fill thirty days worth of prompts.
You can combine prompts, but to be a completionist you must create thirty fills.
You do not have to fill all of the prompts.
A Google Form link will be posted at the end of the month. Please fill it in if you participate. You will receive a badge and be added to the hall of fame.
You can use the prompts in conjunction with any other event.
You can post anywhere.
There will be an AO3 collection: Murderbot September 2025, or MBS25.
For Tumblr fills to be reposted use the tags #mbs25, #mbs25day_ or #mbsalt_, and appropriate content tags (eg #mbs25, #mbs25day1, #nsfw, #gore).
I want to live and I want to trust. [All systems red]
I was lucky. I couldn't speak. Maybe it was friendly. [Artificial condition]
I had friends, who smiled and laughed. [Rogue protocol]
She said No. I am afraid. I am afraid. [Exit strategy]
I built a copy I knew wasn't human. I cared about it. It was ART and Me. [Network Effect]
I had a second to know the other two SecUnits. But you understand. [Network Effect]
For @murderbotseptember prompt #10, blackout poetry.
I may keep playing with this. This was fun! I tried to take pages and scenes from tmbd that were really memorable to me and try to distill the page down to some core message or idea.
(sry for the lack of FT and SC, I don't have those as easily accessible ebooks atm)
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Lutran (Murderbot Diaries), "Human One" Refugee (Murderbot Diaries), Lutran's Transport Ship (Murderbot Diaries)
Additional Tags: Spoilers for Book 6: Fugitive Telemetry, Book 6: Fugitive Telemetry, Canonical Character Death, Character Study, Worldbuilding, Lutran POV, Lutran's bold outfit also makes an appearance, Missing Scene
Summary:
On his twentieth mission helping indentured miners escape, Lutran thinks about what he's accomplished.
(This is the first (and currently only) Lutran-tagged work on AO3! I figured he's a hero who died for his cause and deserves a little POV.)
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Iris (Murderbot Diaries), Murderbot (Murderbot Diaries), ART | Perihelion
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, The Corporation Rim Is Terrible (Murderbot Diaries), redacted text, corporate jargon, POV Iris (Murderbot Diaries), Friendship, blackout poetry, Murderbot September 2025
Summary:
Iris and Peri find a memo from the company about SecUnit. Iris takes the heartlessly cruel message and transforms it into something that better reflects SecUnit's true worth.
For the Murderbot September 2025 prompts: Iris | Mihira and New Tideland | Blackout Poetry
Explore and Extract (470 words) by potatoturnipbean
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: SecUnit 3 (Murderbot Diaries), Original Characters, Dr. Ratthi (Murderbot Diaries)
Additional Tags: Canon-Typical Violence, Blood and Injury, Blood, Injury, Murderbot September 2024
Series: Part 10 of Murderbot September 2024
Summary:
Action scene where Three extracts 1.0's clients from a Barish-Estranza explorer ship.
Look at this cool lizard I found (962 words) by potatoturnipbean
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: DeltFall SecUnit
Additional Tags: Lizards, Murderbot September 2024
Summary:
Settings: Skip Sex Scenes? (1230 words) by potatoturnipbean
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Rogue Barish-Estranza SecUnit (Murderbot Diaries: System Collapse)
Additional Tags: In-Universe Fictional Sex Scenes (Discussed), Brief Mention of Pornography, Computer Programming, Swearing, Murderbot September 2024
Series: Part 12 of Murderbot September 2024
Summary:
Nothing says "thanks for freeing me from a lifetime of pain and slavery" quite like building a custom database. Because that's what gratitude is, 30% emotional collapse and 70% programming a niche gift that makes life marginally more bearable.
