A Murderbot Diaries fanworks event celebrating the many ways fandom interprets the relationship between ART and Murderbot.
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Icon & banner art by hazelek.
Mutual Rapport: an ARTMB fanworks event is a prompt event, meant to celebrate the relationship between ART and Murderbot in all its forms!
The works will be revealed on 10th of July, on the anniversary of Martha Wells's short story "Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy".
All prompts will be submitted anonymously and the requester will be asked to provide a list of Do Not Wants (DNWs) and specify whether they prefer:
sfw/nsfw/either,
platonic/ambiguous/romantic/qpr/any,
Creators will sign up to view the list of prompts and initial matching will be done based on ranked choice selections. Late sign ups and additional prompt claims will be done on a first come, first serve basis. Completed prompt fills will be due by July 8 for reveals on July 10, to celebrate the first anniversary of Rapport's release. All interpretations of the relationship between ART & Murderbot will be welcome, but creators are expected to adhere to the prompter's DNWs and requested relationship dynamic in order to keep the event happy and comfortable for everyone.
Let us know your questions, comments, suggestions in the comments below!
Event schedule:
Prompt submissions and creator sign-ups open – April 24
Prompt submissions close – May 8
Prompt claims open – May 9
Prompt claims close – May 16
Prompt assignments go out – May 18
First check-in – May 22
Second check-in – June 12
Late sign-ups and late claims cut-off – June 26
Final check-in – June 28
Completed works due (AO3 collection closes) – July 8
Anonymous reveals – July 10
Creator reveals – July 20
Q&A under the cut
Q: Is this an exchange? Will each requester be matched to one creator?
A: No, not an exchange! Nobody's required to create in order to submit prompts/get fills, and creators can claim multiple prompts to fill. But each prompt will (probably) only get one fill, and creators will have to have a completed fill for their current prompt before they'll be allowed to claim another.
There's also no limit on how many prompts a person can submit so there's no guarantee that any particular prompt will be filled, but hopefully everyone who does submit prompts will get at least one fill.
Q: Can creators choose to work with a prompt they submitted themself?
A: Yeah, go for it! Submitting a prompt just so you can fill it yourself is a time-honoured tradition in prompt style fandom events.
Q: Will creators be able to choose which prompts they want to work with?
A: Yes and no! In this event all claims will go through the mod team and each creator will only have one active claim at a time. For the initial claiming period, creators will submit a ranked list of prompts they're most interested in working with and mods will sort through those preferences to match each creator with a prompt assignment. Prompts that have been claimed will be removed from the list unless the creator contacts mods to drop their claim. After the initial round of claims, new creators can continue to sign up until the late sign-up cutoff. Creators who sign up late, and creators who have finished a complete work for their current prompt, will be allowed to make a new claim from the remaining unclaimed prompts.
Q: Can creators sign up without having submitted prompts?
A: Yes, of course!
Q: Will prompters be revealed along with creators at the end?
A: No, mods will not be revealing who requested which prompts. If a prompter wants to reveal themself to a creator who filled a prompt for them, though, that's totally allowed, but we're leaving it up to individual choice.
(Note, mods will be aware of who submitted which prompts and will be available as go-betweens if creators have any questions about DNWs, etc.)
Q: So works will not be gifted to the prompter, despite being created for them?
A: Not initially, no, and potentially not at all. If the prompter chooses to reveal themself, and the creator wants to do so, works can be gifted retroactively. But creators won't know who they're creating for until after posting, and may never find out.
Q: Who can participate?
A: Anyone with an AO3 account, or anyone who wants to post fanart on tumblr. All ages are welcome to participate, and there is no minimum skill level required.
Q: What types of fanworks are allowed?
A: Anything you want. Fanfic, fanart, podfics, meta, etc.
Q: What kind of prompts can I make?
A: You can make as many prompt suggestions as you like. Please specify a theme, concept, or scenario you’d like to see explored in a fanwork centering the ARTMB relationship. All prompts must be properly rated and tagged with Archive warnings, content warnings, and preferred relationship dynamic between ARTMB. Other than that, anything goes. Be as detailed or as vague as you like.
Q: What type of content is allowed?
A: The fandom tag(s) must include The Murderbot Diaries – Martha Wells. Crossovers are welcome, but any works not tagged with The Murderbot Diaries – Martha Wells will be removed from the collection.
The relationship tag(s) must include either ART | Perihelion & Murderbot (Murderbot Diaries) or ART | Perihelion/Murderbot (The Murderbot Diaries). If neither of these relationship tags is listed on the work, it will be removed from the collection.
All ratings, archive warnings, and subjects are allowed. That being said, all prompt fills should stick to the ARTMB relationship dynamic requested by the prompter, and creators should avoid any subjects the prompter has requested not to see in fills for their prompt.
The mods reserve the right to remove any works from the collection if they consist of racist hate speech or other bigotry.
Q: Help, I still have more questions!
A: Contact the event blog: mutualrapport.tumblr.com
Let's celebrate the prompt assignments that went out yesterday to put us over that number!
Dear creators, please share what you think about the prompt you've got below in comments, tags and reblogs! Of course without any details, let's keep those close for the guessing game (we will post more info in the coming days). Do you like yours? Are you excited to create for it? Do you have an idea yet how to fill it?
I've started writing!! The current outline contains a stubborn ART and an emotionally compromised MB, which I think is common enough characterization that it's not a spoiler :)
and now it's done!!! thanks again to @mutualrapport for arranging this- without spoilers, I'll say that I don't think I ever would've written a fic like this without the specific prompt I was given, but I'm very happy with what I came up with and am delighted I had the opportunity to stretch my wings and get out of my comfort zone!!
Done already!! So fast!!! And all that despite working outside your comfort zone! We can't wait to reveal your work on 10th of July for everyone to see!
Thank YOU so much for participating and having fun and making this event what it is! 💖
Made myself a whole mess of tots for moral support and finally put pen to paper brainstorming for my fic for mutual rapport and this shit is gonna ripppppp
Hello, creators! Since some of you have already begun posting to the AO3 collection, and others are well on their way, we've put together a quick posting guideline regarding how, when, and where to post your works, as well as some specific tagging guidelines to preserve the inclusive spirit of the event.
🔫 How and where to post: 🚀
The AO3 collection will be open for posting for the full length of the creation period, from May 19 through July 8. All works published to the AO3 collection will be unrevealed until July 10, at which point they will be revealed anonymously. Creators will be revealed on July 20, unless they choose to keep their work anonymous by posting to AO3’s public anonymous collection
(During the anonymous period between July 10 and July 20 we will host a creator guessing game – more info on that later!)
Written works should be published to the AO3 collection once complete. Writers will be allowed to claim an additional prompt once event mods have verified that a completed work has been published to the collection
Artworks may be posted anonymously to the AO3 collection, or posted to the artist’s social media. If posting anonymously to AO3, the artist may add a watermark reading “Mutual Rapport Prompt Party 2026” in place of their own watermark, to preserve anonymity until creator reveals. Artists will also be allowed to claim an additional prompt once event mods have verified that a completed work has been posted or is ready to post
Artists are not required to post anonymously. However, artists posting to their own social media are requested to hold off on posting their completed works until July 3 at the earliest, to preserve the excitement and surprise of the posting period
🔫 How to tag your works: 🚀
All works created for the event, regardless of whether they're posted to AO3 or tumblr, should be tagged with one or more of the following tags, according to the creator's intention when creating the work: Platonic Relationships, Queerplatonic Relationships, Ambiguous Relationships, or Romantic Relationships. This will allow everyone viewing the event's works to filter to their preferences as needed
Note: Regardless of how the prompt was tagged, each work should be tagged only with the relationship dynamic(s) the creator had in mind while creating their work. For example, a romantic take on a prompt where the requester had no preference for relationship dynamic should be tagged as romantic, and not platonic. Please keep in mind that many fans of The Murderbot Diaries have strong preferences regarding which relationship dynamics they enjoy or prefer to avoid, and tag accordingly in order to keep the event experience fun and inclusive for everyone
For creators posting to AO3, please also be sure to use the event tag Murderbot Diaries Mutual Rapport 2026, in order to help curate the AO3 experience of everyone in the fandom. Tagging with the event tag will allow people to filter for, or filter out, all fanworks associated with the event, according to their preference. Creators posting to tumblr, please use the event tag #mutual rapport so that people can find and share your work!
For creators posting to AO3, the fandom tag(s) must include The Murderbot Diaries – Martha Wells. Crossovers are welcome, but any works not tagged with The Murderbot Diaries – Martha Wells will be removed from the collection.
Creators posting to tumblr may wish to use any of the main fandom tags to reach a wider audience: #the murderbot diaries, #murderbot diaries, or #tmbd
For creators posting to AO3, the relationship tag(s) must include either ART | Perihelion & Murderbot (Murderbot Diaries) or ART | Perihelion/Murderbot (The Murderbot Diaries) (or both, at the creator's discretion). If neither of these relationship tags is listed on the work, it will be removed from the collection.
Creators posting to tumblr may wish to use any of the main relationship tags: #murderhelion, #artmb, or #mutual administrative assistants, as well as the 4 main relationship tags we've used to specify the relationship dynamic(s) the creator had in mind for their work: platonic, romantic, queerplatonic, or ambiguous. (Note that the #mutual administrative assistants tag is intended for platonic/non-shipping interpretations of the ARTMB relationship so please avoid posting works with a romantic or sexual focus to that tag.)
These tagging guidelines are the minimum required tags for the event; please also tag your works according to their content in whatever way you see fit
Mods will review the tags on each work posted to the AO3 collection during the posting period and may reach out to creators with a request to adjust the tags on their works according to these guidelines
If you have any questions about the posting guidelines, how to tag your work, or anything else related to the event, you're welcome to reach out to the mods directly!
Just want to make sure I understand the posting procedure, it needs to be posted to the AO3 collection. If we tag it with other stuff, (ART/ Murderbot for example) will the Mutual Rapport collection keep it anonymous, or will it wind up showing up under that tag anyway? Just want to make sure I'm doing it right and I didn't see a clear answer under FAQs. thanks for hosting this!
Hi there! Yes, please do tag as you usually would! The collection settings are what will keep the work hidden until July 10, and then anonymous until July 20. As long as you post your work into the collection, it won't appear anywhere else on AO3 until the event mods hit the switch to make the collection's works visible.
Thanks for checking in! Let us know if you have any other questions.
We've received quite a few questions/comments about the balance between plot focus and feelings/relationship focus in prompt fills, so we want to remind everyone that this is an ARTMB event (regardless of the dynamic you favor: platonic, romantic, qpr, something in-between those) and the main focus of works created for it should be their relationship!
We are glad everyone has been excited for their assignments and we can't get wait to see the effects of your creativity!
We do want to remind everyone who participates that this event is not affiliated with any discord fandom communities. In particular, neither of the mods is present on the New Tideland server and we are unable to see or moderate any discussion of the event that takes place there, nor share that enthusiasm with participants in other fandom communities.
The prompt assignments are intended to be anonymous so we can hold a guessing game in the near future, and to allow for creators with smaller audiences to gain attention based on the content of their fanworks rather than on name recognition. Most importantly, the event itself is intended to connect all fans of the ARTMB relationship, in all its variations, without excluding anyone.
We encourage you to post about your assignments (in an anonymous way that doesn't reveal the content of your prompt) on Tumblr, tagged with #mutual rapport, so we can share the fun on this blog and allow everyone who is participating in the event to be equally involved.
More statistics, because I think they're fun and no one can stop me:
66 people have signed up to create!
(3 of those creators have since had to drop out, and we appreciate them letting us know. If anything comes up that will impact your ability to participate in the event, please don't hesitate to reach out to the mods!)
3 creators have claimed a second prompt
53 creators completed the first check-in* – everyone who checked in indicated they were happy with their current prompt assignment, and 7 creators had questions for their prompt requesters (which have since been answered!)
Note: we're not counting the first check-in as missed for creators who signed up late and didn't have their prompt selections in by the time the check-in was due
There are currently 7 works posted to the AO3 collection – 5 are complete, and 2 are works-in-progress
Of these works:
2 are tagged Ambiguous/Romantic
1 is tagged Ambiguous/Queerplatonic
2 are tagged Romantic
1 is tagged Romantic/Queerplatonic
3 are SFW and 3 are NSFW
1 is still a draft so we can't see how it's tagged yet 👀
(Preliminary results are skewing toward romantic interpretations. It's still early, though, and there's been a great mix of prompts claimed, so we're confident we'll start to see a more even mix of platonic, queerplatonic, romantic, and ambiguous works as the event goes on.)
61 prompts have been claimed, from 39 individual prompt requesters
124 prompts are still available to be claimed
Obligatory reminder: sign-ups are still open, and will be until June 26. Come join us!
As always, we want to hear from you! Are you a creator excited about your prompt assignment? A spectator waiting to see what works will be revealed on July 10? A fan of other characters in the series who's just happy to see we're having fun? Let us know in the comments!
More statistics, because I think they're fun and no one can stop me:
66 people have signed up to create!
(3 of those creators have since had to drop out, and we appreciate them letting us know. If anything comes up that will impact your ability to participate in the event, please don't hesitate to reach out to the mods!)
3 creators have claimed a second prompt
53 creators completed the first check-in* – everyone who checked in indicated they were happy with their current prompt assignment, and 7 creators had questions for their prompt requesters (which have since been answered!)
Note: we're not counting the first check-in as missed for creators who signed up late and didn't have their prompt selections in by the time the check-in was due
There are currently 7 works posted to the AO3 collection – 5 are complete, and 2 are works-in-progress
Of these works:
2 are tagged Ambiguous/Romantic
1 is tagged Ambiguous/Queerplatonic
2 are tagged Romantic
1 is tagged Romantic/Queerplatonic
3 are SFW and 3 are NSFW
1 is still a draft so we can't see how it's tagged yet 👀
(Preliminary results are skewing toward romantic interpretations. It's still early, though, and there's been a great mix of prompts claimed, so we're confident we'll start to see a more even mix of platonic, queerplatonic, romantic, and ambiguous works as the event goes on.)
61 prompts have been claimed, from 39 individual prompt requesters
124 prompts are still available to be claimed
Obligatory reminder: sign-ups are still open, and will be until June 26. Come join us!
As always, we want to hear from you! Are you a creator excited about your prompt assignment? A spectator waiting to see what works will be revealed on July 10? A fan of other characters in the series who's just happy to see we're having fun? Let us know in the comments!
Will unfilled prompts be made public after the event ends? I wasn't able to participate because, among other hang-ups, I'm terrible at meeting writing deadlines, but I'd love to eventually get a chance to look at the prompts that didn't get filled. I love Murderbot & ART but for some reason it's hard for me to come up with fic ideas for them, so it'd be nice to get a creativity jump start to help me write more of them in the future.
Hello, thank you for the interest in the event!
Yes, the prompts will be made public eventually - most likely a week after the reveals. Everyone will be able to use them as inspiration for their works and while the collection will be closed already, we will still encourage people to use the event tag on ao3 and tumblr!
Do you have any guidelines regarding Platform Decay content/spoilers? Is it expected that prompts and fills may contain spoilers, or is there some other method?
At this point in time there are no prompts with Platform Decay spoilers.
If anyone does want to submit prompts based on information from the book, they're welcome to do so, but the prompts should be tagged appropriately so those who have not yet read the book can avoid them. We'll let creators know the tag to filter out if any prompts with spoilers are submitted.
As for fanworks, creators are also welcome to use any and all details they like from Platform Decay, we'd just ask that they do tag for it using the canonized AO3 tag #Spoilers for Book 8: Platform Decay (Murderbot Diaries). Keep in mind that fanworks will not be revealed until July 10, so we expect that a large portion of fandom (including many of our creators) will have had a chance to read the new book by then, but spoiler tagging for at least six months after the book's release is still good etiquette!
Are we supposed to get a confirmation for submitting the check-ins?
Hello, we didn't plan on sending out confirmations, we keep track of everyone who sent theirs and if we are lacking any, we send reminders. But if you want us to confirm yours, please let us know your creator number!
Started my fic for @mutualrapport and I’m having so much fun. I came up with a cute title for the piece, now I just need some actual plot to go along with it…
Reminder to anyone coming for seconds and claiming late:
Make sure you really want to create for all three of your choices, because even though it's "first come, first serve", we cannot guarantee you will be assigned the choice you put under number one position!
Are we supposed to get a confirmation for submitting the check-ins?
Hello, we didn't plan on sending out confirmations, we keep track of everyone who sent theirs and if we are lacking any, we send reminders. But if you want us to confirm yours, please let us know your creator number!
Figured out how to quash my art block in time to start working on my mutual rapport prompt. Thought it would be studies turns out it’s called a whole new style to play with. #awesome
Will unfilled prompts be made public after the event ends? I wasn't able to participate because, among other hang-ups, I'm terrible at meeting writing deadlines, but I'd love to eventually get a chance to look at the prompts that didn't get filled. I love Murderbot & ART but for some reason it's hard for me to come up with fic ideas for them, so it'd be nice to get a creativity jump start to help me write more of them in the future.
Hello, thank you for the interest in the event!
Yes, the prompts will be made public eventually - most likely a week after the reveals. Everyone will be able to use them as inspiration for their works and while the collection will be closed already, we will still encourage people to use the event tag on ao3 and tumblr!
