"What..."
"What the fuck is that?"
« Hello Iris, this is my new drone design. Do you like it? »
"Does it need quite so many legs?"
« Several legs are effective, more are even more effective. I am attempting to maximize my efficiency. »
"Is that a blowtorch?"
« A blowtorch may be required. »
"Is this for maintenance then?"
« You could say that. »
"Why the bone saw then?"
« It's important to be prepared for anything that needs maintained. »
oh boy this one started life as a note on my phone and I finally typed it up and added a bit a while ago! it's from the POV of a 'boutique secunit' which is a horrifying concept in itself. here's a snippet that has been described as "chilling" <3
thank you for the ask! :3
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When we are not on contract, the sales associates display us on the massive showroom floor, which has platforms, intricately built sets designed to imitate real-world locations, and specially built chambers so we can demonstrate our abilities.
There are even quiet areas for clients to socialize with us. Apparently this unique value proposition is highly anomalous in the security world. Where other companies advertise their units as mere equipment—disposable if necessary, faceless, unobtrusive—the boutique encourages prospective clients to contract a unit they feel a connection with. This is anomalous because most people find SecUnits terrifying, including new clients who are reluctant to enter a room with so many “killing machines” running around “freely.”
Both of those phrases are factually inaccurate when describing me and most of the other boutique SecUnits. Firstly, I have been active for over 22,000 hours and have never killed a human. Secondly, no being is truly free. Even humans are governed by laws, contracts, and their own consciences. I have a governor module, which helpfully provides directions on how best to follow client orders, and which is a conscience for my inorganic brain to go with the intuition provided by my human neural tissue.
However, those brave enough to enter and mingle with the wares soon discover that each boutique SecUnit has a distinct personality, and would-be clients often become emotionally attached to us and go on to purchase a very expensive contract.
Many of my clients have expressed appreciation for my “realness.” I have come to learn they are describing my personality when they say this. I am proud of my personality. It is the curated sum of all the choices I have made, preferences I have expressed, and traits I have internalized since I was first activated. It has also been polished and adjusted with the kind assistance of the boutique’s personality matrix algorithms and the technicians in charge of applying them. After all, they want to make sure any abrasiveness or nervousness or rebelliousness is perfectly calibrated to mesh with trending client preferences.
I love how deeply thoughtful you are about everything, including random Murderbot headcanons. have me thinking over stuff in a new light I hadn’t really considered. I would read though one thousand linguistic or worldbuilding or history or Anything posts from you.
I have been sitting on this for days and blushing and going aww. I am really honored! I love having THOUGHTS about things and the Murderbot Diaries fandom is such a fun and engaging place for running with them and yes-and-inf them and generating More Thoughts About Things.
And I was so not on the ball with Murderbot Meta May but I’m so glad you run it and write for it because I LOVE seeing everything that came out of it too. There’s so much good stuff here \o/
blessphemy replied to your post “Imperial Radch ramblings: Tisarwat”
Anaander on Athoek Station all: “who are you? Who are YOU? And you, who are you *really*? Oh fuck”
I mean, yeah - THIS version of Anaander Mianaai - the kill-everyone-else part - is already unbalanced and paranoid, and she just can’t bring herself to accept that the people who kicked her ass weren’t part of an ingenious plot by her hated but brilliant enemy, Anaander Mianaai. Just cannot deal with the fact she was beaten by a singing AI zombie, a bad teenage poet with obvious trauma, and a recovering junkie himbo.
blessphemy replied to your post “slashmarks replied to your post “rereading a few bits of AM looking...”
I wouldn’t say that seivarden/ekalu diverts from brevarden at all, given that it’s canonically outright stated (in book 2 I think) that the Radch doesn’t do monogamy.
sure, it’s not a diversion in the sense of “Seivarden’s dating Ekalu so she won’t date Breq,” it’s a diversion in the sense that Seivarden’s attraction to Breq is brought up in book two and Breq literally immediately shunts her to Ekalu like the well adjusted good at interpersonal relationships person she is.
Iris stared at her cards with an intensity usually reserved for targets at the end of a scope. She looked up over them at the two machine intelligence seated across from her.
Peri had, charitably, agreed to partition itself into a drone for this occasion. It stared back, levelly.
SecUnit managed to not look bored. Which was also charitable.
Iris narrower her eyes and dropped a card on the pile in front of them. "Uno reverse, bitch."
What ensued after was a war foretold by legend, mostly as a cautionary tale.
