#tmbd tarik

[yearofdoodles]

ART is a teenage girl part 2 🔮

Thank you @silverbirching for suggesting this, ur so smart 💖

Part 1

[tinmate]

Peri meets Gurathin and MB is like “ugh he sucks right” to which Peri is like “Meh.” It's generally neutral leaning positive on Gurathin. This obviously incenses MB which leads ART into playing up how much it likes Gurathin. “He’s an asshole!!!!” “So am I” “He’s paranoid and nosy” “So are you” BLOCKED

Clearly, the only way through this is for MB to get extra friendly towards Tarik, ART’s least favorite human who MB has neutral leaning towards positive feelings towards.

This leads to two very confused but agreeable humans being paraded around as MY NEW BEST FRIEND in various strange and increasingly obscure ways. MB lurks in the corner and follows Tarik around more than the other humans. ART offers to upgrade Gurathin’s implant. Gurathin's implant does not need to be upgraded. Everyone is bemused and slightly concerned.

By the time this runs its course, MB and Tarik and ART and Gurathin are actually? Kind of? Friends for real now? Just by nature of spending more time around each other and they actually have a lot in common. Gurathin is also an invasive, protective, paranoid, nerd who’s a bit of a loner and an asshole and bickers with MB. Tarik is also an antsy security specialist who was forced to act violently towards and even kill humans with a ton of trauma and regret around his time working for the corporates, has trouble bonding with the scientifically-minded members of the crew, and is deeply wary of other minds planning out security instead of him. Worse; it’s weird having two ornery, private, MIs showing you off to the other in ways that make sense only to them and now the two humans have bonded.

[teamage]

A piece I did for 2026 Murderbot Diaries New Year Gift Exchange (@mbd-gift-exchange) for @mythologeekwriter (a super fun and cool human).

They requested Murderbot experiencing camping and wilderness with friends clients, and maybe some Tarik interactions. Lovely prompts, and of course I couldn't resist adding a (very suspicious) bird. Ratthi continues being delighted by everything. Murderbot continues disrespecting the privacy of correspondence.

Also on AO3. Enjoy!

[bot-appreciator]

one thing I wish to have had more of in the books is Tarik and Murderbot interacting. I know Mb's relationships with humans aren't shown in too much detail barring a few exceptions, mostly because it doesn't interact with them that much and because as an unreliable narrator, it doesn't like talking about relationships in general

but I feel like there's so much potential for a Gurathin and Mb situation a la the tv show here, focusing on Tarik's past

do they relate to each other? do they distrust each other the way Mb does with other SecUnits? does it annoy or distress them to see echoes of their past in each other? does it get in the way of their work? does Mb feel relieved to see someone integrate and build a life for themselves after a life as a corporate killer? do they find comfort in familiar habits, leftover biases, etc.? or are they an uncomfortable mirror kind of thing? does Tarik feel redundant or threatened by Mb's presence on the team? does Mb feel the need to enforce its authority as chief security expert? does it project its past experiences with corporate death squads on Tarik? does Tarik project his past experiences with SecUnits onto it? or is it (as I've seen most fics portray it) a pretty comfortable alliance where Mb is just happy to have someone well trained and used to combat on its team? do they work out ways to cope together?

tldr, I crave more Tarik because his circumstances are fascinating

[linesofreturninggeese]

[taylemo]

tarik in rapport was so awesome

[murderbot-moodboard]

"I passed Kaede still standing in the galley. She said, 'I'm not getting involved in that either.'"

—The Murderbot Diaries: System Collapse

[yearofdoodles]

Re-reading System Collapse before Platform Decay comes out and this scene is still such an all timer