Okay, my brain refuses to think about anything other than Murderbot, so I looked at every use of the word "friend[s]" in TMBD and... created some pie charts. Normal human activities.
Some Thoughts™ I had while putting this together (under the cut):
In All Systems Red, Murderbot notes that the PresAux crew are all close friends (twice! and goes on to explain their internal relationships which I think is very cute). This is pretty much the only use of 'friends' in ASR, except for when Murderbot says that SecUnits can't be friends with each other.
It seems that this may be one of the first times Murderbot has ever really been around a group of friends before? Murderbot notes that this is not the norm for its contracts and admits that the fact that they are all friends and the way they interact with each other make it actually enjoy that contract (before!!!! the hostile attack, so it already enjoys this contract before they start seeing it as a person etc ghghhhh). [Inference: Friendship seems enjoyable.]
The first character that calls Murderbot its friend is ART in Artificial Condition. Murderbot immediately refutes this (and then goes on to call ART its friend to its clients for the rest of the book). [Inference: Maybe ART is Murderbot's friend. And maybe that is... agreeable]
Rogue Protocol has more than twice as many instances of the word 'friend' as any of the other novellas. Why? Miki. Friendship and its implications for non-humans are a central theme because Miki is friends with everyone. Murderbot initially scoffs at the notion that Miki and Miki's humans are friends. At the end of the book, after witnessing how desperately Don Abene tried to stop Miki from trying to save them, and her grief after its death, Murderbot has to admit that she had in fact been Miki's friend. [Inference: Humans can be friends with bots and can sincerely care about them]
In Exit Strategy, Murderbot tentatively uses the word "friends" for its humans for the first time (several times actually). It questions whether it can actually call them its friends or not and later realizes that it had been afraid what admitting that the humans are its friends would do to it. At the end of the book, Mensah tells Murderbot the PresAux crew are its friends, which is the first time a human has directly said that to it (at least on-page). [Inference: Humans can and want to be Murderbot's friends]
In Network Effect, Murderbot seems to be more habituated to the word 'friend', confidently calling ART and Ratthi its friends, like it is no longer just trying the concept on unsure if it fits. There are many instances in which other characters refer to MB as ART's friend or the other way around and Murderbot's humans refer to Murderbot as their friend several times. Generally, there seems to be less hesitancy, because yes, all of them are Murderbot's friends, why wouldn't they be. [Inference: SecUnits can have friends. This SecUnit has friends. They care about it a lot.]
Conclusion: The Murderbot Diaries tell the story of a construct that does not seem to consider the possibility of friendship for itself and is fine with that - until it accidentally starts caring a little too much and suddenly more and more people annex it as a friend (ew) to the point where it can no longer deny that this is happening and has to begrudgingly admit that yes, it has friends now and maybe that is actually not a bad thing.
772 notes
·
View notes
hi! first off i wanted to say that i love your art so much its so so pretty and secondly i was wondering, since youre like the ceo of ryomina, if you had any good ryomina fanfic recommendations ? :>
THANK YOU :D !! and hehe thank u for giving me the chance to ramble abt the two ryomina fics that have been consuming my brain lately (that are both written by my lovely fellow ryomina ceos <3)
first off !! the twilight wants him back by @chatlote
it's a canon divergent fix-it fic that takes place from november onwards featuring sees ryoji :> I think my favourite thing abt this fic is the way lina characterises both ryoji and makoto, like I genuinely adore how she writes them in this fic. both of their inner worlds feel so rich and detailed and i adore how the pov switches give us a look into makoto and ryoji's different outlooks !! seeing makoto and ryoji's different perspectives on the same events is so interesting and it adds so much depth of their interactions. it's been such a joy so far to watch those two slowly get to know each other while also exploring how makoto's dealing with everything he's experienced up until then (the way she shows how makoto's been dealing with loss is so. augh <3) and I'm so excited to see where this fic is headed ^_^ every update has me kicking my feet in excitement hehe
and then there's persephone's curse by @sweet-sirin
this fic took me on such an emotional rollercoaster that it hasn't stopped rolling around in my brain since I read it. it takes place post canon and if u know abt persephone than u can probably take a guess as to where this fic is going. I don't wanna say too much bcs I think this fic is best experienced knowing as little abt it as possible but its just a beautiful exploration of ryoji and makoto's characters and just how stubborn they can be in their own ways, especially ryoji. there's so many scenes in this fic that are just stuck in my brain. it felt like every single scene and every piece of dialogue has some sort of underlying/second meaning and it was a ride unpacking everything as I was reading. everything feels so purposeful and meaningful its just so. augh. it emotionally destroyed me and I don't think I'll ever recover <3 it'll live in a special corner of my brain forever
Also !! I haven't really gone down the ryomina fic rabbit hole myself yet so if you or anyone reading has some fic recs of their own please send them my way !! 🙏🙏
30 notes
·
View notes
✨️ Character Spotlight ✨️
Name: Momina Luqman
Nickname: Momo
Alias: The Heart Reader
Gender: Nonbinary
Pronouns: She/They
Sexuality: Demi/Pan
Age: TYB! 15, TYL! 25 [Verse Dependent]
Appearance: medium brown skin, heart shape face, plump two toned lips, overbite, beauty mark on the right side of her mouth, an upturned nose, large roundish almond shape eyes with long eyelashes and dark brown eyes, dark brown wavy hair. Her hair goes to mid back as a teen and to her butt as an adult. As an adult she has a stud on the right side of her nose [usually a star but sometimes a flower.] As both a teen and an adult her ears are pierced [she got them pierced by her mother when she was a few months old.] She has a curvy body and her weight fluctuates a lot. Her hair tangles and gets messy easily.
Birthday: July 8th
Height: TYB! 5'0'', TYL! 5'3''
Ethnicity: Somali
Personality: Bubbly, caring, and a social butterfly. Momo absolutely loves meeting and learning about new people. She is tries her best to be understanding, accepting and patient but in all honesty she is someone who gets irritated easily. However, she is learning to manage her irritation. Thankfully she is someone who's temper dies out as quickly as it appears. Being an older sister is something they are proud of, they are very nurturing and will mother just about anyone [including her own parents when there is a chance.] But despite this they are also very anxious and awkward, desperately not wanting to be disliked and thus also has people pleasing tendencies. They are unintentionally loud but try their best to be quieter when this is brought to their attention. Just like 99.99% of Somali people, they talk with their hands. They are also a very animated person, often giggling and bouncing around. Unfortunately they are also someone who tears up very easily [this even if they aren't sad] and it's something she is very embarrassed of. They are also very stubborn and can be impulsive but those closest to them can keep her in check.
Main Love Interest: Gokudera Hayato
Family: father, mother, 6 siblings [Momo is the second oldest but first girl]...over 100+ relatives if you count her tribes.
Abilities:
Psychic: medium, can see and interact with spirits. Uses this ability to gather information such as names, secrets, and ability to map places [but she is terrible with directions/telling people where to go] sometimes has visions of the future and can tell if someone is cursed or has evil around them.
Weapons: qolxad [dagger], belawa [short sword], gãschãn [shield] and a gun. All have been decaled/DIYed to Momo's desired look.
Flame(s): Main sun, secondary lightning. Her flames are strong due to the strength of her will and can be all-encompassing. She can easily summon them without thinking, just needing a strong emotion to have them bursting forward. A snake tattoo appears on her body when she uses her sun flames.
Affiliation: Amare family/Luqman family, Neo-Vongola, CEDEF [when Colonnello comes calling]
Mentor(s): Reborn, Colonnello
Job: Information Gatherer, soldier [!?]
Languages: English, Somali, French, Japanese, Tagalog, and Italian
Likes: socializing, helping, learning, napping,
Dislikes: rudeness, wasted time, math,
Health: Momo is someone who has chronic health issues, along with anxiety. These issues get exasperated when she uses her abilities. She uses her sun flames in order to keep pushing herself past her limit when needed.
Love languages: Quality time, acts of service
Trivia:
⭐Momina means "faithful", "truly believing". Luqman means "wise" or "intelligent."
⭐her number is 63
⭐ associations: apples, flowers, purples and pinks, stars, the moon
⭐ Her best friend/sister is none other than Miruku Osashima [@mimiruku]
⭐ Has a tendency to talk to herself but because of her abilities people who know sometimes get confused and think she's speaking to spirits. She sometimes lies because that's less embarrassing [she isn't a very good liar.]
⭐ Momo has a tendency to claim those close to her as family as, in her mind the hierarchy is family and then friends. This isn't too say she doesn't love and care for her friends deeply, just that she is very family oriented.
⭐ has a lisp, but it lessened as she grew into adulthood.
24 notes
·
View notes