Today I'm thinking about this:
Or Miki was a bot who had never been abused or lied to or treated with anything but indulgent kindness. It really thought its humans were its friends, because that’s how they treated it. I signaled Miki I would be withdrawing for one minute. I needed to have an emotion in private.
And about how Murderbot slowly starts calling its humans its friends in Exit Strategy, tentatively at first:
Were they my sort-of human friends? My clients? My ex-owners, though legally that was only Dr. Mensah. Were they going to see me and yell for help, alert security?
but also more confidently later:
Maybe that was why I had been nervous about meeting Mensah again, and not all the other dumb reasons I had come up with. I hadn’t been afraid that she wasn’t my friend, I had been afraid that she was, and what it did to me.
The only tag I can access on Ratthi is a partial that says my human friend. That’s strange and unlikely, but the pre-catastrophic-failure version of me seemed sure about it, and I don’t have anything else to go on.
and Mensah confirms this at the end of the book too:
I just want you to know you already have options here, and I expect you’ll have more offers for your services or advice as a security consultant. And that you have friends here you can discuss things with, whatever you decide to do, or wherever you decide to go.
The thought that a bot could see its humans as its friends (and because they treat it as a friend too) made Murderbot so emotional in Rogue Protocol that it needed a minute to process it. And later on in the series it starts to understand that its own humans are its friends too - and how much they care about it and that it can go to them for help if it needs them and I just. I think I need to withdraw and have an emotion about this in private too.
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Thinking about Jesper and Nina as the last of the Crows. Thinking about Wylan, when he dies, and Inej and Kaz have gone already, and Jesper can't contain his grief. He throws himself at Nina, because she has power over the dead, doesn't she? That isn't how it works. But he isn't listening. He begs and pleads for her to bring Wylan back, to try at least—but she won't. She won't, no matter if he hates her for it, because all she can think of is the sight of Matthias and how wrong it was. How wrong to have tried to hold him back, to hold him to her.
She holds Jesper through the night as he sobs into her shoulder. She holds him tight even as he curses her. The both of them know he doesn't really mean it. They only have each other now...
But it isn't only them there.
Someone else is in the room, unseen, and he whispers into Nina's ear. Not her ear, exactly. More so her mind, but he sounds so present if she just closes her eyes. She wishes she could share this through more than translation, so Jesper would be sure... he's okay, he's okay.
He's somewhere else, but he's okay. And he loves you so much, Jes.
Her eyes are full of tears. She keeps them closed as not to let them fall. She whispers Wylan's words to Jesper. She feels him stilling in her arms and keeps on whispering until the words stop and she can't sense him anymore. He had to go, but he'll be waiting. He had to go, but you have time left. Don't rush to him. You'll have forever. It's just for now, so just be patient... you'll have forever. He'll be there waiting.
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this is how you fall in love
BRADLEY "ROOSTER" BRADSHAW x FEM READER
summary just you and rooster, forever
warnings fluff fluff fluffy fluff not proofread !
a/n pls send me a man like rooster thanks
masterlist
the night bradley first met you, he knew one day you two would share a home filled with love and laughter.
despite the dim lighting of the bar and the crowd of people, you still catch bradley's attention from the very moment he steps into the bar. you're dancing with your best friend next to the jukebox, a grin plastered on your face. you're wearing a short red dress, the skirt of your dress swishing around you as you move to the rhythm to the music.
bradley can't help but stare. no one notices, except penny. she rests her forearms on the bar, leaning forward. she says, "she's single, you know. go shoot your shot." he smirks slightly, then turns to look at you, catching your gaze.
usually, when you're caught staring, you immediately look away. but with the help of a little liquid courage, you hold bradley's gaze, refusing to look away first. he stares at you and you stare back, even as he gets up from his seat at the bar and makes his way over to you.
"hey, gorgeous. i'm bradley, but everyone calls me rooster. can i buy you a drink?" he says, staring into your eyes. you'd be a fool not to accept. you were many things, but definitely not a fool.
"that would be wonderful." you tell him, smiling. you tell him your name and follow him to the bar.
throughout the course of the night, bradley learns your favourite colour, why you're in town, and most importantly your number.
"call me." you say, pressing your lips to his cheek after he drops you off at your doorstep that night. bradley replies with a "yes ma'am" and watches you fumble with your keys. his hands are stuffed into the pockets of his jeans as he leans against his car, waiting for you to make it back into your apartment safely.
only when you lock the front door behind you does bradley drive off.
—
the very friday the next week, bradley takes you out for dinner. he knocks on your front door at 630pm sharp, with ample time for you to make it for your 7pm reservation.
with a reservation at one of the best restaurants in town, you made sure to dress your best. you wore a long black dress, which hugged your body in all the right places. your hair was pulled back into a sleek low bun, your lips painted dark red. you looked pretty, and most importantly, you felt pretty.
bradley lets out a low whistle as you do a little spin for him. your cheeks flush as smile softly. you hold onto his forearm for balance as you put on your heels, and the whole scene feels oddly domestic.
strangely enough, you didn't mind. you had only met bradley once before, but the two of you had talked throughout the week, and you already felt comfortable with him.
"what are you smiling so happily about?" bradley chuckles, snapping you out of whatever fantasies you were thinking about.
"nothing." you reply, but your grin remains on your face.
—
the moment you realised you were in love with bradley was around the time where you were 3 months into dating. it had starting raining during your lunch date, so to shield you from the rain, bradley put his zip-up hoodie on your shoulders and used his body to shield you from the rain.
once you made it to the car, he opened the car door for you, and closed it behind you like a true gentleman. then, he walked back to the sidewalk. curious, you stared in his direction. you watched as he bent down and started picking things up from the sidewalk and moving them into the trimmed grass next to it. he was picking up....worms?
five minutes later, he came back running to the car.
"sorry for keeping you waiting, babe."
you didn't really know what to say, so you just replied, "it's okay. the worms...looked like they needed help."
"thanks, i knew you'd understand." he grinned as he started the engine.
—
the moment you knew you were going to marry bradley occurred when you were at mav and penny's for dinner. you had dropped something on the floor, and bent down from your seat on a chair to pick it up. without batting an eye, bradley put his hand over the sharp corner of the table, while continuing to talk to mav.
that very moment, you knew that you were going to marry him someday. you knew he was the one you wanted to spend the rest of your life with. being with him felt natural, like it was the way things were meant to be.
no matter what happened in life, at some point the two of you were meant to argue over whose apartment to move into.
the two of you were meant to squabble over what colour the bathroom towels for your new shared apartment should be.
the two of you were meant to walk down the aisles of a supermarket to look for the nicest-smelling detergent.
the two of you were meant to squabble over things like the toilet seat being left up. (bradley learnt his lesson after that fight. the toilet seat was always left down. whatever you wanted, you got.)
the two of you were meant to sit at the dining table with cups of tea, going over your grocery list for the week.
and that was exactly what the rest of you life with bradley "rooster" bradshaw was like.
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That's what you want, isn't it? To lose yourself in me?
I love/hate how sad he looks when he asks you this.
The confident mask slips as he wonders who exactly you'll be getting lost in because even he doesn't know who he is... and he thinks about all the poor wretches before you, lost in him before being lost to his master. He thinks about how you'll leave a piece of yourself and take a piece in exchange, just like every Sebastian before you. A small price to pay for the protection he thinks he has to buy. Once you figure out how empty he is, how used up and rotted, surely you won't want him anymore but by then he'll have gripped you by the heartstrings. Just like all the others, countless thousands before you. A simple plan. Business as usual. Right?
What is left of the man you were? What parts of you haven't been dragged away, piece by piece, with each soul pulled through you? Are there fragments that remember a father beaming with pride at his clever son? Would he still be proud, to see your sharp fangs snarling back at him? How much of your mother's gentle little boy is left beneath those hungry red eyes? Would she recognize you, bloodstained and hollow? Did your friends carry you to the morgue on the wooden stretcher you use as a bed? Who wrapped you in the blanket that you still cling to? Was it to shield your bruised cheeks from the cold earth as they said goodbye? Did a sister mourn her darling baby brother, were hers the first tears to water the flowers near your empty grave? Did she share your white curls? Or was she a golden sun to your silvery moon? What color were her eyes?
Who's memories am I haunting when I am lost in you?
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Kristen Arknights is giving me brainworms this cannot continue
Before Lone Trail, I was really convinced that "ah yeah so she's really evil", like what, she approved and conducted the Diabolic Experiment? She approved the experiment at Site #359 and was probably looking at the giant Hub from her window, presumably while eating popcorns, and when Saria arrived to scream at her "WHAT THE FUCK" Kristen just replied "Oh hey I knew you would solve it"? She also funded Loken's Watertank and collected his data on children experiments after he got arrested??
Any sane person would be calling her an egoist, a betrayer, a seeker, a loner
And yet, she was a pioneer.
Lone Trail dropped and now, I don't even know what to think anymore of this character. Like I don't approve what she has done, but also, I don't hate her. She put me into a state of mind I can't think straight anymore. This dog is TRULY fucked up.
She was obsessed, truly obsessed by her dream. She wanted to achieve what her parents had failed to do. She wanted to honor her family, to prove something to the world. To find the truth. To break the sky.
And she fucking did it. She absolutely did. She achieved it, she had done what nobody has ever done before. Regardless of the methods, regardless of morals and ethics, what she did was HUGE. That night, everyone on Terra looked up at the sky. She made a huge step forward, she revolutioned and changed things. The moment she pierced the starpod, a page in the history of the world had been turned, a new era has started. This event was major. And countless scientists will look up upon her, and for ages, her name will be praised.
And she did at what cost? Everything. Her own life, her friends.
I can't stop thinking about how much she tried to keep Saria away from her. I thought that Kristen was using Saria, that she didn't care about her, but actually it's... Something else. She does care about Saria, but it's Saria who was completely obsessed with Kristen. It's Saria who refused to let go. Of course, Saria devoted her life to protect Kristen, she wanted to stay with her until the very end. Kristen did not wanted it, she wanted Saria to continue to live on. It's her dream, and she's ready to die to achieve it. Not Saria's. Nor Muelsyse's.
I can't stop thinking about how she tried EVERYTHING to stop Saria. She studied her Arts, found ways to supress them, created Power Armors to neutralize them, she showed coldness to Saria to keep her away. But god, Saria was clingy as hell. If Kristen had to get to install a trap door in her spaceship SPECIFICALLY for Saria, that's to say how much Saria did not want to let go.
Saria was ready to die for Kristen, she was ready to stay with her until the very end. But Kristen always had in mind to go alone.
And in the end, she had to show Saria that she deserves to live, to continue, that there's still people who need her. Rhine Lab needs her. Ifrit needs her. Silence needs her. Rhodes Island needs her. She can't join Kristen like that. She can't die yet.
Even if Kristen was obsessed by her dream, she was still able to care enough for Saria and the people around her.
And god fucking damn I'm crying
Kristen is absolutely the best antagonist of all Arknights there's absolutely no way we can't do better, I'm standing on my ground
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