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rockalillygirl · 4 months

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Mamma mia here we go again…

So I have more thoughts because apparently there’s no bottom to the murderbot mindhole I’ve fallen down.

(Spoiler warning- minor stuff from several of the books, pls check tags etc.)

I’ve been reading a lot of things recently exploring Murderbot as an unreliable narrator, which I think is a cool result of System Collapse (because we all know our beloved MB is going through it in this one). There’s also been some interesting related discussion of MB’s distrust of and sometimes biased assessment/treatment of other constructs and bots.

And I’ve been reading a lot about CombatUnits! And I want to talk about them!!

Main thoughts can be summarized as follows:

We don’t see a lot about CombatUnits in the books, and I think what we do see from MB’s pov encourages the reader to view them as less sympathetic than other constructs.

I’m very skeptical of this portrayal for reasons.

The existence of CombatUnits makes me fucking sad and I have a lot of feelings about them!

I got introduced to the idea of MB as an unreliable narrator in a post by onironic It analyzes how in SC, MB seems to distrust Three to a somewhat unreasonable degree, and how it sometimes infantilizes Three or treats it the way human clients have treated it in the past. The post is Amazing and goes into way more detail, so pls go read it (link below):

https://www.tumblr.com/onironic/736245031246135296?source=share

So these ideas were floating around in my brain when I read an article Martha Wells recently published in f(r)iction magazine titled “Bodily Autonomy in the Murderbot Diaries”. I’ll link the article here:

(Rn the only way to access the article is to subscribe to the magazine or buy an e-copy of the specific issue which is $12)

In the article, Wells states that MB displaced its fear of being forced to have sex with humans onto the ComfortUnit in Artificial Condition. I think it’s reasonable to assume that MB also does this with other constructs. With Three, I think it’s more that MB is afraid if what it knows Three is capable of, or (as onironic suggests in their post and I agree with) some jealousy that Three seems more like what humans want/expect a rogue SecUnit to be.

But I want to explore how this can be applied to CombatUnits, specifically.

We don’t learn a lot about them in the books. One appears for a single scene in Exit Strategy, and that’s it. What little else we know comes from MB’s thoughts on them sprinkled throughout the series. To my knowledge, no other character even mentions them (which raises interesting questions about how widely-known their existence is outside of high-level corporate military circles).

When MB does talk about CombatUnits in the early books, it’s as a kind of boogeyman figure (the real “murderbots” that even Murderbot is afraid of). And then when one does show up in ES, it’s fucking terrifying! There’s a collective “oh shit” moment as both MB and the reader realize what it’s up against. Very quickly what we expect to be a normal battle turns into MB running for its life, desperately throwing up hacks as the CombatUnit slices through them just as fast. We and MB know that it wouldn’t have survived the encounter if its humans hadn’t helped it escape. So the CombatUnit really feels like a cut above the other enemies in the series.

And what struck me reading that scene was how the CombatUnit acts like the caricature of an “evil robot” that MB has taught us to question. It seems single-mindedly focused on violence and achieving its objective, and it speaks in what I’d call a “Terminator-esque” manner: telling MB to “Surrender” (like that’s ever worked) and responds to MB’s offer to hack its governor module with “I want to kill you” (ES, pp 99-100).

(Big tangent: Am I the only one who sees parallels between this and how Tlacey forces the ComfortUnit to speak to MB in AC? She makes it suggest they “kill all the humans” because that’s how she thinks constructs talk to each other (AC, pp 132-4). And MB picks up on it immediately. So why is that kind of talk inherently less suspicious coming from a CombatUnit than a ComfortUnit? My headcanon is that I’m not convinced the CombatUnit was speaking for itself. What if a human controller was making it say things they thought would be intimidating? Idk maybe I’ve been reading too many fics where CombatUnits are usually deployed with a human handler. There could be plenty of reasons why the CombatUnit would’ve talked like that. I’m just suspicious.)

(Also, disclaimer: I want to clarify before I go on that I firmly believe that even though MB seems to be afraid of CombatUnits and thinks they’re assholes, it would still advocate for them to have autonomy. I’m not trying to say that either MB or Wells sees CombatUnits as less worthy of personhood or freedom- because I feel the concept that “everything deserves autonomy” is very much at the heart of the series.)

So it’s clear from all of this that MB is scared of CombatUnits and distrusts them for a lot of reasons. I read another breathtaking post by @grammarpedant that gives a ton of examples of this throughout the books and has some great theories on why MB might feel this way. I’ll summarize the ones here that inspired me the most, but pls go read the original post for the full context:

https://www.tumblr.com/grammarpedant/703920247856562177?source=share

OP explains that SecUnits and CombatUnits are pretty much diametrically opposed because of their conflicting functions: Security safeguards humans, while Combat kills them. Of course these functions aren’t rigid- MB has implied that it’s been forced to be violent towards humans before, and I’m sure that extracting/guarding important assets could be a part of a CombatUnit's function. But it makes sense that MB would try to distance itself from being considered a CombatUnit, using its ideas about them to validate the parts of its own function that it likes (protecting people). OP gives what I think is the clearest example of this, which is the moment in Fugitive Telemetry when MB contrasts its plan to sneak aboard a hostile ship and rescue some refugees with what it calls a “CombatUnit” plan, which would presumably involve a lot more murder (FT, p 92).

This reminds me again of what Wells said in the f(r)iction article, that on some level MB is frightened by the idea that it could have been made a ComfortUnit (friction, p 44). I think the idea that it could’ve been a CombatUnit scares it too, and that’s why it keeps distinguishing itself and its function from them. But I think it’s important to point out, that in the above example from FT, even MB admits that the murder-y plan it contrasts with its own would be one made by humans for CombatUnits. So again we see that we just can’t know much about the authentic nature of CombatUnits, or any constructs with intact governor modules, because they don’t have freedom of expression. MB does suggest that CombatUnits may have some more autonomy when it comes to things like hacking and combat which are a part of their normal function. But how free can those choices be when the threat of the governor module still hangs over them?

I think it could be easy to fall into the trap of seeing CombatUnits as somehow more complicit in the systems of violence in the mbd universe. But I think that’s because we often make a false association between violence and empowerment, when even in our world that’s not always the case. But, critically, this can’t be the case for CombatUnits because they’re enslaved in the same way SecUnits and ComfortUnits are (though the intricacies are different).

There was another moment in the f(r)iction article that I found really chilling. Wells states that there’s a correlation between SecUnits that are forced to kill humans and ones that go rogue (friction, p 45). It’s a disturbing thought on its own, but I couldn’t help wondering then how many CombatUnits try to hack their governor modules? And what horrible lengths would humans go to to stop them? I refuse to believe that a CombatUnit’s core programming would make it less effected by the harm its forced to perpetrate. That might be because I’m very anti-deterministic on all fronts, but I just don’t buy it.

I’m not entirely sure why I feel so strongly about this. Of course, I find the situation of all constructs in mbd deeply upsetting. But the more I think about CombatUnits, the more heartbreaking their existence seems to me. There’s a very poignant moment in AC when MB compares ART’s function to its own to explain why there are things it doesn’t like about being a SecUnit (AC, p 33). In that scene, MB is able to identify some parts of its function that it does like, but I have a hard time believing a CombatUnit would be able to do the same. I’m not trying to say that SecUnits have it better (they don’t) (the situation of each type of construct is horrible in it’s own unique way). It’s just that I find the idea of construct made only for violence and killing really fucking depressing. I can’t even begin to imagine the horror of their day-to-day existence.

@grammarpedant made another point in their post that I think raises a TON of important questions not only about CombatUnits, but about how to approach the idea of “function” when it comes to machine intelligence in general. They explain that, in a perfect version of the mbd universe, there wouldn’t be an obvious place for CombatUnits the way there could be for SecUnits and ComfortUnits who wanted to retain their original functions. A better world would inherently be a less violent one, so where does that leave CombatUnits? Would they abandon their function entirely, or would they find a way to change it into something new?

I’ve been having a lot of fun imagining what a free CombatUnit would be like. But in some ways it’s been more difficult than I expected. I’ve heard Wells say in multiple interviews that one of her goals in writing Murderbot was to challenge people to empathize with someone they normally wouldn’t, and I find CombatUnits challenging in exactly that way. Sometimes I wonder if I would’ve felt differently about these books if MB had been a CombatUnit instead of a SecUnit. Would I have felt such an immediate connection to MB if its primary function before hacking its governor module had been killing humans, or if it didn’t have relatable hobbies like watching media? Or if it didn’t have a human face for the explicit purpose of making people like me more comfortable? I’m not sure that I would have.

Reading SC has got me interested in exploring the types of people that humans (or even MB itself) would struggle to accept. So CombatUnits are one of these and possible alien-intelligences are another. All this is merely a small sampling of the thoughts that have been swirling around in my brain-soup! So if anyone is interested in watching me fumble my way through these concepts in more detail, I may be posting “something” in the very near future!

Would really appreciate anyone else’s thoughts about all of THIS^^^^ It’s been my obsession over the holidays and helping me cope with family stress and flying anxiety.

#murderbot diaries #murderbot meta #artificial condition #exit strategy #fugitive telemetry #system collapse #murderbot spoilers #combat unit #FEELINGS #i blink and then it's 2000 words later #jesus christ

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alchemyofmaya · 4 months

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Root Chakra Activations Be Like 💋⚡️

#coming out of another death .. being reborn like ✨#feelin like a lil spiritual thug #soul gangtaaa #selfie #dance to shake every experience out of my system #the divine cosmic play of consciousness #me me me #spirituality #ascension #enlightenment #christ consciousness #new earth #age of aquarius #new age #just a lil bit #50 cent vibes #g-unit generation

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flanklurker · 1 year

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Hii!! just wondering if you could do a chamber x fem or gn reader where they are dating but chamber gets jealous of another agent in the protocol <33

Heeheehoohoo this wasn’t sitting in m y inbox for months no no (frimsosorrybutireallyhopeyouenjoy)

Chamber x fem!Reader: The Jealous Type

Vincent prided himself on keeping his cool. He really did. Staying calm and collected was how he survived so damn long in the heat of battle.

Why then was it that he had to consciously, consciously tell himself to relax his grip on the fine bone china mug of coffee?

Could it have been anything to do with a very, very charming new agent throwing his weight around in the common rooms? Surely not.

“Ah,” Harbor called out from across the table as you dragged your sorry bones through the kitchen. “Miss Y/N. Good of you to drop in nice and early—perfect timing! I was just about to get a pot of something on.”

Oh, thank the fuck god.

“That would… that would actually be amazing, I owe you one man,” you hummed as you took a seat at the kitchen counter.

“Pleasure is all mine! Pick your poison.” He nudged a box of teas and coffees across the table towards you with an easy smile.

Looking through, you grabbed your ol’ reliable from the kit and held it up for Harbor’s appraisal. “This okay?” You cocked your head towards him.

“Excellent choice, I’ll get it going.”

As the pot heated up, Harbor worked quickly, grabbing all the mugs from the counter. You noted idly that he seemed to be familiar with which agents were likely to be up early—Brim, Skye, Reyna and Sova’s mugs were all taken out and arranged ready for the agents to come in. Bloody impressive for being in the protocol what… ten days at most?

“I can see you’ve already worked out the lay of the land huh, Harbor.” You nodded towards the cups.

“Well, I can’t well make friends and influence people if I step on their toes before the day even begins,” he chuckled. “I had to learn that with Reyna the hard way.”

“Oh?” You raised an eyebrow. Reyna was not known for being the most… approachable, morning or otherwise. You tended to stay away—you’d heard the shouting at Jett and Phoenix before, and that didn’t exactly inspire confidence in you. Not at 5.40 in the morning.

“Look, let’s just say I assumed the whisky pump had been left out from dinnertime by mistake, and I picked the wrong time of morning to put it away.”

At this, you snorted. “Idiocy. Everyone knows Reyna has Frangelico and other, more ‘expressive’ liquors at dinner time.” You really laboured the ‘expressive’.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Harbor’s eyes widen. You could almost catch a “speak of the devil” under his breath as the devil herself stalked in, beelining for her modern mug.

Harbor played it off easily, humming lightly to himself as he grabbed the hissing kettle. You on the other hand, sat as still as possible, lips pursed and trying not to draw any attention to yourself on the off chance she’d heard anything.

“This is ready?” you heard her ask your colleague, jerking her head towards the pot as she picked up the mug.

“Piping hot and ready to go, as per usual. House blend today, which I’m sure you’ll appreciate.”

Reyna hummed approvingly, grabbing the pot and wordlessly pouring herself a drink. As she turned around, you couldn’t help but make eye-contact with Harbor as you heard the crank of the infamous whisky pump. You struggled to keep a straight face, and Harbor’s conspiratorial gleam wasn’t helping.

You managed to keep the giggles under wraps until Reyna had left the kitchen, at which point the pair of you dissolved into chuckles.

“Jesus Christ Harbor, that was a close one. A little more warning, please.”

“Hey, how was I supposed to know she would arrive at exactly 6.39 this morning.”

At this point, Harbor grabbed the pot, made a show of checking it for any whisky, and hopped down beside you with his own mug.

“Dude, let me,” you shooed him away from pouring and grabbed the jug. “You had this before?”

“Always down to try new things,” he shot back with a wry smile.

You raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t come complaining to me if you don’t like it then, you were the one who made it.”

He chuckled and gratefully accepted the cup.

Conversation flowed easily as the two of you kicked back, musing on your past lives and ambitions in the protocol. Unlike Harbor, you’d had a while to get used to your radiance, and were able to offer a few tips on how not to overdraw your own energy resources. Harbor, on the other hand, was a wealth of facts and stories from hunting artifacts in the field. He was able to shed a little bit more light on some of the curiosities you had, like the bowls of colourful sand you always lingered on on your deployments in Morocco.

“Oh those? You have a keen eye for these things. From my understanding they’re actually textile dyes—once you activate them with water they take to the fabric like nothing else!”

“Guess we’d have to steer clear if you needed to flood the area,” you poked back.

It wasn’t until your beloved popped around the corner that you remembered you were actually due for a mission today.

“Vincent! I’m so sorry, I meant to be in the meeting room like twenty minutes ago to go over weapons.”

Your partner raised an eyebrow. “Yes, mademoiselle, it took me an extra five of those to convince our dear leader that you were not in fact one for tardiness, and that there was a good reason for your absence.”

“Shit no that’s totally my bad, Harbor and I got caught up yammering about architecture and I completely missed the time.” You shot Chamber an apologetic look, not quite managing to catch his eye.

At this point, Harbor took the moment to chime in. “Well I’m sure Brim can’t expect a lovely lady like this to hit the briefing room on an empty stomach?”

Harbor’s smile was warm and genuine, but his eyes were a little shrewder than you’d initially noticed.

Chamber seemed quiet for a second, moreso than you’d usually expect for his usual morning charm. If your eyes didn’t deceive you he seemed almost taken aback.

“My good friend, my intention was to ensure she arrived on time, and have refreshments come to her without cutting into her time to prepare.”

A little deterred by your partner’s more serious demeanour, you started up from the chair and grabbed the mugs.

“Whelp, this has been a great chat, Harbor, but I definitely have to dash now if I don’t want Brim to be permanently on my ass at 7am.” You swung by Vincent, placing a reassuring hand in the small of his back as you manoeuvred past him to the door.

“No need to apologise, Miss Y/N, though I do hope to continue our chats soon pending the outcome of the mission.” Harbor gave the pair of you an easy smile and settles back against the counter-top. “Do take care on your mission today, yes?”

Chamber grabbed your hand. It wasn’t harsh, but the gesture was sudden enough to surprise you as he gently tugged you out of the room.

“I assure you, my friend, she is in very good hands,” he said over his shoulder as Harbor gave a cheery wave (hah).

As soon as he’d closed the door, Chamber started making a beeline for the briefing room.

“Woah woah, why the sudden professionalism Vincent? Is Brim mad?”

“You mistake my haste, ma Cherie. I prefer to be punctual, and assume you were similarly inclined.”

You pulled back. “I hate to do this now, but I get the sense this isn’t a Brim thing, is it?”

“Don’t be silly ma chou, I just don’t want to be late.”

Yeah… he really wasn’t meeting your eyes, was he.

“Vincent, stop. Look at me. Something’s gotten to you hasn’t it.”

Obligingly, he stopped, but wasn’t turning to face you.

“Vincent…”

“Now it has gotten to this point, I feel exceedingly foolish, mon bebe.”

“My love, when we started to know each other, properly, I made a promise to you and you made a promise to me, right? You remember how that went?”

Your partner sighed, and turned to face you. His jaw was set and there was a vein, a little more pronounced than usual, popping from his forehead. With great effort, he forced his eyes to meet yours, and there was more frustration and concern there than you’d seen in a while.

“Oh, my darling,” you said softly, and moved forward to wrap him in a massive hug. “We talk about these things right? I promised you I’d listen, and always be there to hold you like this.”

“…’m feel so stupid for even letting it get to me,” he mumbled into your shirt. “…wasn’t even your problem… thought I was past this unbecoming behaviour…”

While you could only glean little snippets of what he was saying, you started putting two and two together in your head. “Ahh,” you say quietly.

“And I knew when I made this commitment—when we committed to each other—that I wouldn’t be the one captured by your gaze.”

“Vincent, I promise you, I’m not that—”

“No no, mon ange, you have this magnetic draw. You’re too kind, too well-meaning to see it, but of course people are going to be interested in you. I knew that, I prided myself on rising above it but still…”

“I’m really not convinced that Harbor is interested in anything more than being friends.”

At the mention of his name, you felt Chamber’s body twinge a little.

“No mon amour, he had that look in his eyes. I know it all too well, it is something I’ve felt myself on a number of occasions.”

“Shhh shhh,” you gently traced your fingers through his hair and around the nape of his neck. “Shhh, you know that kind of thing doesn’t faze me at all though right? He’s barking up the wrong tree.”

Chamber, your beautiful, tired partner, mumbled something unintelligible into your chest.

“And hey,” you continued. “I don’t care how many people throw themselves at me, shamelessly or otherwise. In fact, I wish they wouldn’t, at all. Ever. However. None of that matters, not even for the split second it takes you to get from point A to B on your rendezvous, huh?”

At this, he let out an involuntary snort.

“And none of that matters, because at the end of the day, I only have eyes for you. I will only ever have eyes for you. No one interests me in the same way you do Vincent.” You paused for a second, because no matter how many times you said it it still felt as real as the first time.

“You are the only one I love, and I love you with my head, my heart, my body and my soul. We made a promise, you and I, and I intend to keep it.”

You felt him relax into your arms as you say this, and in that moment, you decide that maybe Brim can wait a little longer.

“I love you,” he mumbled through your shirt.

“I love you too, Vincent,” you smiled back.

---

“Your heart is thudding awfully fast, carino,” Reyna remarked from the corner couch.

“Am I that easy to read, Ms Reyna?” Harbor shot back a wry grin.

“You know, if you were interested in that one you could have asked absolutely anyone in the protocol about her. Always the same answer.”

“Barking up the wrong tree… I take it?”

Reyna took another sip of her god-forsaken whisky concoction. “Quick learner,” she remarked.

“Ah well,” Harbor mused. “Definitely worth a shot.”

#valorant chamber #chamber x reader #vincent fabron #valorant x reader #harbor x reader (one-sided)#harbor valorant #varun batra #reyna valorant #give the woman some whisky popcorn it was too early in the morning for this stupidity #also Harbor enjoyers unite jesus christ im sorry i had to shoehorn him in but im down HORRENDOUS #lozcanons #valorant

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strawglicks · 3 months

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Day 765372893 of seething silently over the cathal infantalization in the official clashcord server babes what else is new

#toontown #toontown corporate clash #ttcc #cathal bravecog #cathal ray toby bravecog #multislacker #its like they actualy dont even realize hes not an 8 yr old #like ppl genuinely seem to think cathal is an infant #i think hes on the younger side but hes still an adult with a job #no bc today there was a STRING of messages #all calling him baby and small #the motm panels where u see how small he is compared to his dad has ruined the cathal community #now everyone treats him like a tiny wittle baby bc of that comic #MY BROTHER IN CHRIST ALL THE COGS ARE THAT SMALL COMPARED TO ALLAN.#HE IS AN ABSOLUTE UNIT #cathals not even that small compared to a lot of the cogs #look at brian and cosmo #fandom when a character has a close relationship with their dad #and their dad helps them get a job and wants the best for them #like cathal doesnt do anything themselves but its clear that they CAN. they just choose not to.#they are not an incapable infant they are a fully capable adult #who takes advantage of their position to avoid any real work.#call me holly grayelle the way im gatekeeping cathal from these ppl

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claraameliapond · 4 months

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MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Friendly reminder that Christmas is the annual cultural celebration of the birth of Christ in the Christian religion. Religious or not or just not particularly, that is what this cultural celebration signifies. It's the entire reason for it.

So if participating in Christmas today, please be aware, that whether you believe it is a mythos or real, the place that this happened is Palestine. Jerusalem, Bethlehem, these are all real places, and they are in Palestine. Jesus is not white. Jesus is Palestinian; Mary is Palestinian, so while we all celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ today, and participate in this cultural celebration and religious holiday, it is crucial, especially right now, that we acknowledge that this holy, sacred celebration of peace, is from Palestine, and that this religion, so pervasive in Western, European culture, one of our longest running traditions and mainstays of our culture; the religion that signifies peace, the religion that stands as a beacon of teachings of peace, coexistence and kindness; the religion from which many lessons of peace, kindness pervade our society and are used non religiously: "love thy neighbour"; "the good Samaritan"; is from and about a culture and people that still exist today, who, like in many religious texts, are targeted and persecuted just for existing.

They have been so for 75 years, and a created nation state in the name of a religion that does not accept it, has displaced, demonised, targeted, ethnically cleansed, and continue to currently commit horrific genocide on a mass scale of this culture, these people that we are celebrating right now at Christmas, in honour of peace, whose culture has long signified to us some of the most crucial and poignant teachings of peace, of living alongside those different to us peacefully with kindness, with care. These people are being persecuted RIGHT NOW

No culture, no people , no beings should be treated Iike this, but it is specifically poignant that this is happening right now, as we celebrate the birth of a Palestinian baby that signifies peace and liberation, and a Palestinian woman who gave birth to this baby.

If you are celebrating Christmas without acknowledging this, that the figures central to this whole occasion of peace, are Palestinian; That Palestinians are currently being persecuted just for existing, having their land stolen and people brutally violently ethnically cleansed, this is happening to children, and you do not currently support Palestine, Palestinian people: if you can't see this connection, you really haven't understood the whole point of this holiday, what it's for, what it's about, and you don't deserve to participate in it.

I am surprised there's not even a PR inspired ceasefire today, oh the irony: the figure of Jesus as a baby, and throughout his life, was persecuted too.

If you are celebrating this holiday and you do understand the connection, you do support Palestine, please please do whatever you can to free Palestine, to rally support of a voting public to put pressure on your elected officials, call, write, share the truth, non stop to end this genocide immediately, to free Palestine from the tyranny of its brutal occupier forever, to restore their peace and safety, their human rights. Globally, the world is doing this. Please make sure you don't stop. In honour of this holiday we are celebrating right now especially, Christmas, we must stand up for Palestine, our Palestinian family, and use our power in whatever way we can to secure peace, to truly, properly free Palestine of this tyranny, forever.

Voting is a big one: your exercise of power to influence how your country responds to things like this; your elected officials are selected by societies- by you- to be your representatives on a global scale, for global and country wide events, issues, to make the right choices on behalf of your society, on behalf of you. Who, out of your options, is the best one to do this? And yes, sometimes the only choices you have are bad ones, but you still have to choose.

Make sure you're aware of what you're celebrating today. Live in honour of them, celebrate in honour of them, and work to stop this genocide and free them, in honour of all of them.

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