"I'm going on an Adventure!"

System Collapse:

"I had Iris and Tarik secure their environmental suits and get out to look at the hatch, but made Ratthi stay at the controls. It was hard keeping him in there because he really likes to walk around on planets and he is also great at finding dangerous shit."

Ratthi is obviously a hobbit. He hangs around with the grumpy wizard who throws fire, and he's the one who finds the magic ring or the enchanted swords or the seeing-stone. He's also the one who's always about to get eaten by orcs if the grumpy wizard doesn't save his ass.

Ratthi knows how to cheer it up

ko-fi

imo: bookverse murderbot has only genuinely considered having sex once in its life, and it was when a well meaning but deeply annoying preservation acquaintance abruptly stopped a group conversation when someone else was about to bring up a hookup they recently had by saying "omg noooo don't talk about that stuff in front of secunit, it's fragile it doesn't like that it can't handle it :( ." it briefly got so mad and so full of "fuck you, I can do what I want, even if it's a 'bad' choice" energy that it started composing a feed message to ratthi about a one-time no-strings-attached experiment before catching up to itself and remembering that in order to do that it would actually. have to. do that. so instead it just passive-aggressively skulked away. showverse murderbot really really desperately needs to get its hands on a 101 informational pamphlet about nonsexual sadomasochism, like seriously, it needs to know it can blindfold someone for fun and profit WHILE everyone keeps their pants on, I keep looking for a way to contact apple tv about this but there's no field for it on their support page.

I know of a fic that sort of combines your ideas, and it's one of my long-time favorite Murderbot NSFW fics from pre-show days. It features Murderbot engaging in platonic, therapeutic BDSM with Ratthi, which I think is a fun dynamic. It's also a great way to explore aspects of Murderbot's personality and history while still portraying Murderbot as asexual and sex-repulsed (as you said, some people enjoy kink activities for non-sexual reasons!).

If that sounds like your jam, I've put the AO3 link below! And the author provides clear content warnings at the beginning which should help anyone who's still unsure. :)

A Lesson in Selfishness by avg (AnxiousEspada)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/35289835

I would give up a limb to know how this conversation between Ratthi and Mensah went. i need to know how Ratthi tried to describe what he thinks their Deal is

Arada is such a great leader (in the Network Effect), but this scene keeps popping into my head and it's killing me.

Big fan of the Murderbot-Ratthi-Gurathin trio in Fugitive Telemetry. SecUnit, its golden retriever friend and that one obnoxious black cat someone (probably) found in a dumpster.

Preservation seems like the kind of place that would have Christmas sweaters

And Ratthi is probably one of the only people that could get Murderbot to wear one

me and my absolutely fucking dire situation #mydiresituation

I missed this one, I'm a fake fan. it's just below the cut-off of the frame but she's definitely got her hands on his elbow/forearm areas.

oh and of course, ft. pin-lee:

also, side note, I believe this is the only episode we see him reach out to initiate touch with Anyone. people routinely initiate touch with him, and he responds to it positively, but it almost exclusively just goes the one way and imo there are a few moments where it looks like he wants to touch people but deliberately draws back / balls up his hands / wraps his arms around himself to avoid doing it. this whole sequence is the exception, he and pin-lee poke back and forth at each other a few times both to get attention and provide reassurance.

LADS LADIES AND L'OTHERWISE I HAVE ONE (1) MORE ADDITION TO #MYDIRESITUATION

THAT'S ANOTHER HANDHOLD !!!

When I rewatched the show yesterday I noticed the part where Gurathin gets to say "No, it's too dangerous, don't risk it for me" and everyone else is immediately like "no we absolutely will risk it for you, you are worth it!!!" And as someone who used to spend a lot of time in the whump genre (especially Stargate SG-1 fanfic, so I know of what I speak), can I just say that scene is hurt/comfort candy? Nay, tis a whole meal!! Actually I'd say this show managed to give Gurathin the h/c storyline of whump fanfic writers' dreams. He is truly the next great Wet Cat of a Man.

murderbot is arguing that sharks are smooth as hell. ratthi is nodding sagely and agreeing because yes that sounds right to him. bharadwaj thinks it's making an honest mistake and is trying (and failing) to correct this. arada can tell it's making a joke but can't quite make herself go along with the misinformation about wildlife biology. pin-lee is torn between wanting to continue the bit but also not wanting to give their wife an aneurysm. mensah is gently pacing in a circle and pondering if maybe there is one shark species out there that's smooth as hell in every which way all the time. gurathin is so mad that he's almost hyperventilating and might die soon.

Ex-Corporate Spy Gurathin: spends hours reading etymology papers and census data to craft himself the perfect name that captures his internal sense of self, doesn’t sound so cool it’s obviously a chosen name, fits his age, and, when shortened, is still respectable.

Murderbot: I’m a bot doomed to murder. Murderbot.

Ratthi: Gugu

Gurathin’s expression I interpreted as......appalled

This is also the quote of all times Ratthi is my favorite for so many reasons and so is this scene

The layout of this scene and how it changes throughout them speaking fascinates me.

Because in the middle we have Mensah, the leader, the one who has been bonding most with SecUnit but it the moment when it looked to her for help she looked away.

To her right we have Bharadwaj, who has been a staunch Murderbot enthusiast since it saved her but has wavered since it shot Leebeebee.

The furthest most right is Ratthi, who has been number one Murderbot advocate the entire time.

Then to Mensah's left we have Pin-Lee, who's mostly aggravated about privacy violation and is the first to objectify it when they get mad.

Then arm in arm is Arada, who flips between panicking that it is there and panicking that it is not. And Gurathin, who has been trying to destroy it/shut it down/get rid of it/chase it off and has finally succeeded.

They are all facing the door Murderbot has fled through and Mensah is having second thoughts about leaving it.

But then Gurathin says they're safer with their security system gone and kicks off a pro/con discussion on the usefulness of having Murderbot around.

They might have been getting to know it, but its usefulness is what matters. Its a piece of equipment. Gurathin thinks they're safer without this equipment, the others are undecided.

Then! Ratthi, number one Murderbot fan, breaks in to remind them all that It Is A Person, that just because they're scared they don't need to remove its personhood from it. He doesn't even do it intentionally, he just inadvertently reminds them all that its got a name and it is a person. Even if it is a scary person, and that he is respectful of that.

and they all just stop speaking for a moment, they stop arguing about its usefulness to them.

There's silence as they think about it

then of course Gurathin can't just let them in peace and come to a decision. He has to double down in chasing it off.

His first attempt he does it incorrectly, in a way that objectifies it and they all look at him in judgement and he knows he stepped too far.

So he course-corrects, he changes his argument to be Preservation suitable and appeal to Mensah. He stops arguing with the rest and focuses on convincing Mensah, he switches from objectifying language to appealing to her goals of making the best choices.

What "the best" is, is never stated. Its the most ambiguous "place your definition here" argument.

And it all just unravels from there, the team falls apart.

Pin-Lee is hunched and stepped away from Arada. Arada is turning away from Gurathin. Bharadwaj has moved further behind Mensah.

Ratthi straight up crosses his arms, he closes himself off from the rest of them and there is now space between Ratthi and the survey team.

And Mensah closes the door on Murderbot.

A conversation that probably happened at some point:

"Who's this?"

"Ratthi. Murderbot's comfort human."

"And that one?"

"Gurathin, Murderbot's discomfort human."

Murderbot finding its tag calling Ratthi its human friend while it has amnesia