Murderbot fic recs part 2: Longer iddy h/c & plotty fic [9 fics]

[sholio]

Okay, I couldn't really think what else to call this, because this is mostly just recent fics that I want to roll around in like a kitten in catnip. This fandom has tons of gloriously iddy h/c, casefic, longfic, and plotty WIPs, both of the AU and non-AU variety. So this is some of what's been delighting me lately. All of these are complete unless otherwise noted.

(Also see bookverse short gen in the last post, if you missed it.)

One of the still unfinished WIPs I've been following with enjoyment is this:

Robbing the Hood by Rilleshka (gen, AU, currently 11 chapters/68K and still updating) - A SPACE PIRATE AU, really well thought out and probably the kind of thing that will sprawl onwards for a long time without any particular resolution, but I'm just enjoying the ride. It's canon divergent rather than a total AU; early in its post-governor-module life, Murderbot ends up on a ship that's attacked by raiders, the crews of both ships are wiped out, and now MB is alone with the grieving bot pilot of the raider ship, and the two embark on a freelance piracy career for survival, eventually ending up falling headfirst into semi-accidentally rescuing human trafficking victims. (The bot pilot is an OC, not ART - ART's around, but essentially this AU is following the widening spiral of various changes that take place due to MB not being around to e.g. help PreservationAux or Tapan's group.)

This AU does something that very often doesn't work for me, where the found family consists of mostly different people in this 'verse, including OCs and people who never met in canon. (The first one they rescue is a pre-ART Tarik, left to die after he's injured on a death squad mission.) But it really works for me! The AU takes the time to build up the various AU relationships, and it's rich with worldbuilding on the state of piracy in the Murderbot universe, including a gloriously OTT pirate base and some other interesting locations.

The author also has this wonderfully harrowing (complete) fic from last year:

Undefinable Boundaries (gen, 26K, post-canon)
Murderbot is killed on a mission, but that's not the end; its friends, including ART, Three, and PresAux, try to bring it back and rebuild it. Just incredibly wrenching and painful and sweet, and it does have a happy ending.

Moving on, these are pretty much all Murderbot & Gurathin-centric with lots of h/c. This one just dropped today:

Over Imperfect Bones by lookninjas (gen, 8K)
A full on idfest of the "trauma-bonded characters refuse to be more than few feet from each other" trope. Something *really* bad happened to MB, we don't know what for a while, but it can't see or speak or move, except one hand, and it will not let go of Gurathin's hand; we don't find out why for a while either. The way this slowly drops the details of what happened to them and lets the reader read between the lines to what everyone isn't talking about is really well done. There's also some nice stuff with ART, Mensah, and Ratthi.

This one is more thriller/plotty action rather than h/c:

Distress Call by e_va (gen, 9K)
Murderbot wakes up in a cargo container, unable to move, and the only person it can get in touch with is Gurathin, who appears to be on the ship with it. Lots of nice action/spy stuff with bonding and mutual worry.

A few more plotty and hurt/comforty gen:

Damaged Goods by that_one_kid (gen, 34K)
Complete WIP. Murderbot and Gurathin are kidnapped together by the Company, which wants to use them against each other. Really excellent plotty friendship-building with h/c; the slowly growing bond between them is really nice, and the plot cuts back and forth between them and PresAux trying to find them. This takes place in mostly the TV-verse with a different first meeting for ART and the PresAux crew.

And if you enjoy that, definitely read:

Hope in Work and Joy in Leisure by that_one_kid (gen, 25K)
An open-ended series of standalone promptfic by the same author, ranging from adorable fluff to harrowing action fic. My favorites include a missing scene for the above fic which is ADORABLE, and one in which Murderbot is trapped under a collapsed building during an S&R mission on Preservation and its friends have to rescue it.

The same author also has a currently ongoing WIP that I'm enjoying, Echoes of the Soul (now up to 9 chapters, updates every week or two). The others are gen but this one seems to be headed in a Murderbot/Gurathin QPR direction, just fyi.

Moving on to different authors:

The Wavelength Gently Grows by Aylwyyn228 (gen, 39K)
This idfest of a WIP just wrapped up today. Gurathin is taken by the CR, who torture him for information; the others try to get him back. This one goes really dark for a while, but there's a happy ending (and a very enjoyable OC).

Another Time, Another Memory by parthagenon (gen, 13K)
Another completed WIP, in which Gurathin's memory augments start to malfunction and throw him back into the past, causing him to think he's still a spy, including thinking Mensah and Murderbot are enemies that must be taken out.

Comments

[philomytha]

Ooh, love the Illyanesque one at the end there, finally a fandom where you can do that sort of thing to characters!

[sholio]

It's a whole new set of tropes to explore than the last few fandoms I've been in! And the fandom is definitely providing the tropes.

[trobadora]

Yay! So much to read, thank you! :D

[sholio]

Enjoy!! :D

[amalthia]

thanks for all the recs! :)

[sholio]

Have fun! I'm glad I'm finally getting these written up. :)

[thelostglove]

Thank you, this is a pretty new fandom to me and also it's an extra stressful life/work week, and I am so excited to dive in on these tonight <3

ETA: also HOW did I not know about recthething, immediate add

[sholio]

I'm glad to provide some entertainment for a stressful week; I hope you enjoy them! <333

[schneefink]

Thank you very much for the recs! Looking forward to reading these :)

[sholio]

Thank you! :) I'm glad I finally got around to sharing.