Mother Of Machines

1) She wasn’t superpowered on Argo. She was exactly the same as she was on any other red sun planet except sicker. Unlike Clark, she didn’t grow up super. This is what her body normally feels like to her. Being super on Earth is new and unnatural to her.

2) She’s in a state of mental anguish, disassociation, and grief and is self-medicating through that with her dog and alcohol and guess what? Alcohol doesn’t work on Earth or any other yellow sun system.

3) The point of the movie is that you have to choose to be good and kind, and that it’s hard, and that also being good and kind does not look the same for everyone. For Kara, making that choice also meant choosing to become sober in the face of her depression and alocholism, which is extremely difficult for any alcoholic. She needed something beyond Ruthye’s plea to force her into action, and that was putting her best friend and emotional support animal’s life in jeopardy. Nothing else was enough to motivate her.

4) Relapsing is extremely common and expected. The dual sun planet mimicked the way that you can start feeling better on your antidepressants and then get hit out of nowhere with another wave of it. It’s awful. But guess what? There’s still hope if you wait it out.

5) The fights in the movie progressed from seeking to self-harm (she enjoyed the physical novelty of being hurt on Ruthye’s planet when she fought the thief) to preventing hurt (to Ruthye’s childhood and psyche and the girls who would have been trafficked had she not ended the bandit ring), which is also a journey of acceptance of her new powers. She goes from resenting having them because they are inextricably related to the death of her family and people, to accepting that she has the power to do real good and prevent other people hurting the way she is.

One of my favorite tropes is "I'm not stuck in here with you, you're stuck in here with me" which often goes hand in hand with another favorite trope "horror movie scene from the pov of the horror"

So unsurprisingly one of my favorite scenes in PD is when Murderbot intimidates the shit out of the wannabe space pirates, locking them in their own ship and playing evidence of their crimes on their own TV

But my absolute favorite part is that it works too well and they all instantly surrender, leaving Murderbot standing there like 'um actually I was kinda planning on killing you guys but it feels weird now that you're like crying and shit'

You are transported back in time and into the body of a young noblewoman in the 1400s. Your parents have married you off to an awful, abusive, rapist husband whom literally no one else would marry despite him being very high nobility because he's that terrible. You successfully produce a baby boy and then plan to murder this man for the good of everyone and yourself. Here is the question: do you think you could murder him in a way that is undetectable to the historical people around you? Note: they aren't stupid, you are the prime suspect as the battered wife AND you can't just say poison. Where are you going to buy poison? Do you know anything about poison actually? NO GOOGLING! You were sent back without a plan!

THEN construct a plan. Ideally, I'll be a day or so travel away when shit goes down. Can I incite a duel with some well placed words to an enemy? Does he have a drinking buddy who might recklessly induce him to fence or ride after too much liquor? I didn't do anything, I wasn't even there when he got that wound.

When I come back to nurse him (if I do) it's with all the modern day knowledge that I won't apply. Not that anyone would listen to me, of course, but I can ask questions, after all I'm just a female? What is happening? Isn't bleeding the patient good? This water from the stagnant pond was blessed by the priest, surely God will favor him if we anoint his wound with it?

I get nowhere near my husband, especially without witnesses. The sick room is no place for a delicate lady, and besides, on no accounts can we risk his heir. I should probably be sent away - for my health, you understand.

Sometimes people die young. Women are widowed early.

To clarify about the poison, you can use poison if you actually know how to identify it, I'm saying you can't just go "Poison!" with no knowledge about poison. Buying it probably means they know that poison and you're caught. Your personal knowledge when you read this post is all you have.

but you are still a woman in the 1400s with a great house and likely an excellent fortune. how are you going to keep opportunists from blaming you as an excuse to get their hands on your property, especially in the face of rumours that your husband's death wasn't natural? it wouldn't even be that hard to make what is essentially theft look legitimate, it could still pass to the son, and he will need a trustee or guardian of some sort until he comes of age, and who better than the local lord justice, who also happens to be a greedy shit but basically is the law, so who's going to stop him?

who's going to stop anyone with better claim to their accusations (because again, you are a woman, and possibly not even a noblewoman yourself but by marriage) from depriving you of your property? what's going to stop your son from doing so once he comes of age, in the event that you can't legally inherit?

i think the question is not 'can you make it look good enough to get away with it,' but 'is anyone going to let you get away with it no matter how good you make it look'? i mean, it wouldn't take much, an accusation of witchcraft—sensationalised, of course, but it is hard to refute—and whipping up a very public campaign ending in a death sentence, and...that's it. game over.

In this particular work, the husband is the heir apparent, his father is still alive and holding the title. Grandpa loves the little baby grandson and will definitely make him the new heir if his son dies. The husband has such a bad reputation that I really think if the wife kills him with plausible deniability, the gossip will be, "god has struck him down and he deserved it." Then she gets to bask in being in control of the household until her son grows up and then she retires as a dowager when he marries.

if granddad is alive (and i'm assuming fairly robust), especially if he's titled, there would have to be some pretty good legal reasons why he's unable to help, or i'd have to come to the unfortunate conclusion that he's just as bad as his son. and he could be! he could be just as bad as his son and still love his grandson, that's not necessarily a conflict, but i am a little confused about the setup.

noblewoman daughter-in-law doesn't need to get away with it if granddad is willing to help make it go away—especially if he brings his purse as a bludgeoning tool—and would likewise, as you pointed out, be in the way of some unscrupulous person getting their hands on the estate. i know it will depend on their relative position in the society you're writing, but i'm also fully aware that you definitely have an understanding that a low-ranking nobleman doesn't have the kind of pull that someone higher up in the nobility would.

As for why grandpa is alive and son is still awful? It's like a Tom Bertram situation if you've read Mansfield Park, Tom just runs off and does stuff and his dad can't figure out how to stop him (also, it's not like they are breaking into their kid's bedroom when he's alone with his wife). This character is the only son, so he's basically guaranteed to inherit and they keep covering up his actual crimes in some sort of vain hope that he'll stop. Also, if you live in a patriarchal society, there is this fun thing you can do called "blame the wife for making him angry/not fixing him," it works every time!

The feeling I got from the original story is that the grandparents are in this like, cognitive dissonance where they do know their son is The Worst, but they only have one option, and they do love their kid as parents, so they kind of both try to protect the wife but also excuse their son and pretend he isn't as bad as he is. And they probably don't want to admit to themselves that they raised such a terrible person and are enabling his future behaviour by never letting him face consequences.

As for money, I'd bet he's just charging things to his family account and then they don't want to look bad as a family by not paying or telling places that he's grounded. What thin veneer of dignity they still have as a noble house and whatnot.

You could also improperly preserve food (which if you’re unprepared and unknowledgeable just need to avoid any intentional attempts at sterilizing the food), make sure it’s fed just to him, and wait until botulism strikes

You are transported back in time and into the body of a young noblewoman in the 1400s. Your parents have married you off to an awful, abusive, rapist husband whom literally no one else would marry despite him being very high nobility because he's that terrible. You successfully produce a baby boy and then plan to murder this man for the good of everyone and yourself. Here is the question: do you think you could murder him in a way that is undetectable to the historical people around you? Note: they aren't stupid, you are the prime suspect as the battered wife AND you can't just say poison. Where are you going to buy poison? Do you know anything about poison actually? NO GOOGLING! You were sent back without a plan!

THEN construct a plan. Ideally, I'll be a day or so travel away when shit goes down. Can I incite a duel with some well placed words to an enemy? Does he have a drinking buddy who might recklessly induce him to fence or ride after too much liquor? I didn't do anything, I wasn't even there when he got that wound.

When I come back to nurse him (if I do) it's with all the modern day knowledge that I won't apply. Not that anyone would listen to me, of course, but I can ask questions, after all I'm just a female? What is happening? Isn't bleeding the patient good? This water from the stagnant pond was blessed by the priest, surely God will favor him if we anoint his wound with it?

I get nowhere near my husband, especially without witnesses. The sick room is no place for a delicate lady, and besides, on no accounts can we risk his heir. I should probably be sent away - for my health, you understand.

Sometimes people die young. Women are widowed early.

To clarify about the poison, you can use poison if you actually know how to identify it, I'm saying you can't just go "Poison!" with no knowledge about poison. Buying it probably means they know that poison and you're caught. Your personal knowledge when you read this post is all you have.

but you are still a woman in the 1400s with a great house and likely an excellent fortune. how are you going to keep opportunists from blaming you as an excuse to get their hands on your property, especially in the face of rumours that your husband's death wasn't natural? it wouldn't even be that hard to make what is essentially theft look legitimate, it could still pass to the son, and he will need a trustee or guardian of some sort until he comes of age, and who better than the local lord justice, who also happens to be a greedy shit but basically is the law, so who's going to stop him?

who's going to stop anyone with better claim to their accusations (because again, you are a woman, and possibly not even a noblewoman yourself but by marriage) from depriving you of your property? what's going to stop your son from doing so once he comes of age, in the event that you can't legally inherit?

i think the question is not 'can you make it look good enough to get away with it,' but 'is anyone going to let you get away with it no matter how good you make it look'? i mean, it wouldn't take much, an accusation of witchcraft—sensationalised, of course, but it is hard to refute—and whipping up a very public campaign ending in a death sentence, and...that's it. game over.

In this particular work, the husband is the heir apparent, his father is still alive and holding the title. Grandpa loves the little baby grandson and will definitely make him the new heir if his son dies. The husband has such a bad reputation that I really think if the wife kills him with plausible deniability, the gossip will be, "god has struck him down and he deserved it." Then she gets to bask in being in control of the household until her son grows up and then she retires as a dowager when he marries.

if granddad is alive (and i'm assuming fairly robust), especially if he's titled, there would have to be some pretty good legal reasons why he's unable to help, or i'd have to come to the unfortunate conclusion that he's just as bad as his son. and he could be! he could be just as bad as his son and still love his grandson, that's not necessarily a conflict, but i am a little confused about the setup.

noblewoman daughter-in-law doesn't need to get away with it if granddad is willing to help make it go away—especially if he brings his purse as a bludgeoning tool—and would likewise, as you pointed out, be in the way of some unscrupulous person getting their hands on the estate. i know it will depend on their relative position in the society you're writing, but i'm also fully aware that you definitely have an understanding that a low-ranking nobleman doesn't have the kind of pull that someone higher up in the nobility would.

As for why grandpa is alive and son is still awful? It's like a Tom Bertram situation if you've read Mansfield Park, Tom just runs off and does stuff and his dad can't figure out how to stop him (also, it's not like they are breaking into their kid's bedroom when he's alone with his wife). This character is the only son, so he's basically guaranteed to inherit and they keep covering up his actual crimes in some sort of vain hope that he'll stop. Also, if you live in a patriarchal society, there is this fun thing you can do called "blame the wife for making him angry/not fixing him," it works every time!

The feeling I got from the original story is that the grandparents are in this like, cognitive dissonance where they do know their son is The Worst, but they only have one option, and they do love their kid as parents, so they kind of both try to protect the wife but also excuse their son and pretend he isn't as bad as he is. And they probably don't want to admit to themselves that they raised such a terrible person and are enabling his future behaviour by never letting him face consequences.

As for money, I'd bet he's just charging things to his family account and then they don't want to look bad as a family by not paying or telling places that he's grounded. What thin veneer of dignity they still have as a noble house and whatnot.

You could also improperly preserve food (which if you’re unprepared and unknowledgeable just need to avoid any intentional attempts at sterilizing the food), make sure it’s fed just to him, and wait until botulism strikes

Ok, it's finally done. Home is a place, home is a person.

This story is my first major piece after several years of art block, and I'm so glad I could finally get back to drawing.

In theory this will turn into a full comic but I got...distracted lmao

Sophie: Why not? Second mom already stole a sec unit.

Murderbot: Hey, guys.

Farai: No, she didn't. Sec Unit is a person. It can do whatever it wants.

Farai: No! SecUnit is a person. You cannot steal a person.

Sofi: Second Mom kidnapped SecUnit?!

Farai: No!

Murderbot: She bought me. With currency.