#🦇 pip squeaks

[needleanddead]

you've been out for days.

[needleanddead]

How would a first day with Sloane be like for darling?

The key word here is 'first' - the very first day? They're probably so drugged they don't even know what's going on. Sloane has learnt that it's best this way - and they like it more this way anyway. They might think they're having a particularly strange dream, but it will be nothing more than that.

So let's instead call it their first lucid day. Sloane isn't stupid; they know that darling can't stay drugged forever. Oh, they suppose that they could put them in a medically induced coma, but that would require even more effort and more tubes and more wires and more machinery than they have managed to have access to, and certainly all of those things would get in the way of Sloane's romanticised thoughts about taking care of darling (and, too, with Sloane's more . . . intimate thoughts about them). So they do slowly begin to lower the dosage, they do slowly let darling come back into reality.

Hopefully darling won't be too much of a fighter. Sloane hates that. Hopefully darling will listen to their impassioned speech about how yes, all of those gifts that darling kept finding were from them, yes, they've been watching darling - and they want nothing more than to keep darling for themselves, somewhere they need never worry or overwork themselves ever again! Sloane is incredibly earnest when they tell darling this, and it's clear that they absolutely believe in what they're saying - they reference other things in darling's medical file, too! Darling probably recognises Sloane if only vaguely as an anaesthetist they've met once or twice or who came to see them to discuss a surgery or something along those lines, and that perhaps makes it worse.

Sloane tells them how they've been looking after them so far! They've been making sure they got nutrients and they've been monitoring their heart rate and they've done lots of tests, there's a whole schedule for medication and small exercises, Sloane really cares about their health!

But mostly Sloane wants to take care of them, and that's what darling gets. They get held and sighed into the neck of, they get kissed and cuddled against their will, they get Sloane asking them questions and demanding answers. They get fed and watered and taken to the bathroom and bathed, they get read to (Sloane says perhaps later they might be allowed a television, if they're good - but Sloane also says they mustn't tax themselves reading! Besides, Sloane loves how they feel on their shoulder, forced to rely on them to hear the story). And at the very end of the first day, they get given their night time medicines, and Sloane crawls into bed beside them and holds them until they fall into a dreamless sleep--

And then probably. You know.

[needleanddead]

In their 40s, graying, and a pathetic stalker?

WOOF WOOF AWOOGA WOOF HOOOOWLLL AWOOGA WOOF

Begging on hands and knees for more crumbs about them please

And wearing a tight black turtleneck under their medical coat, one of the very sluttiest things it is possible for anybody to wear. Important!

Sloane’s entire family are medical professionals. Their parents and siblings have all worked up to senior consultants and heads of hospitals; even though anaesthesiology is a perfectly valid and difficult career (and Sloane is certainly not badly paid by any means), they’re a bit of a family disappointment. They were pushed really hard growing up, so never had time to make friends or properly integrate with their peers. Studying was their entire life, and now their job is their entire life. As a result, they’re incredibly awkward and still struggle a bit with imposter syndrome - having their darling to “take care of” (in quotations, naturally) makes them feel like they’re more of a success.

Their ‘type’ includes: workaholics, anxious people, anyone who they think needs a break. If they’re sweet and polite to Sloane if they interact (if they can!), that’s a bonus, because they deal with very rude people as a medical professional and they’re also used to people not being nice!

They work mostly in the emergency room, but due to staff shortages and their specialised skills, they also work sometimes in more routine surgeries and also do some private freelance work. (They have worked under Constance’s father! They’re quite fond of her and go out of their way to check Constance is doing alright - they’re totally drawn in by her proper young lady act.)

As I said, they’re definitely a stalker type and they’re very likely to fall for a patient, though they’ve fallen for coffee shop workers or shop assistants and coworkers too. They have a lot of access to sensitive medical records (and by extension addresses and contact info), so watch out!

Packages left on doorsteps with gifts, phone calls with heavy breathing down the line, windows cracked open . . . Sloane sometimes reads like they’re working through the stalker handbook. But they mean well, honest!

Whilst mostly non-violent, they’re not entirely above hurting their darlings in order to take care of them. They prefer to keep them drugged and delirious (forced cuddling, somnophilia and needleplay are the usual orders of the day with them), but if their darling is combative or has a lower tolerance . . . Well.

[needleanddead]

"Lucas? I was thinking about something--that is, I wanted to ask you for something. And um, I know it's a big ask, and maybe it could be a Christmas present 'cause it's a such a big ask, but... do you think I could call my parents? Or write them a letter? Just so they know I'm okay. Just so they don't worry, I mean."

He stops what he's doing, a stillness that makes your spine go cold - you'd compare it to a deer in the forest, but that's not quite right. It's the silent, calm stance of a wolf about to leap upon a deer.

"Why'd you wanna do a thing like that, darlin'?" He asks you, his voice a carefully controlled thing, a tightrope pulled taut. "Ain't I takin' care of you well enough here? You wanna go tellin' tales about me, is that it?"

Before you can think of some lie to tell him, some reassurances that of course not, that you just want to tell them how happy you are, just check on them and see if they're well, he's turned to you and you can see the veins flexing in his knuckles and the knit of his brow and the way his jaw is twitching, and the words die in your throat.

"No, darlin'. No, I don't think you ought to." One of his fists twitches, and you imagine wood clenched in it, imagine a sharp blade heading directly for your soft, sensitive flesh. "It'll just make you homesick, and ain't we been workin' so hard on that ourselves? This is home now. You wanna say somethin', you can always say it to me."

[needleanddead]

Have you drawn anything for the anaesthesiologist?

You know what anon, this made me finally draw them. Just for you.

Awkward and forty-something and pathetic. But trying! Unfortunately Sloane's trying also means kidnapping and drugging and stalking and such. Sometimes that's how it is.

[needleanddead]

also please like this post if it is fine if i in turn draw my ocs kissing your ocs for oc kiss week btw!!!!

[needleanddead]

“Cass… I think this is infected. I-I don’t feel well…”

"Infected?" He seems sharper somehow, as if the word has switched something on in his brain. You feel somewhere deep inside of you, away from the pain and the confusion, relief. Cass is going to do something about it. Cass isn't going to let you die here, of sepsis or infection or some kind of awful mould in this ancient ruin of a house that will get into your wound and devour you from the inside out. "Let me see."

You weakly proffer your leg towards him, and he's on his knees in moment, peering closely at it. He even moves the eyepatch from his other eye, though you have to fight not to turn away from the squirming mass within it. He stares at it, bringing up a hand, long fingers sliding over the wound that is turning colours no human skin ought to ever be.

"Oh," he breathes, and there's something in his voice you can't place. "Oh, you're right. Yes, darling, this is very infected. Look . . . do you see these colours? That mottled blue, versus the green - the way that the skin is starting to wave at the edges? The bubbles inside? The way that the blood is starting to thicken, like tar, take on that oily sheen . . . Oh my." He's almost breathless. You wince as he digs his fingers right into it, nails sliding into the mass of infection. It makes you gag, a sharp ring of pain echoing through your head. You tell yourself he's just checking it over, before he figures out how to cure you, but your head feels muzzy and heavy.

"Gods . . . It's beautiful, isn't it? Let me grab my paints. Don't move an inch. I wonder what it will look like tomorrow. I wonder how long we can let it rot before you have to lose the leg . . ." There it is again - that dreamy, far-away look. The look that tells you he's thinking about you as a piece of art and a piece of meat and not a living breathing person. "Ah, darling. Sweetheart. My dearest muse. We'll find out together, won't we?"

[needleanddead]

Imagine trying to tell lucas about yourself thinking if you humanise yourself he might let you go, it's what your meant to do with kidnappers right? Only for it to backfire as everything you say only enforces to him why you are better off with him

either you risk saying something he doesn’t like - and risk a lecture or a gruff ‘well, darlin’, your days of doin’ that are over’, or you make him fully certain he did the right thing by kidnapping you. he doesn’t like it all that much if you talk too often about your past - a sun-drenched wistful childhood memory is fine, of course, a rose-tinted nostalgia . . . but more recent history gets dicey. as far as he’s concerned, he should have been able to rescue you from the horrors of your former life much sooner!

[needleanddead]

Hello!! I just reread all your Lucas works (absolutely love him) and there's a question I've been meaning to ask! So, darling cannot under any circumstances leave the cabin, that much is clear. But what if they have some sort of chronic illness or allergy that *needs* constant medical attention? I for one have crohn's disease so I need to be accurately medicated and have a few doctor's visits a year or else I'll be in horrible pain (and maybe even in need of surgery at one point, like I already had to have.) So.. how is Lucas going to go about that? He tries his best to care for his darling (in his own sick way), but this is something he cannot manage on his own. So would he just straight up kill them because he knows that they will eventually become a burden at one point?

Hello anon! I am so glad that you have been enjoying them and that he has resonated with you!!! <3

I felt absolutely sure I'd answered this kind of question before but I couldn't find it, so! With a darling who's disabled or chronically ill, he ramps up the cooing protector thing all the more; of course they need his protection, look at how weak they are! Barely functioning!

Still.

They can tell him about it, and he sure will look into it, but . . . unless they are thoroughly broken and he thinks they are about to die without medical attention, he's absolutely not taking them to the hospital. He's getting medication himself (his poor housebound spouse can't come, you understand) - he's figuring out how it can be managed the way it was before medical care was so simple to access. If the answer to that is just 'they died' . . . he's still going to damn well try. His mother didn't raise no quitter, after all.

The pain thing . . . oh, he does hate seeing his darling in pain, but also . . . they're so much easier to deal with like that. They need him! He can snuggle and coo and smother them with affection and there's nothing they can do about it except helplessly cling to him and ask him to try and help. No thoughts of escape. No thoughts of anything but the pain going away. And they're so thankful if he does manage to help, with hot water bottles or massages or medication he gets from the bathroom cupboard--

A man could almost get used to it.

[needleanddead]

Percy, I trusted you.

That same awful smile; sympathy, tinged with just a touch of triumph, a touch of smugness. That same crinkling of his eyes, that same slow, honey-drenched tone that he used to use to murmur sweet things into your ear--

"Oh, I know you did, sweetie. That's what makes it so much better. Come on, look at me now - do you not think maybe that you deserved it?"

He lets the barb sink in for just one carefully controlled moment, before he's pinching your cheek again, simpering, his veneer of faux compassion at once setting your teeth on edge and making you want to curl into a ball in his arms. Even care that's undoubtedly a lie begins to feel a sweet prospect when one has been chewing on sawdust for months.

"You did trust me, after all. And you trusted those other people, too. Perhaps this is just the kind of person you attract. Perhaps you were just made to suffer. It's alright, though," he's still smiling, and you have to blink the blur of tears away. "If you're going to suffer, sweetie, at least you know whose hands it will be at now. At least I'll take care of you when we're done. At least you know I hurt you because I care about you. Doesn't that make you feel better?"

You hate to admit it almost does.

[in-character OC response game!]

[needleanddead]

Think I may allow myself to go insane and update and make more accurate F-Lists for all of my OCs today. As a little treat.

[needleanddead]

I know Percy's awful, but, I just love books so much that I can't help but imagine a reader who wants to keep talking about books with him lately.

Because what else are they going to do, kept in a room and tortured day after day by someone they thought was their loving, equally-book-loving boyfriend??

It takes their mind off things, after he's had a feeding session, to curl up in his arms and read together if they've been granted a book, or ease into a discussion about a book they've both read, or talk about book pet peeves, or anything at all book related.

It's calming, in a way.... to go back, even for just an hour or two or however long Percy feels like being sweet, to how it used to be, when they'd get into long discussions over books.

Sure, now instead of being at a cozy cafe they're captive in a single room, their body is dripping with sweat from the exertion of fear and sometimes they're convinced Percy is giving them books with scenes that creep them out on purpose... But you gotta take what you can get in a situation like that.

This is pretty much what would be going on with me, I fear.

And he encourages it! An interest in something shows a will to live, after all; proof that he can keep coming back to them and can keep drinking them in, because there’s enough fight left in them to still enjoy something.

(There’s still something he can tear from them).

And he does love books himself. And there is something pleasant for him about the feel of them relying on him, clinging to him, whispering thoughts and perhaps even bringing a new one to the table he hasn’t discovered! He’s almost proud of them; of course he chose himself a clever little thing to keep captive, he’s just that smart himself—

And oh, how frightened they’ll be if they wake up one day and cannot see to read.

[needleanddead]

Sloane brainrot is TOO REAL!!! what's a day in the life of a darling? i love them already

They're a soft touch, really! They absolutely get the full gamut of being taken care of, though - Sloane works out meal plans for them (which they bring them, they probably have their own refrigerator and are mostly trusted with butter knives and forks), makes sure there are things to do in their room (they keep their darlings in a soundproofed spare room!) like books and a television, and aside from the many locks on their door it's a pretty comfy place to be!

They also have a pillbox that they are expected to take with no exceptions, though. Sloane says that they're mostly vitamins and such (counteracting not going outside and not getting much fresh air), but . . . Well. Some of them are not just vitamins, and darling might often find themselves woozy and uncomfortable and unable to keep hold of themselves.

So it's a good job that Sloane always comes to visit them when their shifts are over to take care of them and cuddle them and kiss them and reassure them and love on them and more, isn't it?

[needleanddead]

Lucas’s worst nightmare: A development company buys some land near the cabin and starts building houses around it 😂

ABSOLUTELY. I think when Lucas bought his land, he bought as much as possible - so when he talks about 'trespassers', he really means it! He has (and had) a lot of money; a big government payout to not speak about his time in the military, and a monthly generous stipend to keep him silent.

Of course, the woods doesn't recognise him as owner (the woods owns itself), but legally? They'd have to manage to track Lucas down to buy it, and that in itself is a challenge! Doesn't stop him having nightmares about it though, probably.

[needleanddead]

(For Mortal Glamour Van!) Gosh, Van--did you hear the rumor about that local forest? People say that they hear weird sounds at night and even during the day, or see things... like it's haunted or something. It sounds really spooky! So--I was thinking we should totally go explore it at night. With some flashlights, of course. You don't have to go, though, I'm okay with exploring on my own!

His face falls; he looks like a kicked puppy, his brows drawn in and his mouth twisted to one side.

"I . . . I don't think that's a good idea," he says, and his voice is quieter than you've heard it before. "How about we go out instead. The club? Or we could . . . we could see a movie? Or even - if you w-want to see something haunted, we could . . . explore that abandoned bar just on the edges of town?" He swallows. "Just . . . not the forest."

"Please."

[needleanddead]

The way lucas would be so coddling over a darling who is so isolated from the rest of their friend group , The only sober one in the woods, sat on a log quietly. He'd make them the victim of this in his mind, someone he had to save. Perhaps the next day when they are all bruised from trying to run away before getting taken, he misconstrued it as deliberate wounds, tutting over them that he will take care of them properly. That your "friends" or "lover" got exactly what they deserved

Exactly! He’s always drawn to the one who looks awkward; the one who stays sober, the one who gets left out of conversations, the one who tries to make a halting argument about putting their garbage into a bag to take home with them instead of strewing it about the woods. The one who doesn’t get listened to and gets talked over. He sees it happen; the way they try and speak but are ignored and can’t help thinking to himself poor little lamb. I’d take care of them.

Their companions didn’t deserve them, but he will. He’ll make sure they’re appreciated!