#Survival of the Sickest

[formulas-fatal-to-your-mom]

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

𝔇𝔢𝔱𝔥𝔯𝔬𝔫𝔢𝔪𝔢𝔫𝔱 - 𝔚𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔖𝔭𝔦𝔯𝔦𝔱𝔰 ℭ𝔬𝔪𝔢 𝔗𝔬 𝔇𝔦𝔢

[metal-stills]

Bloodbath - Zombie Inferno

Napalm Records

2022

Video Directed by Ash Pears Produced by Ash Pears Make-Up Artist: Monika Letora

Official Video

[nexttothelamp]

...

[vipier-a]

▸ i can tell when somebody still wants me. come clean.

THEY BOTH KNOW THE STEPS OF THIS DANCE BY HEART NOW AND TRISTAN IS TIRED OF DOING IT. he’s been tired for a long time, ever since he first realized what this thing between them was likely fated to be. what they truly are hasn’t been clear since they first crossed that line, since they first put their fumbling hands on each other following assurances that we’ll still be best friends, since they shared hungry and too-eager kisses for hours until their mouths were raw. since they flirted more boldly and @k4ssa began finding little reasons to touch him more often in public. since they finally fell into bed together — after weeks of teasing and exploring each other in every other way — and cassian fled the following morning as though his heels had caught on fire. ever since, to varying degrees, tristan has felt cast to sea, sometimes in full view of land and sometimes with nothing on any side of him, stranded and alone. that first time being left was undoubtedly the worst, followed closely by the second which confirmed that cass’s leaving had not simply been a one-time error in judgment. from there, the severity of this brutal back and forth has varied. sometimes, tristan can keep his head high, proceed as normal, as though he’s become immune to the pain of being disposable. other times, the knife sinks deeper and he becomes all the more a feral thing in the interim.

ironically, it is the latter reaction which often allows cassian back through the door more readily, high as it makes tris off the flame of his own emotions, thereby making him more vulnerable, allowing both his love and pain to slip through. a controlled tristan, however, is lethal, exacting, detached. his experience going round and round in this cycle has taught him that this version of himself tends to discomfit cass, throw him off, sometimes make him edge toward desperation. why is beyond tris, given that it is simply his version of one of cassian’s own masks. if anybody should understand the instinct to shut down, to make one’s self inaccessible and far away, it should be him. besides, tristan feels — however snidely — that he’s damn well earned the right to greet him coldly after being shoved aside yet again for whatever new model cass wished to pursue.

“ I can tell when somebody still wants me. come clean. ” cassian accompanies his words with a bump of his knee to tristan’s beneath the bar. his tone borders on playful, as though this were all some sort of big joke between friends, rather than cass once again attempting to reel him back into his grasp — while, of course, avoiding addressing what he’s done, what he keeps doing. it sets alight a blaze of righteous fury in tristan’s chest, leaving him to wonder if cass’s purpose is twofold, if he would be content pulling anger out of him instead, just so long as he exhibited some emotion.

tristan patel has all his life made a point of avoiding giving people what they want of him. his stubbornness is a gift he clings to with greedy claws.

silently, he lifts his ale to his lips to take a long draw, refusing to look over at cassian despite feeling those dark eyes fixed upon him with singular intent. all these weeks, once again, he has yearned for those eyes to seek him out, to find him in the ferrix streets. yet now that they have, right here in the local cantina, tris rejects them. how dare cassian treat him with such flippancy, as though it had only been days since they spoke, as though he had not been in such a hurry to leave weeks ago that he even left his jacket behind. but the anger does not rise to his serene face ; tristan swallows it expertly back, staring at the far wall behind the bartender with a distant look in his eye. if he focuses enough, perhaps he can pretend he is anywhere else, anything else besides the scraps his friend returns to when someone else’s novelty fades. silence envelops them and a hesitancy hangs heavy within it, as though cass is uncertain how to proceed now that tris has refused to rise to the bait.

“ I’m sure that winning confidence will work beautifully to tempt someone else in this bar, ” he finally answers in an exhausted monotone before draining his beer and setting some credits on the bar top as he prepares to leave. part of him rebels against the act of goading cass into bringing someone else home tonight — it is ever a lie to claim he doesn’t want him, especially to himself — but his obstinacy and hurt win out with shocking ease. he pulls his knee away from cass’s abruptly and pointedly as he rises from his stool. he’d planned to stay longer, have a few more drinks and perhaps a round or two of sabacc, but since his parttime lover had materialized beside him to talk, tristan finds that his enthusiasm for further recreation has decidedly left him. “ and I wish you the best of fucking luck with that, cassian, but I’m going home. alone. I’m tired. and I don’t have the time or energy for your shitty attempts to flirt with me. ”

tristan can’t decide if his cutting words, delivered flatly with alarmingly little emotion, actually make him feel better, but if they do, he knows it’s only temporary. everyone in ferrix knows perfectly well his pathetic situation by now, he suspects. in this town, he will not only always be the pariah, but somehow too the pitiful lovestruck stray hound trotting desperately at cassian’s heels, begging for even the barest scraps of affection. they have not been open about the nature of their relationship beyond their age-old friendship, but even those residents who have not guessed its progression probably know well enough tristan’s weakness.

he knows his weakness, too. he knows in his gut that, even after walking away at this bar, still he will give in. cass might follow and then tris will cave shortly after they reach his place, or in the doorway of his flat, or even on the next street over from the bar. or cass will remain here and instead come crawling to his door tomorrow morning with a bag of food, asking to cook breakfast, trying to make small talk, all but on his knees to seek his friend’s favor again. either way, tristan will inevitably surrender, eventually. they will embrace as friends, but then cass’s mouth will seek his. tris will pretend to resist, they will stumble around his flat pushing and pulling at each other, hungry and furious, half a war the way it always is. even as tris eventually yields to him, even as he melts into their savage pleasure, he will call cass names, sink his nails and teeth into him, tear another fissure into the timeline of them like a notch in a belt. he knows how this ends. but still, he seeks to wound now in a different way while he still can, reaping some paltry seeds of revenge from a dead garden.

“ you’re embarrassing yourself, ” tristan half sneers as he finally turns his head to meet cassian’s eyes. despite himself, he is unable to stave away a spark of defiance, such that he feels his body’s betrayal in his bones. he’s lost the game already, he knows, but he perseveres regardless, allowing his lip to twitch as if in disapproval. his gaze sweeps critically up and down cass’s figure before adding in a hiss as he turns to leave, “ get a grip. ”

[blue-orangeade]

OLLIE ���

the boys planet contestants are so random because it's like. youtuber. i-lander. heterophobe. the voice kids vietnam (2016) contestant. 29-year-old twice-debuted senior idol, songwriter, and producer. fourteen-year-old. ollie.

[gungieblog]

Survival Of The Sickest - Saliva (Uncensored)

[fricklefracklefloof]

share more details in the tags if you want! personally, mine was pretty predictable lol

while we’re here, could i direct your attention to my friend @afafmasoud for a little bit? recently, afaf celebrated the birth of a new baby in the family, malika, but she has since fallen sick and her family is struggling to afford medicine for her.

please consider donating if you can! afaf’s campaign has been going very slowly and her posts don’t get too much traction. please help baby malika!

[in0-0ni]

This hit me like a truck in a dream last night. I have no context, if I were a better writer I'd write the SICKEST fic of Vaughn surviving working a diner. Alas, this is all I can do hehe

[whereispearlescentmoon]

My personal Life Series rankings (excluding RL)

Big Disclaimer: This is personal opinions. If you disagree, that’s fine, but also, I cannot be wrong because these are my opinions. You cannot be wrong because those are your opinions. None of this is hate to anyone it’s literally just what I enjoyed watching the most. There are some negative opinions expressed in this post. If that will upset you, DO NOT READ IT!

Smaller Disclaimer: I am a Pearl main viewer. The only season where Pearl wasn’t my main pov is the one she wasn’t in. I have only seen Pearl’s pov and the winner in completion for any season, as well as sporadic episodes from others. Therefore, I am also biased by how fun the season was as a Pearl viewer.

1.) Double Life- To absolutely no one’s surprise, a Pearl main’s favorite season is Double Life. The drama, the angst, the finale where she went fully batshit and just started killing. Also she won, which, ya know, makes me happy. And I really liked the gimmick of soulmates! I think it forced people to be strategic about whether or not it was worth it to actually fight as a pair, or whether it was better to have one person stay safe to heal while the other fought. I also liked that it kind of gave people default alliances, though of course that didn’t work out in the Divorce Quartet’s case until Martyn and Cleo made up near the end. The whole soulmates idea kind of forced some amount of player interaction and roleplay, which are my favorite parts of the series, even for those that don’t really do it as much.

2.) Limited Life- I have made the fact that the Nosey Neighbors are my favorite alliance ever no secret. And I think having both the ability to die a bunch of times, the gaining time for killing, and the boogeyman back created the opportunity for players to get creative with kills, to sneak around to conserve time, to go on actual rampages, and to have drama filled sacrifices. All of these are my favorite aspects of the series. I think when a gimmick is good is when it facilitates player interaction and kills rather than interrupts or overtakes them. There’s also Martyn’s win, which was just perfect. He took the fact that Scott and Impulse wanted a pure PvP moment, almost like Third Life, and instead tricked them into putting their guard down. Was it the most honorable win? No. But I’m never particularly fussed about honor or “cheating” when I’m here to watch a Minecraft death game between friends. He did the sickest thing he could, which is just outsmart them.

3.) Last Life- Oh beloved Scottage Duo. This is actually probably the prime example of what I mean when I say I like gimmicks that facilitate player interaction. Willingly giving over lives and the boogeyman curse were some of the biggest makers and breakers of alliances. This was also before I feel like alliances had to be really set in stone. People went back and forth constantly. Take Cleo, for example, who switched teams after BigB boogey killed her, and then kinda went rogue from GGG, and then switched back last second when she went red. The roleplay was great, the kills were dramatic and cool. I only really have it lower than LimL because of my bias for Nosey Neighbors lol.

4.) Third Life- A good old death game, plain and simple, and I like it that way! Good kills, good traps, and pure player interaction in a fight for survival. Bdubs’ finale is an actual fever dream nightmare. And of course the infamous cactus ring punching battle to the death. No notes. It’s really only this low because I am a Pearl viewer mainly and she wasn’t in this season.

5.) Secret Life- Pearl’s pov of this season was deeply involved, largely because the Mounders’ base was kind of central on the map. This meant I probably got the best idea of what was happening on the server of any of her seasons. I also watched at least a little of every pov this season, because I was curious about why people were acting the way they were so I wanted to see their tasks. The best task in my opinion was the zombie task, because it was something that got the whole server involved. I wanted to watch every pov to see when people were realizing what was happening, and I was genuinely excited by the interactions it created. I thought a lot of the tasks were great, in fact, but there were a couple that just… couldn’t work. And with so many people trying to get so many things done at once, there were definitely times where genuine interactions took a back seat to frantically trying to get someone to say or do something specific to get a task done, then bolting away to get a success.

And then there was the incredibly weak mechanic of gifting hearts. Some players started skipping doing it entirely, and I don’t even blame them. With no regen in a death game, gifting one heart didn’t really matter. It was much more rewarding to get hearts either from completing a task or, when that failed, by killing people. We still got a couple great sacrifice moments for extra hearts, which I’m always a fan of, but that was from the kill mechanic. The gifting didn’t really seem to end up mattering except when it came to reaffirming who was in what alliance at the beginning of episodes. Overall, a great season, but maybe a little over bloated.

6.) Wild Life-And on the topic of over bloated gimmicks. I will start by saying that I know the main audience of the series is probably like 12 and this kind of season probably appeals to them. I know that I, a 21 year old man, am not the target audience for this kind of season. I know that, but that doesn’t mean I can’t express an opinion on it. I probably don’t have any criticism about this series that most people haven’t already heard. I’m certain that Grian and the people he hired worked incredibly hard on this season, and the effort really shows. The models for the snails and the trivia bot were really cute, I think it was really fun to outsource quiz questions to fan creators, and the superhero mechanics were really well done. But that doesn’t mean I personally enjoyed this season as much as I enjoyed the others.

Player interaction, resource gathering, PvP kills, and trapping took a back seat to each episodes gimmick. My absolutely least favorite was the snails. Of the 120 something possible deaths, I think something like 30 were just the snails. In fact, that particular gimmick was so all encompassing that there was basically no meaningful interaction between players at all in that session, since basically every conversation boiled down to “man the snails sure suck anyways I should start running now because of the snail” and all of them seemed pretty sick of it by the end which is why they cut the session short. The fact that a few people actually managed to get base building done that episode was miraculous. I know it’s funny that that happened, and that maybe I shouldn’t be taking it this seriously, but it still contributes to why I didn’t vibe with this season. Not to mention, the growth mechanic was consistently super glitchy and a little hard to watch especially when people were trying to get up anything, and the mob spawn mechanic meant constant lag spikes that also made it hard to watch.

And then in this last episode, I’m sorry, but while it was deffo the finale I expected for this season that was already super chaotic, it was absolutely my least favorite finale of any series. I don’t think anything exemplifies it more than the fact that multiple final kills were due to mobs, including snail kills, in a session where almost everyone was on red and could have been killing each other. But they couldn’t focus on actually fighting half the time because they were shrinking and the trivia bots were there and oh there’s a vex and the snails are back and we have super powers. I couldn’t even tell what killed most people in their povs because yeah that explosion might have been a tnt trap, or maybe there’s a ghast somewhere or a creeper or someone is invisible and snuck up on them. Chaos is great in certain quantities but the whole finale was at an 11, and for me it wasn’t in a fun way. The only reprieve was the final fight, which was absolutely a fun watch because it was just actual PvP. Joel showed off some sick skills and won in a way I found very satisfying.

[tommyriddlez]

survival of the sickest

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

𝔇𝔢𝔱𝔥𝔯𝔬𝔫𝔢𝔪𝔢𝔫𝔱 - 𝔉𝔦𝔫𝔞𝔩 ℜ𝔢𝔮𝔲𝔢𝔰𝔱

[katerinaaqu]

Escape from Cyclops Island: Hubris

Okay a little something I promised to @wolfythewitch I was gonna post when discussing on a statue of Odysseus under the ram and this doodle Title says it all I believe! Hehehe

His heart was pounding somewhere in his throat so much that he felt he could spit it out at any moment now. He could swear he could hear the blood pumping behind his ear, almost making him deaf. He had to master all his self-control not to let his breath hiss down his throat and he felt cold sweat running across his face and back. He didn’t dare to make a sound even if the moans and groans of pain coming out of that detestable giant throat of the Cyclops were masking most of the other sounds except from the bleating of the flock. Polyphemus was still bleeding profoundly out of that crushed eyeball of his as he was stumbling across his cave, constantly making sounds of agony and on occasion he would angrily sway his arm around, dropping a load of stuff hanging from the walls or piled around. Odysseus was holding his breath every time one of those piles collapsed with tremendous sound and saw one of his men that were scattered about the room run for cover, barely missing being buried under the giant debris. He was at the end of his wits. That was the most difficult night they had so far and that spoke loads considering the terrifying week they passed in that secluded hole, watching their companions being consumed by the giant Cyclops. He was awake all night that was for sure ever since he had that idea to get the bastard drunk and pluck his eye out. It seemed a good idea at that time but of course even if he was mentally prepared for a difficult night, the actual thing was beyond terrifying; beyond his sickest expectations. On top of that he hadn’t calculated on the heightened senses of the Cyclops. He could hear a single needle drop! Yet alone them moving about! Therefore their whole night was nightmarish for they had to move about and avoid being stomped upon or being crushed every time the Cyclops couldn’t stay put and sleep while in pain among others while they themselves had to run about as soundlessly as possible.

Now even the Cyclops was exhausted and he was more lazily moving about but his pain was giving him strength and Odysseus still hadn’t figured out their way out! He knew the Cyclops was blind but now he could tell he had both acute sense of hearing and smell! They wouldn’t easily get past him! During the whole nightly and deadly play of hide-and-seek and chase, Odysseus was still trying to figure out a way out of the situation. They would have only one chance for there wouldn’t survive another day in that cave and their comrades were in danger too! Not only were there more of this monster around but even Polyphemus himself might as well stumble across their ships. Or their comrades would come looking for them and either get past him or get crushed by the others. Odysseus had given them orders to wait about a week. That day was getting dangerously close to come and they were still trapped! Polyphemus dropped yet another huge stack of grapes. His comrade Alcimos left a yelp of surprise as he was nearly crushed. Odysseus felt all his nerves tensing feeling Polyphemus look at that direction!

“So this is where you’re hiding?” Polyphemus moaned in his unworldly voice

He swung his arm barely missing his poor comrade and crushed at a stone wall behind. The silence that followed the tremendous sound was deafening.

“Shit!” he mumbled barely audibly

Odysseus picked a pebble up and threw it with all his might to the corner of the other direction. The dry sound echoed in the stone chamber and luckily drew the attention of their predator. Odysseus made a haste, almost panicking, move with his hand, urging his friend to run. As soundlessly as possible his terrified comrade obeyed. Odysseus eyed Eurylochus. He was as pale as a sheet, probably all of them were. Odysseus through another stone at another corner.

“Is that you there, Nobody?!” Polychemus growled swinging his huge arms again, “You won’t get away from me! You’ll pay for what you’ve done!”

Odysseus hopped over to Eurylochus’s part as quietly as he could, practically crawling on all fours towards his direction, and patted his back.

“Captain…what are we going to do?” Eurylochus whispered (well it was more mouthing like whispering)

“I don’t know!” Odysseus replied in a similar manner

“We’re trapped! There’s no way out of here!”

“I’m thinking! I’m thinking!”

He nearly banged his head with his fists. Fear and lack of sleep were blocking his logical thinking.

“Think, you fool!” he urged himself, “Think! Think! There must be a way to run past him! Think! Think!”

Upon yet another rumbling of one of his comrades swiftly changing position to avoid the giant foot of the Cyclops, Odysseus threw another stone, this time to the wall above the sheep, causing the animals to agitate and bleat together. He hoped their noise would cover their clumsy attempts to change position. That didn’t pass unnoticed by Polyphemus.

“Is that where you’re hiding?” He groaned again, “among my sheep? You hope to walk past me inside my own flock?”

Yeah, the thought did cross my mind, Odysseus thought. In fact that was the initial plan; to wait for Polyphemus to open his cave and then they would run among the sheep that would come out and hope for the best. Odysseus was not sure if it would work anymore. Apparently he was right for the Cyclops confirmed his fear by laughing in his pain.

“You are a fool, Nobody! Do you think you can run past me so easily?! I will smell and feel you! I will sit here and make sure no one passes through me!”

Stumbling his way towards the cave’s entrance, he sat himself to the corner, to make his point. The message was clear. He would feel his way across the flock. Well, there goes my plan! Odysseus thought.

“Shit!” he cussed once more

Dawn was getting dangerously close. He was running out of time to find a solution. Would they run past him anyways? Improbable. Stay in yet another day and hope to somehow dig themselves out of it? Impossible. Would they, perhaps, wait for the nightfall when the flock would be coming in so they would run out as Polyphemus would be busy taking his sheep in? It could work but for once seemed as risky as their initial plan of escape and two he knew they were running out of time. Not only would their small search party arrive and compromise his lie that they were alone, revealing his identity too that he had tried to conceal, but also his men were at the point of breaking. He doubted they would last yet another full day in the cave waiting for their possible death. Not to mention hunger and fatigue had started taking their toll on them all.

“You will not get past me, Nobody!” Polyphemus threatened again

Apparently, though, they weren’t the only ones exhausted by their nightly chase and hide-and-seek game. Polyphemus groaned one last time in pain (potentially the wine he had so carelessly chugged down was not out of his system yet) and his head fell to the side and fell asleep. That gives us a few hours window, Odysseus thought. He didn’t have time to lose.

“Captain!” Eurylochus urged him again as loudly as he dared, “We must do something!”

“Sh!” Odysseus harshly shushed him, “I need to think!”

“Think!” he urged himself again, “You must think! Your life depends on it! Yours and your men’s! Think! What should we do!? Sheep…among the sheep…no we can’t do that now…but still… No, go back to the original idea! No time for more complicated plans! Do not fill your brain with unnecessary thoughts, you fool! Think! Back to the basics…the sheep… We can hide among the sheep…”

He gazed over at the flock. He noticed indeed it was an impressive flock. If they weren’t in such a position he might as well admire how well-kept they were! He noticed then the rams. Yes, sheep rams and goats he knew. He had plenty of flocks under his supervision in Ithaca. He noticed this good breed of rams among the white sheep. The rams were big, strong and black like violet flowers; were easily distinguishable among the rest. Yeah, these animals would make even the princes of Troy feeling envious. Suddenly his mind tingled. His hand cupped his chin, feeling the curly hair of his beard. Suddenly the light bleating of sheep and the snoring of the despicable Cyclops were not bothering him anymore. In fact, they were making the cogs in his brain move faster.

“Sheep…we can hide among the sheep… Troy…the trick that saved us from Troy… The sheep…in the sheep…no, no, no! Not in the sheep…among them…to get under his feet…wait…under…under…! That’s it!” he snapped his fingers in realization (drawing the attention of Eurylochus no less)

If it worked he would have to congratulate himself, he thought. If this didn’t work then nothing would! Just to be safe, he through another rock at the sheep, hoping the familiar sound would keep the Cyclops lulled in his sleep and clapped his hands twice as loudly as he dared, drawing the attention of his other companions. With frantic moves he pointed at them the flock, urging them to follow him in the pen. Luckily they got his meaning and ran there. Odysseus ran as fast and soundlessly as he could to the pile of withes that Polyphemus used as his bed and grasped some strong twisted ones from them. Joining his comrades he once more signaled to the sheep pointing upwards and then patted his stomach. He didn’t dare to speak a word. He didn’t know if the Cyclops would wake up and certainly his plan wouldn’t be ruined otherwise nothing would save them. It took his comrades two minutes to understand what he meant but thank the gods they did. He grabbed three-three the rams by their horns (thanking all the gods that this creature had no shepherd dogs to guard his flock!) and tied them together and then helped each and every one of his comrades under them. He left Eurylochus for last.

“Captain…h-how…a-are you…”

“Sh!” Odysseus urged again in a whisper, “Trust me”

He certainly sounded more confident than what he felt but Eurylochus didn’t need to know that. Helping his brother-n-law to be tied as well he looked around. There was only one ram left and it was the biggest and the best Polyphemus had in his flock. He knew that ram; it was Polyphemus’s favorite. He remembered seeing their tormentor caressing it and taking care of it. He glared daggers towards the direction of Polyphemus; fists clenching almost to the point of his nails digging in his flesh. All his accumulated anger was bubbling ready to explode. He had to use all his self control not to be lost in it. He went to the ram and grasped its thick fleece with all his might. There he remained taking breaths to calm himself. His body was practically drenched in cold sweat. He prayed to all the gods he knew that his plan would work. The last minutes till dawn passed like eons as he noticed the rosy color of dawn entering through the openings of the cave.

“This is it…” he thought, “The moment of truth”

The monster he so wished he could kill right now, slowly began to wake up. Like clockwork; like the very beasts of nature! He noticed him moaning and groaning in agony still.

“Yes!” Odysseus thought maliciously, “Suffer the pain of my men! Suffer like you should, you beast! Burn and drown in your blood for all I care, unholy creature!”

He saw the Cyclops slowly opening the heavy rock. The fresh air hit him directly on the face as well as the warm light of dawn. Yes! Just a little longer! Polyphemus groaned again in pain and whistled for the sheep to come out. He felt the sheep he was under moving but the movements were much slower than what he remembered. He knew it was because now he had him too weighting it down apart from its own thick fleece. As he suspected, Polyphemus began feeling his way through the flock, touching the backs of his sheep, counting and lurking for his victims to cross! Odysseus literally held his breath when his first comrade was to come through. Polyphemus’s hand touched the sheep. Odysseus prayed to all gods that his comrade would hold his fear back and manage to go through.  Polyphemus felt his way over and…he let the rams pass! The Man of Many Torments let out a small sigh of relief. He secretly congratulated himself for tying three rams together. His comrade in the middle was protected from both sides. The second passed the same through. He felt a smirk almost play at the corner of his lips as if he was trying to calm his own heart; stop his own sweat from making his palms slippery and nearly falling off his own salvation.

“Fool!” he thought triumphantly for one second, “You foolish beast! You thought you could catch me! No I will not be caught and devoured by you, Cyclops! Never! Their deaths weren’t in vain, Cyclops!”

Despite his resolve and wild triumph that was making his chest nearly breaking by the way his heart was pounding against it, Odysseus of Ithaca felt ready to have a heart attack as his own turn had come. Once again he nearly fell off but he bravely held his pace. He then heard Polyphemus speak (his view was blocked by the ram’s thick fleece).

“How strange that you come last, my dearest ram!” Polyphemus cooed at it, “You usually are the first to run out and lead all my flock to the open air to graze upon the grass…and by the night you run first back to get into your warm home… Is it because you are sad for your master, my dear ram? Because that puny man, Nobody, took away sight with his evil trick when he clouded his mind with wine? Is that it?”

Sweat was running like a river on Odysseus’s face as his heart was speeding twice as fast as a normal human would! His head was feeling light from hanging upside down for too long as well and his arms were getting tired. If anything was holding him back was his rage that gave him almost inhuman strength as well as his need to survive this.

“So you show no compassion to my men, to any of us that begged your hospitality and yet you speak on this animal as if it is the most important thing! Curse you, beast! Remain blind now for the rest of your life!”

His heart nearly stopped as the huge, sinister hand cupped the back of the large ram and gave it an affectionate pet. He felt that those huge fingers nearly touched his palms! And yet Cyclops didn’t investigate any further. His chest was moving violently up and down sucking oxygen like no tomorrow as he finally breathed again. And then he smelt the fresh air around him. He was outside! Finally! Finally they went outside! He barely held himself not to run immediately. He gazed behind his back, seeing Polyphemus slowly moving with his arms extended trying to find his way blind to the downhill path.

“Now!” he thought

He immediately let go of the ram and ran as fast as his feet allowed him to, cutting the binds of his men with his knife.

“COME ON!” He called to them, “GO GO GO! Grab the sheep and go! Run!”

Cyclops gasped as the stomping of men, Odysseus’s cries and bleating of sheep reached his ears. How?! How had they managed to…? Odysseus freeing the last man yelled at his second-in-command;

“Eurylochus! Run back to the ships! Give order to start! Go! NOW!”

Eurylochus didn’t need to be told a second time. As if his feet grew the winged sandals of Hermes he ran with all his might downhill. The small bay with their ships of salvation came to sight….

*

Polites was organizing the crew the best he could. It was already the seventh day ever since their comrades and captain had left the bay in search for hospitality. He knew he would have to organize the search party that day. What would it be the right course? What if they were too late?

“-…OLITES!”

He raised his head from his work at the distant sound of that voice. No soon after he saw the figures of Eurylochus and a few of their comrades running like all demons of Tartarus were after them. They were carrying huge sheep on their shoulders which were slowing them down while leading some more with them.

“POLITES!” Eurylochus was heard clearly now, “PREPARE THE DEPARTURE! HOIST THE SAILS!”

“What?” Polites asked in wonder but then he saw from afar a huge figure

It didn’t need intelligence to realize what it was.

“Oh crap!” he cursed himself “HOIST THE SAILS!” He transferred the order, “ALL HANDS ON DECK!”

Hands and feet frantically began working, abandoning literally anything they might have been doing, any sort of provisions they have laid down upon the beach and jumped in the water to climb the ships; ropes were loosened, sails were opened and anchors were pulled up as fast as their human hands could manage. Their comrades joined them soon after.

“GO GO GO!” Eurylochus yelled, climbing up the ship dripping water from the beach and helping the others up

“Wait! What about the others?”

“THERE ARE NO OTHERS POLITES! PREPARE FOR DEPARTURE!”

“Where is Odysseus?”

They both turned towards the dreadful sight; Odysseus was running as fast as his feet could take him (and that was fast enough) among the sheep of Polyphemus. Behind him the dark, sinister and huge figure of the Cyclops was catching up slowly because of size alone.

“Captain!” Eurylochus yelled, “Quickly! Hurry!”

Breath hissing in his throat and heart hammering against his ribcage Odysseus was running like Charon himself was after him. Around him the sheep of Polyphemus were also scared from the commotion.

“NOBODY!”

He stopped to look back at Cyclops that was after him, slowly yet steadily gaining ground. Something in his mind snapped that moment. He looked at the ram that was the source of his salvation. His original plan was to take it with him but he knew he could not carry it. He could only see red at the realization. He drew his sharp sword and grabbed the ram by the horns, eyeing the beast he hated with flaming eyes of obsidian.

“That is for my men!” He said threateningly

And then his sword cut through the tender neck of the ram, rich in fat and blood. The ram bleated desperately as it chocked to its own blood.

“NOOOO!” Polyphemus yelled woefully

He didn’t need to be smart to know what Odysseus had done. The king of Ithaca didn’t stop to enjoy the pain of his opponent. He ran to the edge of the rock and threw himself in the sea before swimming frantically towards his ship where his men helped him up immediately on their way out of the bay. Breathing heavily he looked around and all his comrades were rejoicing to see them fine!

“Captain!” Polites called out, “Thank gods you are alive! What happened! Where are the others?”

Odysseus’s eyes darkened.

“Gone…” he croaked out, clenched feast trembling “That…that beast ate them!”

His comrades let out cries of mourning as they covered their heads with their cloths in lament. It was the second loss they were suffering outside of war ever since Thrace and the way was beyond comprehension… Odysseus saw his men lamenting, even those who were now rowing for their lives. Something snapped inside him. He turned around towards the shore, for they had gained a fair distance; brought his both hands around his mouth and yelled with all his might;

“CYCLOPS! HAY, CYCLOPS! I’M HERE!”

“What are you doing?!” Eurylochus croaked out shocked

However Odysseus was beyond himself.

“Looks like it wasn’t just a common man the one you decided to devour his companions! Looks like it was no weakling as you thought!” he mocked him, “You should have thought twice before you had the audacity to devour your guests in your own home! This is why Zeus took the sight away from you!”

Polyphemus growled in anger. He grasped a huge boulder from the rock next to him and threw it towards the direction of the voice. The boulder splashed loudly into the water, shaking the men off their feet and showering them with water. The wave pushed the ship close to the shore, almost hitting the rocks. Odysseus rushed to the pole of the steer and pulled with all his might, narrowly escaping the howl crushing against the sharp protrusions. His head moved urging his men to run to their positions at the oars.

“ROW MEN! ROW!” he ordered, “Full speed ahead!”

They didn’t need to be told twice! Their calloused from war and sea hands grabbed upon the oars like their souls resided in them, rowing with all their might at the orders and rhythm provided by Eurylochus and the rest of the captains. Odysseus laughed loudly almost like a madman seeing the distance they covered.

“YOU MISSED!” He mocked him again, “CYCLOPS! I’M STILL HERE!”

“What are you doing!?” one of the men called out in panic, “You reckless man! Stop provoking him! You will kill us all!”

His men indeed seemed to be coming to pat him on the back, stop him from performing this madness as some more boulders barely let their ships untouched.

“Captain! That’s enough! Please!” Eurylochus urged

“CYCLOPS! HAY! WHAT’S THE MATTER!” Odysseus ignored them “YOUR STRENGTH LEFT YOU!?” he yelled as he was practically held by them as he rushed to the edge of the ship to yell to his opponent with all the strength of his lungs

“CAPTAIN!” now Eurylochus yelled, “Have you lost your damned mind?! Stop this!”

Fists clenched and shaking, no, rather his entire body was shaking as Odysseus rushed to the edge and almost hanged himself from there, as if trying to ease some distance between himself and the shore.

“Captain don’t-!”

“CYCLOPS!” he yelled on top of his lungs, “IF ANYONE ASKS YOU WHO TOOK YOUR SIGHT TELL THEM IT WAS ODYSSEUS THE SACKER OF CITIES, THE SON OF LAËRTES FROM ITHACA THAT DID IT! DO YOU HEAR ME!?”

“Odysseus!”  Polites now urged grabbing hold of him as if he was afraid that he had lost his mind

And in one way he was right. Face all red from fury and nostrils flattering in his breathing, Odysseus was no different than a madman indeed. The cry of desperation he heard from Cyclops and the way his arms flew in the air was balsam in his soul. His enemy’s pain and distress was as addictive as the triumph over this opponent!

“ALAS! It was prophesized for me by Telemus that Odysseus would make me blind!” he cried, “But I hoped for a battle! For a worthy opponent! Not this short WEAKLING who clouded my mind with wine to do it! But my father, Poseidon will heal me, Nobody! YOU HEAR ME!?”

He threw another bolder in anger but this time Odysseus was way out of range. The bolder landed in the water several meters behind any ship that belonged to the king of Ithaca. Odysseus’s mocking laughter echoed once more.

“COWARD!” Polyphemus called upon from his isle, “Come back and fight me like a man, you weakling! Come back so you can have the gifts you so wished for! Come back to have the handsome ransoms my father Poseidon would have for me!”

Odysseus roared angrily, beyond all reason, banging is fist against the hull of the ship, practically breaking free from Polites’s grip.

“IF ONLY I HAD YOU UNDER MY SWORD NOW!” he yelled, “I WOULD TAKE YOUR LIFE! I WOULD STEAL YOUR LIFE LIKE YOU TOOK MY MEN FROM ME! AND NOT EVEN YOUR MIGHTY FATHER POSEIDON WOULD BE ABLE TO PUT YOU TOGETHER AND HEAL YOUR EYE! YOU HEAR ME! I’D KILL YOU!”

He had no idea he could yell so loudly or so long. He had no idea he would lose his mind that day but he just had to release all the accumulated anger he carried in all these days; all the horror and fury.

“DO YOU HEAR ME?! I’D KILL YOU! I’D KILL YOU! I’D KILL YOU!”

“Odysseus!” Polites was heard again

The king of Ithaca was breathing heavily like wounded. His throat almost completely aggravated from his desperate yelling. His chest seemed on fire as well. But that moment of silence after the madness was enough to hear the Cyclops from a distance. He raised his arms towards the heavens and cried out;

“Oh, Poseidon! If I am your son and you wish to call yourself my father, make sure that Odysseus the Sacker of Cities from Ithaca shall never see his land again! But if he is fated to set a foot again to his ancestral home, let it be alone, may all his companions perish and he shall arrive to his land stranger upon a foreign ship and meet only misery in his halls!”

At the sound of that terrible curse, the men on his boat nearly scratched their faces in lament and moaned in terror.

“Gods! We’re cursed!” one called out

“Gods, why!” one other cried, “Right after Troy!”

And then Odysseus gasped. The word rang in his mind like a bell, snapping him out of his previous rampage…freezing him solid almost instantaneously.

“Gods…!” he whispered in terror, “What did I do!”

His previous hypertension turned into a frozen, delirious state. He almost fell limb to the arms of Polites; eyes hollow and fixated upon nothingness; upon some imaginary thing on the planks beneath him.

“What did I do!”

“Odysseus?” Polites whispered alarmed, “Odysseus!”

“What did I do! What did I do!” it was all his captain was whispering

He knew then…he knew the price was too great and he could not pay it!

What did I do what did I do what did I do what did I do what did I do…

~*~*~*~

Based on the 9th rhapsody of the Odyssey this is another one-shot!

Dunno why I imagined how literaly nerve-breaking the whole process would be and how these men would be inside that cave waiting for dawn to come so I kinda went for that! Plus I wanted to explain the emotional accumulation inside Odysseus that led him to make the greatest mistake in his life!

Dunno why I made him kill Polyphemus's favorite ram! I imagined that if a ram alone is enough to lift him up then he wouldn't be able to carry it so I imagined Odysseus would want to hurt Polyphemus for what he did to his men and this idea of a more cruel act by Odysseus was given!

The escape scene was also heavily inspired by the Sinbad The Legend of The Seven Seas scene of the giant fish!

And of course you can see my analysis upon my theories on Curse of Polyphemus

My analysis about Odysseus wanting to hurt Polyphemus and enjoying the pain he inflicted him can be seen here

I hope you guys like it! Sorry it is like 5 in the morning now! Hehehe

[ranchracoon]

Into the Resident Evil Verse

Dimitrescu Daughters x  Fem Reader

Requested by: Belaluvr

*NSFW Warning: language, blood drinking*

"Come on hurry up" you grumble impatiently. 

Your foot shakes as you watch the numbers of your download slowly rise; 43% 44% 45%. You preordered Resident Evil: Village months ago and it's finally here! You can't wait any longer. The second it hits 100% and says it's ready to go you grab your controller and hit the icon to start the game. The internet has been going crazy over this new villain Lady Dimitrescu, you and your friends have come up with theories on how she's the big baddy you'll ultimately face down. You're disappointed to say the least when you find she's the first villain you face, but that doesn't damper your spirits. 

"I'm sorry" you heave dramatically as you click to shoot her in her dragon form. 

You yawn loudly and look over at your phone, "1 am?! Shit I gotta go to bed."

Needless to say the game becomes your current hyper-fixation over the next few months; it consumes all your daily thoughts even after you got all the achievements in the game and played a minimum of 15 times. You tone it down around your coworkers because they don't understand, but in the wee hours of morning you're still awake scrolling restlessly through fanart, fanfiction, and more. 

Jokingly your friend sends you a meme, "you're in the last video game you've played, how long do you survive? Send this to 5 friends or else it'll come true." you read aloud. 

You ponder for a minute, then respond "well we all know what game I played last. I'd say I would survive indefinitely using my charming good looks to seduce Lady Dimitrescu and/or her daughters, or I would die immediately by trying."

Your friends roast your answer, sending laughing emojis and more memes dogging on you, but you roll your eyes knowing they're no better than you as you shut your phone off to finally sleep. When you wake you're shivering which is odd considering it's the beginning of September and shouldn't be this cold yet. Your eyes flutter open and you find that you are not currently in your room, but a rundown shack with something oozing down the walls. You fling out of the creaky bed and hit your back against the other wall, panting frantically as you look around to get your baring. It's small that's an understatement, the bed barely fits in the room and you have to do a side shuffle to squeeze past it. There's no door, only a curtain hanging up which you push aside to reveal a small cluttered kitchen and another curtain hanging beside you. 

"What the fuck?" you mumble to yourself. 

You creep along the interior until your find a door, sliding the large metal rod out of place and pushing the wooden door open. As you do so, something glass falls on the other side and shatters igniting a chorus of blood curdling howls and howl-like screams. You startle and shuffle back through the door as the house shakes and there's loud thumping heard from outside. That definitely confirmed your suspicions. So if this is when Ethan is getting attacked, that means you should be safe for the time being, the lycans will be attacking him. 

"There's no fucking way. This has to be a dream, but if it's not..."

You look over and see one of those crates with yellow markings, but when you strike it with your fist nothing happens except a shooting pain in your hand. 

"Okay...maybe video game logic?"

Checking in the kitchen you find a knife and walk back over to the crate, swinging the knife over the box and seeing it crumble into little shards. Inside is ammo which is entirely useless to you right now, which means you're stuck with the knife. The howling outside has died down meaning Ethan must be in the next section, if you're in the game then, perhaps finishing the game will release you? But that means...

A shiver runs up your spine at the thought of facing the women of your sickest fantasies. Then again, you have intimate knowledge of this game and what occurs so maybe that can be of use to you. You leave the rundown shack, looking around frantically for any signs of lycans or worse, so far so good as you weave your way through the village. You scoff and plug your nose at the smell, you knew it would smell bad but not this bad. The rotting goat heads definitely don't help. Unlike Ethan though, you don't have to follow the main path and can actually climb and jump without going through the mental puzzles. You jump up onto a crate and climb up over a fence, landing on the other side and almost slipping in the mud. You shiver again and rub your arms for warmth, you have to get out of this cold or else you'll freeze to death for sure. 

Then a sound stops you in your tracks, a jingling of bells of some sort which if memory serves right means Mother Miranda. You look around frantically and dive into the mud behind some crates as the jingling passes by you and stops. You cover your mouth to muffle your breathing as you sit there, the cold wet soaking through your clothes and sending chills over your body. The jingling continues on and you sigh out heavily, standing up and looking around the corner not seeing her. In front of you is the maiden statue which means the gate to Dimitrescu Castle is not far, neither is the church. You run through the courtyard toward the stone wall seeing that Ethan has already placed the stone tablets and the gate is open. Good, that means he must be in the meeting with the lords and this is your opportunity to sneak into the castle. Then again, are you really safer with a bunch of blood thirsty sexy monster women?

You flick the switch to the door and look around quickly seeing scuff marks below your feet, that must be where Ethan was dragged out. The door clicks and opens to reveal the vineyard, as you step through the doors close once again with a loud thunk. That would explain why no one ever leaves. As you march through up the path you stop upon seeing the Duke's carriage, it would be in your best interest not to be caught so you go around as quickly and quietly as you can. The doors to the castle open for you but the large iron gates above do not close, so at least you can escape outside if need be. The castle is quiet, too quiet, as you walk down the hallway and into the hall of four. At least it's warm in here but now you begin to panic as you wonder where the other occupants of the castle currently are. Your question is answered upon the arrival of buzzing and flies surrounding your vision. 

"Shit."

As you turn around the formation of all three daughters appear, they surround you like sharks cutting you off from any means of escape. When you try to step back their formation blocks you and pushes you forward until one of them pushes you hard onto the ground. You grunt and catch yourself on the hardwood floor then flip over to look up at them as they giggle and look down at you. Bela leans down, making you gulp from the close proximity but also gag a little from the small of rotten blood and decay. 

"Hmmm you're not a maid" she states. 

"Another outsider? This day has become interesting" Cassandra laughs. 

"We'll take her to mother."

"No no no wait!" You plead. 

They don't listen as Bela slices her sickle into the back of your leg, you scream loudly and curse as the blade catches into your flesh and you're dragged by it. It burns and you can't help but cry and scream from the pain of the muscle being shredded from their sickle. Cassandra hooks the other leg making you scream again as they drag you to their mother, the only thought in your mind is the shooting pain in your legs. They drop you upon arrival and you whimper, looking down at your shredded legs as you sniffle and groan from the throbbing pain as you bleed out on the ornate carpet below you. 

"Mother, I bring you fresh prey" Bela announces. 

"You are too kind to me daughters, now, lets have a look at him."

Lady Dimitrescu stands and pauses upon seeing you, "well well, what do we have here? Another outsider."

You groan trying to move, gasping and flinching at the pain, Lady Dimitrescu approaches you examining you thoroughly. 

"Not who I was expecting, but you'll do fine for Mother Miranda's ceremony. Drain her daughters."

Your eyes flash open as her daughters stalk toward you, you can't exactly move but you try to anyways to get any sort of distance between you and them. 

"Wait! I know about Ethan and Rose and Mother Miranda. I can help you! Mother Miranda is only trying to kill you and wants Rose. She doesn't care about anyone else. I know Ethan is on his way here, if he makes it here he's going to kill you and your daughters."

This gives her daughters pause but only makes Lady Dimitrescu laugh, "that pathetic manthing cannot hurt us."

"He'll find out your weakness. You're going to drag him in here just like you did me, he'll be strung up and escape and Bela is going to chase him through the dungeon. His gun is going to shoot out a window and he'll know you're weak to the cold."

Cassandra steps forward, her sickle swinging in your direction but you dodge just in time before it slices open your cheek. 

"How do you know about that?!" She growls. 

"I told you. I know everything that is about to happen. I can help you."

"What are you, some kind of psychic?" Daniela asks. 

"Um..."

Lady Dimitrescu turns, "speak before I cut out your tongue! How do you know all this? Some, outsider knowing my daughter's weaknesses. I should cut you open myself."

Her claws flex out and you swallow, starring at them wide eyed then back at her, how are you going to explain? How will they understand? You have to try before she does kill you. 

"Okay okay, um I can't explain exactly how I know but I can prove that I'm telling the truth!"

"Speak!" Lady Dimitrescu orders. 

You stutter out what you can remember, from Ethan getting into the castle, to him escaping, killing Bela, and the phone conversation Lady Dimitrescu has with Mother Miranda. They all stare at you, Cassandra ready strike as she growls under her breath. 

"Are we really going to listen to this? How do we even know she's telling the truth?"

"Because Ethan will be here any minute, and you're going to string him up and he'll escape. If I'm lying you can kill me, if that's what happens you'll know I'm telling the truth."

"So you want us to let him escape?" Bela scoffs. 

"If he does, you'll chase him into the basement and you'll die. When he escapes, wait for him in the dining hall or kitchen, but if you go in that storage room adjacent to the kitchen you will die."

"That doesn't prove anything!" Snaps Cassandra. 

"I know Mother Miranda ordered you to kill all your staff. Why would she do that knowing you require them to survive? She's also wiped out the whole village with those lycan experiments leaving you nothing."

That gives them another pause, Lady Dimitrescu retracts her claws and steps toward you, you flinch and crumble onto the ground, your head getting light from the blood loss. 

"Daniela, fetch me first aid." She orders. 

Daniela is gone and back in a flash, she hands her mother a green bottle which she opens and pours onto your legs. You scream again from the burning sensation but before your very eyes the wounds on your legs heal. The pain subsides leaving your legs heathy but your pants still torn from where their sickles had been. 

"Tell me everything. Quickly."

Ethan will be here any minute, you rush through what you can, telling them about Mother Miranda's plan for Rose to bring back her daughter, and Ethan collecting the parts of his daughters from each lord. The whole reason being Mother Miranda wants the other lords dead. Lady Dimitrescu listens intently, you can see the turmoil, questioning the woman who saved her for what this stranger says, but there's enough truth to her words to make Lady Dimitrescu pause. 

"Call Mother Miranda. You'll see I'm telling the truth."

A noise captures their attention, the sound of shattered glass meaning Ethan must be in the castle now. 

"Well, we'll see if what you say is true soon enough. Daniela take her to my chambers and then bring Ethan to me."

Daniela grabs you by the collar of your shirt and drags you through the castle, you grunt and groan as your body bumps onto various pieces of furniture. Daniela tosses your forcibly into the Lady's chambers, you look around seeing the large broad windows and her vanity around you. You stand up and try the window but it's locked, you could take the key to the door and escape but where would you even go? You're damned if you do, damned if you don't. So far it appears they believe you enough to keep you alive, but this is definitely not how you planned on meeting these women. The ghost pain in your legs tingles, making you rub them and groan, you've never experienced pain like that before and you can't get the feeling out of your head. 

You have three options: escape with the key and try to find a way out of the castle, escape and bide your time until Ethan kills them, or stay put and hope they believe you. Then again, they may have hurt you but it's instinct right? They shouldn't deserve to die, but then again they do torture people, they enjoy hurting people not just out of survival. You're sitting duck at a meat farm, waiting for your turn to be slaughtered. The door slams open making you jump and flinch, Lady Dimitrescu walks through and looks down at you, her eyes narrowing. 

"I will call Mother Miranda."

Okay so she believes you.

She sits at her vanity and picks up the phone, dialing a number and waiting. 

"Mother Miranda, I regret to inform you that Ethan Winters has escaped that fool Heisenberg-"

You look toward the windows, Ethan isn't there meaning he must still be in the basement with Bela. You hope that Bela heeded your words and didn't follow him. 

"Because he has already proved too much for my daughters to handle. When I find him- yes Mother Miranda."

She hangs up the phone and brace for her to throw the vanity but it doesn't come, you open your eyes and she's looking directly at you through the mirror. 

"How?" She asks. 

You know what she's asking, but again, how can you tell her without sounding completely insane, "um, because I've done all this before?"

"What do you mean?"

Maybe you can lie a little or tell a half-truth, "all of this, where I'm from is a story told through Ethan's perspective. I'm not from here, all of this, your life, your death, is all a story. Ethan is supposedly the hero that vanquishes you, the other lords, and Mother Miranda to save his daughter."

"You're not from here?"

"This realm? No, not really. This is all a story where I'm from. I don't know how to get back."

"Yet with your knowledge you decided to come into my home and tell us our fate. Rather than let him do as was destined to do."

"I guess."

"He kills my daughters."

"Yes."

"How?"

"He figures out they are weak to the cold, then shoots them."

"Can't I kill him?"

"You probably could, but that's the thing, he's made of mold. The same mold Mother Miranda uses in her experiments, from this thing she calls the mutamycete and while that thing is alive, he'll just keep coming back."

"And he manages to kill me?"

"And Donna, and Moreau, and Heisenberg and eventually Mother Miranda. Her plan all along was to have Ethan kill you and the other lords. It all happens when Ethan faces Mother Miranda in the end. She calls you her, 'false children' and even thanks Ethan for destroying you."

Now they vanity is thrown. You shield your face from the flying debris as she stands and screams in frustration, her hands shaking violently. 

"My daughters are more importantly to me than anything. Including Mother Miranda, she may have given me immortality and this castle, but my daughters are mine and mine alone!"

"Then give Ethan your section of Rose. Let him go and face Mother Miranda, maybe even call the other lords to warn them. Except Heisenberg, he can die for all I care."

"That we can agree on" she huffs. 

"Very well" she says after a moment, "where will he be?"

"Um, after he defeats Bela he's supposed to come here and get your key so, if he didn't face Bela he might still be in the basement. All of this is new."

Lady Dimitrescu motions for you to follow her, she crouches through the doorway and you follow her, partially sprinting to keep up, back to the main hall and into the kitchen. Bela is in the kitchen and looks over at you, her arms crossed upon seeing you still alive and you hear Ethan in the other room. 

"Speak to him, I will collect the part of Rose we have. Bela will monitor."

You approach the iron gate with your hands raised up as Ethan points his gun toward you. 

"You're-you're human?" He asks. 

"Yes" you answer. 

"Where are those witches? How are you alive? Get me out of here! I need to find my daughter."

"I know Ethan. I know."

"How-how do you know my name?"

"That doesn't matter right now. Right now I'm here to offer you a deal, the lady of the castle has agreed to give you her piece of Rose in exchange you leave without harming her or her daughters."

"Piece?"

"Do we have a deal?"

"Just get me my daughter!"

The iron gate opens and he barges through to find Bela standing there, her sickle drawn. Ethan draws his gun but before he shoots you jump in between them, holding you arms up Bela growls at the motion and Ethan's gun shakes.

"Hey! Whoa! We had a deal!"

"You're with them! Those monsters! This is all a trick."

"Bela stand down."

Lady Dimitrescu's voice booms down the hallway, Ethan turns his gun in the direction of the hallway to find the Lady standing there with the yellow jar in hand. Ethan looks at the jar, then you, then back at the jar, lowering his gun slowly as the Lady holds out the jar. He slowly approaches and takes the jar, looking it over confused then back at you before he shuffles around the lady, waiting for her to strike before he runs off into the direction of the hall of four.

"Go out the way you came, the gate will be open for you to leave."

Now Bela and the lady look down at you, "now what?"

"Now he'll go to Donna's erm...Lady Beneviento's and the other lords. He'll kill them. Then he'll face Mother Miranda and destroy most of this village in the process."

"So, we're doomed either way. We just let him escape, and Mother Miranda ordered us to kill all of our food source. You've doomed us from being killed quickly to being killed by starvation" Bela snarls. 

"Unless we can more people to move to this village. You have vast wealth don't you? You alone could rebuild this village and bring people back, but you would have to stop torturing people."

"What?!" Bela snaps. 

"Bela, get your sisters. We have work to do. As for you" she looks in your direction, "you will tell me everything you know in great detail."

*          *          *

True to your word, Ethan does exactly what he did in the game; he faces Donna, Moreau, and Heisenberg, and eventually Mother Miranda. The village is consumed in mold and explosions can be heard outside the castle walls, you bunker down in the library with Daniela. Weirdly enough, she's not how you assumed to be at all; she's very sane albeit a bit eccentric to have an outsider to ask all her questions. It helps distract your mind from the chaos that happens outside, until the mutamycete explosion shakes the entire castle, Daniela is the first to grab you when the glass ceiling shatters from above. She's much heavier than you expect too, with her already freezing from the building up snow that crashes down into the library, you have to drag her out the door near one of the statues. 

There's a heater there, you know this area leads to the bell room as you look over at the statue of four women and the mask still adorned to it. The door to your left leads to the main hall where you hear more commotion happening as you sit Daniela in front of the heater. 

"Stay here."

You rush out to the main hall, seeing the fire out in the main hall and part of the wall crumbled in. Lady Dimitrescu storms out from beneath you, coming from the courtyard screaming for her daughters. Cassandra would be closest in her armory. You run across the banister to the portrait of a woman with the colorful glass eye, you push it open and run up to the iron door. Ethan never got the key to unlock it, but luckily for you, it's unlocked. The door opens and you groan at having to crawl through but you do so anyway, crawling underneath the opening in the wall then up the stairs to find Cassandra huddled in one corner. 

The cracked wall is broken with the bookshelf blocking it, laying in tattered pieces on the ground. You approach Cassandra who swing her sickle at you, barely missing you in the process as you grumble and try to lift her. She's heavier than Daniela but you manage to drag her to the opening in the wall that you have to crawl underneath. 

"You gotta help me a little here Cassandra."

"I can't" she mumbles. 

You look around then run back into the armory finding one of those weapons with a large hammer like head. You lift it, struggling to carry it down the stairs and swinging it at the opening in the wall to widen it. The bricks crumble like dust, giving you enough room to drag Cassandra through the opening and down the hallway to where Daniela is. The closer you and her get, the more movement she has, slowly warming herself the further from the cold you two get. Once you arrive to Daniela, Cassandra is able to move around and huddle with her sister for warmth. You sigh heavily and heard another commotion in the main hall, you open the door to see the Lady and Bela walking up the stairs. 

"In here!"

You motion to the door and the Lady bends in, setting Bela near the last remaining heater, they huddle together for warmth and you look up at Lady Dimitrescu. 

"So this is it? This is what we're reduced to."

"It'll get better."

"Says the psychic" she retorts.

"Mother Miranda is out of the way, that means you're in charge and can do what you wish with the village."

"If we survive long enough for that to happen."

"Well, I'm sure you could drain all that blood in the basement. If you're really desperate."

"How do you know about that?" Daniela asks. 

You raise an eyebrow at her and she looks away, "right" she mumbles. 

"We could eat you" Cassandra growls.

"Then you'll be back at phase one, with no food source."

Lady Dimitrescu sighs, "you have a point. I will see what I can salvage, from the wreckage."

The moment Lady Dimitrescu leaves, the daughters surround you, their hungry eyes looking over you. 

"We need blood" Bela groans. 

"Shit" you mutter.

Without asking they grab you, their teeth finding any exposed flesh they can find. Bela and Cassandra attack your neck, Daniela finds your arm and they bite down simultaneously. You choke out a scream, unable to fully scream because of Bela and Cassandra choking you. The pain burns up your body, you wiggle and squirm only to have them hold you down onto the ground as they take their fill. Eventually your head spins, you groan weakly and they drop you, fresh blood coating their mouths as you flinch from the air hitting your open wounds. Their eyes glow in the dim light of the heater, you look up at them and swallow thickly down your swollen throat. 

"You know, we never did get your name."

"Y/N" you mumble out. 

"That's a nice name" Daniela compliments. 

"We'll keep you alive. For now."

*          *          *

The days melt into months, Lady Dimitrescu kept you alive and it seems the girls have started to grow fond of you. When they start getting antsy or bored, wanting to tear into your flesh, you tell them a story from where you're from. Usually about another video game that you can remember, or things about your life. That keeps them entertained enough not to kill you or harm you, but it doesn't stop them from feeding off you. All of them take turns, and you're running dangerously low on that magical health cure, eventually you won't have any means of healing yourself. 

Lady Dimitrescu did exactly what you suggested, she turned the village into a prime tourist villa, giving tours of the historic castle and offering packages of fishing in the bay. As far as her food source, no one notices a couple drunkards or thieves missing here and there. Her daughters make themselves scarce during the tours, and she employed you to giving the tours. Not wanting to draw any more attention than necessary. 

After another long day of walking, you sigh and crash on a nearby couch, wanting nothing more than to wash and go to bed. You have to admit though, it's still better than your old life. You're surrounded by attractive women, and word has it they've grown rather fond of you too. Daniela is the first one to initiate anything, grabbing you by the shoulders and kissing you after a successful day of hunting a petty thief throughout the castle. You kissed her back of course, and that only sparked the other two to lay claim to you. 

Masterlist

Part Two

[howlingday]

So, I just read two manga that I'd like to share with y'all.

The first is GACHIAKUTA, which follows a pretty standard shounen plot with a hero who's ostracized by society. See, in this world, trash is thrown away and disposed of in a giant pit. However, there are two classes of people; those of the clean aristocratic, and the filthy slum. However, there's a third that's made up of those sentenced to "death by drop," in which people who commit crimes are treated as trash and thrown into the pit, like our protagonist, Rudo. However, once down there, he learns to us powers as a "Giver" as in he "gives" life to whatever he touches. He's asked to join the Cleaners, whose job is to destroy trash monsters.

Overall, I had a fun time. This has a solid start, even with all the information thrown at once.

This next one may be disturbing to read, so reader discretion is advised.

The other is FIRE PUNCH, which is all kinds of weird. See, the story follows Agni, who is a "Blessed" who has powers blessed by God after the Ice Witch sent the world into a polar apocalypse. His power is regeneration, but his life of survival (with his incestuous sister) comes to an end when his entire village is destroyed by Doma, a Blessed with fire powers. Doma is a member of the King's army for Behembourg, which is filled with pedophilic perverts who keep slaves and force them to fulfill their sickest desires, including but not limited to: forcing people to drink pee, forcing people to have sex with animals, rape, and God only knows what other horrible acts.

Honestly, haven't felt this sick to my stomach since reading the Night Angel trilogy. Would not recommend this to the faint of heart.

[narcissisticpdcultureis]

npd culture is HATING people with trauma you perceive as worse than yours because then you can't be the sickest person in the room/the person who survived the most and therefore you're not the person everyone should be the proudest of or the most worried about

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