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geode-crystal · 5 months ago

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@whumperofworlds this one is for you!

Characters involved:

Whumpee: Darius, "the Shining Knight"

Caretaker: Mianu, "the Lost Prince."

Some random Whumper idk

Contents: kidnapping, restraints (chains), a little bit of torture, a little bit of blood, a whole lot of angst

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The prince’s quest was noble. No one could deny that. Noble, but very, very dangerous. And Darius had sworn—both to his prince and to himself—that he would protect Mianu with his life.

Prince Mianu’s self-assigned mission was meant to be kept secret. His identity was meant to be secret. No one, aside from those who needed to, was supposed to know he had even left his kingdom. It didn’t matter that he was still trying to set right what had once gone wrong. They were all aware of the risks. Of what might happen if someone found out he was royalty.

Darius was never going to forgive himself when he got out of this.

If he got out of this.

The first thing Darius had done when he was alert enough to be fully aware of his situation was fight against his chains.

This was a living nightmare.

Everything that had led to his capture came back to him in a rush. It had all been too simple. Too easy. He was supposed to be better than this. But a simple ambush had been all that it took. He’d allowed himself to get distracted. He’d been naive enough to let Mianu wander a few feet out of his sight. And he’d been jumped. Just like that.

Darius had put up a fight. But it wasn’t enough. All too soon, the world had gone dark.

And now… here he was. Chained in enemy territory. No armor. No weapon.

Darius had been through a lot in his life. But had never felt so exposed and vulnerable.

He had to get out of there before anything else happened.

His training ran through his mind. Don’t make any noise, don’t alert the enemy to your presence… but the enemy already knew he was here. Hells, they put him here. Find something to use to your advantage… but the tiny, dark room he had been thrown into was completely empty. And his hands were chained high above his head. Of course, there were cuffs around his ankles, too, despite being dumped awkwardly on the floor, left on bruised knees. He could barely move, let alone investigate.

Really, guard training had much more to say about avoiding getting into these situations than what you should do to get out of them.

He would have to complain about that later.

“Oh, good. You’re awake. I was starting to think my crew had been too rough on you.”

Darius went rigid. He’d never heard that voice before, but he knew that tone too well. His eyes quickly scanned the little room. Nothing. It looked empty. Felt empty.

Darius hissed out a rather un-knightly word. Magic. The one thing he couldn’t defend against.

“Who are you?” he shouted. “Show yourself!”

He could have sworn his captor was smirking. “Well, if you insist.”

There was a soft sound, like a curtain being drawn. And then someone stood before him. Nearly towering over him. A bandit or a mercenary, by the looks of her clothing and the dagger at her belt. A successful one at that. She was practically littered with rings, her belt embedded with gemstones. A pendant with a golden chain dangled from her hand.

Darius’ breath caught in his throat.

That was his pendant. The one that Mianu had given him. One of a matching pair, enchanted so they could keep in contact even if they were apart. So they could find each other when they needed to.

Seeing it in that woman’s hands made his blood boil.

“Who are you?” Darius snapped.

The mercenary raised an eyebrow. “You’ve used that one already. I’d hoped a royal knight would be more versed in the art of conversation than that.”

No. No. This wasn’t just some random kidnapping. She knew exactly who he was.

“Whatever it is you want, you’re not going to get it,” Darius said as firmly as he could.

But how? They’d been so careful not to be recognized...

The woman made a soft sound, almost a laugh. “Alright. I’ll play along. What, exactly, makes you think I want something from you?”

Dread seeped into Darius’ heart. He refused to let it show. He glared daggers at his captor, surging against his bonds as though he could break free by sheer force of will. His wrists were definitely mangled at that point. He didn’t care.

“If you wanted me dead, I would be by now,” he hissed. “You’ve had plenty of chances.”

“True.” The woman still spoke as though they were chatting about dinner. “But I have something else in mind.”

She took a single step forward. Darius stayed frozen, torn between trying to back up and trying to lunge forward again. He knew both options were stupid and pointless, anyway. But he wanted to do something. Anything, to try to get out of this, to try to get back to Mianu before his captor did something much worse than just knocking him out and chaining him up…

But the woman only dangled the pendant in front of him. The deep emerald in the center shone, even in the dark room.

“What a fancy little toy you have,” the woman sneered. “Not something an ordinary knight carries around, hmm?”

All of his instincts told him to turn away. To hide. But Darius refused to back down. He couldn’t show any weakness. Not now.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he lied.

The gemstone flashed again.

The woman rolled her eyes. “Please. I daresay I know more about magic than the likes of you. Which is exactly why I need your darling little prince.”

Darius couldn’t keep his expression steady this time.

This was exactly what he’d been afraid of.

“What did you do with him?” Darius’ voice was far too soft for his own comfort.

And the woman had the gall to laugh. “Nothing. Not yet, anyway.”

“If you’re expecting me to help hurt him—”

“No need to worry yourself over that,” the woman cut him off. “No harm will come to him. Or you, for that matter, as long as you both behave.”

“I will never do what you ask,” Darius snapped.

The woman’s smile was heartless. Sickening. “No need to be so modest. You’re already playing your part wonderfully.”

And abruptly, Darius understood.

Whoever this woman was, she didn’t have Mianu. But she needed him. Everything had been a trap... but for Mianu. Darius was only the bait.

He’d rather die than get Mianu mixed up in this madness.

“It won’t work,” he said firmly. “Whatever you want, he’ll never give into your demands.”

“Won’t he?”

The woman’s tone was still cool. Confident. She was utterly convinced she had already won.

“We’ve all seen how… fond the poor little lost prince is of his dashing knight,” she went on. “Hard to blame him. What a handsome face.”

She gripped his chin, twisting his head this way and that. Darius jerked free.

“Whatever sick game you’re playing—”

“Oh, enough,” the woman snapped. “Don’t you have anything better to say? Besides, we don’t need him, really. Just his magic. I’ve heard the princeling has a certain affinity for working in the shadows.”

Darius’ heart could have stopped beating and he wouldn’t have noticed.

“No… no,” he choked out. “He won’t—you can’t.”

He struggled against his chains again, knowing full well it was useless. He didn’t care. He couldn’t let Mianu use that dark magic again. Mianu had sworn he would never call on the shadows again. The magic was powerful, but dangerous. Incredibly dangerous. Mianu had almost lost an arm to those dark powers. He’d nearly lost himself. If he fell into that darkness again…

Darius couldn’t lose him. Not like that.

“You can’t make him use that magic,” he said almost desperately. “I won’t let it happen.”

“That is not for you to decide,” his captor snapped.

She straightened up, holding the pendant closer. It kept flashing. Mianu was desperately trying to contact his knight. And the mercenary knew it.

“Let’s send him a little message, shall we?” she smirked.

She ran her thumb over the face of the gem. And instantly, the flashing changed to a solid glow. Mianu’s voice filled the air.

“Darius? Darius, are you there? Where are you? What happened?”

“Good evening, little prince,” she said with a smirk.

The panic and desperation in his voice made Darius’ heart fracture. But he stayed silent. It was the only weapon he had.

Of course, his captor had other plans.

Mianu’s reply was instant. “Who are you? How did you get his pendant? What did you do to him?”

“Oh, don’t worry,” said the mercenary. “He’s right here with me. I promise he’s all in one piece. And if you want him to stay that way, then you’ll come and meet us. Alone.”

“Prove it,” Mianu demanded. “Prove that he’s there. Alive.”

The silence from the pendant was deadly.

Then...

The woman shrugged. “A reasonable request. Darius, dear, won’t you say ‘hello’ to your prince charming?”

If glares could kill, the woman would have fallen on the spot. But Darius said nothing.

The woman sighed. “Have it your way, then.”

There was a brief flash of light. A single whispered word. Darius had no idea what spell hit him. But it felt like a knife slicing right into his side. It must have made a seeious cut. He could feel the sting of it. Could feel the blood slowly soaking his tunic.

But aside from a quick gasp, far too soft for the pendant to pick up, he made no sound.

The woman clucked her tongue, as though chiding a small child. “You’re only making this more difficult for yourself, you know.”

Darius still said nothing. Not aloud. But in his heart, he screamed out, as though Mianu could hear his silent prayers.

Don’t listen to her, Mianu. Just run. Don’t let her get to you. It doesn’t matter what she does to me, as long as you’re safe…

His captor scowled. She closed the distance between them in a few strides. And she kicked him, hard. Right in the gash she had just made under his ribcage.

Darius screamed. He couldn’t help it. The cry was forced from him as easily as the air was forced from his lungs.

Mianu swore. “Darius! Just hold on. I’ll find you. I’ll get you out of there, I promise.”

“No!” Darius’ shout was more like a cough. “Mianu, don’t! Stay away! She’s going to—”

He was cut off with another cry as his captor delivered another sharp kick. Darius was nearly doubled over at this point. If it weren’t for the chains holding him up, he would have crashed to the floor.

“You’d better hurry, princeling,” the mercenary sneered. “Or your knight in shining armor will face far, far worse than that.”

“If you touch him again, I swear you will pay,” Mianu growled.

“And if you try any tricks, he’ll be the one to suffer for it,” the mercenary replied colly. “See you soon, your highness.”

She ran her thumb along the gem again, cutting off the connection. Then she tossed it over her shoulder. It clattered to the floor in some hidden corner of the room... where it distinctly cracked. Darius winced. He hadn’t just failed to protect his prince. He’d managed to lose an important gift from him, too.

He was a failure. As a knight. As a partner.

The mercenary’s eyes flashed. She looked almost like a kid on her favorite holiday.

“Well done,” she hissed. “You played your part perfectly. Just like I told you.”

And something inside of Darius snapped. He forced himself as upright as he could get. It took much more effort than he would ever admit. And he couldn’t get his breathing steady. He hated himself for being so weak, for nearly crumbling after so few blows.

Mianu deserved better than that.

But he would not show this monster how weak he was. He would not allow himself to truly fall.

“You’ve made a big mistake,” he choked out. “Mainu’s stronger than you know. And he will show you no mercy.”

If he had hoped to intimidate his captor, he was severely disappointed.

“I don’t doubt his power,” she said smoothly. “I need it. Or have you already forgotten? I didn’t hit you in the head, you know. Though that can be arranged.”

Darius didn’t rise to the jibe. He kept fixing the mercenary with the coldest glare he could manage.

And she laughed again. “What a pathetic showing. I’m sure you think your prince is strong, but I promise you, I am more than powerful enough to handle anything he will attempt to use against me. And failing that… I hold all the cards.”

She sneered at Darius. Darius kept his expression cold and harsh. At least, he tried. He wasn’t sure if he succeeded.

Hope and fear warred inside of him. He knew that Mianu was on his way. That the prince would do everything in his power to save him. It would have been reassuring… if that hadn’t been where the danger truly lay.

If Mianu was hurt—or worse, if he actually gave in and broke his promise, if he used his magic again—it would be entirely Darius’ fault.

A part of him truly hoped that Mianu wouldn’t risk something like that. But his hopes were dashed all too soon. It wasn’t long at all before Mianu arrived.

The first sign of it was the cold. One moment, the small room was just as annoyingly warm as always. The next, the air was like ice.

The door burst open. There was a hissing sound, one that was all too familiar to Darius. And a figure stood in the doorway, a single point of brightness against a wall of shadows. Magic curled around his arm like whisps of smoke.

A powerful voice rang across the room. A voice full of the type of fury that only royalty could truly summon.

Royalty… and a very pissed off boyfriend.

“Let. Him. Go.”

Shadows howled along with him. Darius’ heart pounded. Mianu had found them. And his power was already unleashed.

#whump #whump writing #oc whump #fantasy whump #knight whumpee #prince caretaker #used as bait #captured #captive whumpee #let me know if i need to tag anything else #first time posting a full oc whump ficlet please be kind #so happy to share The Boys tho!#theyre both disasters i love them #no beta

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kooki914 · 6 months ago

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you should make a spamton rant. rip him apart and tell the world every intimate reason he is a disreputable and immoral individual who got exactly what he deserved. we need more spamton hate in this community. people obviously dont understand just how bad he can be

Seeing as the blog that sent this is empty, and the phrasing of this ask is downright comical, I'm willing to bet this is rage bait.

If not, I'm genuinely sorry you think like this, random person, because my dislike of Spamton is, you guessed it, subjective! Just like every opinion about a fictional character, it's entirely up to the reader to form their own thoughts and decide if they like them or not, if they'd put up with their actions or not, and if the context we're provided makes their actions justified or unforgivable to you. Opinions are flexible and valid, and even change over time!

Now excuse me as I write an essay in response to this general concept because you HAVE baited me, just not in the way you wanted.

I'd like to take a moment to comment on the absolute state of discussing "character good/character bad" in fandoms, especially nowadays. Because of the increased politicization of fandom culture, it almost feels like people treat fandom discourse as inherently political and just as serious. And, while I'd love to talk about the rampant misogyny in fandom or how homophobia still permeates even in progressive spaces, I'm specifically referring to the moralization of media engagement.

The "you can't watch this" or "you have to watch this", the people in the old undertale fandom who'd tell you you're a bad person if you decided to play through the no mercy route, the people in current deltarune fandom talking about how Kris' race ambiguity makes Toby Fox racist, and, in this case, someone trying to bait ME into moralizing my opinion of Spamton for the sake of a "gotcha" or fodder for their hatred of me. Sorry to disappoint, I don't think Spamton is reprehensible in our, practical, human terms.

He's just some fictional guy who did shitty stuff to a bunch of kids and kind of got his comeuppance in the end. That exact description applies to him, Spade King, and undertale Asgore even though they're entirely different characters. And, also, I fucking ADORE Spade and Asgore, but my subjective opinion, the Vibe Check if you will, is that Spamton is worse than them. I think we can all agree that In Real Life murder of 6 children is obviously worse than being a con artist. However, this is also fiction, and those deaths shouldn't be treated with the SAME severity as actual, real crimes against humanity should be. They are severe, yes, and breaches of morality, but not REAL morality. Actual children weren't harmed in the making of undertale, believe it or not. These reprehensible actions from the cast are narrative vessels meant to show us the state of mind a character is and how far they're willing to go.

I think Spamton's desperation for reaching his "heaven" is disturbing because he was willing to extort and kill a child for it. In the same vain, I think Asgore is a coward for choosing to go through with his plan when the human that walked into his throne room was a literal child and not someone deserving of the death penalty, which happened 7 separate times. The difference is, I like Asgore and dislike Spamton. Not for moral reasons. Just Vibes.

This ask was 100% spurred on by the video I made about shadow crystals and secret bosses. It's kind of telling of their lack of media literacy, how this (practically) anon took nothing away from that video except "this guy thinks Spamton sucks", because that was decidedly not the point. Even during my rant about him in the video, when I call him a bad person I am simply stating in-universe facts. Things that most people who like Spamton as a character rather than a poor little meow meow can agree DID happen, and DOES make him morally grey. And this is where the politicization of fandom comes in again, because I only felt the need to add that rant into that section because there's SO many people who feel the need to justify liking immoral characters by making them super not bad at all - talking about the grey as if it's white, and if you point out the darker shades, they think you're trying to paint over all of it with black.

The people who over-exaggerate how tragic Spamton's or Spade King's lives were, the ones who justify reprehensible actions through "but he's mentally ill!" (even though a sentiment like that just further stigmatizes mental illness but that's a different topic), the people that say "X character did nothing wrong" without a twinge of irony in their tone.

Spamton is not Satan. He's also not a flawless angel.

The complete loss of being able to view a character as both Bad and Likable at the same time is tragic to me, because 90% of the characters I adore are bad, reckless, stupid, selfish, downright EVIL sometimes, and even if they may be lonely or misunderstood underneath it all, that is NOT something that erases their flaws! The whole POINT of moral grayness and complexity in characters is that we learn to take the good AND the bad in stride. Where do you draw a line in the sand? Does their charisma make them lovable enough to you that you want to keep watching them do The Bad Thing as long as they're having fun with it? Or does their grappling with and regret of The Bad Thing make them so emotionally compelling to you that you want to see where they'll go next, no matter the morality of their future actions?

If you like Spamton, more power to you. If you're in love with the weird funny little puppet man, even better, live your best life. But, for the love of god, engage with him as the character he actually is, without scrubbing away the awkward and the morally dubious for the sake of a cleaner character to play with. I genuinely believe most of the cult surrounding Spamton understands this, most of what I've seen from his most avid fans still paint him as his greedy conniving canon self, it's just that there's a loud minority (and the filthy casuals who don't read any deeper into him and just flatten every character they talk about) who deliberately try to convince you that Spamton is OBJECTIVELY a good person, or OBJECTIVELY someone you have to like, otherwise you're weird and, like, hate mentally ill people or something. I've gotten a Lot of weird comments on that video you guys wouldn't even believe.

All in all I consider that Spadesgore must be canonized.

#deltarune #asks #not art #spamton #we love a fandom so obsessed with morality they try to bait you into it #yall suck cant a man just Not Like Someone without it being a big deal #i have a sneaking suspicion i know Who sent this ask because theres One person in my comments who uses this exact same exaggerated language #coupled with the over-morilization of my. frankly unimportant opinion #for context that person im reffering to is someone who tried to uh. defend spamton in my comments by accusing me of hating homeless people #im not gonna pretend i dont see the similarities between that person and this anon #but if theyre different people i somehow find that even worse ngl #anyway maybe im being an idiot for responding to an ask of This caliber but i dont care this is a fascinating topic to me #and if you come into my house you expect a fucking essay no matter what your question is #does this even count as a dunk????? i dont think it does #rambles

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