#as if you can't tell when you idk compare it to modern clothes???

[through-the-shattered-glass]

legit scared how little critical thinking skills and media literacy people have these days

[ledreca]

obligatory tommy taffy hc post

once again if ur one of my disc friends for the love of god do not press read more. thanks

sort of half headcanons half character analysis idk i was just writing whatever i thought of since everyone else is

warnings: written under the assumption youve read the book, includes heavy spoilers for both the reddit story and published third parent book by elias witherow, mentions/jokes of some of the more violent acts comitted by taffy but nothing explicit or sexual. you read the book you know what youre in for. also long ass post sorry i wrote all this on my phone last night

go ahead and preface everything here with "i think" cus as these are headcanons they are just my personal thoughts and ideas of stuff making up his character. that i made up

he has "real" hair, or at the very least it's made up of individual strands and not just a chunk of blond plastic. brushable and styleable!

his soft plastic doll-like skin is actually a fairly recent development. previous iterations through time had him being made of stuff like stained wood, stuffed cloth, porcelain, whatever rez saw humans using for idols and toys and such at the time. the plastic variant is comparatively modern, obviously inspired by barbie toy lines

the skin is surprisingly malleable, functioning similarly to both the human epidermis and the plastic of a modern toy. its able to bend smoothly and fold in areas, but also any imprints of say, fingernail scratches or bite marks, will remain there until he does something about it. it irritates him to no end how impressionable it is but he tolerates it for the benefits appearance-wise

he doesn't have eyeballs per say, but he does have the sockets and general shape of them. they aren't flat. the whites of his eyes, eyelashes, and eyebrows all appear painted on tho he is still able to emote with his eyebrows. the iris is also painted on but he can move them just like a regular human can

the blue glow of his eyes is controllable by will and strengthened by heightened emotions, tho he prefers to keep a low ambient level in low light

his mouth area lacks any shape or definition, and instead also appears painted on like his other features. his teeth also lack real detail and look uncannily simple on his 3 dimensional living body (I like to think rez wanted to give him a more silly cartoonish glee vibe and instead got uncanny and sinister ones). it can still open and emote differently than his default wide toothy grin.

lets get to the guts . . . (haha) his interior is full of flesh. just flesh. like what someone who didn't know what humans or mammals or organs are would imagine is inside something only known as soft and made of meat. just full of dark and meat and goo and warp all coated in a thin layer of syrupy yellow. (I can't actually come up with a reasoning for rezs choice in making his blood yellow. maybe he thought it to be associated with happier things than humanity's red blood and that it would never really matter anyway since he'd totally never get sliced open? lol!). rez got a little lazy when it came to designing something as complicated (and objectively subparly structured) as the human organ system so he just said screw it

looking at his exterior skin tho you would never be able to tell nothing really makes sense underneath, cus his body concaves and bends and is detailed in every way that would suggest a fully developed skeletal structure and organs. he can bend any way he'd like, but he does still prefer to try and follow anatomical standards. he also appears to have a circulatory and cardiovascular system, seeing as his blood can rush to his face and other areas to "blush" yellow (yeah hc he can blush). you might even be able to hear a facsimile of a heartbeat if you had your ear pressed up against his chest :)

the only "interior" rez cared to put any effort in designing is taffys mouth and jaw structure, since it'd be visible whenever taffy would open his mouth for emoting. it looks like a generically simple mouth with no detail past the color red and 2 curved blocks on the top and bottom to represent his molars connected to his "main" teeth. it also doesn't go anywhere and is just a small pocket, so he can't actually eat anything as itd have nowhere to go

since someone else brought it up first NOT ME I'll relay my own thoughts of the subject of taffys Lower body parts. Tommy Taffy was designed by something who wanted him to successfully blend in with humanity while also being remarkable enough in a fun friendly way (whether he succeeded is another story lol) and thus designed him with everything important he believed made up a human being. rez also admits to originally believing sex and violence were the predominate human traits due to his first experiences with humanity being very early stages of life and civilization. so yeah, he probably wouldve designed him with all the knowledge and exterior parts of a normal male human being, why would he suddenly decide to cut corners on his dream's own physical lower body? (now whether or not EVERY subsequent layer had all the bits and bobs is debatable and subjective but this is purely a personal and subjective post anyway lol!) also he gave him a goddamn tongue, guys. come on

taffy could very well be a reality bending divine being IF he thought he was able to. taffy operates under strict mental parameters carried from rezs influence to not be able to pass certain self-imposed limits on his own power. its mentioned in the book he could go up to like 66 thousand copies of himself like his real name meaning (66358 deadnaming lol) but I think at his current level he could build even more layers or just copies of himself or even create something else entirely new if he just knew he was capable of it. like father like son

some words about how his layers work: in the book rez describes it as each layer being a different tweak or change to the original base layer, so this can sort of be equated as like a code base on github or something idk im not a coder. except since he never actually overwrote anything, every "bug" and "deprecated feature" never actually got fixed or removed with each update, just pushed to a metaphorical backburner. so the modern taffy would basically be running a constant rng game to decide how he would react to stimuli from his environment, which can hopefully better explain his emotions switching at the drop of a hat and his bipolarity. sorry this was like confusing af lol

^ also all his layers probably think just a liiittle differently from eachother, each one isnt just a perfect carbon copy. seeing how in the book he could theoretically go up to sixty thousand present copies, it can be assumed each summoned layer is either a compound of every layer minus the latest layer additions or, what i believe, a "division" of several layers. like, say he had three manifestations active, each one with a divided ratio of the total sixy thousand, so theyd only have around twenty thousand changes picked at random. theoretically, one of his manifestations could have a very low amount of "early" builds and lack most of the violent/sexual tendencies and instead be a relatively decent guy. what are the chances of something like that happening though haha

he has a perfect hivemind relationship with his other current manifested layers, and he's able to perfectly tune in to every manifestation with precise focus. he doesn't really think about this tho as it's another one of those self-imposed limits to not acknowledge just how powerful his mind really is. this could also be why he's so irritated when someone points out or acknowledges another one of his layers

I don't actually think he works like this but itd be funny to imagine his thoughts are just all his 60000 layers yelling at each other like in slay the princess. mental fortitude of a god to be able to function with that shit

he's capable of instantly remanifesfing himself. he sometimes doesn't for reasons I'll talk about later (threat) but he IS able to "shed" and dismiss his current form for a new one if his gets, say, dirty bitten scratched stabbed lost russian roulette and/or set on fire. he just appears back either in front of a house if he plans on making an entrance or back inside if he knows no one will see him, depending on the severity and reason for why he had to remanifest. just like imagine if some kid accidentally got apple juice all over his stupid khakis and he was like "🤗 no biggie!" while internally fuming and he just disappears into some shadowy corner and comes back in the middle of the night sitting on the couch all clean and ominous

he can be a master at virtually any skill or talent if he knows enough about it. like what's that? youre interested in woodworking? wow, taffys actually a master woodworker and a whiz with a whittler! you've been getting into opera singing lately? lucky, taffy has an incredible range and can be your theater partner! he'll help you :) (whether you want him to or not)

he does actually have a really nice voice and is naturally good at singing tho. someone else mentioned this but he rlly would be putting a kid to bed and have to come up with some shit on the spot to sing them to sleep. he probably would have an insane range too cus lack of real vocal cords and all his sounds coming from an unknown eldritch source of power in the sky

he can purr. that is all

i KNOW his chest be rumbling from his goofy laughing and it's so nice to lay on. mask off

he used to really look up to rez and admire him as a creator, at least until he began to actually "exist" as more and more layers were added and he could feel the dissatisfaction and maybe even hatred from rez for things that were actually rezs fault but taffy would later assume were his own shortcomings. this got even worse once rez discovered he was out and about on earth and tried stopping him, driving a wedge between them that would eventually escalate into full on hate and spite fueled rivalry (mostly on taffys part). he does still have some deepseated respect and reliance on rez tho

highkey fantasizes about someone breaking into one of the houses in his care. it would likely rarely if ever happen cus of the effects he has on a neighborhoods aura and it probably really drives outsiders away but maybe during an early taffy "infestation" someone could attempt to rob his current family. he has a power fantasy where he'd violently protect his home by making an example out of whatever misfortunate schmuck decided to break into the wrong house and rip into him, proving he's strong and capable of protecting his territory. no lasting physical trauma on his own beneficiaries needed! (no but like imagine you just broke the lock on some upper middle class house. you walk in past the foyer and into the living room and sitting on the couch in the dark room is some tall lanky figure staring at you with piercing blue lights and a wide white grin. he lets out a quiet chuckle. ur not dying quickly nor painlessly)

he is unfathomably dramatic. I'm talking insane drama queen levels and passion for theatrics. will always be dedicated to the bit. his body just got thrown off a cliff by his current family and they think he's gone for good? give them a couple weeks. let them think they won. all for the spectacular and horrific entrance busting down the door he'll make on his return. need to make an example out of some poor parent who's just disrespected him for the last time? he won't just punch them, no, hes about to splay their corpse on the shingles and make the kids help. he does NOT have to do allat but he does. for the bit

he's actually incredibly intolerant towards child abuse from parents and will very quickly nip it in the bud at the source i.e separate heads from necks if what he's seen is bad enough. he only ever really snaps on a family himself if they go against him, and punishment without reason would be enough for him to fully takeover for the abusive parents in question

I like to imagine there has to have been a least one set of kids who deemed him more tolerable than their real parents because they were just that bad (I plan on working on a little something with this premise in the future, highkey suck at writing tho so don't expect much)

he'd be surprisingly good at comforting someone if you just let him. he knows all the methods to handle panic attacks and best ways to hold someone to calm you down from night terrors and such

he thoroughly appreciates the senses and thinks humans take them for granted. he believes all senses are wondrous (the quiet sneeze of a baby, the warmth of a family pet choosing his lap to lay on in the middle of the night cus he hasn't moved and won't move for hours, the indulgent aroma of a tired husband's baking brownies wafting through the house, and ofc the sight of a child's small smile at some funny thought or another when they thought he wasn't looking. he'd enjoy tasting things too if he didn't think he was wasting it since he'd have to throw it away later) he's a sucker for it all

this dumbass probably really only does have one item in his wardrobe. poor sod and his stupid Hi! shirt hes emotionally dependant on. still dont have to draw him in tho. if he does branch out he would make sure to keep the Hi! in there somewhere, be it one of those name stickers or a on button pinned to his lapel

anyway not a hc but a potential fixit fic idea for the book ending if anyone wants it: "killing" rez didnt actually work. something went wrong, maybe a subconscious reeling that forced him to collapse and go dark, but he never actually died. (you cant kill a god that easy.) thus, taffy remains, albeit incredibly beaten and roughed up. something changed him that night, though. whether it was witnessing what he thought was the death of his precious creator, the showdown with one of his favorite wards, his own horrific "death", or something else entirely removed, he woke up in that housefire different. more appreciative of life and with a new understanding of his own morality (or lack thereof). he would leave and go to rez's own already-mending mass and theyd abscond.. somewhere. anywhere other than here with the memories literally burning behind them and dripping blue fluid. then theyd experience found family and love for the first time and finally bond as father and son and live happily ever after the end WIN

sorry and thanks for reading this if you got this far. stay winning taffy fans and led fans

[variousqueerthings]

WATCHING THE MESSENGER: THE STORY OF JOAN OF ARC (what a mouthful) FINAL THOUGHTS (sort of, I'm never done with Jeanne D'arc):

so the thing that's interesting about this one is that in writing her young and inexperienced which she was and also wrapped into this movie's depiction of womanhood and in the way it writes mental health is that she's got this sort of "idek what i'm doing or what the consequences are" vibe to her a lot of the time, especially after the first big battle and she sees all the corpses around her and has a meltdown followed by what seems to be dissociation for pretty much the whole rest of the film until her death

and the other thing is the things it chooses to play very straight and the things it does very differently -- so the killing of her sister in the beginning, which gives an early trauma to hearken back to and an added "impetus" for her to go to war, and which never happened vs the very specific sources it chose to deal with for her relationship to gender presentation (shocker i'm going into that), opting to nearly totally brush past it until the scene where she's "forced" to wear men's clothing again and gets burned for it -- which there is, to be clear, textual evidence that she wasn't given other clothes while incarcerated and did get judged for that, but also noticeably didn't include any of the other writing related to her visions telling her to wear men's clothing and this movie heavily mixing joan's visions with her as someone who's got a mental health issue of some kind, it's interesting that this snag of the clothing was mainly done away with, because it's a film that doesn't totally engage with her as someone with agency. she's mad, you see. that is the focal point. and what does "wearing men's clothings because the visions told me to" have to do with this madness? nothing, in fact it's kind of... not-very-mad-seeming

which is interesting as a counterpoint to a version i saw in the globe, which kind of went "an interpretation of joan as ye olde non-binary and also a lesbian" (this is flippantly written for brevity's sake, it was doing more than that, but that is the gist) which i did enjoy for the way it brought together a massive community of trans and nb theatre-goers within the globe and really felt like it was more for us than for joan, which i had struggles with because it went so far into the other direction of making everything a bit too modern for me. a bit too "joan's doing these choices with the idea that one day men's clothing will become allowed and joan has an internal sense of gender that coheres with modern sensibilities," and being a little timid around the religious and vision-y side of things

which is the crux of joan. you probably won't get a version that you're totally satisfied with, because joan As Figure encapsulates so many seeming paradoxes that we project ourselves onto. there's a distinct messiness to her that is very human in a way you don't always feel to quite this extent with mythos -- probably because of those court records and the subsequent early writings and the fact that she was nineteen years old when she was killed and it wasn't really that long ago comparatively

I think this movie struggled under the weight of that humanity, not for lack of trying to show it, but a. because of whatever personal bias besson went in with (which included basically stealing the project from kathryn bigelow and casting his then-wife mila jovovich, so youknow. there's some Vibes inherent in that already, and i do think bigelow could have done much more with both the feminism and the action, both of which were very uneven in this version imo) b. because of whatever other weird choices were made (i still think it was incredibly ugly-looking and many of the actors were flat -- not you, vincent cassel you were great) and c. because a movie possibly can't do it justice in the first place idk. we'll keep searching

obvs the passion of joan of arc is a masterclass. but it manages to get around a lot of these issues by essentially being all about the trial and a study of one of the most evocative faces ever put to silent film -- now that's giving "because the visions told me to"!

[finncomet]

Did they believe in Santa?: Santa isn't really a thing in Ooo, so no. Only people who seem to be familiar with him are like, Marceline and Simon, aka people who were around before the Great Mushroom Wars 1000+ years earlier. Then again, it was never confirmed whether or not that was a part of human culture that stuck around in Founders' Island, but seeing as Finn wasn't raised there, it doesn't make a difference in his case. It is implied that Santa was one of the bearers of the ice crown, since he's shown in the episode "Broke His Crown".

Were they a dinosaur or rock kid?: Definitely rock kid. This guy used to eat rocks. He probably found all kinds of cool ones on his adventures, especially during dungeon crawls (underground). A lot of them likely had magical properties or curses or whatnot. That's not to say Finn wouldn't be interested in dinosaurs, but to him they wouldn't be much different from any other monster roaming Ooo, so not quite as exciting compared to how modern kids see them. Also, there was an episode where Finn and Jake randomly hitched a ride with pterodactyl? Implying that some dinosaurs are actually around somehow. Maybe a Jurassic Park type scenario.

Bugs or slimy critters?: Both? Though he leans towards bugs due to his previous life as a butterfly. Also he has a roommate who's a worm.

Do they fidget? How?: Yes, definitely. This guy has adhd. It's very hard for him to sit still too long, unless he's actively meditating. He jiggles his legs a lot, fidgets with his hands, scratches his head. Makes weird little sounds. The question is how doesn't he fidget? It gets worse when he's feeling nervous or awkward.

What were they frequently in trouble for as a child?: Well... obviously. This is Finn, he's still frequently in trouble. But it's a different kind of trouble lol. Less 'go to your room' and more 'oh my god are you trying to get killed?' Anyone who's watched Adventure Time knows. That said, his parents having died when he was still pretty young, Jake raised him with a very nonchalant 'let Finn do what he wants' attitude. So he was rarely ever disciplined.

What underwear do they like?: Uh. The normal kind??

Designs on clothing or no?: He goes for very plain and simple outfits. They get destroyed pretty quickly so what's the point.

Birthmarks?: In the episode "Crossover" he claims to have a sideways teardrop birthmark "in like a really weird place." This is obviously some kind of comet shape.

Do they have good self control?: It depends. He can, but there are situations where he absolutely does not. Many situations. He's known for being reckless, and he can't stand to be inactive if he thinks someone needs help. And he's an adrenaline addict.

Favorite franchise?: Idk... the only franchise ever really talked abt in Adventure Time are the "Heat Signature" movies, which are portrayed as some kind of ghost-story psychological thriller/horror. So I do headcanon him liking those kind of movies and stories in general.

Do they re-enact scenarios in the shower?: Sometimes, but a lot of times he's so exhausted he just completely spaces out.

Do they tell the waiter that their order is wrong?: He's not a picky eater, so he probably wouldn't care enough to say anything. If he did, he'd be extremely polite about it, try not to make it a big deal.

Stairs or elevator?: Finn's claustrophobic after what happened with Golb, so not a fan of places like elevators. He'll use one if he has to, but would much rather use stairs.

Are they an exaggerator when telling stories?: Honestly, usually the opposite. He'll just blurt out the most insane sounding life-or-death absolutely twisted scenario like he's talking about going grocery shopping.

Tagged by: @chronicparagon

Tagging: everyone!

[6okuto]

Hiii I just love your work!! It's so beautifully written.. I also hope you're having an amazing day. I also have a sorta angsty-ish request...<<

Could you please do the M4 finding out MC was in the hunger games? And the fact that MC would probably have PTSD or other underlying mental health issues,, it'd be interesting to see what specifically Felix would do to help with the nightmares idk😳😳

I'm kinda going through my hunger games phase again..

HAVE AN AWESOME DAYYYYY❤️❤️❤️

warnings: coping with ptsd/anxiety/depression/etc. beautifully written.... thank u :[[ i hope U have a spectacular day

sage

sage's need to protect mc increases Exponentially with every detail that he hears about their life

one part of him wants them to stick near him so he can make sure nothing happens, and the other part is the one that says he needs to keep them away from the fighting as much as possible. it's,, a lot to figure out for the both of them

he promises he won't let them get hurt or used like that again (he doesn't bring up any violence or fighting specifically)

he does his best to stay aware of possibly triggers around and keeps an eye on mc in case they show signs of having a flashback/dissociating.

sage makes sure to take the time to figure out a plan beforehand in case something Does happen so that he doesn't make it worse

probably the best at empathizing with any anger and shares how he calms down and stays grounded. he also tries harder to keep himself calm around them

anisa

horrified, even with everything she's gone through herself. she can't imagine a society that'd work like that and is heartbroken mc was put through it

anisa can empathize with parts of it and offers different things she's tried over the years. it might not compare to like, modern therapy or medication, but she has a solid knowledge of what's available in astraea

she works to figure out a routine/schedule for them that involves keeping them busy and so she can help if they need it

^ it's also to try to help with any insomnia or trouble sleeping

before they go to sleep anisa always reminds them that she's there if they need help so they know she doesn't mind being woken up for whatever reason

puts Extra care into mc's room and things, making sure they're comfortable and happy with their space. she thinks it's really the least she can do

felix

can't believe it for a second just because it sounds...so dystopian,, his mind starts racing for how he can help and what to do

has had his fair share of nightmares over the years and wakes up to comfort and ground them without complaints. it's a lot of promises that they aren't there anymore and that they're safe here with him. felix reminds them that if they ever want to talk, he'll be there to listen. (he never forces them to, of course)

suggests that they can help take care of stella (for a sense of routine) and spend time around her if she makes them feel better

if there's any aid, magic or otherwise, to help them sleep better and work through anxiety/depression/etc. he Will find them

^ tbh he'd still have methods that helped him while healing from rime's death that he'll use from time to time

whatever desire felix has for mc to stay with astraea multiplies, and he's even More inclined to offer a place with him if they'd like

rime

feels like an asshole for everything he did/said finding out what mc went through. learning about their life also probably explained some of their personality/reactions

rime's actually very patient and understanding if mc gets angry or lashes out without meaning to

figures out some signals so that mc can tell him when they're nervous or don't feel well like tugging on his clothes or hand

tells them that nothing that happened to them was their fault and that whatever they had to do, he'd never shame them for it

if something like holding ice until it melts (really anything with ice) helps mc ground themself he'll get some for them easily

careful about coming up from behind and not scaring them

Does rime try to spoil them after finding out? maybe. yes... if he doesn't have money he'd get felix to help tbh. it's things that they mentioned always wanting and also different things that are to help with coping/comforting in case he isn't around

tags // @evanox @felixescellun @yelenalovegood @rimeliker @demon-paradise @pst-02 @diamo-chan @chubbywasouski @god-is-trans @sweet-milky-tea705 @felixismytrophywife @bananacockatiel @yoyo-campfire @azahelmz

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[lexpressobean]

Thoughts on Kikaichu as actual Parasites.

Knowing how skin and the body generally works on a medical level, the "hive" aspect of the Aburame clan really drives me crazy. 'Cause parasites are real, obviously, but the size of Kikaichu beetles makes absolutely no sense in comparison to irl skin parasites. At least not in a bee hive sort of way lol

rambling because my mind craves logic and I'm specializing as a wound care nurse but it's literally anime so what do I expect lol

No, wounds don't freak me out, I'm more terrified of generally handling vomit and babies than I am a dehiscence of a 15cm long surgical site lol. The human body can literally take so much abuse before it really starts to give and try to alert you that you need help! And once you give it help, it really can come full circle to the wound 100% looking like it was never there. The body is an amazing thing <3

However the first thing that comes to mind when I hear the word "parasite" is always going to be "tapeworm". That's not gonna change. However, kikaichu are not worms and CERTAINLY don't grow that fucking huge or live that long. (A tape worm can live long enough to graduate with a fucking PhD. Can you believe?) I haven't been exposed to any urgent situations involving parasites yet, however, the one I would compare a Kikaichu to that is (unfortunately) also common is the scabies mite.

Very briefly, scabies mites (Sarcoptes scabiei) are technically a type of arachnid that grow no bigger than a bout 0.5mm in size, but CAN be seen with the naked eye if you're looking for them. They crawl around the skin and burrow specifically in the top layer of skin, called the epidermis. The epidermis is that protective layer of skin and can be between 0.5mm to 1.5mm thick depending on which part of the body you're looking at. After the epidermis, you have the dermal layer, which is where sweat glands, nerves, and capillaries are found. Scabie mites will not burrow that deep because they only burrow to lay their eggs and such. As they do this they can cause visible tunnels and other marks that can be mistaken for acne or other skin conditions if not properly identified. You'll most likely know because the itch is VERY BAD.

They're very easily spread by close contact and a scabies infestation needs to be treated with a prescribed pharmacological means.

However, kikaichu are definitely a lot bigger than 0.5mm. In the case of size, I would compare them at minimum to fruitflies/medflies, which grow up to 3-5mm and maximum to ladybugs 4-7mm.

3-7mm > 0.5-1.5mm... obviously. And the holes which Kikaichu swarm out of that the audience has seen before are about a size comparable Shino's nostrils, IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE!!

You're telling me those things were in his mouth?????????? S H I N O N O

That would mean, in realistic terms, the Kikaichu are fucking around in Shino's body to the bone and muscles and THAT'S A REALLY SCARY THOUGHT. Even just passing the epidermis to the dermis is alarming! Compared to the dry, protective epidermis that can and does take damage, the dermis can be 1-4mm thick depending on where you're looking and is where skin does it's business. All together that becomes 0.5-5.5mm of space BARELY big enough for a fruit fly do mess around in. It makes just enough sense in terms of THAT size, but last time I checked, having the skin penetrated to the dermal layer is just asking for infection to happen. You're first natural line of defense has been breeched, there's a pretty good chance you're gonna be bleeding (blood vessels) and general body fluids are going to be draining, which is bad for a multitude of reasons, and there's damage that gonna affect the nerves, and realistically this shit is going to be ABSOLUTELY painful if they're constantly manipulating those areas near nerves. These kinda of things CAN make new connections and things like that, sometimes damage is forever. (Case by case basis).

So my first thought to more or less "magically" solve the problem with anime logic, is that first of all, it's an anime and logic doesn't have to apply haha.

On a more sci-fi level, in which kikaichu are smaller than we've seen them shown, maybe they have been purposefully been allowed to burrow into the dermal layer of the skin at least because the blood vessels seem to be in direct contact with the chakra system. Kikaichu's prefered food is chakra, but they WILL mutiny and eat their respective Aburame from the inside out if they don't balance their chakra smartly. So it's safe to say Kikaichu are at least carnivorous as well, and so I only imagine these absolute nightmares would swarm their prey in the wild, and actively bite through and burrow into the body of the prey until they found the chakra system and went to town on that poor unfortunate soul. Eaten alive, how the hell did they "tame" them in the first friggin' place??

I like to think two things:

1) Kikaichu are passed down from parent to child, and the parent has control over the Kikaichu until they have been RIGOROUSLY trained for generations to comprehend that this baby/child isn't food, it's a new hive. If bees can comprehend time, Kikaichu can comprehend what an Aburame is. If they insist on trying to drain the babe or the babe just can't tolerate them, the parent takes the Kikaichu back and the babe is assigned another insect or position in general. Like hell they're gonna try to force a relationship like that.

2) As part of the successful symbiotic relationship, Kikaichu regularly debride the tunnels and borrows that they carve into their respective Aburame, and are naturally intuitive in avoiding as many nerves and blood vessels as possible. The chance of infection is never 0%, however, kikaichu are pretty good about taking care of their tunnels, and so it gives the Aburame more time to focus on their things, like increasing the amount if chakra in their system. To ensure that they stay healthy, Aburame are encouraged to eat as much protein and Vit C possible every day, whether it be meat, beans, lentils, eggs, oranges, tomatoes, or even supplements as times modernize. The dermis is living tissue and as long as debridement/tunneling is going on, it needs to be nourished as much as possible.

I don't know how the hell Aburame deal with the obvious drainage that would be coming from their bodies, assuming the dermal layer really is free game for the Kikaichu. But the magical solution is that... they don't? Because... drainage is minimal. The Kikaichu just do such a good job lol. Maybe they purposefully... carve entrances to be flappy, or they purposefully create pocket spaces underneath seemingly healed areas of skin to easily burst open when necessary. That's the biggest thing for me, leaking body fluids. There's no way around that shit besides straight up denial lol Maybe they wear a special kind of dressing underneath their clothes, or that's directly applied with their clothes. Maybe that's what that cute little backpack is filled with, who knows!!

Idk man. I'm sure the Aburame authority forces encourages many of their non-hive members to pursue medical nin training in order to give the clan more privacy in general too. All medics that claim the Aburame name are exclusively used by the Aburame Clan. A non-Aburame medic may end up healing tunnels and burrows that were meant to stay open because "oops" and now you have an X amount of insects possibly suffocating within a completely sealed pocket of the skin, and also now there's a very good chance that after those insects die, that whole area is gonna frickin' abscess and cause infection induced tunnels the longer it's left alone and GROSS THAT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN! THERE IS A DELICATE, ORGANIZED, SELF-SUFFICENT PROCESS TO ALL THIS!! A PROCESS!!!

Like... the other ninja in the NartVerse can make as many jokes, jabs, and comments about the Aburame as they please (INO? BITCH??? but to be honest I still love her lol). But these MFers are constantly playing Russian Roulette with these high maintenance demon spawn from hell, and there are VERY little defences against Kikaichu, virtually none. Like the only thing I've ever seen actively thwart Kikaichu across all media is killing them with mass fire, countering them with large amounts of poison gas (both very exterminator like) or literally just feeding them chakra until they're so stupid full, they can't move, the little gluttons. As far as genjutsu, it's been stated that it's both effective and ineffective, so idk about that. But the Aburame are just SO set up to be the living breathing embodiment of Shinobi as defined by the NartVerse. They're whole clan culture relies on the threat of enemies. If they have no enemies, the whole relationship is an exhausting endeavor for literally no reason. It's not worth it if there's no one to fight or protect! But when there is a threat, you want them on YOUR side.

I suppose the best bet is to incapacitate the Aburame individual asap and the Kikaichu will tend the individual, making escape easier. But, if you DID manage to kill that Aburame right away, that particular Aburame's swarm is now suddenly without its food source and without restraint.

What do you THINK is gonna happen, bro?? The second an Aburame loses their grip on their consciousness due to external influences, the bugs go bonkers because I'm pretty sure Kikaichu are simply persuaded to be in this relationship and have NO tolerance for bullshit like alcohol and overheating temps. If their Aburame dies, they probably cause just as much chaos as they would as a wild, unattended swarm. Then YOU BETTER HAVE fire or poison gas or SOMETHING handy. The only way to calm them down is to offer them chakra and a new host with equal or even more chakra reserves. Otherwise the mutineers must be eradicated.

And for serious... Like, any deeper and the kikaichu would be in the hypodermal/subcutaneous layer of the skin and that's where a lot of connective tissue is located. Let's NOT mess with that shit, shall we? NOT a good idea. It's called connective tissue for a reason first and foremost...