#butcher nathaniel

[andreilslovechild]

Dark AU please?

Pt1 Pt2

nathaniel has proven himself to be a good butcher. a good little follower for the main branch and a good bodyguard for Riko. and because of this on occasion, he is called away to do a job for ichirou. the older brother seemed to have a soft spot for the younger redhead and Nathaniel was absolutely one to take advantage of that.

He does it well when hes calls out to kill someone for ichirou. taking his time using his tools to create another beautiful piece of art. The man's screams are music to Nate's ears, and he can't help but smile.

he hums to himself as he works, carving letter after letter, and pattern after pattern into the man's skin. nathaniel didn't know what the man had done, and honestly, he didn't particularly care. hes never been one to have too many morals, and ichirou wouldn't have summoned him if he hadn't done something to make him mad. Nathaniel reflects on this as he works. perhaps he had stolen money? or maybe disobeyed a direct order? he could have tried to kill ichirou...but if that was the case his father likely would have been the one to take care of him. It is possible he could be a rival yakuza member. or mafia member. there are multiple after all. hell, Nathaniel's mom was from one of them!

by the time his musing is finished Nathaniel backs away, admiring his work. and then without a second thought, he turns, leaving the man dead and his blood pooled at his feet, his body a mess of knife points that create a pattern only Nathaniel can see.

on his way back he stops at a store, buying a package of Rikos favourite protein powder. he learned his lesson from the last time. his chest still itches from the healing skin. he hums to himself on the way back to Riko, idly wondering what the future has in store for them.

[ionlydrinkhotwater]

"However," Ichirou said, "you are your father's son, and your father was someone to me. He is the reason I came down here myself"

"Your lack of survival instincts is supremely distressing," Riko said. "Take that look off your face before I carve it off." Neil hadn't realized he was smiling too, a cruel look he'd inherited from his father. Neil lowered his cup so Riko could get a better look at it. "I would love to see you try. You think I'm afraid of your knife? I'm the Butcher's son."

"Ichirou's smile was cold and fleeting. "Let them call you by whatever name they like. You will always be a Wesninski at heart."

I think deep down both Moriyama boys were lowkey Butcher fanboys, they bring him up alot and yes they say that he was a mere servant and yet they kind of make a big deal of Neil being his son. I think it's why Riko was so desperate to keep Nathaniel (even though he was still a rookie and at that point only had potential) to the point of getting distracted from Kevin. If the Moriyamas practiced herititary titles for their henchmen then Neil would have been the Butcher for whomever the heir was and I think Riko would have seen possession of Nathaniel as a sort of indirect acknowledgement from his dad. Ichirou was happy to smugly steal Neil right from under his stupid younger brother.

Neil was like the toy dad promised them both and that they were both fighting over.

Ichirou did not have to have Neil come up and watch him shoot his brother. I think he was gloating a little.

[palmettoshenanigans]

I'm not even gonna write an essay on this one, I'm tired and it's rapidly approaching the witching hour so imma just-

Neil is constantly shadow boxing with his fear of being Just Like My Father NOT because he fears that Wesninski Blood but because he fears the fragility of choice. Everything he knows how to do, all of his skills, combined with his natural disposition and temperament really do put him on par with his father - potentially even worse than his father if you think Nathan lacks Neil's ability to meticulously execute a long con.

Ruthless. Manipulative. Intelligent. Sneaky n Stealthy. Fast. Quick learner. Violent. Cut throat. Selective empathy. Observant. Skilled with weapons. Crime prodigy. Improv. Etc etc etc - Nathaniel truly is Nathan's son when you look at Capacity. Neil had very good reason to fear that - he really is a Wesninski in more than just name.

He just chooses to be kind. Chooses to care. Chooses Exy and friends and family and Andrew and Love.

But choices are both iron clad foundations and flimsy whisps in the wind

Neil isn't different from his father because of difference in Capacity. Neil is different from his father because of difference in Choices. And "Is that enough?" is such a scary question when it suddenly involves people he dared to care about.

[ninyard]

he will never ever ever admit it out loud but sometimes neil feels a sort-of sadness/regret/nostalgia about who he could've been if he'd grown up in the ravens/in his father's business. when he disregards his abuse, and the way his parents treated him, he dreams about it a lot. he blames his mother sometimes because yes, sure, he would be in a dangerous business, but it was secure insofar as his father was trusted and reputable. mary caused so much added fear and paranoia and danger for neil by running. it was his father's business, one he was very good at. it was the purpose laid out for nathaniel from birth.

if neil had always been his fathers apprentice, if he’d been perfect court from the start, how much better of a player would he be, having been a raven? what kind of a person would he be? would he have turned into someone like riko, or someone like kevin? could he have stopped riko from breaking kevins hand? could he have saved jean from his abuse, or would he have been apart of it? that's the part that's difficult - if he'd grown up in his father's world, he would've grown up into his father. and neil does not like that side of himself. he does not like that he has the capacity for evil. he's scared of what he is capable of, sometimes, remembering what he inherited from his dad. so would he like to say he would've been different, that he wouldn't've participated in rikos bullshit? yes. can he? no. because he does not know what kind of a person he would've become if he'd grown up under his fathers wing. he's glad that didn't happen, of course, but he does still feel something everytime he thinks about how things would've worked out if he'd followed the path his father intended to put him on.

[post-historical-posts]

@korakos mentioned Chace Crawford as Neil Josten, so I looked up his IMDb and in 2006 he was in a movie called Long Lost Son (found here Long Lost Son - Full Movie | Thriller | Great! Action Movies) or on plextv in other countries also for free.

The story is very Neil Josten coded as I hope my clips will show and I think everyone should watch it.

[harathedrummer]

JUST SILLY THOUGHTS

Nathan is called The Butcher of Baltimore, SO imagine if Mary was (a psycho killer) as crazy as him and she would be called Bloody Mary. They would make a great couple (i'm dead)

[codename-adler]

i could go mad trying to piece together my thoughts on how crucial it is that Nathan Wesninski's specialty is the Butcher. the images. the symbols. the heritage. the violence. the Modern American Gothic of it all—paired with the Edgar Allan Ravens.

he’s not a strangler. he’s not a stabber. not a poisoner. he doesn’t shoot people. he doesn’t wield a chainsaw.

he’s got a meat cleaver. a fully stocked arsenal knives to cut and skin people and animals alike. his specialty requires time, patience, precision, but remains deadly and violent af nonetheless. it’s chilling.

think of the buckets of blood. the bits and pieces. the sounds. the mess. the smell. the stickiness.

the world is his livestock; Mary his prize cattle; Nathaniel his legacy that’ll only escape the slaughter if he butchers others first, if he learns and wins the pig show.

[deeppenguinstudent]

"He's not the person he once was. You shouldn't associate yourself with him, Jean."

Kevin's voice was a far cry tucked deep within the crevasses of Jean's mind; a forgotten aria that's been drowned out by the symphony of the man that stood across Jean. His blue eyes shone sinfully against the light of the full moon, beckoning Jean over like a moth to a flame.

The man went by many names: Wesninski Scum, The Devil's Inexorable Soldier, The Butcher's Son, but Jean's favourite would always be the puerile moniker he had given him as children.

"Nat," Jean called out. His fingers trembled as he reached out. His shirt was bloodied with the viscera of the victim that laid unmoving on the ground. He resisted the urge to lurch when Nathaniel turned to him, hands horrifyingly bloody yet his eyes as innocuous as the day Jean had first met him.

Nathaniel took a step forward, and Jean took a step back. They continued this push and pull until Jean's back gently touched the wall.

"You're scared of me," Nathaniel mused. He wiped the dripping blood off his eyebrows with the back of his bloodied hand - he furrowed his eyebrows in frustration when it only left a larger smudge of blood on his eyelids.

It was absurd. This was Nat. This was the boy that Jean had grown up with in Evermore, his partner that promised him unattainable fantasies in the quiet of the night when the king snored in his slumber. The man that had been taken away from Jean and torn away a part of his soul, forever lost in Nathaniel's essence. He had suffered his father's wrath and emerged victorious; thus, earning him a righteous spot beside the new heir of the Moriyamas.

Nevertheless, he came back to Jean. He could've had anything he wanted; money, power, fame, yet he chose to free Jean from the unruly clutches of Evermore. Demanded Ichirou with a ferocious glint in his eyes to secure Jean's safety as his muse.

So what if his hands were bloodied beyond salvation? He was the only one who ever reached out to Jean, albeit staining both their hands with the murky colour of sacrilege. There was no God in this world, only Nathaniel and Jean.

Jean reached and pulled Nathaniel's hands towards him, rendering the boy surprised at his abruptness. Jean circled the brunettes hands across his own waist and felt his heart convulse with rapture as Nathaniel squeezed taxingly on sanctioning flesh.

His arms snaked around Nathaniel's neck and surged the boy forward, resting his lips on top of Jean's. He kissed Neil as if he were the medicine to his reoccurring ailment of loneliness. They never kissed gently. How was a dog who was beaten all its life ever supposed to be benign?

Soft nudges were replaced by bruising biting that had Jean gasping into Nathaniel's mouth. Insistence and desperation overtook both of them as Nathaniel pushed him harder against the wall; his hand hiking up ever so slightly Jean's torso. The tugging of Nathaniel's hair rewarded Jean with an even more fervorous kiss that eroded Jean to a plate of needy whimpers and pants for Nathaniel to devour.

"Scared? Of you Nat?" Jean whined mutedly as Nathaniel's hands toyed with the hem of his pants, "Never."

Jean willed his tremors of fear to stop because this was Nat for heavens sake; but when he saw an unfamiliar glint of bloodlust spark in Nathaniel's eyes - he couldn't help but feel his heart stutter in terror.

[embraceweird]

my 1st time reading the Nathaniel birthday scene: shock, fear, horror! Neil's gear is ruined how is he supposed to play!! The team can't win without him and it's too early to be out now! Is it against uniform code to play while your armor is dripping blood?? EVERYONE STOP FREAKING OUT WE HAVE EXY TO PLAY!!!!!

my 2nd time reading the Nathaniel birthday scene: ✨ copious amounts of giddy joy as my son stomps around covered in blood like a little freak throwing a tantrum over his ruined gear ��

[highwaystars]

you're so handsome when i'm all over your mouth reference photo

[dan-i-am21]

So just heard of the movie The Trap and it said you know the Butcher and i immediately thought of Neil. What if they made a movie about the butcher (very likely since people like the killer movies) and Neil sees a trailer for it and has a slight panic because the actor looks so much like his dad. He spirals because all around he heard people talking about it and then he starts hearing people saying that he’s hot and Neil gets transported back in the trunk with Lola saying how handsome he was like his father.

Eventually with Andrew’s help he copes and eventually watches the movie and he’s pointing out everything wrong the entire time.

[broken-heart-raven-queen]

I just can't get the thought out of my head of Neil embracing his mafia upbringing and he yeah played a little for the Ravens and stayed in the Nest for a while, but he just had one thing in his mind: kill his father and take his place. But not because he wanted it, no.

He just wants to have more power than the ones who hurted him. He wants revenge because he couldn't run, he couldn't help his mother or Jean or Kevin (he was there just he was not totured enough by Riko), he couldn't protect HIMSELF. So he becomes a monster worse than all the monsters and the demons in his head.

[corner-collects-rocks]

silly little idea: what if one day neil went back to baltimore?

things have been going… too well lately. Neil can’t believe it, he’s been captain of the Foxes for over a year now and he’s been making plans about the future with Andrew. The foxes have been on a hot streak and all the new members are really improving. Neil couldn’t be happier. None of the Moriyamas men or Uncle Stuarts men have been by recently to check in. Neil and Jean talk semi-regularly and it started out… rough. But it’s been getting better. It’s approaching 3 years since Nathan’s death, and not for the first time it hits Neil again. His father is really dead. There’s no ifs ands or buts about it, he’s gone. Neil saw it happen. It still doesn’t feel real.

So Neil buys a train ticket. He needs to see it again. Needs to be sure that his father’s men aren’t waiting for him to let his guard down to exact revenge his father can’t. Neils back in Baltimore and- why did he do this?? This was so stupid now his father’s men are really gonna come for him- Neil walks. Neil walks until he reaches Nathans house. The house he grew up in. The house where a large number of his scars come from. A house that was never a home. A house that served more pain than safety. A house th- a house with a for sale sign in the yard. Somehow Neil missed the cars in the driveway. There was an open house. People were looking to buy Nathan’s house. Neil took a breath, then went inside. He realized he didn’t quit fit in with the couples of newly weds and first time parents looking around, but he had to see it. Neil went upstairs first, to his old room. It looked completely different, the walls had been painted over and the bed frame was new. Neil didn’t mind. That room was never his. It was never somewhere safe to rest at night. It was never somewhere meant to keep the monsters out.

Neil went back downstairs. He knew he needed to go look at the basement. He didn’t come all this way to back out now. He took a deep breath to steel his nerves. The door swung open and Neil accidentally stumbled backwards into the newlyweds he saw when he first walked in.

“Sorry. I didn’t see-“

“It’s alright, you didn’t see it.” One of the women said. She seemed a couple years younger than her wife. Her hair was dyed pink with a blue strand. Her wife was in a blue dress, with a strand of pink in her hair.

“Hey we were just about to go down and look, do you mind if we come with you?” The woman with the blue dress asked. Neil considered it. He figured a tether to the present couldn’t hurt and nodded. He let the couple descend first down the staircase. He looked over his shoulder once at the kitchen before following them down.

Once Neil reached the bottom he looked for any remnants of Nathan’s final moments in the home. Bullet holes in the wall, slashes of his butchers knives in the wood. The entire staircase had been replaced, and if Neil looked closely, he could see remnants of spackle on some of the walls. Neil strode forward to the middle of the room and froze. Any trace of blood from his father, or Patrick DiMaccio or Lola. The basement was clean as if none of it had ever happened. Neil looked again to the walls, faint patches of wall painted over bullet sized spackle holes. He turned around and realized the newlyweds were staring at him oddly. Neil realized they were trying to connect the dots and by then he knew it was time to leave. Neil walked out and turned his phone back on. He hadn’t told anyone where he was going and he had a train to catch.

[thidwickdoodles]

Running out of time ⌛️

[baby-foxes-and-frens]

I will never not be obsessed with the idea of Jean doing his little "what was your name again? Chris? Alex? Stefan?" except Neil is literally just Some Random Guy, and those names mean absolutely nothing to him

Like he thinks jean might be doing a slight against him for being trans except there's no way jean would know that and even if he did, none of those sound remotely close to neil's deadname

[carica-ficus]

Review: "Evil Roots: Killer Tales of the Botanical Gothic"

Authors: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Arthur Conan Doyle, Lucy H. Hooper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, H. G. Wells, Edmond Nolcini, M. R. James, Ambrose Bierce, Howard R. Garis, William Hope Hodgson, Edith Nesbit, H. C. McNeile, Abraham Meritt, Emma Vane

Editor: Daisy Butcher

Date: 03/01/2023

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

________________________________________________________

I think I ordered this book some time during summer, after I accidentally stumbled upon it on an online bookstore. I love anthologies and I love plants, so this title definitely intrigued me enough to order it. I finally decided to read it around Christmas and finished it during a recent trip, so it's officially my first finished book of the year.

"Evil Roots: Killer Tales of the Botanical Gothic" is an interesting anthology of short horror stories by quite a few well-known authors. From the creator of Sherlock Holmes, to the acclaimed writer of "The Yellow Wallpaper", all the way to the legendary H. G. Wells, this collections features some hidden gems of the late 19th and early 20th century. While the stories are certainly old-school, they could still be regarded as timeless classics and masterful creations.

Most stories revolve around the fascination of the exotic - of unknown plants that are in some way dangerous to humans (or other organisms) and which originate from far away places, like South America. There's mentions of exquisite poisonous flowers, murderous liana, mysterious wisteria, and the weirdest of them all - carnivorous plants.

It is interesting just how much the writers and, by default, the general public were fascinated by exotic flora which, in one way or another, transcended the known laws of nature. Plants were considered sedentary, passive, and at the bottom of the food chain, but as new discoveries were being presented and as more people, professionals and amateurs alike, from the western civilization started their expeditions in new places, society was being introduced with oddities that seemingly didn't follow any established rules. So while the horror in this collection is displayed through various flora, the true horror is derived from the simple fact that humans fear what they cannot understand. One of the most frightening things a person, especially a scientist, can experience is realizing that they will never be able to fully predict nature's capability to adapt and to evolve.

Of course, this theme goes hand in hand with the understanding that it is dangerous altering the natural order of things. While this could also be understood as criticism to the human tendency to play god, there isn't much religious commentary throughout the collection. The stories are centered around ecology, evolution, and biology, highlighting how humans shouldn't meddle with something as powerful as nature - which they will never fully understand, let alone be able to control. Even though the writers do create a feeling of dread through the fear of nature, the horror is actually realized through characters that underestimate its abilities and that have the need to disfigure nature in order to measure their own capabilities.

Furthermore, this collection highlights the uncomfortable fascination western civilization had with other cultures. The urge to study new exotic phenomena on their own accord, to test the limits of human science on something they don't fully understand with little to no regard of the laws of nature and the test subject's true needs, is somewhat perverse. These scientists are conducting experiments in uncontrolled environments, and playing with their test-subjects in order to test their own abilities and knowledge. It is a portrayal of poor research. They're acting out of curiosity with little to no regard of the consequences. It is not their subjects that are evil, for they have been brought up and mistreated in an environment completely unnatural to their habitat, but their tormentor, who butchers them through extreme studies. This is usually evident through a secondary character, most often a colleague, who tries to stop the scientist in their mad experiment before it's too late. The horror is, therefore, found in the abuse executed by the brazen oppressor, not in their vicious, abnormal creations.

The fact that the aforementioned themes barely scratch the surface of all the ideas featured in this collection, prove how layered and compelling all the featured stories are. The editor also did a marvelous job with a lovely foreword and an intriguing introduction to each of the authors and their respective work. Of course, as with every short story collection, not all works are equally strong, but "Evil Roots: Killer Tales of the Botanical Gothic" is still a gorgeous anthology and a noteworthy testament to a relatively overlooked category of horror.