#cannibalism is looked down upon in most societies!

[semiotomatics]

tw gore/cannibalism, i guess???? talking abt the last dream i had

i wld say my most common anxiety dream (if not just my most common dream in general) is that im being chased by someone who wants to kill me. its not always the same person (if i ever even see them at all—sometimes i dont, i just know theyre there), its not always the same place, but the goal is always the same: dont get caught.

so last night i had one of those dreams (i ran out of one of my meds and havent gone to get it refilled, which i think is why ive started having bad dreams again) where i was being chased by some Faceless Murderer. and i was doing a pretty good job of evading them, tho ofc the fear/anxiety was still there since, yknow, anxiety dream.

but then, they do catch up to me, which is usually when i force myself to wake up (since i dont actually want to be murdered in my dreams). except!! i dont wake up!! yknow what i do instead?

fucking skin them alive holy shit

i think my brain skipped over most of the flaying bc tbh i dont think it even knows how to do that sort of thing, cause the next thing i know im just looking at this dudes disembodied, completely degloved hand (if you dont know what degloving is, DONT look it up w safe search off).

and ofc bc im a nerd my very first thought upon seeing it was "wow, what a clean job, you can still see all his veins and arteries". i was even pointing them out to whoever was with me, like i was giving an anatomy presentation SLFHSJF. i came across his ribcage too, and literally opened it up so i cld see his heart and lungs and stuff 😭 what the fuck yall

anyway, more dreamplot stuff happened and then the "final scene" was me in some kind of diner with nameless companion, like, celebrating the fact that we killed this guy? which was kinda weird but honestly fine, its not like this was a real guy and he very much WAS going to kill me if he caught me, so.

and then we get served our meal and i cant remember who tells me or how i find out but basically the soup i got was made out of the dude 😭 and in the moment i wasnt, yknow, absolutely horrified, i was just like "ah yes, poetic justice" like what???? was the dude gonna eat me if he caught me??? (honestly not implausible, a lot of my animal-based nightmares end in getting eaten alive)

anyway the soup just tasted like a hearty tomato soup (NO PUN INTENDED I FUCKING HOPE)

but anyway, believe it or not the weirdest part of the dream (to me anyway) was the very last "scene", where we're sitting there eating this Man Soup and celebrating killing a dude, and then the door to the diner opens and in walks the dude we killed. and in the dream im not confused or horrified or anything, im just like "ah yes, he must have regenerated himself", which????? sure, okay, the dude regenerated himself somehow. but he spots me and as we look at each other i dont feel any fear, im like? at peace? like i feel forgiveness somehow. and meanwhile he has an expression of, i stg, gratitude. and the very last thing i do is stand up and open up my arms in a "cmere, lets hug it out" gesture. and then i wake up.

so like. kinda fucked up right?

[yourmomwhitediamond]

It is a prompt you desire?

Then a prompt you shall receive!

How about Rosie with a fem!S/O that's a talented (maybe was very popular when she was alive) pianist? Perhaps they knew each other when they were alive, and actually felt very strongly for one another, but due to the standards of the time they couldn't be together. But now that they're in hell, they don't need to worry about that anymore! Maybe the reader is a cannibal like Rosie as well, but that's for you to decide!

Anyhow, hope you like the prompt, and whatever one you end up going with from your ask box I hope you have fun writing for the best girl!

Thank you for this request. I did struggle a little with this one, so it might not be to your liking. I hope you enjoy it nevertheless!!

Warnings: cannibalism, fluff, and a hint of implied homophobia?

"Do you need a break?" You questioned, looking over your canvas to Rosie. You had noticed her small movements every time you peeked over to get a good look at her as you painted. It was obvious she was becoming uncomfortable, seated in the same position for just over an hour. And you wouldn't take no for an answer.

"No, I can last a while longer"

You sighed heavily and set your utensils down, "Rosie," You said in a knowing tone.

She too sighed and let herself relax. Her shoulders fell from their tensed state and her back slumped in defeat, "Okay"

A satisfied smile grew on your face as you stood and stepped over to Rosie. You offered a hand down to her and she took it gratefully, a delighted groan coming from her as she stretched her legs and back. With your hand still in hers you led her to the small round table where you had taken previous recesses. You patted the back of her hand before releasing it to go and get her some well-deserved pinky fingers and a hot beverage. As you prepared everything you could feel her eyes on you the entire time. You dared to take a look over your shoulder to make sure you weren't being paranoid. Turned out that your suspicions were correct. Her head snapped away, focusing her attention elsewhere. You chuckled and shook your head in amusement. The moment your back was facing her again, her gaze returned to you, watching your every move. You knew the layout of her kitchen like the back of your hand, which is strange considering you didn't even reside there. In all honesty, you spent most of your life in Rosie’s emporium/house than your own home.

It was touching to see how much you cared for her. You'd known her long enough to spot any signs of discomfort, stress and other things alike. She loved you for it. She loved you for many things. And it was only recently that she had discovered this love she felt for you wasn't platonic.

You swivelled back around with Rosie's drink and snacks, placing them in front of her. You took your place in the seat opposite her with a smile plastered on your face after Rosie thanked you.

"Thank you, darling," She reached her free hand out, palm facing up, gesturing for you to take it into yours. You happily obliged,"You're far too kind to me"

"Nonsense, you deserve the best" As she brought the drink up to her lips you kissed the back of her hand.

If your time in the living world was different, so would your relationship. Society frowned upon same-sex partners, so you both never had the chance to fully explore your feelings for each other. You were stuck in that time, mindset-wise, but if you weren't then there'd be none of this beating around the bush.

"Flatterer" Rosie spoke into her cup, hiding her smile and blush behind it.

Your smile turned into a smirk from her reaction so you carried on. You turned her hand and pressed your lips against her palm with your eyes trained on hers, "You're practically perfect in every way. But you already know that, don't you? Such an ethereal muse"

Rosie scoffed and lowered her cup, "You've only told me a thousand times before"

"And I plan to tell you a thousand times more, my dear" You were giving yourself mixed singles at this point, unable to understand why you were giving her these romantic gestures and flirtatious comments like every other day, but there was something else. You sensed something was off.

Rosie had slipped her hands away momentarily before scooting further forward and bringing them up to your face.

She seemed to think things over, trying to find the right words,"You know we're close friends"

Well that wasn't a clever way to start. It made you furrow your brows in confusion, but you answered nevertheless, "Yes"

Then your face filled with dread as you jumped to conclusions. The first scenario to pop into your head was her ending your friendship. That was happening, but it was going to be replaced with something far more than what you could've imagined. You didn't know that though, so you couldn't help but let your mind run wild with every single possibility anyone could imagine.

Rosie noticed your worry and gingerly caressed your face with her thumbs, rubbing small circles on your cheeks, "Don't look so worried, this is nothing bad"

"You're making it sound as if it's something negative" You argued in a whisper, your eyes drifting away from Rosie's.

"Darling," She sighed heavily, lifting your head to look her in the eye,"I'll get straight to the point. I love you"

There was a beat.

"But we aren't..." You trailed off, the realisation of her confession taking its time to sink in. Rosie felt, and saw, your cheeks heat up. There was no doubt in your mind that she could hear your heart thumping at an unimaginable speed as well. You searched her eyes, having doubts about whether she was being truthful or not. “We aren't allowed to love each other," You finished,"We were told it was a sin and-"

"We're in Hell, sweetie. There's no more being told who we can and can't love. It's not a sin. It's not why we ended up here," She cooed, bringing your face closer,"No more rules"

You took in a sharp breath and raised your hands to where Rosie’s rested. Never in your past and present life did you think you'd get a confession from her. But she was correct, there was no right or wrong in Hell and everything made sense now. You were no longer confused with your actions, thoughts and feelings.

You didn't think twice to close the gap and capture Rosie's lips, and she didn't hesitate to return the kiss. She felt you melt into putty. You leaned over the table to get more of her and hummed happily. It was at that moment you realised just how much you had been missing out on. Her lips felt like heaven against yours, they were so soft and plush. It was easily your new favourite thing.

However, it short-lived. Rosie started to pull back, but you were determined to keep it going, leaning further and further over the table to the point where you almost knocked the drink and snacks onto the floor.

Rosie laughed at your neediness and pecked your cheek when you eventually parted. Your face flushed and you sat back down, searching for the right words before admitting:

"I love you too"

It's late at night. I don't know if there are any mistakes. I'm going to sleep now. Night night my lovelies x

[aparticularbandit]

An Escapade in Homelessness

Summary: Mukuro chooses the wrong time and place to get sick during her stint of being homeless. Fortunately for her, Akane is there to help out.

brought to you by @danggirlronpa said there wasn't any Akane/Mukuro content. Here's more.

Rating: T with the understanding that this is pre-canon and so there are implications of things that happened pre-canon that aren't discussed on-screen.

Additional TW for discussions of cannibalism and disturbing imagery.

AO3

They taught her how to kill, but they didn’t teach her how to live on the streets.

They taught her how to hunt people, but not how to hunt for food, and you would think that one would easily translate into the other, but it doesn’t.  Locusts are tiny and jumpy and fast, which makes them really hard to catch, and also you can’t shoot a locust without losing the locust, which makes it absolutely not useful for food.  You can’t shoot all of the bees around a hive without probably shooting the hive, which wastes most of the honey (and also means that she’ll probably get stung by a lot of bees, which no one likes).  You can’t really shoot a fish without having to worry about it dropping, and then it’s incredibly hard to find (because trust her, she tried, and it sucked, and then she tried to catch one with her bare hands, which works better but still isn’t great).  And people notice if their horses are missing or their cats or their dogs, and there aren’t nearly as many wild rabbits as you might think, and the patterns of how animals move and hide are so different from humans, and there aren’t enough forests around here for her to try and find fresh deer meat.  (She probably could strip a deer, if she could find one, but she’s been going through cities, not through forests, and even rural areas don’t have nearly as many deer as you’d think, and people get real upset if you try to snatch something from their livelihood – not that she minds, because she’s pretty good at not getting caught, but.)

If not for the sanctity of human life or whatever, she’d kill a person and strip them down and eat that, but that’s generally frowned upon in polite society.  Or any society, really.  Also she’s pretty sure her sister would care if she found out she’d been eating people, and not in the fun way.  (To be fair, she’d probably care if she found out she’d been eating people in the fun way, too, but she’d be more likely to use that for jokes than disgust.  Not that she’s done either.  She’ll probably hold that over her head, too.)

So while Mukuro’s not exactly starving when she stumbles into what is probably the bad side of town (all sides of town are the bad sides of town, some of them are just better at hiding it behind money and wealth and caring only about gathering everything they can get their hands on and not sharing any of that with the people who desperately need something to get by), she’s definitely hungry.  Her stomach is all sorts of fucked up because she hasn’t eaten enough and also the last thing she ate (raw fish, because she couldn’t get a fire started without alerting the wild animals, and she really didn’t feel like fighting any of them over her single fish, even if she would have won, even if she could have eaten their flesh later) isn’t quite sitting well – or that’s the bad water that she drank that looked good but apparently maybe actually wasn’t good.

It doesn’t matter.

What matters is that she’s hungry and she’s sick and she’s tired when she slumps down in an alleyway that looks mostly abandoned, rests her head against a full bag of trash (it’s softer than the wall behind her, and it’s easier to hide if she does it among trash bags than flush in the open against the wall), and closes her eyes.

Now, Mukuro has a good concept of time, unlike some people, which means she knows that roughly fifteen minutes pass between the time she closes her eyes and the time she feels another girl nudging her with her crusty shoe.  (She knows it’s a girl because she doesn’t laugh.  Boys always laugh first, like she’s some secret stench that they’ve found and want to share to disgust their friends; girls nudge with their shoe because they want to check on her but they don’t want to get her stench on them, if they can help it.)

“Hey.  You alive?”

The voice confirms that this is a girl, at least.  Maybe if she plays dead long enough, the girl will leave her alone.

“Man.  I don’t wanna have to drag another body to the crema—”

“I’m not dead, you dweeb.”  Mukuro cracks an eye open and glares at the girl with dark skin and darker hair.  “I’m trying to take a nap.  So buzz off.”

The girl tilts her head to one side.  “Real shit place to nap.  Police’ll come by and scavenge you in about….”  She sniffs the air.  “Few minutes.”

Mukuro sniffs.  She can’t smell anything but the trash.  “I’ll kill ‘em then.”

“Yeah?  You a good fighter?”  The girl’s eyes light up.  “Get some food in me, and I’ll wipe the floor with you!”

Mukuro blinks.  “I thought I was going to fight the police.”

“Yeah, fight the scumbags later.  I’m more fun!”  The girl pops a hand on her hip and flashes Mukuro a bright smile.

Mukuro just stares at her for a few seconds and says nothing.  Then she curls up one side away from her, holding a bag of trash to her stomach like a stuffed animal.  (She’s only ever had one, a black bear with the cutest pinprick eyes, and Oto-sama ripped it in half with his bare hands.  Her sister sewed one of the halves to half of her white bear as a form of solidarity, but it didn’t matter.  It’s not like she could keep the bear with her anyway.)

“Hey, we gotta go!”

The girl grabs her shoulder – digs her grubby, shorn nails through the rip in Mukuro’s shirt to the skin below – and tears her out of the safe comfort of the trash, lifts her over her shoulder like she’s nothing more than a bag of trash herself, and sprints out of the alleyway.

“W-wait!”  Mukuro pounds her fists against the girl’s shoulder.  “Put me down!”

“Nah, you’da stayed in the trash heap, and then you woulda died, and I don’t feel like lettin’ someone else die right now, so you’re just gonna come with me, and then we can fight later!”  The girl grits her teeth together.  “You weigh nothin’.  You been eatin’ right?  Who am I kiddin’, you were in the trash, ain’t nobody sleepin’ in trash who eats right.  Did you at least check the trash for scraps?”

“I didn’t think about that.”

The girl groans.  “Man, you suck.  There was probably some good stuff in there, and now it’s all gonna be gone!”  She scuffs the toe of one shoe on the ground as she keeps running.  “Scavengers’ll get it while we’re gone!”

Mukuro tries to pull herself out of the girl’s grip again, but it’s like steel.  “I thought you said the police were coming.”

“After the police!”  The girl scowls.  “Whadda ya think I was doin’ there?”

Mukuro doesn’t answer that, too preoccupied with getting herself out.  She doesn’t like being carried, and she especially doesn’t like being carried somewhere she doesn’t know.  “Can you let me down?  I can walk, you know.”

“Nah.  You’ll just run away, and then we won’t be able to fight.”

“I didn’t agree to a fight with you.  You just assumed—”

Immediately, the girl drops her to the ground and glares at her.  “I just saved your life!”

“Doubt it.”  Mukuro shifts just enough to keep herself from landing on anything too important (a sprained ankle or wrist right now would not be great) and then pushes herself up.  Her eyes narrow as she takes the girl in.  “You wouldn’t even beat me.  You’re too scrawny for that.”

“Says you.”

Mukuro dusts herself off, although that’s pointless after trying to nap surrounded by garbage bags, and then holds out her hand.  “Mukuro,” she says.  “Ikusaba Mukuro.”

The girl stands at her hand.  “What’s that?”

“A handshake.  It’s a thing you do when you introduce yourself.”

“Uh-huh.”  The girl just stares at her hand.  “Looks like a good way to start a throw down.”

“I’m not fighting you.”

“Yeah.  You said.”  The girl doesn’t take her hand.  “Owari Akane.”  She stares at Mukuro and sniffs again.  “You hungry?  I’m always hungry.  You got anything to eat?”

Mukuro shakes her head.  “No.”  Whether that’s an answer to the first question or the second one is up to Akane’s interpretation; it’s a lie, if the first, but she’s not going to tell her that.  Her stomach recoils, and her face grows white.  “I haven’t been feeling so good.”

Akane steps back, away from her.  “You gonna get sick?”

“No.”

Mukuro’s actually not sure about this.  She absolutely could get sick at probably any moment.  She’s just not going to do it in front of this girl.  (She remembers what it is to show weakness in front of someone who would take advantage of it, who would only hurt her for showing it to them.  This girl wants to fight her for no reason; she refuses to show weakness to her.)

But Akane scowls at her.  “You’re gonna get sick.”  Before Mukuro can say anything, she grabs her and throws her over her shoulder again.  “I gotta friend who can fix you up.  But you better not get sick on me!” she says as she breaks out into a sprint again.

“I’m not going to get sick.”

Mukuro says that, but the problem with being manhandled and carried over someone else’s shoulder is that it does not help her stomach.  If anything, it just makes it worse.

But she’s not going to get sick.

She’s not.

(Force of will in the Ikusaba family is very strong.  She won’t get sick until she’s good and ready to get sick.  That’s how this works.

…most of the time.)

~

Akane carries a Mukuro who is doing her best to keep her mouth shut tight for ten minutes through alleyways and streets that she clearly knows better than the back of her hand.  Every now and again, she gives Mukuro a warning, and then jumps – parkours – from one wall to another to jump over a fence or barricade; at these moments, Mukuro digs her teeth into her lower lip to keep from heaving.  She would have been fine if Akane left her alone; all of these carrying and jumping is making things worse.  Finally, Akane jumps to the top of a wall, grabs hold of a window frame, and swings both of them through the window before dropping Mukuro unceremoniously on a dirty, stained mattress.

(Some of the stains are blood.  Mukuro knows what those look like.)

“Mikan!” Akane calls out, cupping her hands around her mouth.  The name comes out like two syllables as she calls it again – Mi-kan – like Rika calling out ni-pah! in that stupid horror show her sister found so fascinating.  (It was the games that the club members played with each other that she’d loved so much, more than the horror stuff; maybe, if Mukuro had stayed there, they would have formed their own club and had their own pranks and games, but she’ll never know that now.)  And again, her face scowling after a few seconds, “Mi-kan!”

Followed by the furious sound of someone running up the stairs and the appearance of a girl paler than Mukuro’s ghastly face with uneven hair the color of a fading bruise.  One of her arms and one of her legs are bandaged – opposite ones, like a fashion statement, although Mukuro’s pretty sure it’s not that.  The girl shuts the door behind her and turns to Akane with round, uncertain eyes.  “A-A-Akane, now is a…is a b-b-bad t-t-time—”

“But Mikan!”  Akane claps her hands together like a prayer and bows her head the slightest bit.  “You said if I need help to come see ya again!  And I gotta friend who needs help!”

Mukuro slowly pushes herself up.  “Friend is an…an overstatement.”

Akane shoots her a look.  “You’re gonna fight me, which means you’re a friend.”  She grins at her, a grin that quickly fades, brows furrowing in consternation, as she continues, “Except I kick the shit out of the assholes who try to steal my good stolen food, but you’re not tryin’ ta steal from me, so,” she grins again, “you’re okay!”

While they talk, Mikan slowly scoots over to Mukuro.  She holds a hand to Mukuro’s forehead, and Mukuro instinctively flinches away from her touch.  Mikan’s eyes widen.  “N-n-no!  I won’t hurt you!  I’m a….”  She hesitates, her face flushing.  “I’m not a…not a nurse, b-b-but I’m really good at…at taking care of people.”

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not.”  Akane crosses her arms and stares at her.  “I’m no good with sick, but Mikan’ll back me up.  Right?”

Mikan gives Mukuro a general look then nods.  “I’ll take very good care of you.”

“No.  I need to go.”  Mukuro tries to push herself up off the mattress, her stomach roiling again.  “I’ve got to get to Enoshima.”

Akane’s expression shifts, her eyes widening.  “What, like the island?  That’s where that other girl wanted to go!”  She crosses her arms and thinks strongly for a few seconds.  “It’s been a while.  But if you see her, you should tell her I said hi!”  Her face falls.  “Only I didn’t tell her my name.”

“What….”  Mikan looks up at Akane.  “What…girl?”

“I met her before I found you,” Akane says and shrugs.  Then she shoves Mukuro back down onto the mattress and sits next to her.  “You’re not gonna get there if you’re sick.”

“I’m not sick.”

“Quit lyin’ to me!  I’ll beat it out of you!”

“P-p-please don’t fight h-h-here!”

Mukuro sighs and flops back on the mattress.  She hates to admit it, but there’s an element of truth in what Akane’s saying.  Even Fenrir hadn’t wanted sick operatives out in the field.  Being sick makes you more liable to make a mistake, to cause a fatality.  This might just be food poisoning, and she might be able to stick it out and move on just fine, but if Akane carrying her everywhere taught her anything, it’s that her stomach is not in any position for her to go anywhere just yet.  And a room with a roof over her head and a mattress under her back – even a blood-stained one – is better than curling up with a trash bag as a pillow.

“This is a safe place to stay?” Mukuro asks, staring at Mikan.  “You take care of sick people here, and they don’t have to worry about anything?”

Mikan’s gaze drops, and her hands draw up in front of her chest in small fists, an inadequate defensive measure against either of the people in the room with her.  “I can take…,” she starts to say, her face flushing.  “If you’re my patient,” she tries again, firmer this time, “I will take very good care of you.”

“Yeah, last time I ate from one of the dumps near that seafood place, she nursed me right back to better!”  Akane beams and pats Mikan’s shoulder hard enough that Mikan squeaks and curls tighter in on herself.  “The best part is she doesn’t cost anything!”

But Mukuro looks over Mikan and thinks that probably she does cost something, just not anything Akane can see.  “I’ll stay then,” she says and meets Mikan’s eyes when Mikan looks up at her.  “At least until I feel better.”

“So you are sick!”

“No.  I’m not sick.”

Akane just beams at her.  She grabs the lip of the window again and hangs half out of it.  “I’ll be back before you leave,” she says, “so we can have our fight!”

“A-A-Akane, if you…if you fight, then she’ll be stuck here l-l-longer—”

But Akane swings out of the window before Mikan can finish her sentence.  Mikan sighs and glances back to Mukuro.  “P-p-please don’t fight here,” she repeats, soft.

“I don’t plan on fighting her,” Mukuro says, “and if I do, she’s the one who will be stuck here.  I don’t think that’s a good return for her kindness, do you?”

~

The days pass – days, because Mukuro’s food poisoning gets worse before it gets better – and Mikan keeps an eye on her, just like she said she would.  Every day, Akane swings back in through the window to check on her, to see if she’s ready to fight, and every day, she swings back out with her tail between her legs, scowling because Mukuro hasn’t gotten better fast enough.  Finally, though, Mukuro does feel better, well enough to leave, but she has no intention of waiting for Akane to return to fight her.

“Tell her I said thank you,” Mukuro says as she laces up her boots.  She brushes her hands along her dirty clothes, even though it still doesn’t do much of anything, and then stands.  A myriad of knives and other weapons sit on the floor next to her, and she begins to hide them on her person again.

Mikan’s gaze drops.  “Sh-sh-she’s not going to be…to be happy about this.”

Mukuro glances at her.  “She won’t hurt you, will she?  You won’t last long in a fight.”  She’d tried to give Mikan some tips and tricks during her stay, but she’s not sure how many of them stuck.  Most of it was spoken; it would be better to stay for a little while longer and give her some actual practice, but she doesn’t have time for that.  She needs to get to Enoshima.

She needs to find her sister.

“N-n-no.”  Mikan offers Mukuro a small, sweet smile.  “I-I-I would be no good in a f-f-fight.  A-A-Akane knows that.”

Mukuro nods.  She hesitates, not wanting to give Mikan a hug but wanting to offer her some form of comfort regardless, and then reaches over and places a hand on her shoulder.  “Come find me,” she says, “if you ever need anything.”

“O-o-of course.”

Then Mukuro grabs the lip of the window the same way she’s seen Akane do, drops onto the nearest roof, and makes her way out of the city.

~

At the city’s edge, Mukuro finds Akane waiting for her with one hand propped on her hip and a big smile on her face.  She scuffs her boots on the ground and scowls.  “I don’t want to fight—”

“Yeah, I know!”  Akane walks forward to meet her.  “You’re leaving before you’re top notch, and I don’t wanna fight you when you’re all weak and shit.”  She shifts the strap of a backpack from her shoulder and then shoves it into Mukuro’s hands.  “It’s a lot of walkin’ from here to Enoshima, so I got you the best thing!”  She beams as Mukuro opens the pack.  “Food!  But not the kind that’ll make you get all sick again.”

Mukuro stares at the food in the pack.  Some of it’s bread, which won’t last very long at all, but most of it’s stuff that will last, at least for a little while.  Even further down, there are a few unopened bottles of water, which in her professional opinion is even better.  She’ll save those for later, to make sure they last just as long as possible.  She also won’t ask how Akane got any of it, not because that’s rude, but because she has a general idea and she doesn’t want to know.  Instead, she pulls out one of the bread rolls and hands it over to her.  “You need to eat, too,” she says, not looking up to meet her eyes.  “You have to be at your best when I come back.”

Akane’s eyes widen, and for a moment, Mukuro is certain she’s going to tell her not to come back.  But then she just grins.  “I’m always at my best!”  Still, she’s munching on the roll as Mukuro walks away, and when Mukuro looks back only a few seconds later, the roll is already gone.

This time, when Mukuro pulls out a roll, she stares at it for a few seconds before taking a bite.  It’s soft and warm and good and filling.  She takes another bite.

(She forgot to say thanks.  That’s okay.  Mikan will say it for her.)

[ramble-bloo]

A small lore drop about Giants

When we say "a giant" we simply think of large human" but, similar to how "Dragons" are a class system in Lore with an abundance of various kinds, the same goes for the word "Giant". They don't always look human and sometimes can be a completely different creature, like a fox or even a squirrel. This is super important to remember as I use the word giant going forward as some that I discuss have the appearance of mythical beasts and not humans.

ANYWAYS There are three main categories: Ancient, Gigantic (or just giant), and Tall.

Ancient giants used to roam Lore back when there was more space and the Sun and Moon had just split the planet from Earth. However, their massive size took up too much space and with each step threatening to crush literal kingdoms under just one foot, the Celestial Gods resorted to sending many into an eternal slumber where they dream and simply roam Lore in spirit. They are unbelievably huge, to the point some are the foundations of countries. Many have become mountain ranges. Appearance wise, when they were awake, they looked like walking landscapes. Nature coated their bodies with earth instead of flesh and leaves instead of hair (or whatever mix and match-up of nature).

There are stories and myths shared where it's believed these slumbering giants will one day wake up and roam Lore again but these are simply just stories. You can count on one hand how many Ancient giants are still active and roaming about, deep within the core of Lore itself. The lifespan of an Ancient giant is unknown but it's common to come across an offering spot seemingly in the middle of no where in tribute of the Ancient slumbering underneath or nearby.

Gigantic giants are much smaller than Ancient ones but much larger than Tall ones. They, just like the Ancients, used to roam Lore. But once again, the large amount of smaller inhabitants that the Celestial Gods had created to populate the planet led to things becoming cramped. And adding into the mix the fact some giants had taken to enjoying the taste of human, it became important to give them their own land free of conflict. This is where the sky domain came into play. A land above to mirror the land below, everything is much larger than its equivalent.

Magic helps to create a boundary so the regular resident cannot reach this sky domain unless they use the right tools and vice versa. That's not to say every Gigantic giant dwells in the sky as some, mostly the more friendly ones, reside in locations down below alongside humans.

As mentioned before, some Gigantic giants took a liking to eating humans or simply wrecking havoc on smaller Lore residents in the past (and some continue into the present). Their increased aggression also causes them to become more likely to lash out at their fellow giants, resulting in some cannibalizing the other (a horrifying site to stumble across if you are a normal sized Lore citizen). This behavior is frowned upon in Gigantic society. It's harshly punished, especially from the gods who have damned those who practice this habit, resulting in monstrous side effects. These are more noticeable in the more humanoid giants, whose human appearance become twisted and their teeth become more sharp and pronounced. This curse aids as a warning to others to steer clear of giant monsters and to punish those who dare harm their fellow Lore dweller.

These bloodthirsty Giants are always the ones I am talking about when discussing Giant Slayers, who took on the most monstrous giants of every shape, size, and beast.

Tall giants (also known as Tall Fellows) are a kind of giant that is a more recent development...or more recent than Ancients and Gigantics. This is because they are the results of a Gigantic and an "average" sized Lore resident. Due to this, they are smaller than a Giant but larger than an average sized resident. Specifically, large enough to often pass as simply being extremely tall. Tall Fellows have a similar lifespan to a human and are all found in human civilizations due to their smaller giant size making living among smaller residents less of a hassle as they are still shadowed by Gigantics.

[strywoven]

smth smth , no-one asked for this either , but here is verona's jjk verse. under a cut for length , as usual.

Just as a brief overview of Verona's clan :

The Valhyr clan is extremely secluded and reclusive , done so entirely by choice to preserve the purity of own prowess and pedigree ; they are only about a few dozen to a hundred or so strong , which is absolutely NOTHING in comparison to the dominant clans of the time and of the modern eras which remark on their heritage in ill-favor.

Their staying power in the community is relative to their near-perfected techniques - known for such craft as necromantic rites , conjuring , curse-bearing , illusions , and so on - which have been used to manipulate and mangle the control ( & spirits ) of the greater clans for many generations.  These techniques are OF FEMALE HERITAGE ONLY , and the Valhyr clan has followed a very strict matriarchal code ever since this was discovered ( however , practices of male infanticide have thankfully fallen out of favor , but the manipulation of the womb & body to propagate female offspring were still enabled ) .  Their code is so enforced , in fact , that they view men as LESSER & WEAKER than women ( think the exact opposite of modern patriarchy & more extreme ) .

Their techniques - colloquially considered “dark craft” by Scandinavian Jujutsu society - are CONSUMPTIVE IN NATURE , which simply translates to : every time a technique is used , the individual sacrifices an equivalent part of themself to utilize the technique in question ( at a soul-based level ) .  The Valhyr’s have come to understand that they can “recover” this damage to their existence by devouring / cannibalizing others ( yes , including people’s souls , too ) .  The clan will oftentimes have LARGE BANQUETS & FEASTS to celebrate the sacrifice of the people they hunted , slaughtered and prepared for consumption ; it is considered a venerable way to die , to feed their technique and to sustain their livelihood.

However , because these techniques are so dangerous to practice , most women often die before their mastery can be obtained ; the current Matriarch of the clan , alongside her councilwomen of masters , achieved their marks with great price ( sacrificing aspects of own humanity ) .  Typically , most young women ( ~20s ) die before they can secure control over their power , being consumed and/or entirely possessed by their techniques.  For this reason , many women in the clan are often hurried along into arranged , usually political , marriages to produce “strong and stable” offspring ( for every generation , the valhyr power grows ) .  This is also part of the reason as to why the clan is small ; there’s a lot of death and uncertainty in their existence.

Life ( birth - adolescence ) :

Born in late-19th century ( Oct. 31st amid the 1890s ) Scandinavia to the Valhyr clan.  Not the most noble of bloodlines , but certainly one of the most INFAMOUS & DANGEROUS , with relatives dating as far back as the Viking Age ( ~8th century ) , recorded in Old Edda as “savage priestesses” and “barbaric sage-women”.  The name is relatively well-known throughout the Scandinavian region , holding root in FEAR & FEROCITY .

Verona was baptized , like all of the infants , in blood and ash , and smudged by purifying smoke under the watchful eye of the BLAZING GLORY itself ( the benefactor of humankind , kaëltyr , who watches over all souls , indeed took notice of this child … as she took notice of it , looking down upon her with a knowing smile upon its maw ) .

From birth , Verona was considered strange , if not “ill” ; even during baptism , where most infants would shrill and squirm , she was CALM & STILL , her eerily gleaming silver eyes fixed pointedly at a place above the council’s heads , upon a figure none could perceive.  All throughout her infancy , too , Verona gave off this uncanny aura of vigil quietude , hardly ever crying , barely ever stirring ( as if , some said , she was possessed since inception ) .  The Matriarch of the clan disapproved of her immediately , taking note of her eyes and the trance-like stare , the sharp and malignant glint she perceived within them and their demonic appearance ; “OMEN” she called her , and the clan henceforth regarded her as such.

By adolescence , Verona’s traits only grew increasingly more concerning ; her silence preceded her , a “death-like” gait , able to stride about from place-to-place in complete quiet , undetected like a spirit.  She was forced to wear a chime so people could sense her coming ( one , of course , that she would displace onto other children or wandering curses to play tricks on the adults ) .  It became apparent that the Matriarch was right about her eyes , about the strange presence the young girl possessed ; her stare only grew more potent , more pervasive , able to render others within the clan ENTRANCED & ENRAPTURED .  She would use this mean little trick of hers to sneak off-grounds and wander into other clans , leaving her own people struck dumb and dazed for several hours before it was even discovered she’d gone missing.  As punishment , the Matriarch ordained that she wear a blindfold that would suppress this newfound technique of hers ( one only a few others in the clan held at all ) .  Even in wearing it , people continued to say they felt her staring , watching , observing.

Verona swiftly began education , both in the natural order ( science , history , math ) and in combat order ( training her techniques ) .  Because her mother - Prym - was a councilwoman , Verona was tutored also in politics and in the arts , being privately groomed to usurp control of the clan when she reached an appropriate age ( ~16-18 ).  The training regime - for both aspects of her upbringing - were IMMENSELY STRICT and left little room for the young girl to enjoy being a child or to savor her innocent years.

Because the techniques of the clan progressively increase in power ( but also reasonably destabilize ) with each new generation of daughters , it became quickly apparent that Verona was A PRODIGY amongst her classmates , just as her mother was.

Life ( teen - adulthood ) :

Verona , unlike her peers , made for a very troubling , very hard to control young woman.  With immense potential at her disposal , she was arrogant , devious , and cruel , with little moral bounds to speak of.  There was one training session where she continued to exert an illusion onto another young woman , even when being told to stop , until her peer became a sniveling husk that collapsed onto the ground in a drooling , convulsing heap.  And another time , when she was performing the mastery course for a technique when she extricated the soul of her opponent in front of the entire council ( including her mother and the Matriarch ) and proceeded to devour it and the other’s essence in whole.  Appalled , but not entirely surprised , the Matriarch CONDEMNED Verona and her rapidly growing aptitude , denying her any further education and resources.

Prym , however , was stalwart in the idea that she would push Verona to take over the clan and upraise it to new heights.  Although disgusted with her daughter’s practices and brutality , even despite the clan’s own rites , she went against the Matriarch’s wishes and , in blackmailing a few other councilwomen to participate , continued to train Verona.

Verona’s prowess grew to be no secret , a newfound master of the unified trinity - mind , body , spirit - with techniques to match ( necromancy / necrosis ; illusion ; enchantment / possession ) at just 16.  As with all former masters , and due to the nature of the techniques themselves , Verona sacrificed measures of her own mind , body , and spirit to PERFECT EACH ONE , leaving her arguably less human than most of her counterparts in the clan.

And by the following year , at 17 , she challenged the Matriarch for control of the clan : a battle to the death , wherein the loser would be butchered and symbolically consumed by the clan to “return to her daughters”.  Predictably , Verona won and became the new Matriarch , successfully heralding a bloodier era for the Valhyr clan.

Verona was … AMBITIOUS as a leader ( perhaps overly so ) .  And she had every reason to be , with her strength.  However , when she proposed an all-out insurrection against the rest of the Scandinavian territories , she was met with concern ( the clan is too small to survive a war , they warned her , we have the techniques but we don’t have the manpower ) .  But Verona assured them she had the ability to provide the resources.  Confused and mortified , everyone watched as she invoked an “old friend” : KAËLTYR , effectively supplanting it , beseeching it for a boon of both virtue and power.  When Kaëltyr laughed , “You seek a boon to begin a war ?”  Verona , still knelt at its hooves , replied , “Nay , I seek a boon to WIN A WAR , to usher my clan from the shadows and into the light , to stand hand-in-hand beside the divine , as is our right.”  Amused by the response , Kaëltyr granted the request , offering favor , though cautioned that “All great things do fall , as all great people so do too”.

In the 1910s , the clans had fallen into widespread civil upheaval ; a bloody , brutal feud ensued with Verona at the helm , painstakingly claiming the whole of the Scandinavian territory and removing control from former clans , devouring the men and preserving the women to bolster their numbers ( which were already granted leverage by Kaëltyr’s cursed progeny enlisted to their aid ) .  She became known by the moniker , “THE MATRIARCH” ( an infamous warmonger & fearmonger which assuredly earned a place in history henceforth ) .

With control secured and the clan’s numbers increased , a modicum of peaceability had been bartered.  And Verona set out into economic and political affairs ( obviously with a side-business of slaughter ) , one of which was starting up several businesses ( namely a gin company at the end of the brief prohibition era in this time period ; this , still operated in modern-day ) and beginning to seek the company of European society elites ( many of whom had already heard of her various exploits & frowned upon her appearance in the upper-echelons ) .

It was through these jaunts in high society that Verona met Lenore ( aged ~mid-twenties ) , a simple human woman who did not practice Jujutsu sorcery but enraptured her just the same.  Shortly after meeting her , Verona began to court her ( perhaps a little dubiously ) .  And though both respective families disapproved of the union , they married and settled together ; the era of “THE MATRIARCH” dissolved all because of a single woman.

By 30 , Lenore and Verona were living in domestic bliss while the world continued to turn chaotically around them.  Lenore eventually convinced Verona to have a child ; they have a daughter and name her Ravona.  But 4-5 years later , as Verona is out - as usual - speaking to Jujutsu elites , away on business , a raid is performed on the estate , razing it to the ground and arresting several members , executing Lenore and Ravona for the sins committed by Verona herself.  Always privy to death , Verona senses the conflict , but especially the fall of her family , before she has a chance to act any further , she too is seized and contained.  Unwilling to take any chances with her powers , authorities sew her mouth shut , conceal her face , bind her body and chain her in an underground chamber where , they assumed , she would simply rot to death.

But one does not come under attack underprepared.  And again , even in her weakest , even flayed by her grief and scorn , she manages to conjure enough energy to invoke Kaëltyr.  It is uncertain what transpired within Verona’s body within those days she was chained and isolated , but when she was taken to trial , brought before a judge who would assuredly sentence her execution , Kaëltyr was there , amid the masses , commanding all authority , and stating simply , “I reclaim this woman.”  There was nothing to be done about it.  Thus , rather than kill Verona ( & rather than risk insighting the spirit’s terrible wrath ) , those in authority simply sentenced her to exile ( & thus into the god-curse’s hands ) .

Life-Death ( present-day )

Verona is serving a life-debt to Kaëltyr ; having sought its benevolence many a’time through her existence , she has incurred penance to be repaid in full.  Following the god-curse’s proclamation , Verona was inoculated ( she consumed its flesh , she bonded to its immortality & essence , she sold her soul ) and now lives in constant cycle of sacrifice , a process of dying and undying over and over again to not only repay its favor for her , but also to seek the grace of being permanently absolved of her transgressions ( & inevitably death , released from the cycle ) .

Verona is registered as a SPECIAL GRADE CURSE USER ; but categorically exiled and removed from all Jujutsu society for the rest of time.

After having endured the grief of losing the only two people who matter to her , Kaëltyr offered her PEACE ( read as: it removed Verona’s human heart , her body & spirit now remarkably sustained off of Verona’s necromantic technique & Kaëltyr’s immortal will ) .

Because Kaëltyr ( Kaen ) is in Japan , Verona is there , too.  Where it goes , Verona HAS to follow , per their pact.

Verona’s immense negativity conjured a curse some several years ago ; a massive , chimeric entity that tried to kill her when she was asleep.  Rather than kill each other , Verona “tamed” it and named it - Pandora - and it , he , now lives in her shadow , serving as her companion.  Pandora , ever since , has been feeding upon Verona’s sorrow , rage and innate strength and progressively becoming more powerful himself.  They often fight in tandem to one another , together.

Although Verona appears as a woman in her mid-thirties ( she stopped aging ) , she has this uncanny beauty and ethereal aura that speaks to something NOT QUITE HUMAN at all ; too sharp , too predatory , too dangerous... But remarkably alluring.

Verona presently lives like a rich , influential bachelor ( per Kaëltyr’s own influence ) ; she brazenly flaunts her power , flirts with ( married ) women , and continues to manipulate and murder humans , consuming them for sport and pleasure.

Verona is also the last member of her clan’s bloodline.  However , she claims she cannot carry children and thus , when she is released from the cycle of penance , the Valhyr name and likely the power , too , shall die alongside her.

Although the moniker , “THE MATRIARCH” did not carry into the modern-day , she is sometimes known as “St. Valhyr” ( again , something Kaëltyr propagated ) .  The public is privy to this information and are skeptical of whether or not Verona is a legitimately canonized saint … Though some DO IN FACT refer to her by this title.

[sadbugzz]

IGHT SO, imma ramble about some stuff for a webcomic I'm making (aka fancy glorified way of saying imma ramble about my ocs)

So basically, I'm bringing back billie and jesper for a webcomic, and aaaaaaaa I can't get random scenes and moments and other junk out of my head for these goobs!

So billie right? Their gonna be a lot different from their original dnd counterpart. Same with jesper.

Billie is essentially a very traumatized person. They went through essentially hell and back, and because of that, they've became very cold and reluctant to be trusting to people.

Their dad and his family were essentially cultists for a sea god and would actively run an underground cannibal mafia. Them,their mom,and their brothers escaped and struggled to make ends meet. As a way to earn money, they opened a small normal restaurant that was often on the verge of closing. Eventually, one day, a man enters their restaurant and orders some food. The man very much enjoys it, and after paying, offers billie's family a chance to move their restaurant into his large casino. And needing money, they of course agree!

While working at the casino, billie's mom eventually meets a woman customer, who is a regular guest. And well- billie has two moms now.

Now, working at this casino, billie sometimes has to make supply runs at a place called "the wandering witches sanctum," a large underground society of magic casters and non-human entities. A place created as a result of prejudice growing bigger against beings of magic. The casino is one of the few last safe havens for beings of magic. But anyway, billie, one day, accidentally stumbles into someone who very much sticks out like a sore thumb. Jesper! A human witch. While humans can practice and learn magic, it's looked down upon by most humans and is weird to other beings.

Now, at first, billie doesn't give a shit, but then jesper starts following them. After an hour of this human following them, billie snaps at them, demanding to know why they were following them! Which jesper responds by pulling out a set of keys to the casino doors explaining how billie dropped them. They also pulled out some items that billie was looking for, that jesper noticed that billie couldn't get due to them being out of said items. Billie, of course, sheepishly apologizes for them snapping, and jesper apologizes for being really awkward. This, of course, causes the two to start chatting, eventually becoming unlikely friends.

Jesper is basically a human witch. Their dad was a former famous bard before becoming a drunk deadbeat after some scandals got out about him doing hard drugs. Their mother was a descendant of a prophet to a nature God before being infected with a zombie like plague and then biting jesper. Jesper, unlike their mother, didn't become a zombie. Their body, for unknown reasons, fought off the infection. They were fine, besides the major injuries sustained from their mother attacking them. now, while the rest of their family were against this idea, their dad wanted to have jesper "taken care of" to prevent anyone else getting infected, even after the limb with the bite was chopped off. This, of course, scared the shit out of a, at the time, 16 year old jesper. Jesper does not want to die, so they took their siblings and ran away (since they didn't want to leave their siblings with a drunk deadbeat of a dad). jesper has ever since taken care of the little siblings.

Now, back to billie and jesper, the two, after a while, start dating.

But after an unknown event to billie, jesper breaks off the relationship, stating it was too dangerous, which billie interrupts as them being too dangerous.

So anyway, Jesper, after a couple of different jobs, lands a job at a large society building. As a janitor.

One day, a werewolf is dragged in, chained up.

Jesper basically learns that the place they work for are wanting to dissect this werewolf.

A very familiar werewolf.

Jesper does not want this random person to, yknow get dissected, so they free the lycanthrope, and quit. This lands jesper back into performing shows on the street for money.

One day, a man walks over to them, thanks them for freeing them from that place, as they were the werewolf. As in return.. the man offers a job at his casino.

Jesper needing a job, agrees

Thus, it results in jesper working in the same place that their ex, billie works at.

Now, at first, it's really awkward, but the two eventually get close again. Jesper also becomes friends with the rest of the staff.

They also get a minor form of dhampirism due to one of their bosses, a vampire biting them.

In this world, people with a specific blood type, when bitten by a vampire, will become a dhampir instead of a thrall.

Now, after a while, the reason why jesper broke up with billie is revealed.

Jesper... got attacked and bitten by a werewolf in the past, giving them lycanthropy. They were scared they might hurt billie, so they broke it off.

Now of course billie doesn't give a shit, and is like

"You turn into a big dog sometimes? Ok, I don't give a shit. You're still cute"

Now, this is also why the werewolf was familiar. That werewolf, their now boss, was the one who bit them.

Soooo yeah akward...

Anyways I'm done with my rambling for rn

[throwaway-yandere]

Some details about the Apotheosis Upon Your First Feast fic so spoilers

Perhaps there's some things you might've missed from the fic in here >:))

Gets incredibly unstable whenever someone wastes food. They don't waste a single grain of rice whenever they eat. Suffice to say, it's possible that the aranaras peer pressured them to eat the entire bowl even when they know who the ingredient was.

Reader had to bury siblings at a young age. Malnourishment + other incidents caused them to go deaf, which amplified Pantalone's distaste for the archons. Lived off salt and rice for a long time. No meat, no anything. They're obsessed with food and solving world hunger because of it. Finds out the solution to world hunger is cannibalism.

They not only missed the fight because of poor hearing (and it's also meters away to be fair), this is also the reason why Scaramouche felt strangely drawn to them. They're imperfect like him. They get to live their life not worrying about how they're essentially discarded by society at one point while he's out there trying to prove that he's worthy of becoming a divine being.

Alhaitham-(Y/n) friendship is actually so real but there's no point in adding my brainrots. Wasn't included in the fic, but they trained together, that's why they have the same "character kit" (skill & burst). Alhaitham also bought them hearing aids at the same time he got his headphones so people will think he has hearing problems & that they're friends because they have the same condition. He did it so that people can stop approaching him to ask stupid questions... It was (Y/n)'s idea. "Trust me, Haitham, it works" hAHAHAHA–

Also for the record: Alhaitham sent them there because he knows they're as lazy as him. If he didn't send them there, the Akademiya would suggest making (Y/n) the acting grand scribe. Alhaitham would rather spare them the trouble and make them relax in a forest. Yes, Alhaitham is a good friend. He just... Sucks at letting people know he's a good one. I mean, look at his situation with Kaveh.

The reader can see aranaras because they're still a child at heart and haven't properly "grown up". Perhaps it's also the reason why they brazenly ask somewhat naive questions at Scaramouche...

Funny that (Y/n) is Scara's first sage while the traveler is Nahida's. Both have siblings. One lost their entire family and the other is on the process of finding them.

And yes: Pantalone genuinely doesn't remember Scara in this fic. He just decided he'd try out using the guns Dottore made. And it's effectiveness depends on your choice.

And also yes: the reader did leaked Nahida as the one controlling Katheryne on accident lmfao. Reader knows about her cause she collaborated with the Adventurer's Guild before in a project and it's once again, food related (that's why Baharak is friendly with them).

This project isn't explored in the fic– I'm already passed my word count. Comrade this commission is for a 1.5k fic but I ended up writing 7k 😭

–But most importantly, perhaps you might've missed this line:

“The Doctor and I had a deal. He’ll recreate at least 80% of a regular Akasha’s functions while I help him track down a few… crops.”

That line?

It's about the aranaras.

The eyeglasses are a damn prototype made by Dottore to see if it can record aranaras.

You know how when Scaramouche's revised the irminsul to remove him, the fate remains the same for most things? Niwa still dies, the clans still fall, and all that?

Yeah :]

Remember how the reader begged Scara to spare the forest before?

Y e a h : ]

Maybe it won't be Scaramouche that destroys them, but someone else will.

[necros-writing-stuff]

The Lycan Legend.

The Lupine evolved alongside other Homo species, coming into existence some time before the Humans. Some say they came about due to Neanderthals performing blood magic on canines. They preferred to make their homes in snowy and foresty regions, using their abilities to hunt and build civilisations.

The Lupine were top hunters, so good at what they did that they spread everywhere. They had no competition.

Until the humans caught up with their inventions and intelligence. The spears, bows, the pits they'd dig. They could breed at any time of year, compared to the twice a year of the Lupine.

The humans became the competitor they had always been missing. They even domesticated a cousin of the wolves.

Wars broke out over food, territory, and occasionally kidnapped people from both sides. Lupine can breed with both of the species they intersect with you see, with limitations. Lupine breeding with wolves create spawn more inclined to canine habits, and similarly Lupine breeding with humans create spawn more inclined to human habits. Breeding outside of the species was and is looked down upon, but in times of war they were desperate.

Until the wise men and women of the Great packs gathered together to pray to the earth mother. The Lupine were gifted a champion. Once a generation, a wolf would be chosen to become a Lycan. Of course, back then the names were different, something similar to the humans' proto Indo-European language, but names have evolved over time.

With the first Lycan, the Lupine began to take the edge once more.

Other animals, impressed by the Lycan, held a festival to champion him. A festival of sport and feasts. But they tricked the Lupine, as the festival was a gathering to bestow a curse.

The other animals had competed with the Lupine for so long, been beneath them, that they saw the humans as kindred spirits, you see.

At first the Lupine didn't believe in the curse. It said that each Lycan would hold a madness within themselves, one that could unleash at any moment. One that would turn them against their own kind.

For 2 generation, the Lycans were still champions. Until the 3rd fell to the curse.

His pack went out hunting, the Lycan staying behind to guard the young, the sick and the old - and his pregnant mate.

When they returned, they were all dead. More died in the attempts to kill the Lycan and cease his rampage.

Fear spread among the Lupine from then on. Lycans could no longer be trusted. And thus, most were killed as soon as they hit puberty and their Lycan nature was revealed.

Now, the Lupine hide, becoming nothing but a legend to humankind. They destroyed their art, their writings, their civilisations, to hide deep into the confines of nature.

Some strayed, creating the legends humans still tell today, like the Greek legend of the cannibal king.

But they still exist, woven into the societies of today or on the fringes where they hope to one day live freely again.

[thomrainierskies]

hate hate hate hate hate every single tumblr post that says "'hurgh durgh this societal issue existing in media is bad >:(' oh you sweet precious summer child, that media isn't promoting this societal issue, it is actually critiquing it! i am very intelligent."

not only are they always incredibly infantilizing, they always completely misinterpret the actual criticism of the post they're responding to. because most of the time i know the exact post! and you know damn well that when that person was talking about ableism in horror movies, they weren't talking about anything that uses the medium and genre to make a point about society, they were talking about b-movie schlock that uses the disabled body to horrify. you have to know that. you have to know that when that girl made a one-sentence post complaining off-handedly about racism in the horror genre, that she wasn't talking about Get Out, she was talking about any old slasher where black people only exist to either Be Threatening or to be canon fodder for the monster/slasher. when people talk about anti-indigenous racism in horror, they are not talking about Ravenous, which uses cannibalism as a metaphor for western expansion and within which the indigenous characters are contextualized as the only people who truly understand the horror of what's going on (but is not above criticism), they're talking about Bone Tomahawk, which uses cannibal mutants as stand-ins for indigenous cultures.

but because Malinda Lo said that Huck Finn is bad "because racism" a million years ago, all criticism that is vague enough MUST be interpreted in the least generous way possible, and everyone must be stupid except me. when people complain about a problem with a genre, they must be talking about EVERY piece of media in that genre, not just a section of it, therefore it falls to me to correct them and bestow upon them the knowledge of Good Art, because they are too simple-minded to understand.

and even if that is what they meant, if they were saying something stupid and uninformed, that is not how you educate people. you cannot teach people anything by looking down on them and calling them stupid, which you would know if you actually cared about educating people instead of just making yourself look smart by making everyone else look dumb.

[finalgirlminamurray]

the other book i read this past week was tender is the flesh, which. yeah that's a book that'll make you stare at the wall for a while after finishing it.

it's interesting to me how many people have this really visceral reaction to just the idea of cannibalism. i know fear and disgust are subjective but as someone who's always had a pretty neutral reaction to the concept i think a lot about what it is about this particular thing that is such a boundary-crossing taboo for so many. i know it's not normalized in most societies but why is it so much more off-putting to some people than other grotesque or disturbing things?

unlike with bones and all i don't know if the author of this book is a vegetarian or vegan but i think part of the point of it is to present exactly what is done to animals raised for food being done to humans and let the reader sit with how that makes them feel. i've always been pretty empathetic towards animals and i went through a hardcore animal rights phase when i was young - younger than you'd think, like 11-13. i first had regular access to the internet around that age too, so it was easy to find things. spent a lot of time on the peta website that i regret now but i was a kid. what kind of effect did that have on me? who's to say.

i've also never been one to eat a lot of meat. in fact the only meat i can eat is chicken - autistic food sensitivity issues prevent me from even being willing to taste pretty much anything else. i'm not vegan but i'm like...whatever the equivalent of a pescetarian is for chicken instead of fish. this is probably not that much healthier, but it's what works for me if i have to eat protein. maybe this is why cannibalism is not as horrifying to me as it is for others; i don't have a strong relationship with meat as part of my diet.

while we see the human livestock (the "head", as everyone who works with them calls it) being slaughtered and processed for their flesh, we never see any of the facilities where they are raised; even then there is a disconnect between the main character and this part of his work. are they raised in factory farm-like conditions? what are their lives like before they are killed? i think there is a misconception sometimes that people are only vegan because they can't stand the thought of animals being killed, and they don't understand that you don't kill cows to get milk or chickens to get eggs or sheep to get wool. i know some people are vegan because they believe humans should not use animals for their bodies in any way, even if done so "humanely", but i think for a lot of people the real problem is not that animals died for their food but that the majority of animal products come from factory farms, and it's easier to simply not eat any of them than to make sure you only buy meat and eggs and dairy from sustainable local family-owned farms. (not to say that veganism is accessible or affordable for everybody. just that it's the simpler option for many if you don't want to contribute to the ethical and environmental costs of industrial animal agriculture.)

i really don't want to start a "debate" about veganism but this is the kind of thing the book is designed to make you think about. i think the novel is definitely saying something in proposing a world where, when all non-human animals have died out, society chooses to raise humans for meat rather than adapt to a world where no one eats meat. it's implied that even in this world people who choose to become vegetarian are looked down upon. no one wants to significantly change the way they live their life when a massive change to society happens. on the other hand there are the rumors that the plague that supposedly made all animal flesh dangerous to humans was invented by the government as a way to solve overpopulation and food scarcity crises. note that the animals did not die off themselves, but were all killed by humans en masse when the plague began. (i imagine narratives about global disease outbreaks being a government invention became less popular after 2020 - this was written and published before then. within the context of the story - you have to believe the disease is real despite any logistical improbabilities [how is it that EVERY species of animal was infected except for humans? etc.] because the alternative is that all this was for nothing.)

to compare a human to an animal is to demean them; to compare an animal to a human is to uplift them, to say look, we are not so different. to increase human empathy for the animal, perhaps. the "head" in this world are biologically human, indistinguishable from other humans except for the genetic modifications some of them are given. the "pure" stock, the most valuable kind, though, are given nothing but extra feed. they are raised like animals and so they act like animals. their vocal chords are removed because if they had them, they would almost certainly learn to talk eventually and you can't have talking livestock if you're going to eat it. when marcos takes "the female" home and starts treating her kindly and inviting her into the house, it feels less like he's finally treating her like a person and more like he has adopted a farm animal as a pet. functionally she is a developmentally disabled adult, with all the othering treatment that goes along with that and the added barrier of marcos already being primed not to see her as human. is it possible for her to consent to sex with a "normal" human? if it is wrong for marcos to initiate it with her, why is that?

having a baby with jasmine, as he eventually names her, is both a reminder of their fundamental sameness - they are both human, they are perfectly compatible, the baby will not be an interspecies hybrid - and of why she will never be an equal. cecilia coaches her through the birth and makes sure it goes smoothly and comforts her, but once the baby is born - jasmine's humanity is forgotten. she has served her purpose. and what do you do when an animal bred for a purpose fulfills it? well, you can keep it for as long as it can still be profitable - cecilia argues in favor of using jasmine to birth more children. or, if that would not be feasible or worth the money and resources, you kill it. get the last you can out of it once it's dead.

there are absolutely people in this world who take advantage of the new state of things to indulge their own sadism and marcos has clear disdain for them whenever he meets with them. that isn't necessarily the main focus of the book's horror, though. marcos is a highly complex, well, human. what would the average person do in his situation?

i'm sure everything i've said here has already been said about this book and i don't know exactly what i'm trying to do, making this post into an essay or what. but anyway this was a very good book.

[barbatos-sama]

so like... it's been a minute since i've watched/read but this story was always interesting to me bc it explored what a predator/prey dynamic would be like if animals were put into a human-esque society, in like a unique way that i hadn't seen before. since like, usually you just get stuff like zoo topia where the predators have to prove they're ~nice actually and don't eat prey~ because ppl don't want to have a complicated moral gray area like that, there has to be clear good and bad sides so of course the prey are the good guys and the predators have to prove they're not savages etc. but this story explores it more realistically imo, where morally it's incredibly complex and the society hurts both sides in different ways, and there's no real way for everyone to actually Win in this story because, irl, nature is nature and there's no good/bad because animals don't have a sense of morals, a predator isn't bad because they're just an animal doing their natural behavior. but since you're applying a human sense of morals to it, there's no way for both predator and prey to be happy in the end if they have human morals.

in this world predators are profiled as being inherently dangerous to prey and are often treated poorly as a result, and a potential relationship between a predator and prey is viewed as inherently problematic because of the risk of the predator giving into their instincts and eating their partner. predators often have to go the extra mile to appear friendly and nonthreatening, a big and sad example being the mayor(?) who is a lion, who had his sharp teeth replaced with flat ones to appear more friendly to a prey audience. he had to modify his body to appease prey which is pretty sad. so like, in a different story this would have been framed as the predators being the oppressed and the prey being the oppressors, but this isn't that kind of story. the thing is, yeah predators are discriminated against, but they aren't always the oppressors.

the fact of the matter is that some predators Do eat prey, the prey have a very real logical reason to be cautious of predators. even the most friendly predator can suddenly be betrayed by their own instincts and attack. prey are also often looked down upon by predators due to being less imposing and smaller, as you can imagine predators have a physical advantage over prey so they have power over them in that way. but there's actually a really interesting moment where an elephant was in therapy because they face microaggressions the way a predator would, despite the fact that elephants are herbivores, just because they're so large. so prey do have the advantage of having some really big brethren, which may explain how despite tending to have the physical advantage over prey, predators seem to have gotten the short end of the stick in this world.

predators are forced to survive off a diet of eggs for protein since it's illegal to eat meat as that would obviously be murder, (and perhaps cannibalism?) but it poses the question of whether that's actually Fair or not. their biological needs are repressed and they have to eat things that aren't exactly ideal just to survive. however something you find out a bit into the story is that there's a black market for meat and a lot of predators partake in it. and it leaves you conflicted because, it's horrific to think that there's a big profitable underground market for murdered bodies of prey, or even worse, children raised with the purpose of being livestock.

louis is an interesting character because he is a prey that i believe was either raised as livestock or at least trafficked somehow (can't remember the specifics) but either way he was a victim of predators. but he hates the fact that he is prey, he wishes he could be a predator and have the power that comes with it. he tries to force himself to eat meat but his body simply can't digest it. he hates it, hates being prey.

both sides have ways in which they're oppressed or being oppressed, both have hardships and there is no true right and wrong status in this society, no matter how hard they try to establish one. because the idea of predators and prey simply cannot fit into our own human ideals of what morality is, there are no winners and no way that everyone in this story could have a happy ending. i just think it's an interesting unique exploration of a premise i've seen done before but is always way too simplified and black and white to be realistic

[skyfallstarlights]

//: Funfacts: Witherites VC is now Gene Wilder, Specifically his portrayl of Willy Wonka.

"The suspense is terrible, I hope it will last.“ " Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker.” “Everything in this room is edible. Even I’m edible. But, that would be called cannibalism. It is looked down upon in most societies.”

[djangodinkenfuzz]

Everything in this room is edible my dear children. Even I am edible. But, that would be called cannibalism. It is looked down upon in most societies.

Im just like Jerry Seinfeld except I don't like underage girls and the only thing in my joke repertoire is cannibalism

[toriowlfluff]

idk if its ok to ask but, whats the mers policy on food like is it OK to eat smaller merpeople or is it just strictly nonsentient fish?

So I thought about it a bunch and even if it's frowned upon by most of Merfolk society, some still hunt down other mers. But those conditions are extremely rare and are often the result of overfishing on the human side, leaving some predatory mers no choice sometimes. Of course there are others who actively hunt for merfolk tho-

It doesn't help that different types of Merfolk have adapted to look like different fish that some Mers would consider as food source.

BUT our peeps at the sanctuary OBVIOUSLY don't practice cannibalism, but they do still eat fish. It's surprisingly normal that fish eat fish actually.

Tho you could imagine the awkwardness when Mumbo or Tango or any of them have Cod for dinner-

[luckyspacerabbit]

drell diaspora meta <3

as told by me! a mixed diasporic chindo (chinese-indonesian) :)

preface: bioware failed to flesh out Drell culture and heritage to my satisfaction so I wrote this meta for both my personal reference and because I wanted to represent Thane and Drell as people who suffer from a history that invokes parallels between real world colonization/imperialism, as well as portray his personal conflict with this accurately because it's very painful and I think gets naturally overlooked by people who lack this background!

Contents:

The Family Unit

Food

Music

Customs

Hanar Intervention (honestly read this bc I think it's the most important section!!)

1. The Family Unit

Size: They're small by necessity: as in there is no room on Kahje to support. This is a bit of a complicated topic. Drell families are likely to lose their children to the Compact giving them incentive to have more than one or two but it’s probably very expensive to provide for them. I can see a lot of cultural tension here. There are pressures in either direction. There's a lot of sadness too. It makes every child extremely precious.

Values: Independence is an important quality-- but not to a fault! Because family units can be taken apart at any time, being able to take care of yourself is a survival skill. In addition, spiritedness is a closely held value-- To make up for the loss of large family trees and ability to be in close quarters (due to the constant coming and going of family members) it becomes very important to showcase your passion-- whether to each other or about any matter of things in life. Overall, spiritedness is most important! caring and wanting to improve upon yourself as well as self-discipline and hard work.

A.N: Probably because, as evidenced by Thane’s dialogue, they've come to view what happened on Rakhana as like, self-inflicted or weak of spirit ( :( this has me extremely messed up. The whole situation is based on Colonialist propaganda honestly so this conflict to me is so personal and painful to watch in real-time because you can see it very plainly in Thane and you can tell he carries that generational trauma)

Carrying on: The ability to be vulnerable is not as important as the ability to show that you care, which can come from action or words, but usually, this means vulnerability and passion go hand in hand. Finally, homecoming is very important. Everyone is so scattered all over the galaxy, time together is time that counts. Bonding circles (An old tradition) have become “Bonds,” a colloquial name for annual family gatherings.

Read on Under The Cut <3

2. Food

Drell are born with a full set of teeth but they can’t be that tough yet. There must be specific dishes for each age to celebrate. That means as they age, softer meats-> harder foods are part of a traditional practice to track development! (Age 1 Birthday Food: Beetle Based Dish, so on till age 16/17)

Rakhana Diet: I also think that on Rakhana insects would have been popular! Because it’s an arid world and it would have been a very nutritious and accessible source of protein. It also strikes me that their recipes may have been very paste-based because it’s an easy way to flavor things when food is scarce! Also, paste flavoring like sambal (spicy chili). Other Foods:

Eggs? Eggs. It’s just a lizard thing but also! Really simple and easy to make.

Desert fruit! Water-based fruits that are similar to cantaloupe and citrusy things like calamansi.

On Kahje: Their diet must have to shift, so lucky they’re omnivorous.

Probably fish. Likely the main source of protein there.

This is off topic but I think that eating kelp runs as a joke for Drell on Kahje because of the similarities between their colors and striping. I don’t know what kind of joke. But I wonder if Drell teens will order fried kelp and point at each other like “cannibal”

Sauce…………. Dark sauces…...

You can tell the difference between a Kahje Drell and a Rakhana Drell (If they are still in existence? Most likely but very hard to find) based on their fish opinions

Raw fish consumption is normal on Kahje but Drell are not technically “built” for that diet so they may get sick with overconsumption! It must be well cooked to avoid illness.

3. Music

There's a natural inclination to communicate verbally due to their distinct biology.

Drell anatomy (throat) allows for unique sounds and trills

Highly present in language and utilized in music (On Rhakana there were probably dialects that incorporated certain clicks and trills as part of the “alphabet” just like irl, but I imagine those that can still speak it are very limited and it must be passed down or retaught through preservation efforts)

Rhythmic dance and music to tell stories and legends! Especially of great creatures that transcended into infamy. Like a big old serpent that through storytelling became a mythical dragon type of thing.

Clothing/Robes, loose-fitting and comfortable to work in Arid environments and allow for movement (tight ass clothes not the norm ashdjfk esp for dancing, Thane’s just a career man who thinks he looks good and he lived on Kahje so--)

4. Customs

The Pursuit of Life a.k.a Perah (I made this term up)

It's a cultural value centered around making the most of life through boldness. Seizing the moment because not every Drell gets the opportunity to call their life their own— this is in reference to both the compact and the death of Rakhana. Therefore if you ARE lucky enough to have ownership over your own life, you must not squander it. There are a number of purposeful benefits to Perah, such as:

Leading Drell off of Kahje (avoiding Kepral’s)

Giving Drell an “Adventurous” reputation due to far journeying and mixed work

A lot of Drell are able to form community ties outside of the home due to this norm! Because a lot of them have long and wide and journeys across the galaxy to share with each other and cultural commonality, they have an immediate kinship with each Drell they meet.

Puppetry/Masks

The Drell face is shaped like a mask so it only makes me think there must be culture-specific dances or plays utilizing masks in order to tell traditional stories and celebrate moments of life

There seems to be a lot of reverence and appreciation for the different and diverse, including animals and other species, leading me to believe that there are masks based on different creatures!

5. Hanar Intervention

Loss of Population: Effects

Destruction of the family unit, disjointed/fractured because of the Compact and limited living space on Kahje

Death of Rakhana leaving entire generations and specific regions behind, permanent severing between sects of Drell society

That means the inability to read certain texts as well as languages dying off between generations.

The disappearance of traditions, including many religions

Loss of understanding of Drell language and terminology

A.N: Thane is a rare case with access to high reading material and close ties to “hidden” communities/pockets of people; Most Drell do not know the meaning of Siha due to Hanar assimilating via Enkindlers

Most also do not know about traditional religion! I imagine these pockets must be so small. Thane probably had to work very hard to recover this knowledge which goes to show his complex relationship with his heritage.

It’s likely that there are factions of Drell who attempt to preserve and celebrate their culture despite being uprooted.

Possible rebellions/isolationists who reject the Compact which has mixed reactions by the majority of Drell community, not limited to shunning and disownment (:/ bc these things are sadly complicated)

A.N: Thane comments that it's an honor to fulfill the compact, which naturally implies it's shame to reject it. Let your imagination on the consequences of that rejection sink in.

A misconception is that Drell like to adopt whatever culture they live in but it's more like most of them lack the access to return and reclaim their own roots or have been shamed out of it

[derangedhyena-zoids]

I realized I completely left out part of the bonding stuff  for Organoid side of things re: benefits. thinking only about the human/zoidian side I guess.

hnngh. the tl;dr is basically “hi, don’t forget that Organoids are vicious dolphin-bee-garbage-disposals with legs”, and behave accordingly. While the bonding behavior took root because the Organoids were highly motivated by the whole “cheat-mode on survival” thing (never-ending food, permanent allies and by-default protection against enemies? fuck yeah), they actually did experience changes too. It provided a cognitive function and cultural benefit: it gave Organoids greater individuality and access to a higher form of metacognition. almost as an inadvertent side-effect? like so:

the benefits of extra brainpower. over time the one on the right became the norm. the individuals who took up bondmates were more successful, full stop. while feral organoids absolutely remained within largely-domesticated colonies they were looked down upon.  (no colony was 100% domesticated, Organoids’ reproductive rate outpaced Zoidians’ by quite a bit), The ferals didn’t (and couldn’t) understand what they were missing. The ferals were viewed as lesser but not treated any differently - because they were still a part of the all-important colony, and no Organoid ever stops valuing that. The ferals simply couldn’t process the nuance of opinion and action differing. (read: what an individual in the colony thought didn’t matter. only what they do matters.) the main difference this made overall? ....was that most small and purely-wild colonies went almost completely extinct. because the more aggressive of the domesticated colonies used their newfound smarts+disdain combo to decide they needed to make concerted efforts to completely destroy their inferior competition/enemies. ಠ_ಠ do.... you understand why the Zoidians were a little bit ultimately fucked, here....? (KEEP IN MIND: Organoids are BIG-TIME filial cannibals. The species’ entire reproductive setup existed largely to keep OTHER non-colony Organoids from eating their eggs/offspring. Colonies, especially newer branches trying to become established, were therefore huge threats and caused lots of problems.)   (see also: this is why One was like, sure, eat each other, it’ll be grand!!!) 

DON’T WORRY ABOUT SOCIETY, JUST EAT that all said, Organoids weren’t stupid in their wild forms, by any means. they were the planet’s most successful predator species, after all. but they did not have much ability (or need) to think outside of immediate and very-near-future requirements. very instinct-driven, while they did have individual thoughts, personalities and genes, but were always ultimately working together like some very bitey swarm.   the hivemind-bond is why I call them ‘hypersocial’ as opposed to just social - social animals have to work out how to get along best, and that’s part of what drives their evolution. in a hypersocial situation like this, they go past what creatures with individuality would ever feel comfortable with. to the point where they prioritize their part of the greater whole over themselves. (welcome to why the bond between an Organoid and Zoidian partner is so intense.)   this is also why the hypersociality developed and continued to intensify. Up until Zoidians became involved on a large scale and permanently changed the dynamic, Organoids simply did not tolerate non-compliant colony members. If any arose, they’d be killed outright or shut out of the group. And lone Organoids don’t tend to live very long. so, yhea. how these things relate to the existing characters: -One’s problems are multifaceted and complicated, but re: him and bonding, the reason he “needed” a partner/pilot was so he could use their brainpower to think straight. I am at a loss for how to explain how I picture this, so I’m gonna reillustrate some of this stuff:

BASICALLY ONE LOSES HIS HIGHER POWERS OF THOUGHT (ESP. IN STRESSFUL/INSTINCT-TEMPTING SITUATIONS) WITHOUT A BONDMATE DOING SOME VERY, VERY HEAVY LIFTING .......yhea, I want to try and explain this “entirely” but I’m honestly not sure it’s worth it. just, there’s a lot of structure and consistency underneath this shit, okay. //20 sobbing emojis//   -Ambient. now hopefully you understand just how lonely Ambient has been? He literally tried to just lay in one place and die for a while, but it didn’t work. He literally has, and has had, no idea what to do with himself. He’s been eating people and spectating for decades. -Zero (and One) don’t have proper colonies; the bonding partners were established from the get-go, the Death Scorpion and Death Saurer respectively. Both no longer exist (Cores were destroyed), so the two’s only options are people. They understand the concept of a colony and have sort of an instinctual concept of it, but no actual experience with them. -Shadow and Ambient are actually from the same colony, a fact which made both of them have very strong opinions about Ryss and Specula across the board. Shadow lost his memory of his own original bondmate, a fact which Ambient never let him live down; Shadow put a lot of his angst about that situation into the intensity of his bond with Raven, unfortunately not realizing both that humans didn’t live very long and that Raven would die relatively young. He was devastated by this, and panicked at the thought of losing the memory of Raven just like he’d lost that of his original bondmate. so he refused to bond again, despite both Albion and Ryss trying to convince him (to bond with Albion.) Since Shadow still holds onto a lot of Raven’s memories and feelings, he is terrifyingly loyal to and protective of Ryss, Specula, and the Geno Breaker. 

-Specula’s pretty okay as far as Organoids go. She’s got Ryss, and Ryss has her. Obviously, her colony is gone, but in their situation that’s kind of the least of their problems. ....gonna leave this long-ass post with some bonus shitpost comics