#ever wanted to learn what a vivisection is

[brekitten]

The Therapist

There's a new therapist at school.

Normally this wouldn't really bother Peter at all, since he's never gone to see a shrink in his life and doesn't ever plan on it, but there's something... off about this woman.

She seems unassuming enough at first glance. Red hair, green eyes, bright red lipstick. But there is something in her eyes, something that Peter can only describe as a predator looking at its next prey, when she looks around the school at all of the teenagers milling about. Heck, even the way she walks makes her seem as if she is a predator stalking her prey.

It could always be some kind of power move, Peter reasons. He's met people like that before, who try to intimidate everyone around them into thinking that they are superior, that they are the apex predator and anyone who dares to cross them would pay for it dearly.

But his Spidey Sense went crazy around her.

He tries to brush it off as paranoia. He'd pulled an all-nighter last night in the lab with Tony because neither of them had been able to sleep, and he hadn't been sleeping well even before that. (Funny, how it had all started the night after he first bumped into the new therapist in the halls.) So his Spidey Sense is probably out of wack because he's tired. Simple as that.

But it seems like everyone in the school is depressed. Even Ned, who can't even muster up the energy and enthusiasm to talk about Legos or Star Wars or even the weather. It worries Peter.

Because it all started when that therapist came to the school.

He can't ignore it forever, he knows that. There is only so long his Spidey Sense can tell him that she is danger danger danger before he finally listens. He has to do something to help everyone.

So he researches.

And he falls into the rabbit hole of ghosts and ectoplasm and secret government organizations and the little, unassuming town of Amity Park, Illinois.

He doesn't sleep that night.

When he comes to school the next morning, Dr. Penelope Spectra looks him dead in the eyes, and smiles.

[animal-123-crazy]

Okay listen when one of the biggest plot pieces revolves around nuclear burger sauce…. Yeah its silly

But yknow the entire Freakshow arc still unsettles me a bit. ALSO SPECTRA??? Im pretty sure my innate fear of psychologists stems from THAT. Spectra freaked me out man

[deadsetobsessions]

“Tim. Timmy. Ancients, kid, what are you doing?!”

Danny Phantom smacked away the instinctual terror of seeing an eight year old dangling out of a third story window.

“I gotta go take pictures of Batman and Robin! They’re out tonight!”

Danny thought that his barely healed vivisection wound might bust open from the sheer stress.

“Setting aside how you even know the patrol schedule of honest to god vigilantes, why’d you choose the window? The house is literally empty, just walk out the front door, for Ancient’s sake.”

Tim paused, a motion Danny was overwhelmingly thankful for, and blinked sheepishly.

“Um… for the aesthetic?”

Danny allowed the silence to settle between them before dropping his head into his waiting hands. Tim panicked.

“You- you can’t stop me!”

And yeah, Danny really can’t. In the months he’s been mooching off of the Drakes (not that they’ll notice), Danny’s learned that Tim Drake is nothing but relentless in the pursuit of whatever he sets his mind on. Whether thet might be putting hot chocolate in his cereal (which Danny doesn’t actually mind) or, apparently, stalking a pair of vigilantes.

He wanted to hack into the library cameras? Danny had to hover just to make sure the kid didn’t get caught after arguing for an hour about it.

He walked out of that argument with a loss, yes, but he also let Tim know that Danny cared about him. Danny also walked out of that argument with a new hatred for Janet and Jack Drake and his mind (just as diabolical as Tim’s) whirring with plans to haunt them.

Tim is never ever introducing his new little brother to Tucker. Ever.

“Okay. I don’t want to see you take unnecessary risks, but I’m also aware that I can’t really stop you. So. I’ll go with you.”

Maybe this is like… Tim’s obsession? When he put it that way, Danny lost the fight to prevent this tiny kid from what clearly is the only joy in his poor life.

“But…!” Tim’s eyes darted to Danny’s chest, the vivisection scars still fresh in his mind.

“They’re healed.” Danny pulled his dumbass little brother off the window sill, core settling as Tim follows willingly. “I’ll make us invisible and fly with you behind Batman and Robin so you can get even better shots. You can’t make any noise, though. That camera got a shutter sound, right?”

“Yeah!” Tim’s face brightened and Danny melted. He shoved a bottle of the (incredibly stinky but helpful in a pinch) ecto contaminated tap water into a backpack, along with some snacks and a blanket for when Tim gets cold. Danny’ll be fine, he’s got a Space Core. The cold his kind of his thing.

“Cool. We’ll stay out of earshot. If things starts to get too dicey, we’re heading home, okay?”

“Okay!” The look Tim shot him is full of trust and adoration and it makes Danny’s human heart squeeze painfully. “C’mon! I don’t want to be late!”

“We need to talk about your stalking tendencies later,” Danny said fondly.

“I’m not stalking them! I’m observing them!”

“Uh-huh,” Danny drawled, picking Tim up and making them intangible and invisible. “They’re not a bird observatory and also, even the birds in the observatory knows they’re being watched. Batman and Robin clearly doesn’t.”

Danny felt more than saw Tim’s pout.

He laughs as they fly just below the Gotham-brand of toxic smog. He waves to the City’s Spirit as Tim cranes his head around to catch sight of Batman and Robin.

“There!”

Danny obliged. With Danny’s flight, Tim got much better- much closer- photos than he would have originally.

Danny hung back as the pair of vigilantes swooped down to take care of a mugging.

“Wanna mess with them?” He grinned down at his little brother, canines glinting.

Tim looked up at him, admiration and mischievousness in his gaze. “Yes.”

Gotham parted her clouds in response to their glee.

——

Dick Grayson, AKA Robin, finally understood why criminals are so creeped out by him.

Other than the whole flippy child kicking grown people’s asses and winning thing, obviously (that, and Batman loomed menacingly behind him everytime a criminal even looked at Robin wrong).

Batman had picked up on it first, but the for entirety of their patrol, they kept hearing eerie little giggles and laughter. Haunting them. Never distracting. But persistent. And so creepy. He got goosebumps.

“B, I wanna go home.”

“Hm.” That’s a resounding yes if Dick’s ever heard one.

Maybe Alfred can chase away the giggles and chuckles.

Robin shudders and follows the Bat home.

——

Danny lowered the temperature as he held Tim up near Batman’s cowl so his brother could giggle menacingly. He knew for a fact that any recording device would get completely cram led by the sheer output of ambient ectoplasm he’s emitting. Plus, it freaked Robin out and raised the hairs on the back of the vigilantes’ heads. He tones it down when he noticed Tim rubbing his hands together.

He let out a quiet laugh, enjoying the flight with his brother in his arm and the light of the stars (thanks, Gotham) at his back.

——

Danny: oh, this kid’s got an Obsession, gotta let him do it safely, he’s a liminal from all that tap water

Danny: *forgets Tim isn’t a ghost nor is he from Amity and is therefore extremely breakable*

——

Danny and Tim: doing crime is a good bonding activity

Batman and Robin, who wants to say no it isn’t but they’re literally a pair of illegal vigilantes:

——

Dick as Robin: *cackles*

Tim, learning habits from stalking them: *giggles*

Gotham Criminals: *fear*

[amaramizuki666]

Shared sensation part.3

Danny couldnt feel his link anymore, his bond had completely dissolved when he died. Now even if him and his soulmate reconnected they could never revive their bond.

Danny still only felt numbness, well exept when he got electrocuted, hit with ghost hunting tech, or hurt with ecto plasma. Yeah not the best to feeling to only feel pain, but sometimes danny felt the pain was the only thing that kept him grounded.

It's been 3 years since he became phantom and 2 years since he became ghost king. And danny has learned a lot about being a ghost. Like 1) ghosts where suposed to still have their soulmate in death. The reson Danny aparntly didnt keep his bond was because he was rejected, at least that is what frostbite told him.

2) ghosts are very protective of their soul bonds and danny is no exception to this. He feels his core screaming for its other half every second of every day. Somedays the only thing keeping him going is his protection and space obsession. But still somedays it felt like he was going to go insane.

At one point he tried to order clockwork to tell him where his soulmate was so he could find him and try and convince him they could still be togeather even without the ties of their soul bond. He wanted to tell his soulmate he would do anything for them, he would protect him if he stayed with him no matter the cost.

"Danny?" Sam questions looking at him with concern "you good?". Danny blinked and nodded, they where currently in Danny's lair in the zone because after his parents found out about him being phantom they didnt take it well and let's say the GIW got involved.

"I'm fine sam, I just feel empty" danny says leaning back into his throne. "I understand danny, when the GIW blocked mine and tucker's bond it felt like my world was ripped away, it felt like my soul was in a void, I dont know how you are still sane" sam says sitting in her own throne to his right.

As a members of phantoms council she, tucker, jazz, even wes had their own thrones beside danny. "I'm not sure if I sould call myself sane, my morals have become very sewed to human standards" danny sighed. "Well you got rejected by your soulmate, died, got cloned by a frootloop, and got vivisected by your parents plus some. I'd say it's only fair your morals are fucked" sam states.

Danny chuckled "how is elle?" Sam inquired "oh shes good, in Rome right now" danny says happy to share what is going on with his daughter. Elle was made from his DNA, his ectoplasm, she is his daughter and one of the only reasons he hasn't gone off the deep end yet.

Danny held the goblet of ecto dejecto to his lips when he felt it. Cold and smooth metal in his hand. Danny froze "danny what's wrong?" Sam asked concerned. "Its cold" danny mumbled "what-" "sam I can feel the cold, the texter of the goblet, how-" danny questioned.

He stated at the goblet in his hand in amazement. Danny felt his core whirl in utter joy. "How?" Danny asked no one in particular.

Danny felt it. His bond was back strong and fresh, but that wasnt physicly possable. It goes aginst everything. His soulmate rejected him, he died whith the rejection, it is impossible for their bond to reform. So how is his bond back.

You know what. Danny doesn't care how. He has his other half again. And by the ancients he refuses to loose them again. "Sam tell the others I'm taking momentary leave. You and tucker will be in charge while I'm gone" danny orders and she nods without questions.

Danny rose from his throne. He will fine his soulmate. And nothing was going to stop him.

part. 2

Part 4

[subbyp]

I have this idea for an AU wherein Sanji’s physical Germa modifications kick in during his time starving on the rock, and when he’s like 14 Judge finds out and decides to take him back by force, because if the physical modifications took then surely the mental ones will too and if not there’s always psychological conditioning like what he did to Reiju, right? So Germa rocks up to the Baratie, burns it to the waterline, slaughters the crew (almost) to a man, and drags Sanji back. they don’t realize that Zeff survives, and they probably wouldn’t care if they did. (more fool them)

the mental modifications never kick in, but Sanji learns to act like they do, developing this false persona as a vicious shallow hedonist. he also leans hardcore on his growing resemblance to Sora to get Judge to indulge his whims (no, there’s nothing actually sexual about it, but it is deeply uncomfortable and it’s supposed to be). this is because he’s waiting for a very specific kind of opportunity…..

five years later, the Straw Hat Pirates are in Loguetown, getting ready to scale Reverse Mountain when Luffy fucks up the storefront of a shabby little seafood shack off the main square where Roger was once executed and is enlisted into chore boy duty. he gets to talking about dreams and piracy and sailing with the owner.

“do you have any dreams?” he says, failing to mop the floor.

“I used to have a few,” says the owner.

“not anymore?” says Luffy.

“none of your business,” says the owner.

“you should be my cook!” says Luffy.

“not a chance in hell,” says the owner.

then the shit goes down that leads to Luffy being put up on the block and almost executed. when the Straw Hats flee to the Merry they find the owner standing there waiting for them with a book under his arm.

he explains that he can’t be their cook—he’s too old and too broken, he’s had enough of the Grand Line, and besides staying in Loguetown is the best shot he has at achieving his dream (“I knew you had a dream!” yells Luffy. everyone ignores this), but he’s got a cookbook and nutrition guide he’s been working on and the Straw Hats can have the first draft so they don’t totally die of scurvy and shit if they swear to do him one favor—to, if they ever, out there on the sea, meet a nineteen-year-old kid called Sanji, tell him that Red-Leg Zeff is alive.

“yeah! of course!” says Luffy. “if you tell me what your dream is.”

“to see him walk free,” says Zeff.

—

Zeff’s cookbook keeps the Straw Hats properly nourished. but they barely make it to Sabaody in canon, and here they have one less combatant, so Kuma decides to split the team at Thriller Bark, and instead of sending Zoro to Kuraigana, he sends his unconscious just-bore-Luffy’s-pain ass right onto the Germa 66 flagship.

Judge wants to vivisect Zoro to figure out how a regular human non-DF-user could be so freakshow strong and then turn his head in for the bounty, but Sanji recognizes him as one of the Straw Hats (and thus, one of the liberators of Alabasta) and improvs on the spot that he wants him as a swordsmanship coach (“after all, sir, you want me to improve my swordsmanship”) and, he heavily implies, bed-warmer. thus Zoro wakes up in a Germa 66 infirmary, wounds bandaged, swords gone, and explosive collar on his neck, as the third-born Prince of Germa demands to be allowed to see his new toy alone. (“yes, I’ll be careful with him. I don’t want to break him when I’ve just got him!”)

zoro, having deduced what sanji is alluding to, is about ready to kill him with his bare hands on the spot, but as soon as they’re alone in the room together sanji starts immediately and profusely apologizing for being such a creep. he says he’s not into men (“especially not unwilling ones”) but it was the only way he could think of to get them even occasional privacy, and btw he is probably going to have to claim that he’s doing some unsavory stuff or else Judge might possibly have Zoro killed, but he’ll never lay a hand on Zoro without his consent besides what is strictly necessary to fake it around the Vinsmokes—

at this point Zoro starts to wonder what the hell he’s going on about. Sanji explains the whole thing and says that he’s planning on somehow getting Zoro back to the Straw Hats as soon as he can, and in the meantime he’ll make sure Zoro gets food and medical care and that nobody sells off his swords or anything, but he needs Zoro to do something for him in return:

“I’m going to feed you every bit of knowledge I have about Germa 66, and when you leave here, you need to give that information to someone who can destroy us until not even memories remain.”

[dailyadventureprompts]

The Daily Adventure Prompts Masterpost

After several years of running this blog, it’s become more and more evident that I need some central reference where people can access all my different DM advice posts, important tags, and ongoing series. Sharing my ideas with people and helping to improve the art and craft of being a dungeonmaster was always the point of DAP after all, and its of no help to anyone if the answers to important questions are buried under a hundred or more pages of my rambling.

To that end, I present this post as an ever expanding catalogue of my thoughts. Something that you can page through at your leisure in hopes some of my hardwon lessons will be of use to you.  

DM Advice: The go-to tag for all my rambling on how to improve your d&d game, with some highlights presented here,

My Process

Getting Organized

Basics of Campaign writing

Railroading & Rollercoasters

The “more than you can chew” universal d&d story structure

Ghosts on the Horizon: not getting bogged down with overplanning

Mapmaking 101

Writer’s Block

Better Random Encounters

Better Loredumps and Exposition

Writing Adventures to Make your party care about your world

Series of Interest

The DM Starterpack: Focused on first timers or those who want to re-learn d&d from the ground up this series of posts is intended to give you an idea how to come up with a campaign concept, write a first adventure, run a session zero, and slowly pivot into running a larger campaign.

Tableskills: While a lot of my work focuses on how you can write better stories, these posts talk about being a better storyteller focusing in on the performance art of DMing.

Mechanics: On the flipside, sometimes you need to put on your game designer hat and focus in on ways to make the underlying engine of the game run more smoothly to better facilitate fun and storytelling.

How to Run...: there are certain types of adventure that need more thought put into them then the average monsterhunt or dungeon delve, and so I wrote a series of articles to not only help you write/design them but to pull them off at your table.

Wilderness Exploration

Heists

Naval Combat

Infiltrating a fancy party

Mystery

Airship Adventures

Political Intrigue

Mythology style epic labours

The Loot Overhaul: A series of posts where I focus in on different aspects of d&d’s treasure and item

An overhaul to player wealth & The Economy

Better Loot & Treasure Hoard generation

A case for magic item shops & Item focused treasure hauls

Shopping trips & Group Inventory Management

Making Identifying & Attuning to Items interesting

Crafting Overhaul pt 1: Weapons & Armour

Crafting Overhaul pt 2: Magic & Consumables

Monsters Reimagined: My ongoing delve into d&d’s bad monster lore and how it can be improved. Sometimes it’s because a cool monster is just underwritten, sometimes its because how they’re used in the narrative just doesn’t make sense, sometimes its because there’s decades or even centuries old pro-genocide talking points that we need to unpack.

Footnotes on Foes: For those topics that don’t warrant a full “monsters reimagined” but I still want to give my take on. Fun stuff in there, especially with lesser known monsters that could use a revamp.  

Heavy Topics: Where I deepdrive on the nuance of particular topics, ranging from uncomfortable touchstones in history that are important to my writing to sensitive subjects that you’ll want to discuss with others around your table.

Bad Opinions: Sometimes a take so awful lands in my inbox that I need to hold it up infront of my audience and perform a vivisection. Its part media study, part bloodsport.

Dungeon Design: An attempt to do what the creators of the game have put off for decades (despite being half of the title) and actually provide a coherent framework for step by step dungeon design. After nearly twenty years of banging my head against a wall, it finally seems to have worked.

Planescape: Where I try to add cool new (or revamped) destinations to the tapestry of d&d’s multiverse.

Special mention to “Why I don’t use the Great Wheel Cosmology” as it underscores a lot of my overall problems with d&d’s cosmic lore and its weird moralistic claims.

Deities: A collection of new/overhauled gods focusing on making them represent ideals that people would actually believe in as an embodiment of ideals and narrative themes.

How to use the divine in your game: a story first view of how to use faith, religion, and gods in your campaigns aiming for things more subtle and thematic.

Outer Gods: For when you want to get lovecraftian

Religion is the tag I use to talk about the concept of both faith as a theme in writing, as well as how the organized religion serves as a worldbuilding tool

Adventures by Type: not a comprehensive list

Press Start: Opening adventures for those who want a solid start for future campaigns or adventures

Campaigns: For those who’d like a larger story framework to play with

Adventure Compendium: If you’d like a lot of ideas on the same theme

Dungeon: Need I say More?

Monsterhunt: Facing off against a powerful enemy that has some tricks

Villain: In both Quantity and Quality

Player Home: Every party needs a place to rest their head

Ally: They’re here to help, usually

Patron: Benefactors of the shady and non shady verity

Mystery: Put your Sleuthing Hat on

Thief: Time to steal something

Faction: Larger groups the party can join

Adventures by Environment

Lowland

Swamp

Field

Desert

Wasteland

Highland

Cave

Mountain

Forest

Seaside

Ruin

Settlement

Village

Town

City

[imekitty]

I've been reading your Dis- series around the clock this week (genuinely, I've been staying up every night because I was so engrossed!), and juuust caught up on Disillusioned.

I really like the way you don't shy away from exploring a darker or more realistic (imho) side of a lot of the characters. Especially Danny's parents-they feel way more fleshed out than the standard cartoon couple, thanks to the way you portray their relationship and all of the worries/messiness within it.

And while I do like when authors write Maddie as purely scientifically motivated through and through, I found it really interesting that you've been exploring a more sinister part of her that, honestly, would make a lot of sense to exist in a vivisection story like this. I don't feel like I've ever really seen her character handled this way. It's really interesting.

Thanks for writing! It's been fun to read <3

Thank you! I'm so thrilled to get a message like this! :D

I remember when I was a teenager that I wasn't very good at writing adults, but now as an adult myself, I love being able to flesh out adult characters and make them so much more complicated and human than what we see in cartoons aimed at kids.

While I was writing Disparaged, I read a "Maddie experiments on Phantom" fic and I don't remember much about it except that Danny observes that Maddie is cold and clinical with him, detached, nothing at all like his mother who is warm and loving and nurturing. And that intrigued me because I thought, well, what if she were more warm and nurturing even during experiments? What if she were intimate with him during these experiments instead of detached? What if the woman who tortured Phantom really was the same woman who loved Danny? Would that add to the trauma, the torture? That inability to separate the scientist from his mother?

And then it evolved from there, Maddie being very affectionate with Phantom during experiments, feeling straight up arousal during their time together because her work really does turn her on, achieving the results she wants is better than any orgasm. And seeing someone as powerful as Phantom submitting to her will, also better than sex.

I also saw a comic here on Tumblr where Maddie and Jack had successfully captured Phantom and locked him up in a cell and Maddie was conflicted because he was acting so much like a child, like Danny would, and the author commented that they didn't believe Maddie could actually experiment on Phantom because her motherly side would kick in, she'd have too much sympathy. And I thought but what if Maddie sees Phantom acting like a child as just a trick? What if she learned to ignore ghosts trying to act like humans? What if she saw these ghosts trying to play on her motherly sympathies and chose to continue with the torture anyway? Because she is just that convinced that ghosts only imitate human emotion and can't genuinely experience it?

I think fics that portray Maddie as being cold and clinical and other fics that have her showing sympathy to Phantom and hesitating when conducting experiments on him are completely valid and awesome. I just really enjoy writing Maddie as sadistic and obsessed lol.

[ghostinthegallery]

Re-reading Twice Dead King, the character I was most struck by on a second viewing was Mentep. Now there’s a tragic figure. Simultaneously a mentor, an ally, an antagonist, someone so terribly understandable who I want to smack upside the head for being a lying liar who lies.

Ultimately, Mentep is a penitent. He has committed terrible acts (that we only get scant details of) and he wants to redeem himself. Thanks to his tampering with his own memories, he doesn't fully know what he is repenting for, which puts him in a bind. However, he knows that he played a role in creating the flayer curse/longing sickness, so he goes to a planet where a high concentration of them have gathered and works on his cure. He's respected, he's able to do his work with only occasional interruptions from the local angsty youth. Things are good-ish (until the armada shows up.)

Mentep and Oltyx have a weird relationship. Despite being his normal asshole-teenager self, Oltyx does respect Mentep more than most. Trusts Mentep enough to let the guy perform experimental brain surgery on him. Twice. And Mentep is able to be much more candid with Oltyx in return. He's one of the few consistently calling Oltyx out for his bullshit. On the surface, it is a standard mentor relationship, but what got me on a second reading is that there is hardly a single conversation Mentep has with Oltyx where he isn’t lying to and/or manipulating him.

It starts early with Yenekh. Mentep knows Yenekh has been suffering from the curse, he hasn’t told Oltyx, and when he finally has to tell him, he conveniently does so right before distracting everyone with the “oh btw, we’re all gonna die to a giant human armada” news. This is done with the best of intentions. Mentep wants to protect Yenekh (and Oltyx, in his way), so he delivers the news this way to get the bad news out of the way and then both of them on the same side. But it is the start of a pattern.

Which we get again when Mentep fails to mention a that Antikef is a flayer den ruled by a “We have Illuminor Szeras at home” Vizier, and boy does that end badly for Oltyx (see the last 60% of Ruin). Naturally, Mentep has a good explanation:

But it is another lie, one that costs Oltyx dearly (put a pin in this, I am coming back to it.)

There's some little fibs and ommissions along the way as they go to Carnotite, but it all builds up to The Big Lie. The one that sends Oltyx spiraling and gets Mentep killed. Because you know what really helps with paranoia? Finding out your mentor and your best friend have been hiding a secret blood pit in your basement! Again, it makes sense why Mentep is lying about this! He has every reason to believe Oltyx would have rejected the flayed ones he and Yenekh were sheltering (he in fact does exactly this), and Mentep's entire goal is to cure the curse to atone for his role in its creation. However...

I think Oltyx is correct to call Mentep out here (Oltyx is wrong about most things, but not this). Somewhere a long the way he became a means to an end for Mentep. Mentep was focused on The Curse and not the person in front of him who was cursed. He used Oltyx's friendship with Yenekh, his need to save his kingdom, his trust, his fears, all in service of admirable goals, but he was using Oltyx. Is it any wonder this is where it ended?

The lies were Mentep's undoing from the start. Remember the lie about Antikef? The one that led to all the events of Ruin? Yes, Oltyx and Djoseras did talk and avoid a civil war, but Oltyx also went through hell. He saw his home turned into an abbattoir, his father reduced to barely more than an animal. Oltyx was literally vivisected and almost consumed by his own dysphoria. And then committed regicide after leaving his brother behind to die. Antikef is where Oltyx truly learned that compassion was weakness and saw how horrific the flayer curse could become. So how was he ever going to accept the flayed ones as Mentep wanted him to? Oltyx experienced the comically perfect combination of traumas to ensure that would never happen, thanks in part to Mentep's manipulations.

I cannot stress enough that Mentep's individual lies all made sense at the time. May have even been the best option, at the time. But the consequences piled up, and even as he is dying he still refuses to give Oltyx even a scrap of the truth. That is the core of his tragedy for me. Well, that and this:

He bases all of his manipulations on his understanding of people's psyche's, which are usually accurate, but it also traps them. It gives them no room to grow or surprise him or for outside factors to come in and intervene. Contrast this with Zultanekh, who is upfront to a fault. He gives Oltyx advice and resources, but what Oltyx does with those things is up to him. Even when he is screwing up royally, he's allowed to make those mistakes. Mentep causes ones of Oltyx's darkest hours (the secret blood pit), while Zultanekh lifts him out of another (the Blood Angel's attack). In the end, Zultanekh is the one who sees Oltyx's true growth and witnesses the birth of his kingdom. A birth that comes not from curing the curse but embracing it.

There was never a sickness to be fixed, which means Mentep never would have achieved his redemption because he was focused on the wrong things. Which does make his death and rebirth as Xott a bit of a reflection of Oltyx. He was too burdened in his first life, but in his second he (or at least a version of him) was able to witness the people he hurt reaching a place of peace.

[uncreative-cryptid]

VIVISECTION pt. II

❝ is - is this thing on ? oh , sentinel .. forgive us , for we have sinned .. if you can hear this , please , run . ❞

[ you're feeling uneasy ]

[ you start to feel like you're being watched .. a lot. ]

[ you wander the different islands, crossing the rivers between them, feeling like your reflection looks a little ... different. ]

Stop to look at the water?

[ yes ] [ no ]

Very well.

[ you look into the waters for a while more, discerning your blurry image from the debris and wildlife within the waves. your brows furrow, you can't really see yourself clearly, but when you start to move, you swear your reflection lags behind you. ]

"Log 754 .. Subject: 00V9."

A voice crackles through the damaged recording device,

"Subject 00V9 has had some .. interesting developments since the start of this program ..

Starting with the physical appearance, Subject 00V9 has developed three sets of wings. The wings span to be nearly three times his height, and seem to be fully functional. Sensation tests have shown some sensitivity, closer to the skin or when feathers are moved.

Over time, these wings have developed a full sense of functionality, including the ability to shed and regrow, creating pin feathers and blood feathers, shedding the pins' wax-textured shell, and bleeding when the blood feathers are broken prematurely.

Starting with his eyes, they seem to have accumulated a lot of the .. exposure, so to speak, to Spectro and other attributes, now containing a double tone to their irises.

After several experiments and testing with various TD frequencies —"

[ There is an ear-piercing screech, cutting the recording short for a moment. ]

"— shown exceptional resonance with the Unknown Entity we've obtained.

Although he is resistant now, I am certain in due time, he will come to see the gift we have bestowed upon him."

[ You stand alone. ]

[ Or, rather, you think you are alone, standing here in front of this cave system. ]

[ You aren't quite sure, but you think you heard someone cry. ]

[ A torn page, you are only able to read part of it as the other part seems to be water damaged. ]

Ever since they took that fucking subject in, and exposed him to such extreme amounts of chaotic frequencies and attribute combinations .. shit around here .. has started acting weirdly. I used to see rabbits and deer often, and every morning we could hear birds singing and bellowing boar ... but I haven't seen an animal in weeks. Last week .. they found a deer head, cut straight off. It was far too clean to be the work of another animal ... The birds stopped singing weeks ago. The burrows of animals are empty or buried. This isn't normal. Something is seriously wrong.

[ Static plays for a bit, and you watch as the camera slowly comes to focus in on a man. ]

[ The man is wearing what appears to be white robes, he sits with a forward lean, elbows on his knees and his hands clasped tightly together as he seems to hang his head. ]

[ It is silent for a while . ]

"I suppose if you are watching this, then you are looking for a way out of the archipelago.

First I want to say I am sorry it has come to this, but second I want to say is that if you are here, and seeing this video, it is already far too late."

[ There is brief static running across the screen. ]

"His name is Raziel. Although my colleagues have called him 00V9 up until this point, his name is Raziel.

By now I am sure you have learned that Raziel is not what he seems, and puts on a very good show, much like the citizens of Rinascita do.

But what you do not know is how truly gone 'Raziel' the human truly is.

The archipelago was an off-shoot set of islands from Rinascita, secluded and just out of the distant shores that you could not stumble into it on accident if you knew how to navigate the waves and various TDs of the ocean.

Because of it's seclusion, it became the perfect place to branch off from The Order, and the empty void of the Sentinel, who by now has been gone long enough for people to have started to wonder if the Sentinel was even real at all.

Some of us, choosing to leave The Order willingly, and with some assistance, were able to come to this place with a new goal: A man made Sentinel and Resonator.

Deep within the cave systems, a very intelligent TD was trapped and imprisoned, and through extremely experimentation, we found a young resonator who, despite his unwilling nature, was able to connect and artificially resonate with the TD at hand."

[ The man pauses, his grip tightens, and he sighs deeply, ]

"Raziel was exposed to an extreme amount of frequencies, particularly of other havoc resonators and, for a lack of a better phrase, 'canned attributes' of past resonators.

Ever since this, Raziel had begun to .. change. As did the archipelago.

Animals stopped almost entirely, disappearing or showing up mangled. Rabbits half devoured, foxes hanging from their tails and gutted, deer heads left in unusual places .. but the animals left behind .. the owls started to become unusually .. observant. Despite their usually nocturnal nature, I had started to see them in the daytime, watching, and observing from a distance.

I had also started to notice the frequency of serpents increasing, including those that swam the oceans and rivers, and those that would fly from branch to branch ..

...

I regret to inform you that even now, as you stand here listening to this recording, Raziel knows what you are doing.

He has and always has known what you were doing.

From the moment you stepped onto my shores, I knew.

Even now, I see you, tensing your muscles and looking around .. perhaps in fear?

Hah ... hahaha ..."

[ The recording becomes very corrupted, as eyes begin to bloom around the area, staring you down. You begin to realize you are trapped, as the massive body of a serpent-like tacet discord begins to coil in towards you. ]

"Go ahead.

Run."

[felixcloud6288]

Higurashi: Festival Accompanying Chapter 9

Hey look! The protagonists are coming back to the story!

I was curious about Satoko's last name and relation to Teppei. Turns out Hojo is just the latest in a long line of last names she's been given due to her mother frequently divorcing and remarrying. Meanwhile, Teppei isn't a blood relative. He's her step-uncle.

I think this drawing is Satoko's mother in a wedding dress. She probably has come to hate seeing her in that dress because it means the cycle of marriage and divorce has started over.

First thing's first, we're given a recap about Rika and her Queen Carrier status in the village. I don't think we ever learn how the research came up with that idea or how they determined Rika is the queen. Also, if it does exist, how does transferal between generations happen? Was Rika's mom the former queen and that queen had an offspring that infected Rika at birth and then abdicated its status?

Of course, the more likely reason for the village's behavior around Rika is that she actually is Oyashiro-sama incarnate.

A year later, Irie is still guilty about what he did and Takano is still as unbothered as ever. The only reason I think Irie hasn't reported Takano's behavior to Tomitake and Tokyo is because he'll likely be tried for killing someone during the research. Takano probably wouldn't be so open about discussing vivisections if inspector Tomitake were around.

Irie wanted to be a doctor to help people. And he specifically went into neurosciences to help people with mental illnesses. He started in the field of psychosurgery but was kicked out of academia due to the grave ethical concerns surrounding its methodology. This is his great second chance, but he killed someone for it.

He seems to look at Satoshi as another chance to prove to himself that he can be a doctor who can save someone. Irie is powerless to cure the festering wounds from the Dam War, and he is powerless to fix the Hojo's family circumstances, but he can at least give Satoshi some relief from everything and provide him some relief.

Massacre is the only time I recall where the village treating the Hojos as pariahs was ever really brought up or shown. I recall a scene in the anime where Satoko dropped her groceries and no one offered to help until Rika did, but there's never really anything that comes across as even passive-aggressive behavior from the villagers.

The introductory scene with Satoshi is the first time I think I've ever seen any villagers being openly hostile to a Hojo. The Dam War is still fresh in everyone's minds, so tempers are still high. In a few years, that anger will turn into sadness, shame, and fear.

Since this chapter is from Irie's perspective, I was afraid the first time he met Satoko would be accompanied by a shojo filter and the sound of an angelic chorus. But thankfully, he isn't being a creep...yet.

I just love seeing Satoshi smile. It genuinely makes me upset that all of Irie's efforts to improve his life are going to end up lost because of the aftermath of his parents' deaths.

The more these cases progress, the more and more Takano shows how unhinged she is. When she approached Irie about Satoko's condition, she started by giving him a serious status report. And then she got giddy at the idea that they now had another specimen to dissect.

She's not even trying to give a justification this time. She's not suggesting this will advance their research, nor that Satoko has done anything to deserve this. Takano's only reason is Satoko will die anyway so they might as well get some data before then.

Some quick thoughts on how Hinamizawa Syndrome works, particularly the throat scratching thing. One detail brought up a few times is the pathogen cannot be found in a dead body. They were only able to find the pathogen by dissecting the 1979 murder ringleader while he was alive. So even though this is an internal parasite, it has some way to quickly escape the body after its host dies.

Maybe the throat scratching thing is a method the pathogen uses to perform an emergency escape. It treats high stress as a sign the host is about to be killed, and it responds by amplifying the stress levels and inflaming the lymph nodes in the throat to make the host scratch at it. By combining the increased blood pressure from the host's stress response and them ripping their throat out, the pathogen can make a fast escape through the blood vessels and out of the host body.

But I have no idea what happens next. So much of this brain parasite stuff is fantastical to the point it feels more like some weird curse magic. The whole "It vanishes when the host dies" thing is such a bizarre thing and Irie actually having to dissect a person's brain to find the pathogen means it does not travel through the body at all. Otherwise, they likely would have found it from blood samples.

Y'know what you should do Irie? Get on the phone with Tomitake and report Takano's behavior to the board at "Tokyo".

NIPA BEAM!!!

back

[no-nic]

rin week 2024 unused ideas

🐚💜🌠

day 2: stars [fic/poem] dreams of being close to the stars in a society that doesn't even have airplanes, let alone space exploration scrapped, may be reworked into an unrelated (still rin-core) poem.

day 4: amnesia [fic] character exploration. amnesiac rin trying to find anything about her past personality, getting very different answers from people vs factual evidence. indie horror game vibes scrapped.

day 5&6 fusion: rival & bodyswap [art & fic] rin is inner sakura. rin can "swap in" sometimes. lowered headband, blood smears on her cheeks (pieces of first draft just to get it out of my head)

Something clicks for Sakura when she passes a tightly huddled group of parents at the playground. “That’s the demon boy.” “I’ve heard. The demon is in him.” “Same thing honestly.” “Psst, you know we can’t talk about that.” They pointedly don’t look towards the blond boy. He is about her age, blond and whiskered. He is standing near the edge of the playground, longingly staring at the other kids who are playing ninja. Sakura doesn’t stop walking. There is a demon in him. She needs to be alone. But she is never alone. There is an ever present ball of rage in the back of her mind. There is a demon in her. Sakura is six years old and ready to attend the academy. It just feels right. She is going to be a shinobi, so her parents don’t find it alarming that she spends hours in the library studying everything. Ever since she’s learned to read she’s been looking and looking. She hasn’t told anyone. She can’t. The presence has a few emotions it emanates: rage, desperation, loneliness, jealousy, some more rage, and fear of discovery.

work in progress, may be built into a bigger story.

day 6: truth potion [fic] things she wouldn't say even in her internal monologue!

The kidnapped girl sits quietly. She is smiling and looking vacantly forward. The jutsu should be working already. “Tell me about your friends.” The girl is smiling. “What friends?” “That Uchiha boy and Hatake. Tell me about them.” “I daydream about vivisecting them. Every day. I only fear they will die before I get to them. They are so weird. Sensei likes them more than me, which is fine, because I don’t like him either. I pretend to have a crush on Kakashi but if I had to choose I would marry Obito. I like his eyes. I want to eat them sometimes…” The man puts her to sleep with a genjutsu. He glares at his comrades. “I told you that the kinjutsu they sold us was complete rubbish. ‘Truth jutsu’ my ass! She’s just making fun of us!”

abandoned, another prompt chosen (body-swap).

day 7: [no prompt] [mini zine] inspired by the databook entries that describe rin as "kind, intellectual, devoted", i'm Just Asking Questions. reads like a conspiracy rag it's on a4 paper, 8 tiny pages in total, and i kinda want to make it printable? like i don't know if anyone would even care, but it's just one page, and if was drawn digitally, thin black lines on white (or whatever color paper you stuff in there), easy to print & fold pdf...?

cut off text:

when was she kind? when she threw herself forward or just stood in the way of an unstopable force with a thousand birds already celebrating her corpse

work in progress, haunts me & needs to be perfect.

well that's all folks! 🌟 and remember:

every week can be rin week if you like rin! 💜🔪

(onwards to rock lee week 2024)

[veliseraptor]

that unknown orchard | Trigun: Stampede

1595 words, pre-canon nai pov, uhh some vivisection related body horror but the show did it first, new fandom ma i'm scared

thanks to @portraitoftheoddity for being a terrible influence and also giving this a quick beta read

--

Vash is…

Nai doesn’t have the right word for it, exactly. Rem says kind, Rem says sensitive, but Nai thinks maybe a better description is vulnerable. He’s so exposed, so raw, his heart on his sleeve. Right now it’s just them and Rem and a few other people they don’t see very much, but when everybody else wakes up Nai isn’t sure that’s a good thing. He’s not sure everybody should see Vash like that. There’s no guarantee that they’d treat him as gently as they should.

He’s not sure he wants anybody to see Vash like that. Sometimes Nai thinks it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if the other humans never woke up and it was just him and Vash and Rem. Vash is excited about it, excited to meet all the humans sleeping in pods, but Nai’s not sure it’s actually something to be excited about.

Maybe Vash hasn’t noticed, but Nai hears it in Rem’s instructions: be careful. It’s not safe. Why would she tell them to pretend to be humans if there wasn’t some sort of danger because they’re not? He doesn’t know what the danger is but it’s there, Nai can feel it. Vash doesn’t.

So that’s what worries him about Vash. It’s what he thinks about while watching him sleep, the bond between them a warm and thrumming pulse more reassuring than his own heartbeat. Nai tried to talk to him about it once – do you ever wonder why Rem says we have to pretend? – but Vash brushed him off. Either he actually doesn’t see it or just doesn’t want to and Nai doesn’t know how to change that.

Maybe it’s fine for now. If Vash can’t or won’t protect himself then Nai will just have to do it for him. If Vash is fragile then Nai has to be strong, like walls around a city, or ribs around a heart. When the rest of the humans wake up he’ll do what he has to so that Vash will be safe. Whatever that means.

Whatever it takes.

**

Vash flutters nervously (are you sure we should be here, we’re going to get in trouble) but he doesn’t leave, because he’s just as curious as Nai is, and he knows, same as Nai does, that there’s something here to find. There’s something Rem is keeping from them and that means it’s either bad or interesting; either way Nai wants to know. 

Nai’s struggling to get through the security when Vash puts in the access code. Nai would kind of like to know where he learned it but isn’t going to ask right now, not when he doesn’t know how much time they have left. He does make a note of it though, just in case he needs it sometime later and Vash isn’t there. 

Everything after that happens very fast.

At first he doesn’t understand. Or, he does understand but it doesn’t make sense, won’t make sense; how can the picture of the girl – the Plant – have anything to do with these bits and pieces floating in tubes? 

He can feel it coming in that brief moment like the worst most terrifying monster of any story he’s ever heard and there’s nothing he can do to stop it, nothing he can do to unknow what he’s about to understand. But as for the tree of knowledge of good and bad, you must not eat of it; for as soon as you eat of it, you shall die.

That’s her. There, that’s what’s left of her. There was another Plant like you and this is what they did to her.

Nai’s not sure who starts screaming first, if it’s him or Vash or both of them at the same time, only that the room’s full of it and it’s like he can hear her screaming, too, with them, he’s hot and cold at the same time and the only thing he can think is get away, we have to get away, we have to go, but he can’t leave without Vash and his body won’t move right, helpless, frozen, he wants to look away but he can’t look away, keeps going back to the eye, her eye, green rather than blue, their sister he never got to know because they took her away, why, why–

The door slides open and for a terrifying moment Nai is certain they’re going to die. It’s only Rem and that should make it safe but when she scoops them into her arms Nai tenses.

She pulls their heads to her shoulders like that will wipe away what they saw. Vash is bawling; Nai is still paralyzed. Floating, suspended, like one of the other normal Plants. Like their sister here. 

Rem is saying something. Nai thinks it’s meant to be reassuring, you weren’t supposed to see this or this isn’t going to happen to you, but it sounds like gibberish. He’s still seeing it, seeing her, every time he blinks, so he tries not to blink. He’s sick and woozy, his ears ringing like somebody’s still screaming. He can hear Vash saying his name but he sounds very far away and what’s closer is the voice in his head that says that could be him. That could be you.

He wants to be somewhere else but there’s nowhere else to go. Just this ship and the vastness of space outside.

**

When he can think again, he’s in the room he shares with Vash. He doesn’t really remember getting there and isn’t sure how long it's been. He still feels weird, weak, tired. Scared.

“Nai?” 

He turns to look at Vash and the relief on his brother’s face cracks some of the ice that’s formed around him. “You’re back!”

“I didn’t go anywhere,” Nai says. He feels like someone else than he was. A clear sharp line between before and after, something fundamentally changed, and it seems strange that everything else looks the same. 

“You weren’t answering me or Rem,” Vash says.

“Oh,” Nai says. 

“It’s going to be okay,” Vash says, like he has any way of knowing that. “Rem said…she says she’s sorry, she said it was a mistake, and she would never let anything like – like that happen to us.”

What Nai thinks immediately is and you believe her? Rem has always been good to them. Maybe he should believe her too. 

Nobody ever said there’d been another one like them. 

Nai wonders if there were others, too. And where they are now.

*

Vash is quick to accept Rem’s reassurances but Nai wonders why she says she’s sorry if she didn’t have something to do with it. She obviously knew. She knew all along; every time she told them she loved them she knew what was in that room and said nothing. 

Nai can’t stop thinking about her, the other one like them. Tesla. He wonders what she was like, what her Gate was, whether she would resonate with him the way that Vash did. 

What her Gate is? Alive, her file said. Nai can’t stop thinking about that, either. Alive. What does it feel like to live in pieces? Does it still hurt? Is she scared? 

Why did the humans do that to her?

Are they going to do it to us?

He wakes up from a nightmare where he’s looking at Vash’s eye in a tank where its swiveling around wildly, and Nai knows that Vash is looking for him (what’s left of Vash because they took him apart like a machine to be disassembled), and three things occur to him with the cold clarity of truth.

One: humans use Plants for what they can provide. What they can do for them, make, produce. That’s what Plants are for, he knows. That’s why all the other Plants are here on the ship, because humans take what they give and Plants don’t ask for anything back. Plants don’t need food or water or rest.  

Two: Vash isn’t like Nai. Vash needs to eat and drink and sleep and he hasn’t shown his Gate yet. Vash consumes resources. Vash isn’t useful.

Three: Vash’s file wasn’t in the same place as Nai’s. It was with Tesla’s. 

Nai doesn’t usually feel cold but he feels cold now. Shivery and sick. He thinks of the dream, Vash’s eye searching for him. Nai is supposed to keep him safe. 

There are two of them, and so many humans all around.

Nai doesn’t know how to keep Vash safe.

Right now – right now maybe he can do it, if he’s vigilant, if he’s careful. But when the others wake up, when all those people these ships are carrying around wake up, then what? They’ll be outnumbered and if they come for Vash, Nai can’t fight them all. 

They’ll take Vash and they’ll cut him up into pieces. They won’t kill his brother. It’ll be worse. He won’t be able to stop it. And who’s to say they’ll stop there, maybe they’ll come for Nai, too, maybe they’ll decide he’s more useful when he can’t ask questions or argue or say no. 

He can’t. He can’t he can’t he can’t. It’s not going to happen. He’s not going to let it happen. 

Drawing his knees to his chest, Nai tries to think of how he can stop it. The beginnings of an idea are already starting to take shape in his mind. 

Vash – kind, sensitive, vulnerable Vash – won’t like it. But he doesn’t have to. 

Someone needs to do the hard things. Nai can, and Nai will.

Whatever it takes.

[franceblr]

super halfbaked sasodei hc, modern edition

despite their frequent arguments and bickering, sasori and deidara are an extremely stable couple. like, ride or die type of committed; they’re thoroughly enamoured and obsessive and totally dependant on each other and not the best communicators but even with their many differences, they understand each other on a molecular level and couldn’t imagine dating anyone else. it’s them or nothing. they may be toxic and neither knows what they’re doing, but they’re dead set on making things work and learn along the way through trial and error. deidara is entirely devoted to sasori, body and soul; to sasori, deidara is everything he saw in others and wanted for himself, but never dared to even dream of.

though both sasori and deidara are resolved on staying together no matter what, they did discuss hard limits in their relationship; boundaries that if crossed, they’d never be able to recover from. one both of them agreed on is cheating. with their pasts and the way they are, neither of them would be able to cope with the other cheating, and would take it really really badly. another hard limit for deidara is substance addiction; he’s familiar with its effects, and he’s absolutely positive he cannot have that in his life, ever again (though this is more like a fair warning prompted by his personal trauma, than something sasori is likely to fall into). for sasori, dishonesty is an immediate deal breaker. under no circumstances is deidara allowed to lie to him, ever: no white lies, no omission of information: sasori asks, and deidara has to answer.

entire honesty on deidara’s behalf came with a lot of work: he’s by nature evasive and not one to trust easily, so in the earlier days of their relationship, it was a lot of deidara tiptoeing around answers and sasori seeing right through his bullshit. eventually, deidara learnt that he owes sasori the truth under all circumstances, even if he has to force it out through tears. it’s non negotiable.

quite the feat considering deidara is a compulsive liar. or a rehabilitated one at least. lying is what gets him the most attention, doesn’t matter if it’s positive or negative. deidara HAS to be seen and heard. it’s not that he enjoys deceiving others either, it’s more a thing he learnt to pick up quick as a child, in order to survive in an unstable environment created by abuse, addiction, neglect and fostercare. deidara has perfectly mastered the art of keeping a chill and laid back façade, of always being friendly and upbeat and yet never letting anyone in too close to see if there’s anything deeper than that. not that sasori ever fell for it: there’s something so twisted and damaged and somber and guarded about deidara, that sasori can see it bleed through even when he’s all sunny smiles and quick jokes. even when he thinks nobody is looking. once the layers were peeled back, for sasori it was like looking in a mirror: sasori sees the darkness, the hurt, the resilience, the maturity that comes too soon, the shame, the anger, the compulsive and the desperate, and instead of being turned off by it, he wants to observe and touch and devour deidara whole with all of his fucked up quirks and habits. feels the animalistic urge to put deidara on a table and vivisect him and analyze every fiber of his being, learn and consume all there is to deidara so intimately, it hurts and makes him want to hurt. he wants to squeeze out the life out of deidara, brutalize him and put him back together. wants to know and own him inside and out.

one thing they both had to learn and get accustomed to was trusting the other, and giving up control. both sasori and deidara are by default weary, hyper independent, and over all not well versed in emotional vulnerability. it took a lot of experimenting, frequent check ins, and reassurance to make things work. sasori is paranoid to the point of the pathological, and deidara would rather eat a shoe than show a single weakness. slowly, the Talks became less dreadful, they started picking up on each other’s patterns, thought processes and non verbal signals, and communication got much easier. the hurt lessened, the ever crushing weight of loneliness lessened, the guard came down and sasori and deidara went head first from hyper independent to codependent. deidara makes always sure to keep all of his promises to sasori, never betraying his trust or casting doubt over his love and devotion for him.

they’re both in it for the long run. and still, despite them both being ready to take it to the next step, it took months of persuasion and time to get deidara to move in with sasori; sasori still pretends he’s not aware deidara keeps an escape bag packed with clothes that still got the tags on, passport, cash and his most important documents stowed away and ready, in case he ever has to get out and fast. deidara keeps it underneath the driver seat of his car, and sasori found it accidentally while fixing an issue with deidara’s car on his request. at first sasori was terribly hurt and betrayed. but he eventually understood that his partner’s reluctance to move in with him and fear that he’ll be thrown out every moment now, has to do more with deidara’s continuous home insecurity throughout his childhood and teenage years, than with any sort of plan of leaving sasori.

they both need SO much reassurance. jesus. deidara has the insufferable tendency to treat sasori like he’s made of glass: he makes sure to caress him and repeat disgustingly sweet, gentle, comforting words to him until they’re engraved in his frontal lobe, like he’s stupid, or a baby. sasori hates that it works. sasori hates how he feels the tension melt right off of his shoulders and jaw, how he feels his brows unfurrow and his traitorous body always nestles deeper against deidara. how he feels the ache, the doubt and the worry slowly uncoil from the deadly grasp they have on his throat, his ribcage, his stomach. can barely stand the way his heart breaks in two whenever deidara’s upset. hates hates hates the way he seems to always know what to say and where to touch him, to placate deidara’s inner turmoil and restless mind.

[abysmal-black]

@pxison

This has only ever been a hypothetical in his training. Sanji never expected one of his siblings to actually go M.I.A during a mission let alone his eldest twin.

 Ichiji was always meticulous about information on a job and sticking to his plan, the few times Sanji had the misfortune of being partnered with him it was more stressful than it needed to be. All of his brothers were annoying but working alongside Ichiji made work feel more like work somehow. 

It’s when Judge adds that if Ichiji can’t be recovered fully to destroy all Germa technology with a thermite bomb does Sanji sit up straighter. Their father goes on to say this mission is incredibly important and as difficult as it is to not have a body to bury, Ichiji is the pinnacle of Germa ingenuity. Knows at this point the old man is trying to soften the duty as best he can while still distancing himself from the dirty work, he wouldn’t be there after all. Judge wouldn’t have to set the explosives and watch Ichiji disintegrate into black ash and pungent flames. That’s only if he wasn’t ‘salavagable’ as their father said. 

At the time two days ago those words hadn’t stood out to him, Sanji was often put on recon and salvage jobs when assassinations dried up but the knot in the pit of his stomach told him it wasn’t right. Shouldn’t Judge have moved mountains to return his heir? A show of force had always been their style, anyone dumb enough to dishonor the Vinsmoke name was only left alive to share stories of the desolation their armies left … and yet. 

The knot in his stomach doesn’t affect the infiltration, Sanji taking it slow and steady, never lingering or pushing his luck with opportunities. The lab his brother was held in ran like clockwork and Sanji took his time learning the ten hour routine scientist ran on, mentally cataloging their positions at any given time and securing egress before locating the cell that held his target. Maybe he was avoiding learning Ichiji’s fate, the bomb heavy and flat in the pouch on his back. Ichiji was the strong one, stoic and unmovable. Something like this was expected to happen to Niji or Yonji  but Ichiji was different. He understood his place in the world and eventual ascension to the throne and what it meant. Sanji didn’t want to see his brother as anything but that, annoying as he could be.

When their escape is foolproof Sanji begins the countdown to a night shift change; it was the only time in the facility with enough moving parts he could move about without hesitation and creep to his brother’s cell with a pilfered I.D card and opens his door silently. 

The knot in his stomach finally begins to churn, Ichiji just beyond a drawn curtain. What he managed to find that remained of his red raidsuit can had already been dissected, parts stripped and laid bare but a discreetly placed bomb would destroy its components and provide cover for their escape.  Sanji takes a tight throat inhale as he approaches and slips behind the curtain, distink balls on the bottom of his boots canceling any sound of his movement. 

“Ichiji.” Eyes dart between the E.K.G machines steady peaks and valleys of a strong heartbeat and his twin strapped to a surgical bed. From the chart he’d glanced at during recon Ichiji was scheduled for vivisection early tomorrow morning. Scientists had been running endurance and stimulation tests on his exoskeleton  during the last shift change, the blood and fluid samples they’d already taken waiting to meet the same fate as his dismantled raidsuit. “Ichiji, I need you to say something.” Lips lean into the man’s ear. “We only have a seven minute window to get you out of here.”

[ryttu3k]

And some more Dark Urge asks! Set 2, set 3; first set of answered questions here. Content warning for the usual Dark Urge stuff, plus misgendering/deadnaming, discussion of vivisection, and pregnancy.

Set 2

1. Did your Durge interact with others of their assigned race? How did it go, did anyone notice something was off? Did they try to blend in?

So on paper, Tavias is a wood half-elf with draconic ancestry (the scales and horns are pretty obvious). Baldur's Gate is predominantly human, but there are enough elves and half-elves that people like. Know more or less what to expect from them, and he absolutely seems 'off' by half-elf standards. Prior to learning his background, he assumed it was just the dragon part coming out (draconic bloodline sorcerers are rare, but exist, even if not many people have met one); after, he would use it for an excuse if he was trying to blend in, and would sometimes just… smile if he was deliberately trying to be Ominous.

But yeah, the whole 'created from Bhaal's flesh' thing means he didn't have anyone who was the same 'race' as him other than Bhaal himself. Even his fellow Bhaalspawn, Sarevok and Orin, were still 'other' to him - Sarevok was half human, Orin was part human, part changeling (via Helena's mother). He had half-elven racial traits, darkvision and Fey ancestry and a natural affinity for stealth and swift feet. He had the pointed ears. (In fairness: Orin also had darkvision and Fey ancestry, and she could give herself pointed ears if she wanted to, and often did!) There really wasn't anyone exactly like him, and that was both a source of frustration and also pride.

2. The Urge itself was Bhaal's greatest gift, a testament to their lineage. But did they despise or delight in these violent urges, did it maybe even scare them?

Sort of… fearful reverence? Prior to Bhaal's proper return in 1482, the Urge was much more controllable - it was more or less Tavias' bloodlust combined with a tendency for dissociation, and he could use assorted techniques to fight against it. After Bhaal's return, it became much stronger, to the point of outright possession by Bhaal (it was possession by Bhaal that led to Tavias killing Alfira; the only reason he could fight it when it came to Isobel and later Astarion is because Bhaal was still testing him, trying to push him into doing it himself). Tavias, for his part, was only rarely possessed outright, and only when he was feeling mentally weak or fatigued and Bhaal wanted to step in personally. For the most part, it'd be Bhaal's voice/encouragement/persuasion, and Tavias would just… let it happen.

3. Bhaal can control his chosen and force the Slayer or actions upon them; did he ever force your Durge to do something against their will or would they obediently follow?

For the most part, he was pretty obedient. More than anything else, he wanted to be loved and accepted, especially by Bhaal, and so would do all sorts of horrendous things to win his approval. If Father wanted it, his son would obey! The only dealbreaker was getting pregnant, which… wasn't so much a pressure with Orin alive as well, although she didn't necessarily want children either (and would have been emotionally destroyed if she knew just who was planning on impregnating her). Still, Bhaal very much did want more Bhaalspawn, and he was prepared to put the pressure on if it became necessary.

4. Durge has an inherent skill for anything medicine; what was their greatest skill? Sewing, caring for wounds, brewing potions or concocting poisons?

Definitely not wound care, haha. It was mostly an encyclopaedic knowledge of anatomy - how bodies are put together. Most of it was learned, uh, hands on. There was a fair bit of both dissection (sometimes combined 'dissection' and 'dinner preparation' :|) and vivisection (had to know what all the assorted parts did, and it helped when, um, everything was still functioning). That included on himself, too - the only reason he didn't give himself a hysterectomy was because he knew Bhaal would be angry. He absolutely would have been capable of doing so, it was just his own fear that meant he didn't, and just stuck with doubling up on contraceptives (using both the Block the Seed spell and Ye Olde Faerunian Condom or the like) and hoping nothing happened.

5. The Deathstalker Cloak is part of their inheritance, but did they really use it or did it bide its time wasting away in a wardrobe?

He did use it, yeah. It's useful! Granted, half the time it would be something like… kill random cultist. Turn invisible. Use invisibility to pull a prank on Orin, but in a proper battle or Situation, it definitely had its purposes.

6. Durge's adoptive family lived in a house in the lower city. Does that house still stand? Did they claim ownership of it, or did they try to get rid of it? Why?

I put them in the Outer City (we just get 'poor part of the city', IIRC?), but no, the house no longer stands. The area was rundown to begin with - after an entire family was murdered there (all save their eleven-year-old foster child, who went missing, presumed dead), it stayed empty for a long time, and eventually the whole block was pulled down for redevelopment. The area is still poor, but there are new houses and new families there.

7. Bane once sacrificed all of Bhaal's assassins, a mistake that caused a great rift between them. Did Durge ever plan to get revenge for it?

Ooh, I don't know about this lore bit. Someone let me know and I can work something out? :D

8. Being the head of a temple comes with lots of tedious work, did they truly manage all of it or did they try to outsource the best they could?

lmao definitely not. Sceleritas did all Tavias' personal scheduling, for one thing - part butler, part PA. There was an actual accountant to do the numbers, I want to say. Tavias did end up having to do a distressing amount of paperwork (I presume his last thought as Orin's dagger entered his brain was, "Ha ha, you have to do the paperwork now~"), but Sceleritas picked up a lot of slack.

9. The Feast of the Moon is a Bhaalian ritual where priests told the stories of particularly interesting or unique kills. Was one of your Durge's deeds ever discussed, or perhaps even turned into a beloved and often retold story?

Oh absolutely. The spree of 1477 gets told a lot. It tends to get a bit exaggerated - Tavias is made out to be more childlike as opposed to already sixteen, body count is increased, it becomes a lot more ~artsy~, stuff like that - but definitely told.

10. Speaking off, Day's Farewell was another ritual everyone of the clergy had to attend as evening dawned over Faerûn. But was it really everyone that came to the gathering, or did a particular Bhaalist sneak out at times or outright refuse attendance? Did they maybe even appear early, eagerly awaiting another service?

Damn, on a daily basis? Yeah, Tavias would have attended most/all (unless on a specific mission), but I feel he'd just… zone out for a lot of it XD;; After a while, it just gets a bit tedious, y'know?

Set 3

1. Name one specific song that fits the vibe for a vivisection partaken in by your Durge. What would it be?

……..I desperately want to name something other than Stuck In The Middle With You but I literally can't think of anything else XD;;

2. Speaking of vivisections; Sceleritas famously messed one up once. How did you Durge react go that? Did it have lasting consequences for the little imp?

Probably annoyance/exasperation. He doesn't ask for much, Sceleritas! It's not that fuckin' hard, Sceleritas! Mild, because he really does care for Sceleritas more than anyone else at that point, but really, dude.

3. The Netherstone, how did they wear it? Did they even wear it?

Kind of a brooch thing at his shoulder. He had his robes drape across his chest, and the Netherstone was embedded in a gold surrounded and used as, basically, a robe clasp.

4. Why the red Netherstone and not the purple one? After all, a proper Bhaalist priest should wear purple robes, so they should have that colour and not Gortash, right? What was the reason behind the switch? Bestie Bracelets? Secret promises? Just plain defiance?

Red matched his Aesthetic(tm) better. Tavias was all black, gold, and red. He couldn't have purple, it would clash. But really, he just gravitated towards the red, didn't really overthink it too much.

5. What was their class, and what was their favourite way to use its perks? Did they maybe even dabble in multiple ones?

Draconic bloodline sorcerer, and probably… 'setting shit on fire'. Lots of. Lots of fire. Uh, he definitely tended to burn places down after doing a kill. …Also came in handy as a makeshift barbeque. ("I much prefer roasted dwarf.") He was entirely adept with other spells, tragically you can't get by with just Fireball, although he definitely had a preference and skill for Evocation spells. (BG3 only goes up to level 12, but pre-brain damage, he was around level 14, and so had access to level 7 spells. Like Fire Storm.) RIP everyone.

6. How did they actually learn their craft/class? Were they born with it, or did they study under someone? Did they have a natural talent?

Born with it, and underwent a lot of training to keep it under control (including when he was being fostered), and, later to use it to cause Massive Damage (at the Temple). It was pretty much one of the main tracks of his education - general education, Bhaalist religious/cult education, combat education, and sorcerous education.

7. The Slayer, Bhaal's gift, how did they earn it? Was it before or after becoming his Chosen? Did they even recieve it?

Basically at the same time as being named Chosen. Theoretically, it was to reward him for the 1477 spree, but he only received it in 1482 when Bhaal returned, which was the same time as him being confirmed as Chosen (Bhaal had spoken through him before to say this was his wish when Tavias was quite young, about twelve, but this was the first time he said it in-person). Definitely made use of it over the next ten years.

8. Durge didn't grow up in the Temple, but Orin did. Did this fact ever have any consequences for either of them? Did it affect their relationship?

There was this weird sort of like… mutual envy. Tavias envied Orin for being able to be so comfortable with everything. She knew the Temple like the back of her hand, it had always been her playground. She knew everyone. She knew all the rituals and rites. She knew all its secrets. Tavias arrived at age eleven and immediately felt like an outsider, and so felt he had to work twice as hard just to get used to the Temple. It wouldn't do for the heir to get lost in the corridors, right?

Conversely, Orin had always found the place a bit claustrophobic. She was taken on excursions to the city, but always strictly supervised - there was no chance for mischief or, well, play. Granted, her methods of 'play' would have been… more on the lethal side, but she still envied Tavias and the way he moved so comfortably through the city streets.

9. Bhaalists are surprisingly skilled with a wide range of weapons. Which one was your Durge's favourite? Did they use it often or did they use something else for their 'regular' schedule?

Shortswords, scimitars, rapiers, and daggers, same as Orin. Longswords and the like could be on the… obvious side, so the siblings were mostly trained with more easily concealed ones (Crimson Mischief always had been Orin's, but Bloodthirst was originally Tavias'. Actually, after it all, he ended up being a little jealous Orin had thought to put the Netherstone in it; it was such an obviously fitting place!). His favourite was using daggers, preferably two - Bloodthirst always, and the other he'd switch out as needed. He had used Stillmaker a bunch when utilising poison, for instance. (During the course of the game, he stole Abdirak's ritual dagger and used it for the entire adventure. He was quite inspired by the idea of pain that didn't cause harm!)

10. Their name; did they ever have one? Who chose it for them, or did it maybe change sometime down the line? Did they perhaps even have multiple alias?

Honestly he legit doesn't know. He knows his original foster parents called him 'Tavia'. When he went to the next ones, they told them his name was Tavia as well. Did that first set come up with it, or did whatever Bhaalists dropped him off leave a note saying, "Hey, this girl's name is Tavia"? Either way, when he started working out he was a boy, he changed it to the more masc-reading Tavias, and when he woke up, that name was the only thing in his head. It's just another mystery to him, along with how he has draconic sorcerer abilities and the appearance of a half-elf when he was made from Bhaal. Let's just not think about it too much!

For aliases, he would most often use his title as the Dragon of Bhaal amongst those he didn't think he needed to know his actual name.

11. After a successful sacrifice, all cult members are encouraged to take their victim's possessions. What's the one thing Durge claimed like that way that they're most proud of? What did they leave behind on purpose?

Jewellery. Shinies. He goddamn loves shinies, especially ones he can put on his horns. Definitely a dragon thing XD

12. Speaking of claiming the possessions of sacrifices, did they ever snatch any real estate in the upper city? Why or why not, and if they did, what did they do with it?

Technically the cult has some, just not Tavias specifically. They're mostly safehouse-esque places, and a few (very hidden) shrines. He would have signed off on some, but otherwise, not a ton of involvement. There's also just some old-fashioned property assets they rent out for income. Running a cult takes money!

13. Cazador's little dungeon is located in close proximity to the Temple. Were they ever some sort of run-ins or disputes between neighbours?

Cazador is just sort of… there. Oh, the Bhaalists 100% know that a) he's a vampire and b) that he's grabbing a hell of a lot of people off the streets, but hey, so long as he's killing them, it's all Bhaal-approved activity! …They don't actually realise that his victims aren't dying, and if they did, there might have been… issues. Like come on man those are perfectly good murder victims, y'know? And if their souls are being pledged to Mephistopheles, that's no use for Bhaal! So in short, they just more or less ignored Cazador and his activities under the assumption he was killing a lot of people, and didn't learn otherwise until it was too late.

Cazador, for his part, had no idea about the Temple. He definitely knew there was a Bhaalist presence in the city, he had been right there for the Bhaalspawn Crisis over a century earlier, but he didn't realise the Temple was that close. I suspect he would have tried to make some sort of deal with them if he had known, which may or may not have gone down well.

14. What did Durge think about living in the Undercity Ruins? Did they miss the surface sometimes, or did they enjoy the unique Underdark-esque decor? Did the great chasms ever lead to some sort of 'accident'?

Oh god Tavias hated being stuck in the Ruins. He might be Daddy's Special Boy, but he's also a lover of sunshine (it's a gold dragon thing. How does that dragon thing work? We just don't know but it's 100% there), and he definitely wilted like a sad flower in the constant underground gloom. Went up to the surface as much as he could via the many secret passages and just… basked like a lizard. He knew it was necessary for security, but he was definitely happiest when he was on a mission and could roam the city streets. As for 'accidents'… yeah, look. They used as much of the bodies as possible (trophies, dinner, decor…) but sometimes you just got to get rid of the remnants, and giant chasms help with that, you know? And if you happen to hold someone over a chasm to let them know just where their bits will end up, well, so be it :)

15. They had an adoptive family once. What did it look like, though? What were their parents like? Did they have siblings? Was it a big, close-knit family or maybe just the mom that stepped up?

It was a few successive foster families, and… it was awkward, y'know? They never felt like his family. He was visibly different, he was, uh, emotionally different. He just never actually... belonged to anyone, and the foster families he stayed with just sort of blended into each other.

After he lost his temper and killed the latest ones when he was eleven, and Sceleritas came for him, he understood, then. He would make sure he belonged with his real family.

[amateur-selfshipper]

I have three different “routes”/versions of Wendy for the Carnival AU and they’re finally bursting out of my chest after being in containment for so long!

“Canon”! Wendy: Wendy is an AI with their own level just like the rest of the cast. Wendy and Jax’s relationship goes back to the early days of sentience, before they started losing their minds. Unlike the other characters, Wendy refused to leave Jax all alone. Just like in canon, cartoon violence is something of a love language between these two. Jax and Wendy are “Crazy in Love” (sorry I had to ;D) and fully adore one another. Wendy’s like “Free my man he did all of that stuff but he’s my specialest boy ever”. Jax can be in the middle of a vivisection and it’s like a switch has flipped when Wendy comes in: “Hi Baby. What can I do for ya? How’s my Pretty Little Clown? <333”

Player! Wendy: Enemies-to-Lovers. Wendy is a player who gets sucked into the game like Caine and Able. Wendy and Jax start out as enemies, with Jax trying to kill any player who enters and Wendy going “No thanks I choose life”. As time passes with Wendy stuck in the game, they begin to explore the levels more outside of their main games and get to know the bosses better. Despite everything, Wendy actually starts to sympathize with Jax the more they learn about him; he’s trapped in a world where he constantly lives with the possibility of being violently reset and has spent years being isolated instead of anyone trying to help him. Wendy starts leaving things like food and puzzles and art supplies whenever they replay his level. Jax is frustrated, thinking that Wendy’s just trying to win his favor so he won’t kill them. “Newsflash asshole: If that was the goal, I wouldn’t be coming back in the first place.” I imagine they even have a Beauty and the Beast moment like where they’re arguing while Wendy patches Jax up after he’s just saved them. They begin to form a weird truce, where they banter while Jax tries (but makes sure he doesn’t actually succeed) to kill Wendy while they try to win his level. Their banter takes on a flirty tone and they’re both left with the awkward realization that “Oh shit they’re actually pretty cute I think I’ve just found my type”. Jax claims Wendy as ‘his’ human and officially moves them in with him. They start to really fall in love. Jax becomes pretty clingy with Wendy, both out of possessiveness and wanting to protect them from the other dangers of the deteriorated Carnival. Wendy doesn’t mind- far from it, actually- but sometimes worries that Jax likes having them as his more than he likes them. But they manage to make it work, with Wendy not fearing Jax and Jax respecting Wendy’s personhood. Pomni and Caine are VERY concerned for Wendy when they first find them in Jax’s level and assume that it’s an abusive situation Wendy needs to be rescued from. They realize that Jax genuinely loves and respects Wendy as his partner either when Wendy asks Jax to spare them and he listens OR when Wendy simply helps the pair themself and stands up for them all when Jax catches them; they realize that Wendy is fine when 1) they argue with Jax on Caine + Pomni’s behalf without any trace of fear, and 2) Jax, despite being royally pissed off, actually listens to Wendy and debates with them as an equal before relenting and letting Caine and Pomni go. 

Beta Tester! Wendy: Wendy worked at the company as one of the beta testers for the game and actually saw the characters become sentient. Jax was always Wendy’s favorite level, and they became good friends after Jax gained sentience. As their friendship grew, they began to fall in love and even built a romance together. When Jax first started lashing out at players, he actually begged Wendy to stay away, scared of hurting them too. But Wendy was determined to figure out what was wrong and help him. Even though Jax never hurt Wendy, it became clear that it was too dangerous for him to be alone with other players. Wendy desperately tries to stay with Jax but is eventually fired when they start digging a little too deep. When Wendy finally finds their way back, things are like they are in the present, and they’re actually scared that Jax won’t even recognize them. But through a mix of what memories haven’t been fucked up and his old tapes, Jax remembers Wendy, and they have a tearful reunion. Jax is even more possessive of Wendy, terrified of losing them again.

One constant across all of these AUs is that Wendy is the only person who can convince Jax to spare other players and dissuade him from violence.