#humans as products

[hummingbird-of-light]

Ninth story for @badthingshappenbingo ~

Title: The Perfect Specimen

Fandom: Star Trek (AOS)

Character(s): Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, Original Alien Character, Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, James T. Kirk, Keenser

Relationship(s): Montgomery "Scotty" Scott/Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (mentioned), Montgomery "Scotty" Scott & Keenser

Rating: M

Words: 1,657

Prompt: Stalking

Warnings: Psychological Horror, Angst, Kidnapping, Humans as products

(You can also find this story on AO3)

~ The Perfect Specimen ~

It was already past midnight when Montgomery Scott made his way back to the hotel. He had been out with Keenser, but the wee Roylan had said that he would stay at the club a little longer. After all, it was their last night on the planet.

It had really been a great shore leave and although the engineer had been separated from his silver lady, he had managed to enjoy the time. Which was also thanks to a certain doctor.

Scotty smiled at the thought of the man in whose hotel room he had spent most of the last few nights. At first he had been a little nervous, but in the end it had really been a good decision to finally tell Dr. McCoy about his feelings for him.

But for the last night, they had both decided to stay in their own rooms. After all, they had to get at least some sleep to be fit to continue the mission the next day.

A strange feeling spread through Scotty's stomach as he felt a tingling sensation on the back of his neck. He wheeled around, looking over his shoulder, but there were only a few people walking through the night streets. No one seemed to be paying any attention to him.

The Scotsman quickly shook his head and continued on his way. Over the last few days, he had often had the strange feeling that someone was watching him or staring at him. But... that was probably normal on the planet. After all, humans were a rarity in this place. The Federation had accepted the planet into its fold not so long ago, but all the locals were still very hospitable. This was also evident from the many different species they encountered in the capital. It was a great planet.

Scotty sighed. Maybe he was just tired and imagining things. And yet... he just couldn't shake the feeling that someone was following him.

The engineer was just turning into a less busy street when he suddenly heard a noise behind him.

"Let go! Hey, let go of me, you creeps!"

As quickly as he could, Scotty wheeled around and what he saw made anger boil up inside him.

Two large males were trying to pull a female of their species into a van. The female was a beautiful lady dressed in blue. Her white hair stood out next to her purple skin.

Scotty clenched his hands to fists and walked back, gritting his teeth in anger.

"Oi! Ye heard what the lass said, didn't ye?"

All three of the purple species looked at the Scotsman in surprise. While the female's eyes were wide, the males only grinned superiorly.

"Of course we heard it. But why should we care about it?"

These bastards! Did they really think they could treat a lady like that?

"Well, where I come from women are treated with respect and-"

The Scotsman didn't get to finish his sentence, because the moment he was close enough to the van, the male creatures suddenly let go of the woman and grabbed him by the arms instead.

"Hurry up. Pull it in."

Scotty couldn't believe it when he heard the female being's voice. It... had been a trap! The men had only pretended to kidnap the woman in order to get to him.

The Scotsman stood no chance against the strong beings when they bound his feet together and tied his hands behind his back. As much as he tried to kick and punch, he was simply helpless.

"Wonderful. A perfect specimen of this new species. A... human, isn't it?"

The lady's grinning face appeared in Scotty's field of vision and he spotted pointed gleaming white teeth.

"How incredibly... exotic."

A shudder went through his body as long fingernails touched one of the engineer's cheeks and brushed gently across it.

"Look, lady, kidnapping a Starfleet officer is a violation of Federation law. If ye don't release me immediately, then-"

Scotty fell silent and suppressed a cry of pain as his counterpart giggled and pinched his cheek.

"Oh, how adorable. It thinks we're abiding by the laws that apply on this planet now, huh? Well... I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you there, human."

Scotty bared his teeth angrily. Who did this woman think she was?

"Ms. Farie, ma'am, we should leave for the shuttle as soon as possible."

One of the males turned to the woman - Ms. Farie - and she just rolled her eyes.

"Well then. Chop, chop. Start the car. I'll take care of the goods myself."

When Scotty heard the word 'goods', his stomach turned. The way that woman said it...

The henchmen quickly left the back of the van and only a short time later Scotty felt them start to move.

"I-if ye want to blackmail my captain or Starfleet, then-"

Once again, Ms. Farie laughed.

"Oh, sweetheart, no. I just want you for now."

Only now did the Scotsman realize that his blood was on the female creature's fingernails. He shuddered as he watched a long, dark red tongue lick up the liquid. Ms. Farie let out a surprised sound.

"Mmm, that's really good. I bet the meat tastes just as delicious."

Scotty's eyes widened in shock. 'Goods', blood, meat - surely this woman couldn't be...

"You know, sweetheart, I just love this planet. So many different species visit it. And every time I visit here, I pick a new one and take a specimen with me."

Slowly, Ms. Farie stood up and wandered around the back of the van. She went to a screen on one of the walls and activated it.

Scotty's breath caught in his throat at what he saw.

Photos. Photos of him and other members of the crew.

"I've been watching you for a while now. I don't know, but you... are just perfect. When I saw you, everything was just right. Size, proportions, body fat. The perfect specimen for a tasting."

The blood froze in the engineer's veins and he shook his head slowly.

That... this woman couldn't be serious! He wasn't a piece of meat!

"Y-ye... this is crazy! Release me immediately!"

Scotty tried again and again to pull at his restraints, but he couldn't free himself. His heart was racing with panic, but his captor didn't seem to care in the slightest.

"Listen, sweetheart, my restaurant is the most culinary on my entire home planet. My guests always expect a variety of dishes. And I think that Human will definitely win them over."

That couldn't be true! It all had to be a cruel joke!

"Help! Can someone hear me! Help!" Scotty screamed as loud as he could, but Ms. Farie just giggled.

"Save yourself the trouble. The walls are soundproofed. No one will hear you."

No... no, no, no! That couldn't be true!

Ms. Farie slowly sat back down on the ground, a tricorder of sorts in her hand. She ran it over the Scotsman's body, a grin on her face.

"Well then... let's see how much of you we can use. What tasty dishes can we whip up from you?"

The lady moved her head back and forth thoughtfully and looked at the screen of the device.

"With the number of guests who have registered for the tasting... A nice soup to start. And for the main course... hmm... roast or steak, what do you think, sweetheart?"

Scotty's voice caught in his throat. He wanted to do or say something, but he was completely helpless. He stared at Ms. Farie with frightened eyes.

He wasn't a piece of meat! He was not an animal to slaughter!

"Oh, I guess I'll decide that on the spur of the moment. But I'm quite sure we can make a lovely wine from your blood, don't you think?"

Slowly, the woman leaned forward and ran her smooth tongue over the gash her fingernails had made. Scotty's whole body trembled.

"P-please... don't."

But Ms. Farie wasn't even listening to him. She sighed dreamily.

"Hah, this is going to be a lovely dinner. I can't wait."

Scotty shook his head in panic as he felt the van come to a halt.

"Oh, I think we're there already. Well then..."

Smiling, Ms. Farie ran her fingers through Scotty's hair once more before standing up and walking to the door.

Scotty felt his heart almost jump out of his chest. He had to do something! He had to get out of here!

"The ride went so fas-"

Scotty narrowed his eyes in confusion when he heard his kidnapper stop talking. He turned his head to see what was going on.

"What the-"

"Get out of the car, ma'am, you're under arrest for kidnapping a Starfleet officer."

When he heard the familiar voice of Lt. Hendorff, Scotty couldn't help but let out a shaky sigh. They had found him! His crew had actually found him!

It wasn't long before Scotty was free of his restraints. His knees trembled as he got to his feet and the security personnel had to support him on the way out.

Kirk and McCoy were already waiting for him there.

"Scotty!"

"Thank God! Are you okay?"

The Scotsman nodded slowly as he hugged both friends.

"A-aye. But... how did ye know-"

He had lost his communicator with the tracking chip during the abduction. So how had the crew found him?

A smile appeared on Kirk's lips and he nodded his head to the side.

"Keenser must have had a strange feeling and followed you after all. He saw you being pulled into that van. And then he immediately pulled out all the stops to get us to look for you."

Scotty nodded understandingly before falling to his knees in front of Keenser and simply hugging him tightly.

"Thank ye, wee man. Thank ye so much."

Keenser only grunted and wrapped his short arms around his friend. For Scotty, he would do anything.

[justwannabecat]

“Yeah, see, the Anti-Ecto Acts are even more troubling than ‘inciting war with the Realm of the Dead and all its gods’ level.” Phantom began. “It affects the living, even outside of that.”

Constantine huffed, but didn’t disagree. Bruce could only guess what he was thinking.

“At least, from what Clockwork taught me,” Phantom continued, and that made Constantine snap to attention, “ectoplasm is just kind of… There. Floating around in the background, but at such a low level that it doesn’t usually manifest. But it’s still there, and it functions kind of like radiation: just being around it might cause you to develop liminality.”

“Liminality?” Bruce asked. Phantom shrugged.

“Any side effects you would notice are only caused by high levels of exposure, nothing like this low-level radiation. But, well… Ectoplasm is both attracted to emotions and attracted by emotions. And ectoplasm heightens emotions, too. The fact that the human race has been alive so long, evolved to feel more complex emotions, it’s because the ectoplasm bonded enough with humanity to allow that. Humans achieved sentience because they could feel enough to determine they existed. Without ectoplasm, slowly those emotions will fade. And…” Phantom hesitated.

“…I can’t say that humanity will become nonsentient once again, not for sure. But I can say that you will slowly, generation by generation, lose the feelings you have now.”

[uncanny-tranny]

The leftism/anticapitalism leaving people's bodies the zeptosecond you imply that disabled people who aren't "productive" still matter in society and need to be treated like intrinsic equals who have a place in this world:

[creteevidence]

“you have something that belongs to me.”

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 334

So. Danny has discovered he might erm, might be technically a necromancer. At least as far as magic is concerned. Like even if it’s just via resurrecting himself the magic side of things (god, he’s more scientist- sided dangit) count it as such. 

Which means that half the time someone tries to summon a necromancing-esque being, he’s the one who gets tugged if he’s even a centimeter within range. It was annoying enough in high school, it’s no less annoying in this world they’ve all moved to. 

On the bright side, thanks to also being half dead himself, the summonings and other rituals can’t actually drag him somewhere. It just causes him to feel like someone was crushing a lung or two, which honestly nothing new. (Gosh were those days of vigilante work really that violent? Huh, guess they were)

What he wasn’t expecting was for a tiny child, a living child, to track him down despite him not existing legally or anything similar in this world, to revive their previous local child vigilante. Which like, hey, first of all, he has a few questions? Just a couple and yeah sure, he’ll shake on it- can he have your name first there kid…? 

Tim, on the other hand, is getting a little concerned when he realizes a lot of the questions the probable-fae keeps asking are in line with the stuff CPS asks. (Unknown to him, that is exactly where Danny is getting several of his questions about this scrawny vigilante kid. Erm. He might have to take the kid, for like, his own safety- hey Frostbite he needs your help he has some questions-) 

[lizaisdrawing]

LATE BUT HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE 🎃

[nelkcats]

The Fenton "Boor"

The Fentons have always been famous for their legal sale of weapons, usually based on ectoplasm and used to hunt ghosts. That's where they got most of their funds, whether it was to finance new inventions, their laboratory, or their children's education.

The problem began when they found out that Phantom was their son. Because of that revelation they accepted that they couldn't continue on the "weapon creator" path, how could they continue to create and sell weapons that help hunt down their baby? Even if they didn't trust all the ghosts Danny changed their perspective of the Infinite Realms and they were more or less at peace.

That is why they debated for hours on what to do to make money again, until they noticed something curious: Most of the people in Amity couldn't get drunk. It was a silly thing to focus on, but thanks to a quick investigation they noticed that after the portal opened no one had made it.

That's the reason they created a new brand of beer "Boor", which affected both ghosts and humans contaminated with ectoplasm. Their business quickly became a success and the beer was exported elsewhere (with many care and prevention labels).

When Jason Todd noticed "Boor" on the shelf at the bar he frequented, he snorted. The beer had a small ghost on the bottle, which caught his attention, he ordered it out of curiosity and when the waiter told him that the brand claimed "the product was capable of making even the dead drunk" Jason almost laughed.

Big was his surprise the next day when he woke up on one of Gotham's rooftops with a severe hangover. He had at least 8 missed calls from Nightwing and a bottle with a cartoon ghost in his hand.

[akindplace]

Whatever you’ve managed to do today was enough, even if it wasn’t a lot, even if you couldn’t do anything special. And even if you couldn’t get out of bed today, you are alive, and that counts. It is enough to exist. You don’t have to push yourself beyond your breaking point. I hope you’re able to be proud of yourself regardless of how useful you feel, and if you’re still trying to learn that you’re more than what you can do, then know you’re not alone, I’m still trying to learn that too.

May we learn to value ourselves more for who we are than for what we can do to make ourselves useful to a capitalist society. You’re not a machine, and you’re inherently worthy of rest, food, and fun, and you don’t have to earn the right to have those needs met. Take it easy on yourself, and remember that you can show yourself some compassion and that maybe you should have a little treat. You are enough as you are, and you deserve good things regardless of how productive you are.

[markscherz]

‘But I am very poorly today & very stupid & hate everyone & everything’

- Charles Darwin. Letter to Charles Lyell, 1 October 1861

[hummingbird-of-light]

Eighteenth story for @badthingshappenbingo ~

Title: The Mark

Fandom: Star Trek (AOS)

Character(s): Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, Original Alien Character(s), Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (mentioned)

Relationship(s): Montgomery "Scotty" Scott/Leonard "Bones" McCoy (mentioned)

Rating: M

Words: 1,040

Prompt: Branding

Warnings: Graphic Depiction Of Violence, Branding, Humans as Products, False Hope, Ambiguous/Open Ending

(You can also find this story on AO3)

A/N: This is a sequel to the prompt "Locked Up and Left Behind"

~ The Mark ~

His body was trembling as they led him over to what looked like a limousine. He was hungry and thirsty and cold.

These strange alien people. They had saved Montgomery Scott after he had been abandoned by the pirates who had kidnapped him. The shuttle had crashed and they had left the engineer behind to die.

But he had been found. His heart was still beating out of his chest from all the relief that he felt.

These purple-skinned people would surely help him contact his ship and then he'd get back to the Enterprise. Back to Leonard.

A soft smile formed on his lips as he thought of the doctor. He would get to see him again. Despite how hopeless it all had seemed, there were still miracles happening in this universe.

"Come on. Let's get you someplace safe, shall we?"

The white-haired woman who had led the group of inhabitants was smiling at Scotty as she opened one of the limousine's doors and motioned for him to get in.

The Scotsman gave her a grateful nod and then climbed into the vehicle. He took a seat and sighed. Gosh, how he had longed for a soft place to sit like this one!

The alien woman sat down across from him and tilted her head to the side, eyeing Scotty from head to toe.

"You are a human, aren't you?"

The engineer gave her a nod.

"A-aye," he croaked. His throat was aching. And the woman seemed to notice quite quickly what he needed.

She opened a small fridge, got out a bottle of what looked like water and handed it over to him.

"Oh, thank ye, ma'am! Thank ye so much!"

Greedily, he reached for the drink and swallowed down three or four big gulps. He moaned. The water tasted as sweet as ever.

His counterpart only smiled at him.

"Oh please, don't thank me. I love to help poor souls in need. Would you like some food too?"

She turned back to the fridge and got out what looked like a chocolate bar.

Scotty didn't mean to be impolite, but he literally tore the bar from her hands and devoured it as fast as he could. The hunger was just too big for him to think of his manners.

The alien woman didn't seem to care though. She only chuckled.

"My, my. You really must have been starving," she said and offered the Scotsman another bar.

He nodded vigorously and only when his mouth was quite full did he notice that he was behaving like a wild animal.

With a blush on his cheeks, he swallowed down what he had in his mouth.

"I- I'm sorry. I... forgot my manners, ma'am."

He eyed his surroundings once more. This woman appeared to be quite wealthy and elegant. He should behave like a sophisticated person.

"Oh, don't worry, dear. It's fine. After all, you are a very special guest. I've never had human before."

Scotty tried his best not to frown. What... had the woman said just now? He chuckled insecurely. It must have been a mistake. The universal translator must have made an error. For sure she had meant to say that she had never had a human as a guest before! Aye, that had to be it.

"You might want to drink and eat some more though before we reach our destination. After all, my customers prefer their meat tender and juicy."

Scotty blinked a few times. Surely he was mishearing things. The way this woman talked about him... Almost like he was an animal to slaughter.

"M-Ma'am?"

The Scotsman watched nervously as the alien woman reached beneath her seat and got out a suitcase.

She placed it next to her and opened it slowly.

"Go on, eat a few more bars. They help your body get stronger in no time," she said with a smile, not looking at the engineer though.

Scotty felt his heart drop and he shifted in his seat. He had to get out of here! This woman... was freaking him out!

However, as soon as he tried to get up, belts were activated and he was stripped to his seat. No matter how hard he pulled at them, he couldn't break free.

"I-I-I, p-please, l-let me go!"

However, the woman just smiled at him, pulling what she had worked on out of the suitcase.

A red glowing piece of iron.

"Unfortunately, people are waiting for me at a charity event and I can't bring you to my restaurant right away. Neither can my men for they will join and protect me."

The woman grinned, revealing her sharp teeth, while she leaned over.

"I honestly doubt that you will find a way out of this vehicle, but in case you do... let's make sure everybody knows who you belong to."

Scotty shook his head, tears in his eyes, as his counterpart moved the iron closer and closer to his face. When it eventually touched his cheek and started to burn him, he couldn't help but scream in agony.

Branding. The woman was branding him like he was an animal for her to own.

Then again... he was. To this creature he was nothing else but a product.

Scotty was shaking and wincing when the woman ran a hand across the mark she had created.

"Don't worry, sweetheart, no one will get to see you like this. After all, we'll chop off your head soon enough."

He tried to say something, but no word left his mouth. All he could do was stare at the gorgeous lady in horror.

"Like I said, feel free to drink and eat some more. We'll be gone for an hour or two. And once we get back, we'll head straight to the restaurant. After all, there's a menu to change."

With that, the woman left the limousine that had stopped without Scotty noticing.

"Good evening, Miss Farie."

"Hello, Miss Farie."

"How are you, Miss Farie?"

Scotty heard it. He heard the name of the woman several times before the door of the car closed again.

And he knew that Miss Farie would be the death of him. She and her kind hadn't been his saviors, but his doom.

[fleurizo]

..haaiiiii guys im back after a wholeass year what’d i miss

errr anyways have some murder drones human au :D

[lumineary-arts]

"The Greatest Travelling Circus!"

Finally finished the designs for this AU!! Some of them may be subject to change but this is how they're looking for now!

From the "Greatest Show" animatic, the idea behind this AU is that Pomni finds herself as the new jester in this troupe of Caine's fantastical circus! She can't.. really remember how she got there, but why would she want to leave when it's so much fun? The show must go on, after all! Who knows what could happen if it doesn't? Planning on expanding more on this AU with animatics and extra art sometime! I hope some are interested!

[trisiyamoon]

May i have this dance?🐰🎀🎭

Design belongs to @lumineary-arts 🤎🤍

[hoopii-loopii]

Swap J with Tessa!?

[nenestansunsthings]

having svsss au ideas beyond my station

thinking. shang qinghua goes on a mission as a young disciple to some town in fuckoff nowhere and finds himself in the qiu household. and there he finds a young shen jiu, undergoing the plot he originally intended for him and hadn't realised had become real and he's so young oh god hes so young why is he so small what do you mean that part was real, he hadn't kept it why is it real—

and he panics and sneaks him the Fuck out of that house

and he's not sure what to do but surely sending him to cang qiong will fuck up something in the plot and he can't come under even more investigation and cang qiong tryouts dont happen for months anyway and his system would probably never allow it (it doesnt. it would interfere with yue qingyuans story) but shen jiu is refusing to stay anywhere near this place and wants to learn cultivating to protect himself make sure nothing like this ever happens again and sqh panics harder and

calls mobei jun.

okay. on second thought, maybe this was a bad idea. but he stumbles over himself and shushes baby shen jiu's very understandable freaking out and asks his king for the first thing hes ever asked for other than his own life.

is there any way this human child could learn cultivation in the demon world?

[sapphicsundial]

I drew this new human gangle design yesterday to celebrate the release of the second amazing digital circus episode without realising it actually premieres today oops my bad 💙💛❤️