#kingtumu

[bucketofchum]

Plopping this here for myself - it's the scene I had in my head all morning

And then as the day went on, I kept on thinking about earlier scenes that led up to this

[bucketofchum]

Okay OC stuff under the cut (KingTumu, possession stuff)

There is a period in the KingTumu timeline where King gets possessed by an evil spirit who draws energy from suffering and it's kind of a heartbreaking thing bc Atumu doesn't realize it's not his Master, so he just thinks that King is being really violent and cruel for no reason (or maybe Atumu did something wrong? Or this is the new norm?)

It starts as like really small random things. Only 5-15 minutes at a time. Maybe once a day or something. Moments of uncharacteristic violence and cruelty. And it's never explained, so Atumu never really figures out what's going on. He just figures maybe...idk this is a thing now.

Whenever King is back to his normal self, he'd ask Atumu what was wrong (Atumu would flinch from his touch bc he wouldn't know if King would hurt him or not) but Atumu would have nothing to say. He didn't know if anything was wrong. Nothing was wrong?

Ofc this was worrisome for King bc all he could see from his perspective was that Atumu seemed more reticent for some reason, but he had no idea why

Eventually King finds Atumu injured and Atumu won't tell him how he got injured. He's increasingly worried and concerned for Atumu, wondering why Atumu is hiding something from him. What is he hiding and why? King doesn't push Atumu though bc Atumu must have a reason for not telling him...but he's worried. But it only gets worse

As the spirit gets stronger, it is more active and increasingly violent. Also manifests more. More often, for longer periods, and this takes a toll on King's body as well. King finds himself vomiting black gook whenever he comes back to. He never had memory of the possessions, but his body feels the weariness.

One day King wakes up from a blackout to find Atumu basically in a pool of his own blood, bleeding out from multiple festering stab wounds, one hand pinned to the ground by a dagger through the back of the hand. This is it. This is the limit. He has to know what happened to Atumu and why Atumu is keeping information from him. Who did this? Did someone attack them?

Atumu finally admits that it was King himself, which King finds really hard to believe, but there is no one else out there in the desert besides them.

Atumu of course never blames King - he thinks he must have done something to deserve this.

King is afraid of hurting Atumu so he seeks to resolve this. He needs to leave Atumu and stay far away until he gets this solved. He leaves Atumu, and it sadly gets worse for Atumu.

King goes on a mission to find a shaman, alone. Atumu doesn't know when King will return. If King will return? If this is a continued punishment for something he did wrong? He's not sure.

Atumu doesn't move from their tent that they had set up. He doesn't have much in terms of supplies (they usually get supplies when they travel and go into towns/from natural features) But not moving, Atumu doesn't have much for food and water. He also doesn't dare move from the tent lest King return and he not be there. Weeks go by in King's mission and Atumu wastes away in the tent, not knowing if or when King will ever return

Eventually King does find a shaman, who convinces him that it is indeed Atumu who is the one possessed and they must exorcise the spirit. I think the spirit had actually left by then bc I don't recall any other mention of it henceforth. Perhaps it was the weeks away from any interaction with any other being. Perhaps it was sated by that last violent attack? Anyhow the shaman has these complex rituals they need to gather supplies for, and the supplies can be hard to come by

The two of them eventually do make it back to the tent where King finds Atumu in such a bad state, but the Shaman does not want King to nurse him back to health, as the Shaman believes the spirit resides within Atumu, and Atumu's body in its weakened state also weakens the spirit. They want his body as close to death as possible to rid the spirit for good. It hurts King to see Atumu like this but he follows the Shaman's orders

This is a sad sad period for Atumu bc he has no idea what's going on at all. He doesn't know what he did or why any of this is happening. Honestly he just longs for King's company, as much as he longs for food or water. Or more.

King does break and give him just a touch of honey from his fingertip to give him strength and Atumu begs him not to leave

But there are more ingredients to gather for the ritual so leave again King must. The Shaman admonishes King for giving into the evil spirit's temptations (giving Atumu water and honey)

I don't think this episode ever gets a nice conclusion. There really was no conclusion to be had bc there was never an evil spirit within Atumu in the first place and the one in King seemed to have left of its own accord, maybe after the really really horrible last taxing possession.

This is the only time I can think of that Atumu ever begs King, and it's heartbreaking to King that he has to do this as well. He doesn't want to leave Atumu and he doesn't want to starve and dehydrate Atumu, but he is trying to follow the Shaman's orders bc he wants to be rid of the spirit. It's also a really hard time for King because Atumu is the only living being he really truly cares about more than anything, and he is responsible for Atumu's life, as his Master.

King does have a lot of internal turmoil about keeping Atumu in general. A lot of times, he fears that being with him exposes Atumu to more dangers than if they had never met. It feels selfish of him to endanger Atumu's life like this. Just being with King is a risk. Atumu passes more as human, and King draws unwanted attention and violence from humans. And when they are with supernatural creatures, Atumu is also at increased risk because of his humanness. But Atumu wants nothing more than to be with King

-

It escalates pretty bad once the spirit starts needing more and develops a taste for blood - it was the final possession which left Atumu as a used pile of bloody flesh.

Also after every possession beforehand, King would care for Atumu's wounds and Atumu would be trembling from gratitude and feel undeserving of King's kindness towards him bc he still thought he'd done something wrong to merit the abuse in the first place. Like he did something wrong and was punished for it? And then King helps to patch him up afterwards? He felt so apologetic and grateful for King's kindness. But he didn't know what he did wrong so he couldn't take steps to not repeat it. And the same thing would happen over and over, getting worse and worse

At some point, I think Atumu normalizes it in his head as maybe this is a kink thing? He's unsure. Bc the spirit clearly gained pleasure from causing pain, and Atumu doesn't realise the spirit is not King. He just finds King acting uncharacteristic. The spirit is clearly sadistic and gaining pleasure, and if doing this to Atumu is something pleasurable to King, Atumu wants to abide best he can.

It's also bc of this that the spirit needs to push harder because it is clearly not causing as much suffering as it wants. If Atumu is permitting this - not fighting back - it satisfies less of the need.

The thing that Atumu has a hard time understanding in all of this is King's confusion, asking him what is going on, what Atumu is hiding from him. Is this also part of the game? Why would his Master do this and half an hour later ask him what happened? He's not even sure what happened. He's not sure what is happening. Why is this happening? Is it a punishment? Is it a kink thing? He doesn't know. So he keeps quiet. He doesn't want to say the wrong thing and trigger another violent attack.

But also it's really really really out of the blue when these possessions happen. So they can just be like...they are walking around in the desert quietly as they always do, and King just turns around and backhands Atumu's face or slams him into the ground. It's so out of the blue that it's bewildering and he doesn't know what to make of it

The first possessions were like that. Just random outbursts of violence lasting only a few seconds or minutes at most. And then King would be confused, a little dazed, and surprised. He'd help Atumu back up or patch him up. And it'd be like this, but the violence would escalate. The violence would last longer. And the outbursts would be more frequent.

Anyhow during that whole time, the worst thing for Atumu was the period when King was gone. He would rather King's erratic violence and care afterwards than King's absence.

-

What also makes me think of this moment is when Atumu dies (oh spoiler alert I guess) and finally comes back hundreds of years later and King is in tears and says "I killed you!" And Atumu says "That cannot be true. I know you would never cause me harm, and here I am before you, alive and well." And King just responds, sobbing "it was an accident " Like he's begging the universe for forgiveness.

Knowing what Atumu has experienced, Atumu is still able to confidently say that King would never hurt him.

[bucketofchum]

We want what we can't have

[bucketofchum]

@basklin drew a mini zine for me and I'm absolutely feral about it!!!!!!!!

[bucketofchum]

oh my godd poor Atumu..... poor baby ahh

-shy anon

Yeh the part I didn't write about (the roughly TWO years he spends bed bound and restrained, starved and dehydrated and neglected, while not knowing why or what was going on - if he did anything wrong/what he did to deserve this) were literally some of the worst thing moments of Atumu's life. It was SUCH a bad time not just for physical deterioration reasons but also bc of the mental anguish of "why is this happening? What did I do?"

It's so so so fucking miserable.

In the end, it was actually a moment when King was high (sometimes King uses opium to cope with life), and stumbles into Anhar's room and talks to Atumu/Anhar that Atumu is roused out of his comatose state. The really really tragic thing is that he would have been responsive if anyone actually engaged with him. But no one did. Radu and Dani would be the only ones who drip honey water into his mouth, or give him sugar water enemas just to make sure his body was absorbing some water and nutrients. But besides those rare minutes in the day, he had absolutely no interaction with anyone while literally being bound on the bed. If King had come in to talk to him at any point in those many many months, Atumu would have been responsive. But he didn't.

So it was only when King was high out of his mind and goes into the room and rambles, speech slurred, to Anhar that Atumu becomes responsive. He asks for forgiveness. Then he asks for death.

So King is like sloppily making out with barely lucid Atumu, and Atumu is kissing back hard, but just cuz he's so fucking dehydrated that his throat just tastes like metallic blood and King's saliva is just about the only moisture he has gotten all day. King is too high out of his mind to realise that Atumu is actually awake and conscious, and definitely too delirious to understand what's going on and to give Atumu actual water 😭😭😭

So they have a sloppy make out session but it's just King being high and Atumu being so fucking dehydrated. And when Atumu can finally speak, his first words are an apology. "I'm sorry, Master. Whatever I have done, I am sorry." He doesn't know what he has done to deserve this fate, but he knows he must have done something. It's all he can think about, when he can think. King is still way too high to understand what's going on. Doesn't realise these are the first words that Atumu has uttered in almost a year. He just slurs a "Hmmm? Whuh--"

"I understand that I have failed you. You are in good hands with Danica and Radu. If you have no further use for me, I ask that you end my life." And King is still too high out of his mind and just falls asleep on Atumu. Atumu would cry if he had any moisture to spare. He also just like...he doesn't even know if he's still alive. Atumu also goes to sleep again after that bc he basically thinks he is dead.

The next day, King wakes up and is like..?? Oh boy wow that was embarrassing. He wakes up in the arms of his comatose captive slave, who resembles his most beloved life companion, after getting absolutely wasted on opium. How embarrassing. It's not a record low, but still bad enough that he would rather not talk about it. He mutters a soft apology to Anhar just out of reflex of politeness, and here is where Atumu actually responds.

Oh my god wait I just realized it gets so much worse before it gets better holy shit I'm about to break my own heart fuck.

Okay so Atumu responds, but just a soft exhale, mouthing "Master". And that's more movement than King has ever seen from Anhar in the past year or so. So he frantically grabs water to give to Atumu. He has to drip water into Atumu's mouth with his fingers first before Atumu can even properly drink. Atumu downs several glasses easily, but King stops because too much water too fast is also not good.

Okay so uhhhh-- I'm gonna fast forward through this bc it is still too heart breaking for me to deal with rn but I'll post about it later maybe. But uhhh. Okay so Atumu and King actually have a moment to talk. Like for real. Atumu again asks for forgiveness and death. King is entirely confused. He has never heard Anhar speak to him with such reverence. King is the only thing that matters to Atumu in his life, so if King does not want him around anymore - does not need him - he has no reason to continue to be alive. King is honestly confused by all of this.

Then uhhh the beginning of the end. Atumu calls him by his real name, which I won't write here just out of respect for King. King freezes. His mind reels. His body immediately goes into a panic attack. There is only one human being - only one BEING in existence, that he can recall telling his real name to, besides his family. And that was Atumu. King just experiences a whole array of traumatic flashbacks, reliving the pain of losing Atumu, of losing their daughter. Centuries of mourning. He staggers backwards and collapses, heaving from the panic attack.

Atumu is still bed bound at this time. Not only bed bound but literally BOUND TO THE BED. his wrists are bound to each headboard post and his ankles to the end posts of the bed. His body has been bound in this position for months. His limbs, tendons, ligaments, muscles, are dehydrated like beef jerky. But hearing his Master wheezing, sobbing, crying, screaming, wailing, calling out his name - "Atumu" - Atumu fights to move for the first time. He needs to be there for his Master.

King is knelt on the floor, wailing and gasping, trapped in his own memories. The door is locked, so even though Dani and Radu can hear their Master, they can't get in. They desperately search for the skeleton key.

Atumu screams as he rips his arms from the bedposts. The ligaments in his shoulders and elbows tear horribly. But Atumu has tremendous strength when he needs to have it, and hearing his Master in pain like this necessitates this. He pulls his arms with such force that it breaks the wooden bed posts - the rope still tied around each post, and the other end of the ropes still tied around his wrists. Neither of his arms are functional anymore - dislocated either at the shoulders or at the elbows from this horrible action. They hang limply at his side as he throws his body on the ground, crawling like a worm towards his still sobbing Master. The wooden bedposts dragging behind him.

He has no use of his arms, so he can't prop himself up. But when he reaches King, he presses his face into King's lap and whispers "Master, I'm here. I'm here, Master" in response to King wailing his name. King grabs onto Atumu and cradles his head, sobbing still. King is still fully lost in his memories, in his mind. He is not at all present, but having something to hold onto, hearing Atumu's voice, seems to help a bit.

By now, Radu has found the skeleton key, and manages to open the locked door. Radu and Danica see a horrifying scene. Their Master, in horrendous distress, and Anhar - their prisoner ward who had tried to kill them some months ago - escaped from his bindings? The splintered wood of the bed posts still on the ground. The only conclusion they could make was that Anhar had escaped from his bindings and made another attempt on King's life.

They grab their Master to help him out of the room and lock the door behind them.

The next few days are spent with Dani and Radu taking care of King, making sure he is healthy and mentally okay again. Having recovered from his opium bender and emotional breakdown, he has had a bit more time to reflect. But he has work to do, so he plungez himself back into his work. Still, he thinks about that last interaction he had with Anhar. Was it a dream?

Meanwhile, back with Atumu, it gets worse. For three days, he is left on the ground, arms all but shattered from ripping them off the bedpost. No one came to check on him in those 3 days, so he falls back into the comatose state. It's to preserve the energy he doesn't have. His organs are failing and he needs to go into the comatose state to survive. After 3 days, by King's orders, Radu and Danica put him back into bed, tie him up again, and continue caring for him in the bare minimum way that they had before. More time (weeks? months?) elapse while King is on his work trips. Atumu's condition worsens.

Finally, King returns from his work trip. He can't stop thinking about what happened that day. Was it a dream? He knows he was high, so he can't trust himself. But he needs to find out for himself.

Against Radu's warnings, King goes to seek out Anhar again. The boy is so skeletal. Just a pile of bones, barely visible on the bed, arms strung up again. It's such a sad pathetic sight. He feels so bad, partially responsible for Anhar's sad state. He speaks softly to Anhar, which rouses Atumu. Atumu gasps a breath of life when he comes back into consciousness. He tries to whisper another apology.

King has come prepared this time. Prepared with water and honey for Anhar, and prepared with questions. Mostly, he is mentally prepared. Not sure what the answers will be.

"When we last spoke, you called me a name...what was it?"

"I... apologize if I am not permitted to utter your name, Master--" Atumu quickly whispers. His entire body is in so much pain and he wants only death. He is so so so sorry.

"What was the name you said? I have only told this name to one person."

"Was he not I, Master?" Atumu is beginning to doubt himself. It couldn't be him...could it be him? He's only a slave...maybe he is mistaken. His memory seems to have a lot of holes now anyway...

"What was the name, Anhar?" King insists.

"Master *****..." Atumu whispers almost inaudibly, and winces in fear that speaking this name will call upon an sort of punishment. But no punishment comes.

"Where did you hear of this name?" This time King is calm in hearing his name. He is prepared.

"I...I don't... remember..." Atumu is speaking the truth. He doesn't know. He doesn't remember.

In fact, King had told Atumu his real name after their daughter died. It was a heart wrenchingly tragic moment, and he wanted his most beloved companion to know his true name. So that at least one other being in this world would know him.

"What do you remember?"

Atumu remembers...his head hurting. He remembers waking up, as if from a long sleep. Not knowing what was going on. He remembers the attack -- they were under attack. He remembers feeling a hot knife slash his throat -- but King was hurt too. He remembers trying to save King's life. (He would never have thought it was King who slit his throat. He knows his Master would never hurt him. The only logical conclusion he could come to was that they were both under attack). And then he couldn't remember much else. He remembered the servants, Danica and Radu. They are humans. They are looking out for King. He knows he can trust them to take care of King...if he is no longer needed...

Slowly now, King asks... hesitantly... "What is your name?"

"My name is Atumu, Master..." he speaks slowly and deliberately at first...but then interrupts himself quickly, as he has noticed his Master and Radu and Danica using another name with him. "B-but if you should wish my name to be otherwise, I shall know no other name."

King's eyes widen. If he wasn't wearing a veil over his face, Atumu would see his eyes watering. "Atumu....how can this be? You were dead, Atumu. I killed you."

"I am not, Master. As you can see, I am alive and well." (Well, not "well"). "And I know that is not true, Master. You would never hurt me."

"It was an accident...I killed you... I carried your body....for years... I have lived lifetimes without you. I have lived half a millennia in your absence."

Atumu doesn't know what to say in response. He doesn't know any of this. He doesn't remember. He doesn't remember much of anything. He doesn't know what is true and what was a dream. He has no details of any previous life he had lived. "Well, I am here now, Master...in your service....if you will still have me..."

King chokes out a laugh through his tears. "Oh, Atumu, you really are as wonderful as I remember you to be."

And then they make plans for him to get better, etc, and then fun shit happens, yadda yadda yadda

I said I wouldn't get into the details, but I got all caught up with myself and this is one of the most heart wrenching moments and ahhh

Sorry again for the text dump ahhhhhh good bye

[bucketofchum]

"I mean no disrespect, but I have served the Master for far longer than you have."

At these words, Radu's head immediately jerked back. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He threw back his head and let out a hard laugh.

"HA! You say you mean no respect, but you do just that, boy! You were not even a speck of life in your mother's cunt when I began serving Master Omar."

It was true that Radu's entire bloodline had served Master Omar, for as far back as he could remember. The middle aged man looked disdainfully at the 19-year old petulant boy who spewed such fantastic fabrications.

Atumu's lips tightened into a narrow line. He did not like this Radu. But he knew that this was one of his Master's servants, and as such, Radu technically outranked him. He would not argue unnecessarily. They both shared a common goal of service to the Master. He would obey his Master, and he would obey Radu, as long as it remained in the best interest of their Master.

Noticing silence from the boy, Radu chuckled to himself, letting his head hang as he shook it.

"I really hope this story of amnesia is true, Anhar, for it is making you say the most amusing things."

He had doubted Anhar's alleged memory problem before, believing it to be another trick to either escape or make another attempt on Master Omar's life. But if this disrespectful adolescent truly believed that he had somehow served, in his handful of months here, their Master for longer than Radu had - Radu, who was born into the service of their generous Master, whose mother and father had served Master Omar as their mothers and fathers before them did as well - then perhaps there was some credence to the boy's brain damage.

He chuckled to himself and walked towards the door, turning around one last time to look at Anhar sitting up in his bed before closing and locking the door behind him.

[bucketofchum]

Okay so this particular situation could never happen in the real story bc

Uh tw: baby death

Wadjet is a smol gorgon baby born biologically of King and Atumu. But of them are entirely unaware of Atumu's strange anatomy and don't know how this is possible, but somehow by fate's will, it has become so.

So Atumu carried King's clutch for a while before they even realised he was carrying eggs. Of the eggs, as the days and weeks (months??) passed, it became more and more apparent that most of the clutch were duds. Of the few eggs that did end up developing, only one had a viable heartbeat. And King had to tear open the shell to even allow the tiny baby out because she was too weak to even break through the shell herself. By this point, King had known what was going on (he knows somehow, Atumu had carried his clutch, and he knew that the baby would not survive. He had a horrible intense mourning essentially on his own bc Atumu didn't know what was going on, and this was just the most heartbreaking thing in the world).

Wadjet happened to not be born with the stone gaze that King had, so that meant that Atumu could actually see her. She looked like a tiny tiny version of his Master. That was the first time it occured to Atumu that this was King's baby. (He still didn't - and tbh might never - realise that the child is also biologically his).

Another thing that wrecks ME in particular is that the baby has Atumu's unnaturally emerald green eyes, which King has also never seen. King has never been able to see Atumu's eyes unobstructed because at least one of them is blindfolded at a time, for each other's protection. So seeing Wadjet's eyes is the first time he was able to see Atumu's eyes, albeit indirectly, even though they had known each other for idk how many years (decades?) they had coexisted.

When Atumu sees the baby of the first time, he says "She looks just like you..." and that wrecks King. Up until then, he didn't want to see the baby as a living being bc he knew she wouldn't survive. He didn't even want to gender her, let alone name her. So he allowed Atumu to name her. Atumu chose Wadjet, which means "The Green One", a goddess and protector of Kings, in Atumu's culture. Considering that King is his King, and both he and Wadjet are green, the name seemed especially appropriate. Also, having a name from Atumu's culture seemed appropriate as well.

Anyhow, as King already knew, Wadjet's life did not last long. A few days at most. She died peacefully in her sleep, and never grew larger than the size of Atumu's hand. Atumu didn't know she wouldn't last, and he was distressed to find her tiny unbreathing body, but King already knew it was coming and had his days or weeks to mourn already. So by the time she passed, he was already at peace.

To honour her tiny body, King asked Atumu if he had any rituals to perform. It had been so many centuries or millennia since King had been close to Gorgon culture that he had lost most of the rituals. So Wadjet was buried with Atumu's cultural customs, buried like a goddess.

More really really tragic events after the burial, but honestly it was one of the saddest parts of their story.

This snippet is one of those vignettes that live rent free in my head as I imagine King and Atumu living domestically with their baby together, and as Atumu learns to be less of a slave and more of a companion and coparent.

[bucketofchum]

"I want you to raise this child with me... not as a servant or a slave, but as a co-parent..."

--

"Atumu, could you bring an egg over?"

"Yes, Master"

"Atumu, I don't want you to call me 'Master'...not in front of Wadjet"

"Yes...my love."

[bucketofchum]

Oh I found my original head bonking tags

More head bonking in tags

[bucketofchum]

Not gonna get into it now, but I often think about that horrible period of time when Atumu and King get separated.

Essentially, some traders spot King and stalk the duo for a while to confirm that he is a Gorgon. Then they spring an attack and separate the two. Atumu puts up a hell of a lot more of a fight than they anticipated, but they manage to knock him out (thus my constant thinking about this encounter bc I keep seeing these Tumblr posts about people being bonked).

Anyhow, the thing that wrecks me is that King's first thought and fear of being separated from Atumu isn't for his own well being. He's afraid of what will happen to Atumu without him. He knows Atumu is a slave and has lived as a slave his whole life (however many thousands of years that might have been), and he knows that wherever Atumu goes, he will likely not be treated with the same kindness and respect that King gives him. He is afraid of what will happen to Atumu without him...

Meanwhile Atumu fights tooth and nail to escape the captors because he needs to be by his Master's side to keep him safe, but they essentially repeatedly kick his head, knock him out, and every time he wakes up, he is less and less disruptive. He eventually gets to a dazed state where he isn't really alert and oriented. Doesn't know what's going on. Doesn't know where he is. Likely doesn't even remember who he is. But whenever he hears King again, it reorients him, and he puts up a fight again. Rinse and repeat.

The traders find that essentially nothing stops him from fighting except being separated from King, so they make sure to split the two ASAP. That seems to do the trick, and Atumu and King end up separated for the next several years, starting one of the worst periods of King's life, traded, sold, and living in captivity as an exotic pet.

It is literally years before they happen to be in the same part of the world again and that's some more miserable times.

But yeah anyhow, I just keep thinking about this moment bc of the brain damage Atumu suffers during the first attack. Like just repeatedly being beaten and kicked in the head, losing consciousness, regaining consciousness, and having it done again and again. It just reaches a point where he is fully compliant and basically all but vegetative. He's so disoriented and dazed that he can barely just go through the functions of life. He loses a lot of memory and the literal years that he spent with King feel just like a dream that never happened.

Atumu is sold for less than the mule that King and he were travelling with. For all his skills and capabilities, he is worth less than a mule.

[bucketofchum]

"Is this yours?! Atumu, are you bleeding?"

"I did not want to cause us to lose time, Master..."

"Time, I can afford to lose, Atumu."

Dialogue only version above. Below, more descriptive...

At a certain point, King no longer heard Atumu's footsteps behind him. He turned around, only to find a pile of robes collapsed on the dune. King rushed over to his travel companion, calling out his name in alarm.

Atumu's breathing was light but haggard. He clutched shakily at his linen robes, which were soaked a deep crimson red and staining the sand.

It quickly became apparent to King that they had not left their encounter with the bandits unharmed.

"I did not want to cause us to lose time, Master" Atumu breathily mustered.

"Time, I can afford to lose, Atumu." You, I cannot, were the words left unspoken.

[bucketofchum]

"Don't you ever die....I won't allow it..."

"Yes, Master"

[bucketofchum]

You know what scene I have stuck in my head....

Post minotaur death battle, and King has managed to revive Atumu enough, and Atumu has managed to subdue his Master to stop his bleeding.

Atumu's hand is firmly on King's neck and he has King on the bed that he was just on. It's kind of calm and tense at the same time. Then Atumu notices his vision going blurry from the blood loss and he has to instruct King on how to readjust his bandages tight enough that he doesn't bleed out.

Cuz he needs to remain conscious to maintain pressure on King's arterial bleeding, so he can't let go of King's neck. And he knows he can't manoeuver around well enough to retie the bandages tight enough that he won't pass out. So he calmly and coolly instructs King on how to bandage his gut.

I'm just THINKIN ABOUT THAT

[bucketofchum]

Also a thing no one asked for, but if we are talking about raw KingTumu lines that I can't stop thinking about, another is:

"The cruelty of others is of no fault of your own."

[bucketofchum]

hi! shy anon! please tell us more about that story drabble you wrote!

Okay, this takes place after Atumu has died, like 400+ years ago. (Won't get into the details of that)

So King has had 400+ years to mourn his death and move on. He has changed his name now (to Omar) as he often does, and has made a life in the black market of like....exotic pets. Essentially wealthy people like to buy things from supernatural creatures. King acts as the middleman, connecting these wealthy people to... Parts of the supernatural creatures. (He would never willingly desire to traffick a peer. So he asks them to give things they have - like extra bones, horns, scales, fur, eggshells, etc.) He also negotiates the release of living creatures (i.e. "selling" them back to their own populations or just buying their freedom).

So that's what King is up to. He has built up quite a reputation for himself and has considerable wealth. He is a mysterious figure who has been around for as long as anyone can remember. He has also gathered a very very very close family of humans who serve him (he only has two servants, but basically their families have always served him). They are incredibly loyal, know he is a Gorgon, and are the only humans to know this. They will guard his secret even if it means killing.

At one of the trading events, King senses a familiar presence. It's hard to place, but he follows it like a faint smell. After a while, he finds the source -- it's ...ATUMU??? that's impossible. Atumu is long dead. And this boy looks much too young to be Atumu...but the energy is so familiar. Atumu has quite an unmistakable look, especially since King had spent centuries with him.

He eventually learns that this boy is a teenager named Anhar, who is a slave with musical talent. He wants to buy Anhar, but the human who owns him is new to the black market scene and doesn't really have the respect for King that everyone else does. He massively extorts King, leaving everyone shocked by how much King would pay for a random human slave, and leaving King very angry. Still, he has his Atumu lookalike, so....

Cue the next few months of absolute frustration. King tries to supply this boy with absolutely everything he could ever want. A nice place to stay, excellent treatment, and an education. Things a slave would never have. Things he could never give his Atumu half a millennia ago. He tries to allow Anhar to warm up to him, but Anhar won't. He is frigid and distant. He only opens up a little to the two servants, Danica and Radu, especially Danica. He doesn't feel comfortable here, and doesn't know what King wants with him. He has never NOT been assigned a task. Now he is just....free? But not ? Like a ward. Needless to say Anhar doesn't appreciate his liberties.

One day, months later, Anhar accidentally sees King without his turban. He sees the snakes. Anhar is HORRIFIED. He is being held captive by a MONSTER. Danica and Radu try to quell the situation by calming Anhar down, but Anhar is inconsolable. Not only is King a monster holding him captive, but the two human servants he trusted are in on it. He decides he must flee, and he will try to kill anyone in his way. He doesn't want to hurt Danica especially, but he will if he has to.

The relationship between King/Danica/Radu and Anhar changes. They need to figure out how to contain him. They can't let him escape and tell everyone King's secret. But King refuses to kill the boy. They have to just keep him....prisoner essentially. It's a bad time for everyone, but eventually they manage to restrain Anhar and keep him essentially locked up.

Finally the confrontation happens. King has some time in his busy schedule to talk face to face with Anhar. He brings Anhar down to the basement (dungeon? Caves? Cellar?). Anhar is restrained and blindfolded. King tries to talk calmly to Anhar at first, but Anhar is not having it. He is thrashing violently and threatening King. King is a monster. He belongs in Hell. Humans will come and slay him. It's a heated and horrible confrontation. Being called a monster is SUPER triggering to King, and he grabs Anhar by the back of his head and slams his head into the ground in anger.

(cue one of the rawest lines I have ever heard in my life: "You don't deserve to wear his face!" as he slams Anhar's head into the floor)

It takes King only a moment to calm down from that. He didnt actually mean to hurt Anhar...he didn't want to kill Anhar. Seeing Anhar's limp body on the ground, he goes to check on him.

The head trauma triggered some sort of awakening that allowed Atumu's ancient long dead spirit to finally inhabit the vessel that was Anhar's body. It's like he had been asleep for 400 years and was only just waking up. Head throbbing, disoriented... The blindfold had slipped off by now, but his vision was too blurry to focus on anything. But he thought he saw his master? He manages a weak "Master...?"

King mishears this to be "Monster". Whatever calm he had, is gone again. "You think me a monster? Let me show you what a monster can be--" and he removes his turban, letting his snakes flow freely. They writhe in anger. King pulls out his dagger and drags it across Anhar's throat.

He immediately regrets it. Hearing the boy choke on his own blood, he grabs Anhar's neck to stop the bleeding. King has this ability to heal with his arterial blood (it's like a life for a life type of thing. He can give life, but if he loses too much, he'll die), so he knicks the artery in his own neck to bleed onto Anhar's fatal wound.

Atumu's head is spinning. It was already spinning from the head trauma of being smashed into the ground. And then he thought he saw his Master? And then he felt a sharp hot pain across his neck and found himself unable to breathe. He was choking on his own blood when he sees his Master - he's sure of it now - bleeding from an arterial cut. Atumu refuses to let King die - even if it is the last thing he does. (He doesn't know about King's life blood). He wrestles with King to stop King's bleeding, regardless of his own gashed neck.

Cue a very bloody strangling match, where Atumu is trying to stop King's bleeding, King is trying to bleed into Atumu's wound. And King doesn't realise this is Atumu now and not Anhar. And Atumu has no idea what he going on. King yells at Anhar to stop struggling. "Can't you see I am trying to save your life, you stupid boy?" Atumu retorts weakly "Your life is worth more than mine--" which King does not understand considering the vile words that Anhar was spewing at him just minutes ago. "Don't change your tune now, Anhar."

Anhar seems exceptionally strong, to the shock of King (it's because it's not Anhar...), but eventually Atumu loses enough blood that he can no longer put up a struggle and passes out. King finishes bleeding onto the wound and bandages his own neck up. The scene is a bloodbath.

King eventually goes up to get his two servants (who are HORRIFIED to see all the blood, but even more horrified to learn that King eventually spared Anhar -- "Master, you are too forgiving" -- Radu says with disdain) and they help with the cleanup.

They bind Anhar to a bed to let him heal and recover (but stay secured). When Atumu wakes up, he easily escapes the tight bindings and is confused about the situation.

Uhhhhhhh I'm gonna fast forward because the next part is like....YEARS OF BAD SHIT. LIKE LITERAL YEARS. (I could elaborate at some other point. But this is already long enough) They still don't realise he is Atumu and not Anhar. King is really busy with his work, so he can't be around. They essentially starve and dehydrate Anhar so he is less of a danger. Atumu doesn't understand what's going on at any point and thinks maybe he has done something wrong... He is eventually kept in such a delicate comatose state where his body has shut down from the resource deprivation. It's really really really fucking sad because he was in surprisingly good health when he came into Anhar, but was never really given the opportunity to talk to King for King to find out that he was really Atumu. And like some 2 years or so later, his body is just wasting away on death's door.

It's a Whole Thing when King finally realises that this is really truly Atumu, somehow come back from almost 500 years of being dead. Atumu doesn't blame King for anything and he just seeks forgiveness for whatever he did to deserve this. He just wants to serve King, if King will still have him... King is in tears about this. "You really are as wonderful as I remember..."

So that scene happens after ALL OF THAT. WHOOF. SORRY. King has to figure out how to sell it for his servants, since they don't know Atumu. So he just explains it as: Anhar got brain damage. He has amnesia. Doesn't remember anything. We will call him Atumu now. He is not a threat. You can treat him like an equal." (Needless to say, Radu doesn't like this. Danica is hesitant.)

Before the many years of wasting away, Anhar had last tried to escape and kill them. So Danica first keeps her distance when visiting Anhar. But Atumu, bed bound, is super polite to her and calls her Mistress at first (she corrects him and says he only needs to use her name) -- he still calls her miss. She leaves the interaction feeling hesitantly good. Anhar does indeed seem completely different. She is willing to try.

Radu, though, thinks this is all a ploy. It seems fake and too convenient. He doesn't trust like that. But his interaction with Atumu makes him feel a little otherwise. Anhar seems wildly delusional, but this delusional form of Anhar is better than the dangerous one.

Uhhhh-- this got so much longer than I anticipated. I cant believe I excluded everything about Atumu wasting away bc that is so so so fucking long and miserable, but it was a huge thing.

Congrats if anyone reads this

[bucketofchum]

@scienceoftheidiot thanks for your interactions!! I don't mind reblogs, but I feel like most people don't like big blobs of text of OCs they don't know

King first met Atumu at a market (Atumu was being sold along with many others by a slave trader). King has this ability to sense other supernatural beings (being a Gorgon himself), and he sensed a very strange sort of vibe coming from a general direction that he later identified to be Atumu.

Atumu is fully human to his own knowledge. He looks, acts, and for all intents and purposes, seems human. But he exudes this weird aura.

So, sensitive to these sorts of things, King identifies Atumu and determined to buy him. King is quite anti-slavery - he never intended for Atumu to be his slave. He just purchases Atumu because he wanted to get this supernatural being out of ill-intentioned human hands. (King has ample reason to hate humans, and it gets worse over time before it gets better). So after purchasing Atumu, King never treats Atumu any less than an equal. But Atumu is not used to this sort of life, so he lives to serve.

The next several weeks or months are spent with only each other as company. King allows Atumu to sleep, not only in his tent (and not outside), but even by his side. King is coldblooded and his body functions start shutting down in the cold desert evenings. Having Atumu's warm body around really helps. Atumu asks no questions and obeys unwaveringly.

They have an extremely quiet relationship and just go through motions together. Atumu never asks why King keeps him blindfolded or why he treats him so gently (although he does wonder). Atumu is in return gentle and kind to King and treats him in a way that King is so unused to. There is no need to justify himself with Atumu. And eventually, there becomes no need to hide himself.

It's after many many many months of travelling alone (together!) that they finally come to a place where King feels safe and free to let down his turban and Atumu sees for the first time that his Master is a Gorgon. It's shocking of course, but it's not his place to question (he literally didn't even know Gorgons existed hah, but he is good with going with the flow), and King almost forgot that Atumu did not know he was a Gorgon haha.

Anyhow that's the first year or so of their relationship/coexistence summarized basically.