#not really Cannibalism but sentient people are being eaten

[wolfjackle-creates]

Bring Me Home, Chapter 2 Part 3

A little shorter this week. I had my graduation ceremony over the weekend and the opportunity to hang out with my sister-in-law for the first time in a few months! (She and my brother moved states a few months back.) If you scroll down a bit, you'll be able to see how I decorated my graduation cap! I love how it turned out.

But you don't care about that. It's Wednesday! Time for a WIP Wednesday segment!

Story Summary: Tim and Danny are both neglected by parents who care more about their work than their families. They deal with this by spending too much time online and find each other playing MMORPGs. They keep up their friendship as Tim becomes Robin and Danny becomes Phantom and don't bother keeping secrets from each other.

First, Previous

Word Count: 1k

----------

Unable to get Tim’s attention, Conner asked, “Who’s Technus?”

Danny shrugged. “One of my rogues. Tuck thinks he’s the ghost of Nikolai Tesla. He’s interested in controlling all technology and will make himself a giant mechasuit cannibalized from any electronic he can find in, like, a half mile radius. Super annoying.”

Tim hummed. “You didn’t tell me about him being Nikolai Tesla.”

“It’s a new hypothesis of Tuck’s. He’s been trying to research all the ghosts that come through as part of our profiles on them. That involves trying to figure out who they might’ve been in life. We’re hoping it’ll help me deescalate confrontations to cut back on property damage. Thanks to my parents talking about how evil all ghosts are, no one trusts Phantom and I get blamed for everything.”

Tim reached out and squeezed Danny’s shoulder. Practically everything Danny ever said about his parents made him like them less. To change the subject before he learned something else that’d make him want to attack Jack and Maddie while they were under the same roof, he asked, “So why does ectoplasm harm electronics anyway?”

Danny seemed to lean into his touch. “Well, ectoplasm is complicated. It is generated in this dimension but doesn’t really belong here. It comes about through death and leads the way to the Ghost Zone. At least… that’s the hypothesis I think is the most likely. I’ve only really been studying it for a few months since my own accident, though.” He shook his head. “Anyway! When it interacts with things on Earth that aren’t trying to get to the Zone, things get weird. Especially with non-sentient things that can’t will the ectoplasm to act in a specific way. Even animals can exert some control over ectoplasm. But electronics can’t.”

It was only a few minutes more before Danny had completely disassembled the phone. He then grabbed another pipette and adjusted the volume and added ectoplasm to certain pieces. Then took a third size and did it all over again.

“How on earth did you find out how much to add?” asked Bart. “You’re changing quantities constantly.”

“Trial and error. Long and tedious trial and error. We tried dipping sections in the ectoplasm to start, but that generally fried the tech and mutated its function. Wires do do best with submersion, though. No more than a second or two for small ones. Even after we stopped submersion, we started by adding way too much—spreading it over the entire chip. But that also didn’t work. Realized just half a microliter applied to the connections was best. The camera, speaker, and microphone need more. Those get ten microliters apiece. And we just kept trying different amounts until we had something that worked. We ruined four phones before we started testing each component individually.”

Conner let out a low whistle. “Well we’re glad you have. Thanks for helping with this.”

“Of course. Anything for Tim.”

Tim’s face heated as Cassie laughed. “Yeah, our Tim has a way of winning people over, doesn’t he?”

“I think I won him over, actually.” Danny hung the pipette back up on the holder. “All right, now just to put this baby back together. Who’s hungry?”

“Me!” called Bart. “It’s been ages since we’ve last eaten.”

“You’ve got an accelerated metabolism, right? We’ll stop by a store and get some extra stuff if you need anything overnight or tomorrow.”

“I like you,” said Bart. “You should come with us when we leave. Join our team.”

Tim buried his face in his hands, did none of his teammates know the definition of subtlety? Offering Danny a place with the Teen Titans or Young Justice was the first thing he tried.

“Thanks for the offer, but as I’ve told Tim, I can’t leave Amity. No one else is capable of responding to ghost threats.”

Conner shook his head. “Looks like your parents have it under control.”

Danny laughed. “Oh hell no. They’ve got a lot of inventions and most of them do something. But it’s not always what they expect them to do. And dad’s aim is terrible.” As he spoke, he continued to reassemble Tim’s phone.

Tim couldn’t help but admire how expertly Danny’s fingers moved over the pieces. And before he knew it, Danny was handing the phone back to him.

“Should work now. Turn it on and double check.”

Tim took it and held the power button until the WE logo appeared. Sure enough, once the screen loaded, so did a dozen missed phone calls and even more missed texts.

Bruce, Dick, and Barbara had all attempted contact multiple times. Even Alfred had called once. He winced and immediately called Bruce back.

“Hey, B,” he said as soon as the call connected. “We’re all fine. Just crossed an area that messed with our tech.”

“How did it mess with your tech?” Bruce demanded.

“It’s normal in this area. But I’ve a local friend and he fixed my phone. He’ll take care of Conner’s, Cassie’s, and Bart’s after we grab some dinner. So if anyone else is worried, tell them we’re fine and they can call me in the meantime if they have questions.” Tim made sure to use civilian names so Bruce would know they were no longer in costume.

“Who is this ‘friend’?” asked Bruce.

“God, B, it’s fine. I’ve known him for years. We game online together when we can. Have since we were kids.”

“Hn.” Why was it so much harder to read Bruce over the phone than in person? It was so annoying. “I see. Where are you currently?”

“We’re in Illinois. Will probably stay here a day or two with Danny and his parents. And then we’ll come home and share everything about our trip.” Aka, submit an official report about the outcome of their mission.

“Very well. I expect to know all the details. And I want twice daily check-ins until you’re home.”

“Fine, fine. Will do. Bye, B.” Before Bruce could demand anything else, Tim hung up on him. Next he shot texts to Dick, Alfred, and Barbara assuring them he was fine and his phone was working again. Replies came instantly and he ignored them all. “All right, that’s done. Let’s go eat.”

---------

Next

I think this is the first time I've had an actual scene break to stop the segment at. I usually just go until I see a change in the conversation, but I've got my <hr> marker at this point and there's gonna be a scene change! (So I won't have to repeat a paragraph or two next time I post.)

You get a different explanation for ectoplasm in this fic! Wasn't planning on that, but it happened and I like it.

Hope you enjoyed.

Tag List Part 1

@gremlin-bot, @bonebrokebuddy, @britcision, @lady-time-lord-, @welcometosasakiworld, @akikkobara, @phoenixdemonqueen, @dolfay, @skulld3mort-1fan, @we-ezer, @markus209, @sjrose1216, @onyxlightdragon, @dragonsrequiem, @jesus-camp-the-sequel, @spidey29phangirl, @kyrianclawraith, @evilminji, @introvert-even-on-the-internet, @emergentpanda-blog, @lexdamo, @v-inari, @idontgetpaidenoughforthisshit, @longlivethefallen, @undead-essence, @xye-chan, @liandrin, @seraphinedemort, @kisatamao, @schalensitzbucket, @caelestisdreamer, @runfromthemedic, @nutcase8691, @channajen, @tonicmii, @ambiguouslyominous, @vythika96, @addie-lover-of-stories, @ironicvixen, @violetfox2, @pickleking8, @mysticalcomputerdetective, @ark12, @mygood-bitch99, @squirrel-wolf, @satisfactionbroughtmeback, @sometimesthingsfallapart, @automaticsoulharmony, @d4ydr34min9, @revnantdpxdclover, @midigeria, @raginblastocyst

[secretwhumplair]

Prologue: Mirai and the serpent king

494 words | Mirai and the serpent king

Content | Slavery, swearing, dehumanisation, implied past and future noncon, mention of cannibalism

Notes | I don't actually have much of a plot to this one. It'll come to me or it won't. I have (as you can see) decided to post all non-explicit parts here!

Mirai's fate is discussed by his current owners, a band of upstanding traders. All the options are bad but some are worse than others.

Taglist | @yet-another-heathen

"It was a goddamn mistake. Who the fuck is going to buy an elf that can't sing?"

"He's gorgeous though."

"Whatever. That doesn't make up for it. You've seen how folks try to lowball on him as soon as they hear his voice."

"Yes, and I think we've been right not to sell him at those rates! If it were a human, people wouldn't think twice about his voice as long as he knows how to shut up."

"Which he does."

"Yes, yes, you're very clever and all, now can you pull a buyer out of your hat who'll see it that way too?"

"There's still the serpent king down south."

Silence. Only the soft crackling of the fireplace could be heard, its warmth barely reaching where the slaves lay chained to the cart like so many dogs.

Mirai knew he should try to sleep, like the others; they would travel on towards the next market tomorrow, another long march for the slaves while the slavers could take turns riding on their mules, or resting in the cart carrying their other supplies. But he couldn't, not when his fate was being discussed so callously.

One of the slaver laughed out loud. "The serpent king! You're volunteering to travel through his domain, then?"

"They say he pays good money for pretty slaves to add to his harem. Really good."

"True, and he's practically a beast. I bet he doesn't even care for singing."

"Oh, great! Two volunteers to be strangled and eaten in the goddamn jungle!"

"Snakes can't be trusted. And anyway…"

"Oh, come on! What do you care what he does with the little elf as long as you get paid?"

"She's right! You know what, yes, actually. I'm volunteering to take the elf down there. 's long as I get half the money."

Incredulous laughter scattered into the night.

"We'll be in and out, bringing the king exactly what he wants. But given you guys are too chicken to do it, we should get hazard pay, no? Fifty percent for those who go, I say, and the rest for the company."

There was some more back and forth, but what mattered was that Mirai's fate was sealed. The stars up in the cold sky above blurred in his vision when this new terror sunk into his bones.

Mirai didn't know much about snake people - no one did, really, they were a secretive folk keeping to themselves. But there were stories, the sort of stories giving root to the slavers' fear: that they were cruel animals. That they ate other sentient races, and sometimes each other. That they delighted in the suffering of those weaker than them.

Of course, he had met men, elves, and plenty of others of whom the latter was true, too. But given all he knew, the odds of safety, of even a shred of comfort, of a kind master perhaps, were stacked against him more than ever before.

[tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors]

How common is fae cannibalism is LAOFT? There's been a couple mentions of it in the extras. Io mentions "being dug up for a midwinter snack"

Like during Dee's reign, if somebody got killed in a duel and their opponent ate the body would that be an insane thing to happen or ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

What if it happened at a revel?

During Virgil's reign is it forbidden or is it just "well they're dead have at it"?

If it's common, what context? Like do fae kill other fae for eating or is it "they already died it's free meal time" if they came across a dead fae?

Sorry I'm just morbidly curious

fae are quite varied on the topic, and its more complicated than "do they or dont they" but in general they do not have the same extreme taboo against cannibalism that humans do, no.

basically, the deceased's loved ones very much do not want their loved one eaten. they will do everything they can to prevent this, and be very upset if they fail.

some types of fae are more likely to do it, and some types more likely to have it done to them. some fae mostly eat other fae and humans, like ogres, hags, most ghouls, some kinds of goblin. wild fae are more likely to be targets, especially if theres something else about them thats appealing, like being small (pixies), easy to catch (overwintering seelie), or otherwise valuable (white and her pelt)

whether or not its legal depends on who is in charge, and how complex the situation is, and who is beholden to who vis-a-vis hospitality, which can be up to interpretation. one situation might be a guest who kills their host for mistreating them, and claims the body as recompense. another in the same situation may be ruled in the favor of the host's children, who rightfully inherit the body and did nothing wrong, and the wronged guest must take a different price for the debt.

Virgil is pretty much always anti-cannibalism. He treating sentient things like food is disrespectful. .This is an odd stances for mostly-carnivorous fae, but not that odd for gentry, who generally consider it a bit base and uncivilized. for exceptionally horrific crimes, he might allow it specifically as a sort of... unpersoning, almost, like "this being is no longer worthy of even more respect than food" but it would have to be Really Bad, im not sure what. serial killing of children, or smth like that

Durant also never ate anyone (the "uncivilized" reasoning), but he was more willing to let people get eaten, especially the above "weak" targets.

[coraniaid]

Finished Children of Memory yesterday. Really liked it, unsurprisingly. I think this is one of my favorite science fiction series in a while. 

I don’t really know whether it makes sense to rank the books individually, but for what it’s worth I enjoyed this one a little more than the second and a little less than the first.

(Spoilers below the cut for the whole trilogy.)

Big fan of the (I think only ever implicit) pun suggested by the Corvids dyadic nature. One half is a creative problem solver that explores new things and one half keeps track of the state of the world around them and the history of how it came to be this way.  They are thought and memory. Huginn and Muninn. Odin would approve. (The book also features a protagonist being hanged from a tree, though she already had knowledge of other worlds at the time.)

And while I'd never describe the series as “hopepunk” (because, as I said, I liked it…),  it is also – despite its far future setting being incredibly grim in many ways, starting as it does with a civilization ending war followed by the slow extinction of life on Earth – almost aggressively hopeful.  Particularly when it comes to the question of sentience and the possibility of peaceful cooperation between very different types of intelligence.

I mean, this is a trilogy that introduces, in order:

The corrupted and imperfect digital copy of the mind of a misanthropic scientist who died tens of thousands of years before the story begins

The species of cannibalistic spiders that worship her as a god and built a computer out of ants for her to live in

Spacefaring octopuses with distributed, ever-changing personalities whose main desire in life is to avoid the company of other octopuses 

A mind-controlling parasite that loves making friends and going on adventures and is directly responsible for the deaths of billions

Neuorodivergent talking mutant crows who, if pressed, will patiently explain to you that of course they're not really sentient, they're just animals mindlessly operating on instinct so as to effectively mimic the illusion of sentience (just like you, right?)

The ghost of a teenage girl who never actually existed who is on a quest to save her long-dead grandfather from a witch

The alien computer that's been patiently simulating the entire history of the colony said girl might have grown up in if only its founders hadn’t all died before landing on its planet

And then goes on to argue that yes, actually, these all count as people. Even the brain-eating parasite. Especially her. (She feels very guilty about the multiple zombie apocalypses she started once it is explained to her that taking over people's bodies without their consent is generally frowned upon in polite society.)  

Because the universe is mostly cold and empty and utterly inhospitable to life, so why not be as generous as you can be in your definitions of who counts as sentient?  I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the closest thing the series has to outright villains (Liff’s Uncle Molder in this book, These-Of-We in the second book, Captain Guyen and the religious fanatic Portia in the first book) are people who refuse to accept the personhood of others (whether that’s starving people from the neighboring farms, potential new friends who vocally object to you taking over their brains and using their bodies to go out and explore the universe, the aforementioned cannibal spiders who are already living on the planet you've decided to move to or the smaller, weaker male spiders who object to being eaten.)  

[phaeton-flier]

Suppose Taco Bell was bought out by the Wizard Union. And they introduce a new item, the sentient burrito. It looks like a normal burrito, it tastes like a normal burrito, but it knows it exists and it knows when it's being eaten. Does it feel pain? yes. It feels every bit of pain a real living creature would feel, and it lets you know telepathically. When you touch the burrito you hear its thoughts, very clearly. But that doesn't mean you hear it constantly screaming the whole time you eat it, that would we weird. The burritos have been altered to feel masochistic pleasure when they're eaten. The burritos moan sexually and encourage you to keep eating them. Is it ethical to eat the burritos?

Huh. I really wanna make a joke about fucking the burrito, but there's actual interesting questions to be explored here.

Like, I've read a few spec fic works about creating or enslaving creatures-that-want-to-be-slaves, and I've always felt that creating such creatures is an obvious evil.

But like, real people can be sorta like that. Not entire groups of glad-to-be-slaves people, but like very subby masochists exist and as a matter of degree I don't think it's bad for them to have kids, even if those kids are likely to inherent it, because they're happy and expressing preferences and that's a fine way to be.

(Mostly this is because the answer to "is it ethical for this person to reproduce" is "yes" for almost everyone; including the disabled or what have you. There are a few people who I'd say the answer should be "no", but that's stuff like "You child is likely to come out in constant pain". If I look to have a kid with another person of Ashkenazi ancestry, I will test for Tay-Sachs because that seems highly likely to produce someone who would prefer not to exist in the first place. But for something like "Lifelong Quadriplegic", where the life is much harder but the person enjoys being alive, that's fine.)

So where does the line get drawn? I dunno, luckily we don't have a way to do that yet and probably won't for centuries, hopefully. But it seems... off? to make a line of burritos who exist only to get eaten. Do they enjoy other things? Could they enjoy music or stories told to them, such that they might want to experience those things more even they're to be eaten later? Can their lives be extended for that, or will they rot as a normal burrito does?

Hell, they would probably prefer to live longer just to extend the pleasure of being eaten, and if they enjoy the pain of being eaten there should be ways to accomplish that which take longer that they'd prefer, and if they can stay in that masochistic state they'd probably want to be alive longer.

So I'd say it's wrong to eat such a burrito, because it'd be better for them to have the opportunity to live a better life, and because unlike a theoretical human who asks to be cannibalized they don't have much opportunity to live such a life.

And either way, since I think creating such a species is morally fraught (what if you fuck it up? What if some small number don't like it and find life so horrid that they would prefer to never have existed?) it'd be wiser to not incentivize it by boycotting such a product.

[blackberry-jam]

This is a sideblog so I cannot legally reply in the comments so. First of all, I think something really helpful to consider about the context of this post is that I spend a lot of time thinking critically about the media I like, and by “thinking critically” I mean analyzing the themes, characters, relationships, axes of power and bias etc. not “critically” as in criticizing it, because I am a graduate student and I love to complicate media.

This post was written as an offshoot and response to a completely separate post about how cannibalism as a cultural taboo is not made more meaningful by normalizing it, because the Point of a cultural taboo is that it is historically a morally and psychologically disturbing act. This got me thinking about how HABIT’s cannibalism is generally received by the fandom, and my general conclusion is that there are, simply put, a lot of people who only watched the videos on the emh channel.

Most people do not get the worst of HABIT because they only get him from the outside, which means that the cannibalism seems like a one-off or a convenient way to ensure that Steph and a baby aren’t constantly needed on set, rather than a recurring character behavior. HABIT is implied over and over again to be a sentient amalgamation of all of humanity’s evil, in contrast to Slenderman (inhuman evil, distant and above us and outside of our understanding) and the Rake (animal evil, primal and natural, old and unchanging). Everything we’ve done wrong, everything we are capable of doing wrong, it’s in him. HABIT commits just about every crime imaginable both in the present of the videos but also in the stories he himself tells- murder, rape, arson, fraud, theft, cannibalism, assault, etc etc etc. If one of us has done it, he probably has, too. That’s all he is- pure chaos, pure violence, pure desire. He does what he wants and he wants what he does. All power, no restraint.

Cannibalism is about power, narratively. When we tell stories about cannibalism, it’s always about power and powerlessness. The rich eating the poor, because we’re like livestock to them. The poor eating the middle class, because those without money are next to animals and those with a little money are becoming too weak to survive. Survival cannibalism is all about a lack of power, of course, about the painful lack of any food but your fellow man, but also about the struggle to be the one who eats rather than the one who is eaten.

HABIT forcing Evan to eat his own child, explicitly one of the few things giving him hope and joy for the future, is a display of dominance. It’s how HBAIT proves that Evan can’t do anything to stop him, that Evan is a prisoner in his own body, that HABIT is a monster he cannot fight. Cannibalism is another weapon in HABIT’s arsenal, sure, but it’s also a very pointed moment of ego and indulgence- he forced Evan to eat his own child bite by bite, savoring the experience, just because he could. Because it would hurt Evan, and because it would be fun.

HABIT? He eats. He indulges. It’s a running theme- the fast food scene, the focus on Evan being the nutrition guy early on, the discussion of hunting, the running theme of rabbits and traps and the focus on knives- HABIT has an appetite, and it’s no coincidence that one of his most notable acts is eating the baby, in my opinion. They put a lot of HABIT’s other acts in harder to find places, but the baby? That’s on main. They wanted us to know about that no matter what, because it’s a key piece of HABIT. Finally looping back to what sparked this in the beginning- cannibalism is disturbing. To people who have done it to survive, to people who are just hearing about it or watching it, even to people who find out it happens for the first time in their lives. It’s a taboo because it’s upsetting- because our monkey brains tell us meat shall not eat meat. It’s key to our survival that we don’t become cannibals! And so, it’s upsetting to become a cannibal, especially without your own consent and against your will. It’s meaningful that HABIT picks this act specifically to break Evan down above like. The million things you can do to a baby that are disturbing and evil. Babies are fragile! They get hurt easily! He could have done anything, and he picked eating it. Cannibalism is messy and violent and horrible and visceral and HABIT chose it on purpose. I find that really interesting as a character choice.

This is a little left of center of this topic, but I always conceptualize HABIT as a rabbit chewing off its own foot in a trap for a reason- he hobbles himself by antagonizing the main trio to the point of extinction every cycle through, and one of the acts that cements it in this cycle is that he eats the baby- which also, in a way, is an extension of Evan. It’s genuinely such a perfect representation of the act’s narrative function and its later meaning- it’s a kind of autocannibalism, the devouring of oneself. Ouroboros, forever turning itself inside out, devouring its own tail. A rabbit stepping into the same trap over and over.

That post about cannibalism becoming too mainstream and destigmatized by certain sections of the internet and therefore losing its weight and horror and visceral nature just has me thinking about how HABIT ate a baby and everyone was like oh lmao he’s just an edgy cool guy!!!! He’s just like me fr!! Haha!!! Which. I think not enough people are freaked out by the fact that he forced Evan to eat his own child raw and possibly alive. He mentions “the bones” and implies that it took awhile. Like that wasn’t Hannibal-style Brioche With Baby Pâté and Shredded Zucchini in a Plum Vinaigrette, he just opened Evan’s mouth and bit down until the job was done, and I think that says a lot more about Habit than people want to examine. Idk it just. has me thinking. The number of times hurting children comes up in entries and supplementary materials about HABIT is kind of overwhelming, really. I’ve seen people talk about how they think he’d draw the line at hurting children, but the source material goes out of its way to state otherwise- just about every time he’s in contact with children they die. Or worse. He’s the summation of the worst of humanity, the combined aggregate of all of our flaws and crimes, and one of those crimes is cannibalism, so honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if he made a habit (ha) of it.

[verm1c1de]

i made. an au.

more under the cut:

basically the irkens and the vortians have swapped roles except theres also some extra fuck-up-ery! lard nar ((henceforth called lord nar)) is the patriarch of vort, the tallest are fake rulers, and zim,,,, is still not immune to propaganda. meanwhile dib seems a little. out of place. out of time, maybe? anyways.

basically a ballsfuck long time ago the vortians and the then-still-space-conquerers irkens got into a war and the vortians won. somewhere along the way they realized irkens were fucking Delicious. they dont view themselves as monsters, after, all, they take good care of their produce! the irkens are still under the impression that theyre free and Not being farmed despite all the evidence to the contrary. the tallest are there to keep up this facade, under the condition that they get the best care and luxury. but theyre still up for the chopping block like the rest of them

lord nar is. BATSHIT INSANE. and a bit of a showman. hes still a coward, to the point of paranoia even, and likes to hide rather than confront actual problems. not that hes the Worst leader ever, but thats why he has 777 ((win gert)) as an advisor. he doesnt trust anybody else. win gert is actually kind of a better leader than him, but lord nar stole the spot of patriarch and win gert doesnt really care that much in the first place. he just wants him and his kids to be well taken care of, and the role of the partriarchs sole advisor pays well. he also likes to help zim cause trouble just for shits and giggles. it irritates lord nar to no end but theyre besties and he cant just get rid of him.

zim fully believes that the vortians arent trying to eat them. why would they? theyre so nice and soft and squooshy, thats just dumb! lord nar loves him! hes his favorite! heck, hes practically his pup! he just wants a little more,,, something to actually do in this boring paradise. he wants to become an invader like the irkens of past! what could possibly go wrong with that? Then zim fucked up real bad and lord nar got tired of his shit and tried to kill him. he never really saw zim as anything more than cute livestock, huh? that sure wont traumatize a child At All! now hes on the run with dib, who saved him from his fate on the dining table

meanwhile, dib isnt from here! literally! hes the reason the timeline got fucked up ((somehow)) and now hes trying to fix it. but. everythings so different now. this Cant be the same zim that tried to destroy earth, the same one that was his so dearest rival? this has to be fixed. somehow. and hell need zims help to do it

i was gonna baked you a resisty skoodge, but i eated him :((

[mortallyclearwonderland]

Sentient species that are food in Star Wars

In the galaxy far far away food is like in most sci fi properties:

- some colorful fruits and vegetables

- soups and blobs with unrecognizable ingredients, sometimes disgusting and played for laughs

- regular food, like bread or milk

- regular food/dish but written/pronounced in a different way etc. (sandwich called sliders)

- regular food/dish but made of different ingredients/from a different animal, like bantha butter etc.

What's most unique about star wars is that it addresses that different species might mistake/see other species as a potential lunch.

Unlike our definition of cannibalism, which is also mentioned in star wars, one would be considered a cannibal not only for eating someone of their own kind, but also other sentient being.

You are not a cannibal because you ate a steak from a cow, despite what some vegetarians might say.

But what if someday we meet an alien species that looks like cows ? Obviously we wouldn't eat them, but if they saw themselves in creatures that we eat that would make future interactions awkward for both of us.

Now I'm going to list every instance of cannibalism (both types) in star wars that I know of. Also I'll try to guess which species eats others the most and which gets eaten the most. Feel free to add more if I missed any.

1. Bossk had cannibalistic tendencies. He ate his siblings before they hatched and later his father when he defeated him. He also likes to eat Zanibar and Wookiees. It's not really clear whether it's a norm for his kind or just Bossk being a ruthless killer. It's well established in legends and cannon that Trandoshans hunt sentient being for trophies, not so much for food. They also have a costume of eating their shed skin after a long post. Trandoshan liver is also apparently a delicacy for some people. Unless it's just a sick joke.

Those lizard are very versatile, they eat others, each other, themselves and can be eaten.

2. Previously mentioned Zanibar, their religion demanded frequent sacrifice of sentients. It was believed that the rituals involved a feast of their enemies' bodies to give their life forces as a sacrifice to their gods. Maybe it's better for everybody that they are one of Bossk's favorite miles.

3. Certain Hutts were known to eat their enemies. They are also fond of a drink made off Rodians. Maybe that's why Jabba got so many Rodian bounty hunters, if they died or failed him, he could just eat them.

4. Humans aren't much better. Dezono Qua who lived during the rise of the Galactic Empire, was a known cannibal; he purchased slaves at market and had his droid cook them. Resa Greenbark, a Nosaurian, was one of the unfortunate slaves bought for food. "She was something…special."- Dezono Qua

Certain Human cannibals were known to roam throughout the cities and wilderness of the planet Tatooine. Where else, am I right ?

5. The insectoid Colicoids were known cannibals, eating off-worlders who landed on their homeworld and sometimes capturing vessels which passed too close.

6. The Rakatan individual known as The One forced many species to revert to this practice.

7. Karkarodon are known for ripping apart their enemies with their teeth. They can also go on a feeding frenzy on sentient beings when hungry or in rage. Riff Tamson munched on Mon Calamari, Gungans, Quareen and Clone Troopers aka Mandalorians aka Humans.

8. Ewoks considered humanoid flesh a delicacy, they prepare fires in anticipation of eating Han, Luke and Chewbacca to absorb their power. They were about to eat some Stormtroopers/Humans but Leia and Han stopped them and gave them ration sticks instead. At least one member of the species wanted to eat a Nautolan and a Rodian.

9. Chewbacca, a Wookiee, was fed Han Solo, a human. Of course he didn't eat Han, but how long was he there and what was he eating till their meeting.

10. The reptilian Marits were traditionally cannibals, as well, though the Marits' only ate those who had already died, and did so as a means of disposing of the bodies in a way they deemed beneficial to the living.

I would say that Trandoshans and Hutts are the ones that eat other species the most. Going by how common both species are, how much Hutts eat and Trandoshans hunt.

The ones getting eaten the most are Humans and Rodians, because they are one of the most common species, are rather easy to kill and come up multiple times in my research.

[quitealotofsodapop]

MvA assorted headcanons

General:

So many years together has made the core monsters inseperable. If something affects one member, it affects the group.

All. The. Monsters. Are. Family.

It takes Susan a while to understand inside jokes and past incidents because of being the most recent addition.

There are Other anomalous creatures kept in Area 5X, but they are either non-sentient and/or are too dangerous to be kept around the more human-friendly monster group.

Area 5X is so gotdang big because they were expecting a lot more kaijus like Insecto to crop up. Sadly not many have surfaced to justify the space.

There’s a hangar in Area 5X full of wrecked UFOs. Some are spacecraft wreckage while others are stuff like weird meteors (Susan’s is in there), and at least one alien creature that got crystallised upon entering Earth’s atmosphere.

There’s significant difference in staff employed at different points throughout the past 50 years. There are far more women on the Area 5X worksheet than back in the 50s, and the guards are generally more sympathetic towards the monsters. Many modern staff members have been reprimanded or let go for failing to uphold secrecy, or for unnecessary cruelty towards the monsters.

Budget cuts were a legitmate concern up until the Battle of Golden Gate Bridge. The facility was far more barebones and sterile before the government had to formally recognise Area 5X’s importance. There have been a lot of redecorating at the facilty since the fat checks started coming in.

Putting individual characters under read due to length.

Susan:

Enjoys many hobbies considered stereotypically feminine; baking, sewing, cosmetics, etc...

Grandparents and extended family are farmers or are atleast connected to the business. Modesto is the agricultural centre of California after all. Her parents were the first of their generation to go against the mold and seek out white-collar careers.

Studied cosmetology in school and was working at a beauty salon to save up for her and Derek’s wedding.

Is very athletic and grew up doing a number of physical extracurriculars like cheerleading, dodgeball, and roller-derby.

Grew up being teased for being the shortest kid in her class/family. They still tease her for it.

Greatly fears causing collateral damage and/or harm to others through her size.

Has issues with anxiety, worsened only by her new job as “savior of earth”. She wishes for a confidant to tell her worries to.

Married life with Derek was doomed to fail. Susan had a plan in place for what came after the marriage, and focusing 100% on Derek’s career was not it. There’s also the line from Derek’s mother about Susan being “the weatherman’s wife”, implying that she was to be the homemaker and not have a career of her own. It’s possible that Susan was planning to settle down and have kids with Derek, but the lack of control she had in moving to Fresno implied that more was going on.

Is currently “taking a break” from love and dating, despite gaining many new admirers.

Tries her best to return to Modesto to visit her family and friends whenever possible, though work often keeps her away for weeks at a time.

If she retains her height-shifting abilities as in the series; Susan goes through really bad “growing” pains.

Link:

Was frozen in his relative late-teens during a cold snap. Got shifted around until he ended up somewhere in Greenland before being discovered by modern humans. Post-thaw he went a bit wild, swimming frantically back south to try and find his old enviroment.

Was one of many scrappy youngsters in his troop, with a number of adoptive parents. The strongest ruled the troop, and Link was fairly weak in comparision to the leaders. He had gotten into a fight the day of his freezing (over something silly in hindsight) and swam away to sulk. When he didn’t return after the cold snap - the troop accepted that he had likely died out on his own.

Likes to freak out humans by making up weird biology facts about his species and ones he’s fought against - like joking about laying eggs or having his tail dettach and regrow like a lizard. However there’s some things he has to ask about, because he doesn’t have medical knowledge or words to describe something.

A lot of his macho behavior came from imitating the guards who kept watch on him. 1950s violent military alpha males aren't a very good role model for someone who doesnt know what societal norms are yet. Link was a lot more insufferable back in the day but chilled out as he began interacting with other walks of life.

Has a high paternal instinct and immediately becomes softer around kids and smaller animals.

Has body language similar to a cat/alligator. Slaps his tail when angry or in deep thought. And yes; Link purrs/rumbles when happy.

Loves monster movies - especially the ones where the monsters “win”. He cried when he saw “Beauty and the Beast” and then immediately booed loudly when the Beast turned human.

Does Not Trust doctors or scientists due to bad past experiences. Will only go to Dr Cockroach and Monger if he ever gets hurt/ill. Gets stressed fast if he has to be in a waiting room or doctors office.

Link had no idea what gender indentities or orientations were until recently - he did come from a pre-human civilization that really didnt mind/care about the schemantics. It took him some time to wrap his head around it. He identifies himself as bisexual after much thought and many hours alone on the computer.

Don't press him about his body. He's built different from humans and cis people. He will punch anyone who doesnt respect his or anyone elses identity.

Has been in love before. It didn’t end well.

Will occasionally wear clothes, but finds it a challenge to find anything that fits him. Will give any shoes he finds to Dr Cockroach and BOB to eat.

The best driver/pilot out of all the monsters.

Dr Cockroach:

True name is Jaques-Yves Herbert. Prefers to just go by "Dr Cockroach" because he dislikes the association with his birth family.

Picks up human languages very easily, although not as quickly as he can understand animals.

Parents were a mixed scientist couple. His father was an aggressive “Strong British Man” that would beat him son down for not following orders or for not meeting his standards for a man. Dr C turned down both chances to attend his parents funerals.

This man isn’t straight. He probably uses old-fashioned slang when asked about romance such as; “I am Uranian” or “I wear a green carnation”. It took Susan a few times to realise what he meant, as she is used to a more open minded enviroment.

Got the idea of transforming into a cockroach from reading Franz Kafkas “The Metamorphosis” as a child. He sympathized with Gregor’s abusive situation, and began considering the possibilties of how one could survive better as a creature like a cockroach.

Studied in biology and entomology in the Uk before moving to the states to follow engineering. Obtained his degree in Dance as a “side gig” in University.

Has been barred from free access to the coffee maker/machine due to overnighters. Once stayed awake so long that he forgot the letter “R”.

Owned a terrarium of Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches throughout college. He mourned each of them when his roommate’s iguana got into the tank.

Was a "beatnik" back in the day and still kinda is. Embraces and encourages modern counterculture as he himself was not given such acceptance in his youth. He has however shamefully eaten his old Lenny Bruce album.

Hasn’t actually aged physically since his transformation. He attributes this to the fact that certain athropods can’t age physically beyond maturity. Link is very jealous.

Has obtained more degrees while in captivity, as Monger allowed him access to research and learning materials. He has however had his allowances revoked for previous escape attempts/doomsday devices.

Does still enjoy human food, but the cockroach instinct of "eat detritus" tends to overrule his eating choices. Can’t cook either.

Ironically a terrible driver. The damages from previous drives has made Monger restrict him from operating even a razor scooter.

BOB:

Pretty much considers himself human. Was created by them, raised by one (Monger), and talks like one. Gets sad when he's reminded that no other humans are blue blobs like him.

Absorbed some dna from the scientists present at his "birth", leading to his eye, speech, and omnivorous diet.

Doesnt actually need to breathe (as he can just absorb oxygen through his mass) but the fact that humans Do means that BOB thinks he has to as well.

Shares some physical characteristics with tomatoes/nightshade plants, as he is technically half tomato. He refuses to eat tomatos for this very reason, considering it cannibalism.

Attracts garden pests looking for a tomato plant. This unwittingly makes BOB a pretty good bug zapper.

Still retains his "mental broadcast" ability from "BOB's Big Break" although at a more subtle level. He tends to parrot the things he accidentally "eavesdropped" on.

Is empathetic, and can tell when others aren't doing ok emotionally. Will flop down on someone who’s really sad to comfort them. No brain, only heart.

Best cook out of the monsters. If he doesn’t forget what he’s making at least.

"Whats a gender? Can I eat it?"

Insectosaurus:

Core body is that of a Japanese Silkmoth, although she ended up being spliced with other animals present on the island during her initial mutation; namely ants and ground squirrels.

Eats over a literal ton of mulberry leaves per day. Also enjoys oranges.

Secretly wishes to be more humanoid.

Was only able to pupate and transform due to physical trauma. It seems that her transformation was like a “power-up” that required her to be in geniune distress for it to activate.

First language is Japanese. She learned it from the intial recovery team, and later developed an understanding of English from years in Area 5X.

Goes into torpor in cold weather. Pretty much impossible to wake her up for missions during Winter, as she needs to “rev up” before becoming mobile.

Still very much Link’s best friend. Still enjoys sports, chicks, and beer.

Monger:

Full name is; Warren Rex Monger.

Is very protective of the monsters and will defend them to the death.

Pretty much raised BOB (as seen when BOB was a baby blob in “Night of the Living Carrots”), and considers him his “freaky gelatinous son”.

Has a reputation of being a “control-freak” due to his aggressive overseeing of the monsters’ containment. This toughness is partly because of incidents that occured without his knowledge. Lets just say some scientists have been wedgied/fired for running experiments on the monsters without Monger’s approval.

Has a very “Ron Swanson” emotional response and view of the world. Crying is acceptable only at funerals and at the Grand Canyon (if he hadn’t lost his tear ducts in the war).

Has been married multiple times. Will not confirm or deny if he is currently seeing anyone.

Invisible Man/TiM:

Legit got out but no one at Area 5X is sure how. He suffered a geniune medical emergency and disappeared after surgery. The other monsters were informed that he died from complications to deter them from getting escape ideas.

Is able to be detected in Infrared light. Dr Cockroach managed to rig up goggles to view TiM in case of injury and to foil pranks.

Was a scientist working on an invisibility potion for the military and used himself as a guinea pig. Hasn’t actually been able to replicate his results since - thinks the effect may have been caused by a genetic abnormality.

Dr Cockroach and him are massive rivals. Both actually met eachother pre-transformation through a CalTech expedition. This makes the pair one of few people that have seen the others human face.

Is 100% naked. Was forced to wear clothing once this was discovered.

A massive prankster and a cynic. Him and Link were a force to be reckoned with.

Has revisted the facility multiple times and has started a number of ghost stories.

Any additions are welcome! I proably have alot more to dump about. Might make one of the alien characters from the series

[maribabyart]

Do you have any Demon Martha headcanons? How do you think her reunion with Mrs. Mayberry (The teacher who paid for her assassination) in hell would go?

 OK YES I HAVE HEADCANONS FOR THIS HERE WE GO --

MARTHA HEADCANONS <3

So, I’m gonna start with her before she died so I can fully get into why every part of her is the way she is as a demon.

Martha is light skinned Latina woman with family coming from Venezuela. Her mother has a much darker skin tone than her, but her father is far more light-skinned, where she gets her complexion from. While she was raised in America, her parents were immigrants. She was born at home, and she didn’t get a birth certificate until she was four, the year before she started schooling.

She has three older brothers. They were very rambunctious with Martha as a child, pulling pranks on her/with her, taking her hunting, etc.

She was raised out on a farm in the middle of a forested area in Kentucky. They raised cattle, sheep, chickens, and horses. Martha’s main job on the farm was to groom/ride horses and feed chickens.

She learned her sharp-shooter skills in a more intense version of something like 4H unique to her area. She was fantastic with a bow and arrow, and even better with her firearms.

Cannibalism was normalized in Martha’s life from a young age. She knew that it must be kept secret from the outside world, and that it wasn’t accepted. However, it wasn’t something she found to be horrid.

Her family -- and their close friends -- came from a long lineage of Satanic cultists that practiced cannibalism to purge any bit of, “soul” remaining in the corpses of their sacrifices. Due to this, Martha had evolved to be able to be immune to the ill side effects of cannibalism, along with the ability to not feel repulsed by the idea of eating human meat.

Her favorite part of the body growing up was the brain, and it still is to this day. She loves the frontal lobe slathered in spices and hot sauce.

She began her cultish killings at age fourteen, when she officially joined the cult of her family’s descent -- Compañerismo de la Fruta Prohibida (Fellowship of the Forbidden Fruit, a refrence to their following of Lucifer)

Martha didn’t love Raphael Peterson, or, “Ralphie”. She was married of to him at age sixteen, when she became a, “Woman” in the cult’s eyes. They were both meant to appear as an ideal couple so that people wouldn’t suspect them, as their parents before them have.

Ralph and Martha always saw each other as friends with benefits.

They moved to Dayton, Tennessee to start their family when they turned eighteen.

In Nashville, Martha started singing to music her husband played in Taverns. Think Dolly Parton style music. She sounded a lot like that.

Their first child was born when Martha was eighteen: Their daughter, Jolene Peterson. Two years later, they had their son, Beau Peterson.

Martha was always really involved with her kids’ school activities, and she was always volunteering to work events, and her kids were in every activity they could be.

She used her physical attractiveness to seduce and kill men.

While sex favorable, Martha is on the aspec -- greysexual (sexual pleasure is irrelevant to her, and she only engages in it to appease her partner generally. She only finds sexual attraction in people while in the act.) Because of this fact, Martha only has affairs for the sake of gaining trust to bring the men home so they can be killed and eaten.

When Martha was shot, the community villainized Mrs. Mayberry because the town darling, Martha Jane Nunez Robles-Peterson, would NEVER cheat, right? The situation was misread: Martha was just talking to Jarold Mayberry that night about t-ball-related things, right? He WAS the the little league captain for her 6-year-old-son’s league, wasn’t he?

Martha was gifted millions by the community, and people were insanely supportive of her. They wanted the sweet Martha they, “knew” to get better soon. They loved her so -- such a darling woman!

Her music became more well known, and soon, Martha was all over TV. Her big musical break came from when she auditioned for American Idol and made it. Her sob-story propelled her, and she eventually won.

Martha was a hero to everyone around her -- surviving a traumatic event that was uncalled for, while also being so damn chipper and kind.

Hell, did you guys see the background in one of those scenes?! Martha was canonly proclaimed a SAINT! People loved her that much.

She used the public trust to lure in more victims and never be suspected.

Martha was 28 when she died. Ralphie was 28 as well. Jolene was 10, and Beau was 8.

Ralphie managed to survive the explosion, albeit he was completely paralyzed, and the two children went to heaven. Ralphie repented during his last month alive, and confessed to his crimes. He was sent to heaven as well.

Martha and the children were declared to have died in a bear attack, as Compañerismo de la Fruta Prohibida covered up their true demise with ease.

People were heart broken -- Martha’s music was used in sad collages on Youtube, Tik Toks had Martha’s face in them for memorials.

No one ever realized her crimes.

Now! As a demon....

In hell, Martha picked up the alias Hero -- it’s what she was in life, right? I’ll be calling her Hero from now on.

Hero is both different and similar to how she was when she was alive. She’s still the got her kind-hearted, southern mama vibe going for her: She tends to be able to fit into any demonic crowd well, either by attractiveness or by sheer, overwhelming allure -- she’s a very magnetic personality.

As far as powers go, Hero’s are mostly related to firearms. She’s acquired these powers through deal making and soul dealing, as most demons do. Her charming aura very quickly lure people into thinking she’s naive or really just being honest with them.

Her nails can peel back to allow her to shoot from, “finger guns”. Each finger is a different gun, besides her middle and index fingers. They are both shotguns. Together, they make a double barrel shotgun.

When in full demonic form, Hero’s bandages become sentient. They peel away from her wound, revealing a minigun like weapon in the hole in her head. This can rapid fire while the bandages can grab onto things or hoist Hero up. She can make this last for five minutes -- ten at the longest -- before she gives out to sheer exhaustion and needs to eat demon meat to replenish herself.

Within her first week in hell, she was known to be powerful. Not quite an overlord, but powerful enough to hang around overlords. 

She hit overlord status three months later, during the terf war seen in Hazbin Hotel’s pilot: She took several areas of land, and was seen to have several lesser demons flocking to be on her good side.

Hero used her land to build up a bar and grill that serves strictly demon meat and blood, where demons can play music and dance. It’s like a fucked up country dinner. It’s an insanely popular addition to Cannibal Colony, where she lives.

The place is called La Cocina de la Calle Kuru (The Kuru Street Kitchen)

Hero REALLY wants to get her hands on exterminator tools, but she’s not really a fan of black market deals -- it’s too “trashy” for her.

Hero knows Alastor pretty well, as he’s came in for meat and to watch the music. They’ve had pretty decent conversations while she was on break, seeing as they were both influential  southern, cannibalistic serial killers. It’s a running gag between them where they jokingly talk about who was more iconic -- “I bet I took out more belles in a lifetime than you could in your entire afterlife!” “Well hon, at least I could eat the brains without gettin’ Kuru!”

She talks to Rosie a lot about business, and has met Niffty and Mimzy before. (Al hooked a bitch up with some friends lmao)

She REALLY likes Mimzy. She reminds her of Ralphie, and they became super fast friends. 

Vox and Hero have a confusing sort of friendship, as neither really wants to be seen with the other -- In his case, because she’s much lower on the overlord spectrum than him, and in her case, because she’s no stranger to Alastor and Vox’s hatred for one another. However, she often finds herself consoling Vox on sleepless nights after closing up the bar, trying to convince him that Valentino is NOT worth his time. Beyond that and him occasionally paying her back in tech at random hours of the morning, they don’t talk often.

Hero LOVES dancing! Like, a lot.

She’s seen Charlie’s ad for the Happy Hotel. Her and Mimzy watched it, and they both thought it was the stupidest damn thing they’d ever seen. However, Hero said she was happy Charlie got up there, because she was just, “Cute as a button, that lil’ sweatpea was!”

Hero’s best friends are Mimzy and an unnamed demon who specializes in black market, extermination tool selling (the one seen in in Addict -- Cherri Bomb’s former lover).

These two people, and these two people alone, can call her “Martha”

Hero cooks whenever she’s stressed. She also adores sewing and binging soap operas and reality shows on Voxflix.

Hero’s Instagram would be, “HeroicMelodies” in reference to her music career and name.

Hero gets hit on A LOT, and she despises it. She doesn’t need to seduce people anymore to get away with murder, and she doesn’t want to. She dresses the way she does because she LIKES that clothing. People can fuck off.

The reason Hero is white and pink is to show how innocent she looks. Her pitch-black eyes show her dark soul.

Hero sings in Spanish to herself when cleaning up.

Sometimes, Hero and Rosie spend holidays going around with ground demon meat to throw to the hell crows and other critters. They find it peaceful.

Hero, shockingly, holds no hatred for I.M.P., and commonly jokes about how the I.M.P.’s, “Did her a favor” by sending her somewhere she can actually be her. She has no idea who called for the hit, though. 

Hero finds Blitzo’s Instagram posts being poorly spelled to be, “Damn near precious”.

She thinks he’s a teenager, and probably would think it less adorable if she knew he was a grown man with a grown kid.

Hero doesn’t care about Mrs. Mayberry at all. Like, at all. She honestly assumes the woman is in heaven. She knew Mayberry wasn’t bad -- she probably wouldn’t care if she was in hell, though. Oh well. Sucks to suck, bitch.

Husk frequents La Cocina de la Calle Kuru to drink and engage in the gambling scene. Hero finds him trashy, but can’t say she hates him. She finds him funny as hell, and enjoys the business. Just not someone she’d personally hang out with.

[botslayer]

Fantasy and Scifi “Racism,” an opinion piece:

This whole thing is gonna be a slurry of politics, hot takes, nerd shit, some pictures to make it not a snooze fest on the eyes, and me asking the lot of ya to consider both sides of an argument. If you have a problem with any of that, please leave. All that said, let's get on with it: Let’s take three gentlemen for an example. One is from Poland. One is from Angola, one is from South Korea. What does that tell us about them? We can infer averages. For example, The average Polish man’s height is about five feet, ten and a half inches, so the Polish gentleman’s height might be in that ballpark. A very well known Korean dish is Kimchi, so it is moderately safe to assume the Korean man has, at some point, eaten it. Two of Angola’s largest provinces happen to be “Moxico” and “Cuandocubango” and one of it’s most populated is called “Huambo” So it would be a moderately safe bet to assume the man from Angola is from one of those areas. Their countries/continents of origin don’t directly tell us much though. Hell, we could be dealing with a Polish little person, a Korean who has bafflingly never had kimchi and an Angolan from Lunda Sul. We also don’t know about their outlooks, their lives, mental conditions they might have. Hell, we may not know what race these guys are. There’s a slim chance the Angolan Gentleman is Chinese (1.4% of the country’s population) Or that the Polish guy is ethnically German. We just don’t know. What we do know for a fact is that they’re all human men. They have (most likely) similar psychology, anatomy, dietary need to not starve to death or dehydrate, etc. And that’s about it. Now let’s take a sample from three fictional species off the top of my head: Starting with a Furon from Destroy all humans.

Now, Furons are pretty much universally shorter and physically weaker than humans, so it is safe to assume our single Furon has these qualities. He's also likely a psychic as that's a common attribute of his people. Also common would be the perception of humans as cattle, his possession of advanced force field technology is also pretty much a guarantee. Outliers exist and all that but something worth mentioning: This Furon is a Furon. In other news: The sky is blue, yeah? The problem is though: The Furons are very much not humans. And there aren't too many "races" in that equation, either. Just the populace of the Furon Homeworld. It's also worth noting that we don't actually know what Furons eat, their water intake any of that. We know only so many details but with just those, it's obvious that Furons and humans are too damn different. For species two, let's look at Mind Flayers from DnD.

Mind Flayers, otherwise known as "Illithids," are generally humanoid creatures born through a process known as "Ceramorphosis." See, Illithids are anatomically asexual, as in, they self inseminate and produce eggs from their mouths. They put the eggs in with an entity called "The Elder brain" which is a conglomerate of other Illithid brains, the tadpoles eat one another or get eaten by the brain for about ten years before being selected and implanted into a sentient creature (Humans, elves, etc) From there, the tadpole eats the brain of that creature, replacing it with its own and slowly altering their anatomy until you get a malevolent microcthulhu with potent psychic powers and the need to eat one entire human-level brain every month. Mindflayers start their lives as parasites that literally consume your entire sense of self and mutate you into an unrecognizable husk with a cephalopod for a face. And they have the gall to consider humans lesser? How bloody dare... an entirely separate species of sentient creatures come to that conclusion. For our last example, let's talk about a species from a setting best described as Technomystical: The Skakdi from Bionicle.

For those who don't know what that species is, The Piraka from the 2006 toyline are all examples of Skakdi. Now, Skakdi look, and they are, absolutely brutal. For example, the species was beset by an army of large and lethal creatures called "Zyglak" after becoming what they are today, the lot of them being mutants. The Zyglak were completely wiped out. Skakdi are savage in the best of ways. They aren't just beasts, they're berserkers with the powers of the elements, however, it does require two of them to activate such powers. Thing is though, they're all like that. The entire species has been mutated from what it once was into a legion that knows little else other than slaughter and subjugation of others... Generally speaking, at least. The problem with all three of these species, or "Races" (As I do NOT prefer to call it), and in fact most species from almost all settings is that they're a monolith. Illithids, for example, generally all follow the same societal structure, living in large groups wherever they can under the "guidance" (as in "Hivemind link") of elder brains, some strike out on their own, but for the most part, they live under elder brains, no matter where in the world they are. There aren't competing Illithid Nations or sub-species with things that makes them distinctly Korean or Aztec inspired unless the DM adds those things. And even then, when settings do that, say, Warhammer, there are some groups that are a national proxy (The Empire is Germany, Bretonnia is France, etc) and then some proxies are just an entire species. (See the Lizard Men, who went from Native American-coded to Aztec over the course of some years.) Adding to these things is a slight elephant in the room. Alignment systems. See, humans in games like DnD can be anything from neutral evil to chaotic good, true neutral to lawful evil, etc. But then some species are stuck as inherently good or evil or inherently lawful or chaotic. The problem with saying that about a sentient species is that it smacks a bit of actual, real racism/racist ideas. The idea that this group of beings that just lives differently to the rest of us is inherently almost anything is clearly bad, right? Well... Maybe if we didn't do that IRL, that would feel more genuine. The hell am I on about?

We, as humans, understand that other species of everything from primates to insects are naturally more aggressive, more gentle, more poisonous, more endowed with certain senses, etc. All except for other groups of humans. Because save for pigments of skin, general height, and elements of culture, pretty much all human groups are the same.  That said: Point me to the the race of humans more naturally endowed with psychic powers. Or the human race that can only go on by implanting itself in other humans and slowly making people lose their minds until only they take over said body. 

I can show you examples of animals doing the whole “Eating you from the inside out” thing. But not humans. Hell, even cannibals have to get a cut off of ya first. But that’s just how beings like Mind Flayers operate. I can show you examples of more aggressive insectoid life vs ones that just want to be left alone. Generally speaking, a wasp is more aggressive than a ladybug. But that’s because they evolved differently to one another. Like Mind Flayers have from elves. Or like Furons have from Blisk. Or like The Skakdi had from Matoran, even before being mutants. Does that make them (wasps) “Evil” though? Well... No. The problem is that wasps took on the various scary attributes they did because that was the hand nature played for them. A wasp does not choose to start life by eating it’s way out of a living tarantula and then spending the rest of it angrily defending whatever it considers to be it’s “territory” only to lay another one of its kind into another tarantula, that’s just what the little bastards do without thinking because that’s how they adapted to the world. I would say though that Furons are evil. They view an entire species they consider intelligent (Even “Loosely”) as cattle to harvest DNA from and otherwise use as playthings, killing them en masse just for shits and giggles. Mindflayers, I would say much the same of unless they willingly find violent/genuinely harmful examples of intelligent life that will do the world no good and then eat only them. But no, these freaks bred an entire species of creatures to have massive brains and be super passive just to make eating their brains easier. That’s pretty damn evil.

(Pictured above, an Oortling from Forgotten Realms 2e) Creatures like the Krill from Seth Macfarlane’s “The Orville” believe all other sentient species are lesser than them. The galaxy is for them and them alone to conquer and do with as they please. Such is the Will of their god Avis. They started stabbing a human head live in front of other Krill in an episode as part of their religious practices. But then the species has some nuance. This fundamentalism and extremism is how they cope with being so damn small in the face of an uncaring, unfeeling void. So are the Krill evil? No. They’re afraid. 

Coming back to the Skakdi, They started out as relatively peaceful until a creature from the Makuta species showed up and mutated the lot of them into the magabadasses they are now. All of them now have, fighting skill equal to, if not greater than most Toa, and even elemental powers. But they aren’t all evil. They’re just aggressive, angry, and furthermore, also probably hurting. A peaceful existence was just taken from these poor bastards, all they know now is conflict with one another. So are the Skakdi evil? No. Some of them might be but it ain’t because they’re Skakdi. 

See, Skakdi and Krill are important things to remember here because they, while still being monolithic as cultures, have a little more depth than just the myriad ways in which they’re evil bastards.  But Mind Flayers? Not really. Not unless the DM adds that. Furons? I mean... Sometimes they become friends or mate with humans but not usually. And what of the big old elephant in the room? The Orcs of D&D? Orcs as a species were recently described as only having limited capacities for things like empathy... If raised outside the violent and chaotic madness that is living with other orcs.

This is the thing that sparked this post, so I will now, at the near end, address it specifically: People find the wording here to be reminiscent of things actual racist propaganda and ideas perpetuated about pretty much specifically black people as I understand it. Which, I genuinely wouldn’t know. I never really grew up around that stuff and I do my best to avoid racists/racism in my day-to-day. But to me? This just makes a depressing kind of sense. The species that evolved/was made or whatever to be this big, hulking set of warrior badasses. has a limited ability to understand what it is to be the other guy. Seems legit. Especially when you remember that even if Orcs are just another group of primates, they aren’t human and would likely have psychological differences to humans. 

This is a baby chimpanzee. Look at it. It’s cute. You want one, don’t you? Well... That’s not advised, honestly. Chimps can be fucking monsters. Don’t know what I mean? A. I’m surprised. B. Just google “Chimpanzee attacks” if you have the stomach for it. Not all Chimps will do it, but chimps can and do, do it. Some Chimps hunt monkeys for food in their territory. It’s royally fucked up, but its a thing they do. And you know how different human DNA is to theirs? About 1%. I personally don’t see anything wrong with saying “An entire species is evil” in any setting other than that being shallow as fuck. I also personally don’t see anything wrong with suggesting that a species has limited empathy because honestly...? Just look at nature and even humans. Fantasy and Scifi often entertain the idea of “What if we are not the only living things smart/naturally equipped enough to build a society?”  But the sad reality is if we weren’t? Most other species wouldn’t act a damn thing like humans, most other species probably wouldn’t give a shit about us, and a large number, even if they can and do act like us in some ways, will not in all ways.  So, to bring this ramble to something resembling a conclusive point: Fantasy/Scifi “Racism” (As in just being prejudiced, although it should just be Xenophobia, IMO) is way more understandable and even more easily believable than the real thing because we stopped talking humans the second we brought in the crazy dudes with octopus heads. Or who are just naturally, by virtue of their species (not “race”) psychic. And even if it was just between groups that didn’t exist, nature proves that it would most definitely happen.  But those are just my thoughts, anybody wanna weigh in? I’m all ears. 

[uneryx]

Renee Gets Salty About Dark Magic

This post got long, and got away from me, so I’ll tl;dr it

1. dark magic is a metaphor for consumption and materialism and is ultimately bad because it harms others unnecessarily and is not a sustainable resource

2. the elves were dicks for banishing humans but (especially if humans sucked all the magic out of the land themselves) they were kind of justified, even if it was an extreme measure

3. Eating meat is not the same as dark magic if you’re looking at things from an animistic point of view, which the elves likely do

4. it’s okay to like problematic characters and you don’t have to portray Ezran as a monstrous enfant terrible to feel okay about thinking Viren is justified in what he does.  In fact, pretty please stop doing this, everyone in all fandoms. It’s fine if you don’t like the protags but that doesn’t mean you get to say Ezran or Rayla or whoever is EVIL. It’s called Ron the Death Eater and it’s a fandom trope that has pissed me off for going on fifteen years. Deliberately misreading the text isn’t cute. Stop doing it.

5. The show isn’t over, be patient, you’ll probably get to see some comeuppance for stuff anyway. And if you don’t, there’s always fanfiction. 

6. For the love of baby adoraburrs please tag posts that go in the vein of “the writing is bad because Viren is portrayed as a classic villain/elves good humans bad/the protags aren’t held accountalbe” with “TDP CRITICAL” I would greatly appreciate it because I’m getting super annoyed with posts that deliberately misrepresent canon to uphold a favored side and it’s affecting my enjoyment of the show. Now! Actual long and discourse-heavy post under the cut!

 Ugh I don’t want to start a big ol’ argument with people because I’m still on vacation and don’t want to spend the rest of today arguing about cartoons on the internet, but this has been on the kettle for a while and I feel QUITE STRONGLY about some of these things, so just... let me express my views here and don’t come for me because I’m about to talk about religion and sociology. 

Dark Magic is a metaphor for unchecked consumption and capitalism.  1. The theory i’m seeing floating around that got my dander up is that the elves and dragons drained the western half of the continent of magic to keep magic away from humans. I think that, based on what we’ve learned from canon, this is highly unlikely and would be weaker writing than what I think actually happened. Instead, Dark magic was going on for a good solid 800 years (Rise of Elarion is 2000 years before canon) before Sol Regem faced off with Viard (1200 years before canon). The division of Xadia was another 200 years after that. Humans had a solid honking millennium of unchecked dark magic. It is quite likely that the reason the west is entirely devoid of magic, and that humans were banished there, is because they sucked all the magic out of that half themselves. Poor innocent baby humans nothing. They got a taste of power and progress and, like real world humans, let that get WAY out of control.

2. “But Lujanne eats bugs, she’s a hypocrite for saying Claudia can’t squish bugs for pancakes” I want you to go down to your local new-age/witchy bookstore and find yourself an animist that eats meat. You are going to get glared at SO HARD if you whip out the “you think animals have souls but you eat meat!” chestnut. Because here’s the thing.

Eating meat/animal products is an act of life, necessary to sustain the life of someone else. We don’t vilify wolves for eating deer. You gotta eat to live your life, and the human (or, we can assume, bipedal humanoid) diet includes a need for complex protein chains, quite often found in animal meat. 

But the reason that we find cannibalism repulsive in western society is because it’s eating another human, despite the fact that humans are made of meat. It’s eating something that we consider sentient, dignified and possessed of a soul. Of course, the taboo also derives from the fact that you can contract prion disease from consuming human meat, but people in 11th century Normandy didn’t know that.  It is quite likely, especially given what we’ve seen of magical creatures and Ezran’s ability to talk to animals, that elves view non-human/elf creatures as sentient and possessed of a soul. If that’s the case, then OF COURSE they would see dark magic as horrific.

But eating meat is not on the same level because, as we see from the assassins, death is a part of life, and sometimes necessary. I imagine that hunting and taking a creature’s life for food is an act that is done with respect. The creatures are honored or thanked before they’re eaten or turned into leather. Highly ritualized to dignify that creature’s life.  Dark magic doesn’t do that. Dark magic sucks the whole life out, without so much of a how do you do.  It’s treating a person like a thing. It’s sucking all the life and essence out of someone so you can shoot fireballs or make fluffy pancakes. Lets be real - you don’t need to do either of those things, so the creature thus died in vain. 3. “The elves are selfish bastards for hogging all the magic.” I agree. Granted, their attitudes may have cooled in the ensuing centuries. It’s a new dawn, the era of Zubeia. We might see elves getting over their uppity selves and working to help teach humans magic. We might also see the show explore that kind of prejudice as Callum learns more magic. In fact, I hope we do. However, two wrongs dont make a right.  If Japan bombs the absolute fuckshit out of Hawaii, that does not make it okay to flash-fry Nagasaki with a weapon that blights the land and its people for years and years afterward.

To the elves (who are magical creatures and therefore totally usable as spell components), that’s what dark magic is. Suddenly, haha oh fuck, the humans have a fucking NUKE that every elf and dragon in Xadia is vulnerable to.  If a weapon was devised that ONLY a certain portion of the population was affected by, you better bet your sweet bippy that people would panic and make it forbidden and illegal, and severely punish the people who created it. ESPECIALLY if those people were already marginalized. Sucks, don’t it? Doesn’t mean the writing is bad for portraying people having a realistic reaction to something that is harmful to them. The elves aren’t justified in hogging the magic, and I hope future chapters will explore that. But the elves ARE a liiiiiittle bit justified in freaking out. I hold they could’ve come up with a better solution than BANISH HUMANS, but they didn’t. Makes for interesting story conflict, doesn’t it? 4. “Humans NEED dark magic!” / “Calling dark magic a shortcut is dumb” Did they tho? Did they really? Really really? We, modern day humans, don’t NEED smart phones (which rely on several rare earth minerals and are causing untold ecological disaster in areas where they’re miend). We, modern day humans, don’t NEED coal power (which is controlled by coal companies, who keep telling us that we totally do, despite many scientists saying that renewable energy is ready to go whenever). We don’t NEED blackberries from Mexico year-round, or a whole hell of a lot of the things we have come to rely on and consider part of our every day lives. All of these things are unnecessary and shortcuts to progress.

The only - ONLY! - good, necessary thing we’ve seen in canon that dark magic was required for was using the magma titan’s heart for saving people from famine.

A lot of the complaints about sustainable energy and efforts to heal the planet as climate change become increasingly a crisis stem from the fact that doing things RIGHT, in a way that is sustainable and doesn’t strip every last resource out of our home, is that it takes time. It takes SO MUCH TIME to do things properly. Yeah, we can keep going with our coal and our gas-guzzler cars and our fracking and our rare-earth metals... but we ARE going to run out. And then what?  Dark magic is the same principle. Eventually, you’re going to run out of resources. 

5. Where I think the show is going My main beef with those (and there’s a lot of ya, so I’m not intending to single anyone out) who say that the writing is lazy for dark magic bad elfs good is that the show is not over. Wonderstorm is doing their damndest to give us the saga. And they’ve said, out right, that there WILL be books, if nothing else.

You can’t judge a story’s merits when it’s only been half told. Right now, what the show has done is it has shown us the worst and best of the elves (for example, Khessa’s purity test vs Rayla refusing to kill Ez so she doesn’t perpetuate a cycle of violence) and the worst and best of the humans (ex: Viren forcibly turning thousands of people into monsters against their will vs Viren risking his life in order to save thousands of people from famine). The show has done well to demonstrate that there is good and bad in everyone, and it’s the choices you make and the respect you show others’ autonomy that makes you a good or bad person. The dominoes are in place. The saga has only begun. Being mad that Ezran burned an army (that he likely knew from Soren was invulnerable to fire) or that Aanya shot Kasef in the face (when Opeli would have told her that Kasef conspired behind Ezran’s back to usurp the throne, which is AN ACT OF WAR btw) means you aren’t looking at the big picture. There WILL be consequences for those actions in later seasons, mark my words.

I’m sorry if you’re a Viren or Claudia stan, but they have made choices that hurt other people, and it is in no way shape or form Ezran or Callum or Rayla or ANYONE ELSE’S fault that they made the choices they did. Instead of being mad at the show for not portraying your fav as an innocent victim, be glad that you got such a wonderfully complex set of villains who, quite likely, will get a bomb-ass redemption arc. In fact, I’ll bet you anything that Viren’s walk back from the edge has already begun. The dude fucking DIED, and he’s not going to be eager to get in there and get all grabby with the power any time soon. 

That’s what good writing IS - conflict. Tension. People making morally questionable choices. We like it because every day people are hypocrites and morally questionable. You, and I, and everyone we know. Nobody’s perfect and getting cranky and painting the protagonists with the broad villain brush so you can feel good about liking a problematic fave is... some peak tumblr bullshit, tbh.  It’s okay to like characters who aren’t perfect. How fucking boring fiction would be if everyone was perfect.

Now if I can ask my mutuals to please tag their criticisms of the show that go in the vein of “the writing is bad because dark magic is portrayed so negatively/they don’t hold the protags accountable/elves good humans bad” with “TDP critical” I would greatly appreciate it. It’s getting to the degree where things are becoming very not fun and making me cranky.  Thank you, Renee out. 

[emitheplushy]

Archived blog: It’s not Akari.

(Hair on the side goes down to just above her chin)

(Side hair never goes higher than her chin)

You're thinking she just cut her hair, fine. Except no. I can't explain why I just don't think it'd be ok in any author's mind to change a character's hairstyle enough to confuse the audience- that PV had "special edition" in the name if it was just an unexplained reupload of Fox's Wedding then you could make a point with it.

More importantly! From the old (presumably ancient) book Tonomari shows Ryou upon capturing Akari:

I came to the fox’s altar.

Everyone in the Kitsune clan is beautiful.

Deep eyes like a cat’s, beautiful gray hair, I want to have one as a bride.

I exchanged a drink with the demon.

[...]

I saw Shikyou’s gates.

It’s a place that is beyond description, unlike anything else in this world.

Through the fox’s wedding, I devote myself to the altar and stand before the gate for the first time. blah blah blah it doesn't end well.

What you need to understand from that is there's a gray-haired "kitsune" clan that inhabits Shikyou's realm (well, sort of her realm). Ain't nobody got time for that explanation rn but lets assume for argumant's sake this realm is the setting for Demon's March. If this is true, then Not Akari's white hair and kitsune mask make perfect sense. It's a member of this obscure mythical clan.

This idea hangs mostly on a theory about where Demon's March takes place that I'll cover later instead, BUT! It seems appropriate to cover a couple things visible in the pv itself right here and now.

Another part of the blog:

Ryou is pondering this when a book catches her eye. It’s called “The Spider and the Kitsune-Like Lion”, and it looks old. Ryou reads it:

One, ancient, a golden lion flew down from heaven.

Two, ancient, in the case of the evil spirit, the ark of Kyuubi appeared.

Three, ancient, the name of the evil spirit will only be shown if you continue to hell.

The Onigumo clan, abducted by the fox, has endured all sorts of agony for a long, long time.

This event happened ages ago. It must correspond with what the other old book describes:

The middle of April: It seems that everyone was eaten yesterday. The Oborodzuka man doesn’t always seem to have a human figure. Even though the girls are so beautiful. This time, Yorozuya’s master seems to have been eaten. Poor thing. I feel bad that they were eaten alive.

The second half of May: Finally, Shikyou’s procession has come to our village. Another half was taken in one day. The next one to go is surely me. If I go to that procession, I’ll surely take my own life. Toki, little Kaoru, I’m so, so sorry.

Late May: My wife and daughter were taken away. I couldn’t take my life. Help me. There’s only a few villagers left. Bunjiro from the liquor store was taken early this morning. He was crying until his head was lost. Truly this place is hell. No, it really is. This is hell. People can’t live in this heavenly prison. Everything about the Pure Land is a downright lie. It’s terrifying.

It was only me and my neighbor’s wife that remained. Her husband was taken late at night and she ran to my house out of fear. People are afraid to die alone. So I loved her until morning. I held my best friend’s wife. And I ate. I ate her from her head down.

Ever heard of that village Shikyou brought to cannibalize itself? It can be hard to see how a town eating itself constitutes an abduction but there's a few connections I've found about this and it seems to be a very important part of the story. The passage did mention people being taken so.... We'll think about that later though so for the sake of argument, lets assume these two books are referring to the same event. Considering the emboldened bit and the age of the books, this is a really old legend.

These yokai fall under the category of "Tsukumogami", When an inanimate object exists for a really long time, it becomes sentient. The wikipedia page says only 100 years but the claim is unsourced. Lets just agree that it must age for a very long time. These specific living objects are called "chochin-obake" (the paper lantern), and "kasa-obake" (the umbrella).

The Onigumo clan was abducted by the fox a long, long time ago. Long enough for these yokai to form.

And long enough for this mask to become cracked. Look I know irl you should be taking better care of your halloween masks, but it's to give that ancient aesthetic, yea?

Besides the whole ancient setting deal, there's an aspect of this Kitsune clan that's important to this dual theory (both that the setting of the pv is the same realm as the village that ate itself, and that the white-haired kitsune clan exists there). They are considered an evil clan associated with yokai.

“You have the rope?”

“Yeah.”

“Oi, wait just a minute.”

“What is it?”

“Look at that girl’s hair.”

“It’s white, what about it?”

“You damn fool, do you have white hair at such an age?”

“Ah… You’re right.”

“Oh, she must be part of that kitsune clan.”

“Really?!”

The man at the back hid the rope he had in his hands.

“That clan’s blood is rumored to be connected to that of youkai!”

“The same one that’s touched by gods?!”

“Oi, let’s get out of here!”

“Wait up!”

Go back and reread the passages from the old books if you have to. I'd think those are the stories they're associating with the Kitsune clan, even if the village one never called them by name. Because it's in the same bloody book. And from reading that one you'd realize what abduction The Spider and the Kitsune-Like Lion is talking about. I can see why they'd be terrified of a clan which has a mysterious central role in these legends. Especially the one with the settlement, but the other one also involves making a deal with a demon and his death is implied. The Spider and the Kitsune-Like Lion is really disturbing when it tells you the abducted village is now suffering eternally

So when you combine their connection to this "heavenly prison" with the presence of yokai in the pv (gashadokuro, kasa-obake, chochin-obake), you get a Kitsune girl in her natural habitat, the otherworldly realm riddled with yokai and eh "possibly" the influence of a certain goddess of death, considering that one orally-decapitating yokai back there. Which is heard chattering KAKAKAKAKA in beheading dance and the first act of the blog. It's a gashadokuro. It does those two things. Chomps people's heads off and chatters it's teeth.

“KAKAKAKAKKAKAKAKAKAKA! Come, Come, welcome to the brute’s nadir!”

“Come on, you useless pigs! It’s your turn! KAKAKAKAKAKAKAKA!”

Who are these guys? What the hell do they think they’re doing? Ugh, I guess I have no other option.

It will be nice to kill them..

What… what are they even doing? Is that… my body? Why are they taking only my body? Ha… Ha… Ha…

One strange thing I noticed is Akari belongs to the Oborodzuka clan, but has the traits of the Kitsune clan. Her "family" (who beat her and I think also did worse to her) consists entirely of horribly mutated people, some even being born as human-animal hybrids. But she is beautiful with white hair. There's some sort of vital connection between those two clans.

With that in mind, remember this line from the village story:

"The Oborodzuka man doesn’t always seem to have a human figure. Even though the girls are so beautiful"

(yea she's probably beautiful under that mask. no doubt.)

And yes this means I was wrong about those two yokai but the theory is still relevant; to the ghost. Futakuchi-onna just rings a bell about her.

Many relevant comments under this one.

bunny fou fou

plus like, it wouldn't make sense to include a canon-looking akari in a video with the green-haired mai and the blue haired amatsuku.

i'm excited to see who this character is though!

JMRMD

Yeah, I don't think Masa would make such an amateur mistake as forgetting to design Akari's hair the right size, and I think the skin of this kitsune being paler is a tip from Masa that it's not Akari..

John Graham Author

especially considering the attention to detail when he dropped hints in the first tweet that it was amaterasu standing there.

Decent_Artist_

Oo yeah yeah some of that could be plasuable!! And there's also this for why it isn't akari as it just says "kitsune" and masa would probably of written "fox girl" "akari" "miku 2" etc if it actually was her

KFOX

NOOOOOOOO But honestly that probably proves that it isn't Akari. Oh well, she still looks cool though.

[alarashinu]

(So I could have sworn I posted this back when it happened but apparently I’m just losing my mind, so here it is now. This was a retroactive/memory scene between myself and @mundanemike detailing how Lysandir and @ravenswitte became a mated pair, and was written out during the now-concluded Demon-Jacked plot.)

Massive trigger warnings for blood, gore, torture, and (technically) cannibalism.

(It’s also quite long!)

He couldn't think straight enough to have any real processed going through at once. He couldn't move. His eyes wouldn't even respond to his wants, though the want wasn't as strong as the desire to make it stop. There was so much sickness lacing through him, walking hand in hand with the agony that burned from ever bruise, cut or gaping wound. He had lost track of himself, not sure how long the red eyed man had been there with his creatures, tormenting him like a handful of demons and twice as cruel. He had no idea how long he'd been left here on the cold, gore-slicked floor of his cell with only the rotating thrum of the turbines to keep him company.

He was...

Fairly sure he was dying.

That was, to be honest, terribly inconvenient. He was pretty sure that crazy fucking bitch wasn't going to be able to raise him anew like she threatened all the way out here. Something of a pained, crackling rasp escaped his broken and bloodied lips as he tried to just breathe and laugh. It was excruciating, the whole ordeal, and new coppery warmth came to greeth his muddled senses as the hot iron nails of it dug into his veins and slithered to his core. If he wasn't dying he was possibly losing what was left of his mind in here. That, or the strange, ribbons of sticky flesh piled in the crook of his curled body were actually his guts. Had he tried to put them back...? He thinks maybe so...

"Ahahahahah....HA."

It wasn't funny, but what else could he do?

He wasn't a big crier.

Never had been.

Plenty of times he'd thought about it. Like right now. He...Wasn't sure how to just do that sort of thing anyways. He always laughed when it looked bad. Right now he was half off his gourd, numbly pawing the mess closer in towards himself, and...And he didn't think of the bitch.

Nah, she'd be mad but she'd be fine..

It was that stupid deer that kept popping back in, smiling and sighing at him for something awful he'd done or caused. He was real good at filling that irreperably ruined bad dog, wasn't he...? He wasn't just going to sigh this time and it caused the mongrel in the cage to linger there, close to his face. It was ok that he was so disappointed now...

He'd deserved that sort of look for a long time. "...bloo'ee puss..." He spat the words with some of his own fluids into the night, mangled cheek tearing more as it peeled from the metal where it'd been resting. He wasn't mad, he was...Was he mad? Maybe. Maybe he should be. After all, he couldn't even give him that look when he first found out. There had to be something wrong and broken with the creature, not like him but still there. He'd never know why he kept coming back...But maybe it was because, no matter how much he deserved it, Lyz never gave it to him. Even with someone else's guts in his hands.

Never.

Not even once.

The smell was what really brought him back, though. That, and the taste of his own blood thick in his mouth before it dripped in a slow, thick stream. He'd been a very, very bad dog and Lyz kept him. Even when he broke his toys. He couldn't help himself, you see. Somethimes it just...Got the better of him. Most people didn't want that. They ran or fought or screamed or...Anything. Staring the feral and enraged wolf in the eyes with the guts of that poor boy twisted all about his rending claws, the warm, crimson wetting the fur and spreading across the open clearing...He was some sort of saint or something, the way he did that...

That thing he...

How he...

He had smelled blood.

It was probably nothing. An animal he got too rough with.

It was human.

He got too rowdy at one of the taverns, got someone's blood on his fists.

It was hot.

It was fresh.

And then it was everywhere.

Lysandir stopped on the edge of the clearing, just where thick undergrowth gave way to shorter grass. That was all. He just stopped, and he took in the scene before him, amber eyes glowing in the dark even as the rest of his sleek, feline form was wreathed in shadow. His pupils, widened to nearly perfect circles in the night, narrowed to slits, until nothing was left but that sea of gold as he watched the wolf, guts hanging from his claws like macabre streamers, and the body lying broken under his paws, its ribs pried open wide like gruesome wings.

Anyone else would have run, screamed, attacked... something. He thought dimly that maybe he was supposed to do that. He thought maybe that was the proper thing to do when faced with such grisly horrors. When faced with monsters.

Instead, velvet paws and dainty steps brought him from the edge of the clearing towards the scene illuminated like a spotlight to his nocturnal eyes, the cold silver light of Mother Moon refusing to leave anything to imagination. He felt his toes squelch in the wet grass, and for a moment he wondered if it had rained. But the thick copper stench in his nose wouldn't let him entertain that thought for more than a heartbeat, and he found himself wondering just how much blood was in a human body.

He stopped mere inches from the beast, thrusting out his nose and bristling his whiskers, not in anger or fear, but in... curiosity?

Witte, in his haze of mingled agony and time and distance, was more right than he could know: this creature -- this delicate, gentle creature -- was a deeply, irreparably broken thing.

Roughly about five to six liters. That's how much the average human had, but this one was running short. Though it wasn't running short enough not to gurgle and spit some of it. For the love of the Light, the poor man was still alive. Witte had forgotten him for a moment, the golden sets of eyes meeting and staying hung there for the moment. He should say something, probably.

The monster that was The Raven at the time, had turned back to the prey however. His claws digging into the skull along the hairline as he grabbed its face in both hands. It was an interesting sound, the human's head crushing in and squeezing out the breaks and past his fingers. He didn't stop, though. Not until there wasn't even a head left to recognize. It's popped like a melon at one point, spreading bloody cleared fluid into the mix as it rushed out in the face of the pressure. Of course there were still some moving parts here and there, twitching and settling...

But that's when he lowered his muzzle and started to eat him.

Maybe Lyz being there had made him more vicious in the end, though it wasn't conscious. It reminded him of why he'd stalked the young cobbler home in the first place. His home was a warzone in the wake of the struggle and Tegwynn's outrage. He hadn't really done anything, though. Well not anything a person might consider acceptable terms for murder.

But he kept looking at the deer. He even gave him something. Witte hadn't asked Lyz about it, no. The devil inside had taken him by the reins and led him right into hell again without looking. He got ahead of himself thinking and--

Well, to be honest, he didn't remember much of it after the fellow answered his back door.

Lysandir took one step back as skin and bone and brain gave way under the immense pressure of the monster's claws, but it seemed more to avoid getting any of it on his pristine black fur, the little ponce. You know how cats are. In fact, he even gave his shoulder a vaguely irritated lick, tasting blood on the roof of his mouth. It made his whiskers bristle again, and when he looked back at the Raven -- his Raven -- something warm and wet was being shoved in his direction.

He sniffed at it delicately, as though appraising its suitability as an offering, and never once did his eyes leave Witte's as he took it and swallowed it down.

He should be horrified, he thought distantly. He should be disgusted, perhaps even vomiting at the idea of making a meal of another sentient creature, of sharing that meal with the beast who had killed it.

He should be a lot of things, he knew, that he was not.

He could have backed down and shown some sort of remorse, some sort of attempt to hide what it was he'd done and would do...But he wasn't particularly repentant either. It didn't help that Lyz took his heart like it was intended. Alright then, his slowly returning sensibilities decided to just say fuck it. Like usual.

There was another moment there where all that could be heard was the soft, peeling of flesh from bone as he lowed his head to feast upon the one who had probably wronged him in some way his warped mind could twist it. He gave the antlered one all of the best parts, his favorites at least, if he would join him.

It was...Kind of pleasing though, watching the cat do as he did. He was by far no wicked creature like The Raven, no. He was wild and beautiful, as gentle as he could be fierce...He never seemed the sort to make sense around his sort. The sort that tried to save you and then hated you when they couldn't. He just wasn't though.

Maybe that's why. Maybe.

Each piece was taken with that same delicate, soft mouth, half of it eaten and the rest offered back: an acceptance of the grisly gifts and a reciprocation. It was an intimacy, a joining, and he thought with dark humor that of course the most intimate moment of his life would be something like this: a freshly murdered corpse, a feral monster, and the Moon.

He looked up at Her for a moment, slowly blinking those depthless golden eyes. Perhaps he was asking Her about this strange path She had sent him down. Perhaps he was asking Her why this monster was meant for him.

Or maybe he didn't care.

Licking his chops, his teeth very white in the dark, the druid lay down in the still-damp grass, apparently no longer caring that it soaked into his fur and clotted between his toes. One paw hooked around a rib, yanked, pulled, and long ears flicked at the wet, visceral snap as tendon and bone gave way. Blood and clinging strips of flesh were licked away by a rough, skilled tongue, and a thick tail lashed with lazy enthusiasm, batting against the Raven's haunches. When the purring began, it thrummed through his entire chest and danced back and forth against the nearby trees.

A damaged thing.

A wrong thing.

A broken thing, bathing in blood and moonlight.

[wubwubnparmaham]

I just gotta ask!! I mean ur one of my favorite authors and I'm guessing you've been reading a lot of books and fics too, so who is your favorite author and what is your favorite book? :D btw, loved chapter 8!! so much drama xD (although it did break my heart for louis)

Ohhhh yes! Okay. My favourite book hands down is called “Un Lun Dun” by China Miéville. It is an absolute gem! I can’t shake the feeling this post is gonna be long as fuck....we’ll see....

So, as you can see, my copy of this gem has seen better days. I have read this thing back to front and apparently through a hurricane, I love it so very much. 

It is a dystopian (sort of) alternative dimension kind of deal wherein these two tween girls, Zanna and Deeba, accidentally embark on a quest to save the literal planet because after falling through a portal in London, and discovering “Un”London, where everything is topsy turvy as fuck, Zanna is declared “the chosen one” or the Shwazzy, so she’s expected to be this righteous catalyst for change, and she didn’t ask for any of it and nothing makes sense, and Deeba ends up being the badass instead and magical shit happens. 

But this world was so well thought-out. It’s essentially an anthropomorphism of the terrible shit humans do to our planet. Their form of rats is living litter and trash that people throw away in the real London, and the main antagonist is smog. So all the pollution and carbon blahblah seeps through the gutters of London, and ends up in Unlondon as a sentient, gloomy and villainous gas. Tons of cracks at the degradation we inflect on the atmosphere, it’s just woke af. And it was written in 2007, I can only imagine how bad the smog in Unlondon is now haha. 

AND! THE ILLUSTRATIONS?? 

Look at that skin-eating giraffe! Tons and tons of bomb ass illustrations throughout the whole book that pop up to give you a peek at the world and it’s fucking magical. Giraffes tear people’s skin off and wave it in their mouths like a flag, don’t ask me. There are so many layers to this amazing novel, everything is done fucking perfectly, and I could honestly talk about it until I died. I read it when it first came out because my (wow, I’m getting so fucking descriptive) aunt took me to a bookstore so I could have a book for a plane ride i was getting on, and I just picked up the first thing I saw. I didn’t want to read anything, but I also knew I was going to be on a plane soon, so I just grudgingly chose one and by the time I was off that plane, I was well over halfway through and walking into shit in the airport because I could not stop. That was in 7th grade. This book has traveled with me to many different places in my country, and that’s probably why it looks like shit. CHECK. IT. OUT. IF YOU. WOULD LIKE.  HIGHLY RECOMMEND. 

Moving on, my favourite author is hard to choose, because there aren’t many authors that I read entire collections of. Like, I don’t have a shelf full of stephen king or orson scott card or anyone like that, I just have little bits and pieces of people, but there is a series out there (beSIDES Harry Potter because that’s obviously so fucking up there on the list i don’t even need to mention it) that gave me a favourite author without reading anything else outside the series.

And that person is Michael Grant. He’s written a ton of shit, I know, but the Gone series....THE GONE. SERIES. 

Those bitches! 

My fucking god. This man created something that has never gripped me tighter in my life. Every single sentence that he wrote, along with his co-author and wife (how cute) K.A. Applegate, is pure liquid gold. I can’t even fathom what this series did to me throughout high school. I think I found the first one freshman year, around 2008 and 09, and I lived and breathed it so hard. I got sent to detention because I couldn’t stop reading it, got it taken away from me, had so many late reminders for return in the library (even though I worked in there as a TA multiple years in a row and got cut slack because mrs. sloan loved me) i still kept them all way too long. 

LISTEN. 

This fucking story, man. All at once out of nowhere, after a nuclear meltdown from the power plant that miraculously stops, everyone over the age of 15 is GONE. Nobody knows what the fuck is going on, but the adults zap and disappear like fucking magic, and there’s nobody left but kids. They soon find they are stuck in a huge dome that had a i don’t remember how long mile radius around their whole town, but it’s like a coastal beach town MAYBE in Cali but I could be wrong, but this dome impenetrable as fuck, and painful to touch if I recall. 

The adults are all on the other side, and nobody gets what’s happening, but even the military can’t crack through this fucking dome. can’t see through it either. it’s like frosted glass kinda. Anyway, they start to get worried or whatever because some of their birthdays are coming up, and they assume they’ll just pop out of the dome and be okay, like all the other adults and above-15-year-olds did, bUT YOU DON’T. NEWS FLASH, YOU DON’T. two girls on their birthday disappear, but they START SCREAMING FIRST. or something. and uughhkjf panic ensues. 

So, these kids start developing powers. Like mad weird ass powers and mutations the longer they’re stuck in the dome. Weeks, and months pass, alright? They’d eaten up and ransacked all the grocery stores hella long ago, they start eating each other, militias form, there’s giant worms with teeth in all the crops, disease spreads, they have to form a society with rules and shit, but it’s chaos, and when they think they’ve got something down, their resources run out. There’s no electricity soon. It’s all fucked. They’re starving, they’re rabid, they’re changed, some are killers, some are cannibals, some are now official doctors that have to do shit we can’t imagine to save people, and holy fucking shit. Like our protagonists become warriors real fuckin’ quick. 

There’s also a very reasonable reason why all this happened (I’m gonna laugh if you’ve read this series), but I can’t explain it. It gives way too much away. I actually just TRIED vaguely explaining it, and I had to delete everything cuz it was way too telling. 

All in all, it’s a fucking tear-jerker. Characters die like flies, and you can’t get attached to anyone or you’ll choke. Centered (kinda centered, but it really does touch on everyone. Like if you’ve read love endless, yeah, it’s a larry story, but it’s also a harlock, jenner, martin, tanner, azazel blahblah story, you feel me?) so Sam and Astrid centric (the cute lovers that never would have been lovers if it hadn’t been for this disaster because she was like the goody two shoes and sam was street trash, but ya know, circumstances...), and Quinn (the side best friend), and they are FULL OF BADASSERY. HFJKRHFWKLFEW. THE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT IN THIS STORY, CAN YOU IMAGINE? GAH. I can’t hfeifhrjkdfre. 

AND i DON’T OWN THE SERIES? i DON’T PHYSICALLY OWN THE SERIES, I ONLY MASS CHECKED THEM OUT THE LIBRARY FOR FOUR YEARS STRAIGHT. I NEED THE GIFT SET. ALL. NOW. 

I’m a fucking mess, and none of this makes sense. Terrific. But yeah, just that whole series has irrevocably made Grant my favourite author outside of Rowling and Tolkien. I’d read his fibre supplement poop progress journal, I don’t care. He’s a MASTER. He just takes you in, throws you down in the panic, and MURDERS YOU. Makes you feel starving and desperate just like them, uiiegjkeghgjksfgerf. So good. SO. GOOD. 

i PROMISE YOU I’M DONE, YOU OPENED A CAN OF FUCKING WORMS, GOOD DAY.