#prompt: lotus-eater machine

[ninja-go-to-therapy]

You Can Relax, My Friend

@badthingshappenbingo

ao3

Prompt: Lotus-Eater Machine

Fandom: Trolls (Dreamworks)

Character: Branch

Trigger Warnings: self hatred, identity crisis

title from Open Arms (epic the musical)

1455 words

“This has been one productive detour,” Poppy said with a giggle, high-fiving Smidge. 

It had been a day since they’d landed on the island, and Branch was still in worry-free mode. It was nice to see him relaxing, for once. He deserved it more than anyone. 

However, it had been long enough that detour was beginning to turn into totally-not-stranded, and the group was struggling to come up with ideas. 

Now that Branch was so worry-free, he’d abandoned the half-built boat entirely. With the wormhole so high in the air, it would take some thinking to get up there. 

Not that she wanted to promote paranoid thinking back into her friend, but it would be nice if he could at least get back to work on that boat.

“Hey, Branch?” Poppy called out, finding him lounging on a hammock between palm trees.

Without even opening his eyes, he sing-songedly reminded her: “it’s Frond~”

“Oh, right!” She nodded, smoothing out her dress as she rocked back and forth on her feet. “Right… so anyway, the others and I are working on a way back home. We were hoping you could help us out with that boat…?”

“Home?” He echoed, finally lifting up his sunglasses and fixing her with a vacant, pleasant smile on his face. It was tinted with confusion. “Whatever do you mean, Poppy?”

She laughed awkwardly. “I mean… it’s not like we can stay here forever. We have to go back to the village at some point.”

Branch — er… Frond — sighed wistfully, a million miles away. “Do we really?” He asked, relaxing back into the hammock. “It’s so perfect here…”

“Sure, it’s nice!” She agreed, “for a vacation, maybe. Not like… permanently.”

“But… the island is safe. The island provides, Poppy! Isn’t that so nice? Not having to worry about a thing?”

“I… I guess, yeah, but—”

“It gave you this,” he said, rolling out of his hammock, landing on his feet and taking her hands in his. “It gave you a version of me that you actually like.”

Something about that left her stomach rolling unpleasantly. She swallowed, mouth suddenly dry as she searched his eyes for… what, she didn’t know. Something that showed her neurotic stickler of a best friend. She’d been thrilled to see him finally relaxed, but this was beginning to freak her out.

“I like regular old Branch just fine,” she huffed, offended at the judge of her character. “He’s my best friend.”

He scoffed, dropping her hands and turning away. “Yeah, well. You would have gotten tired of him eventually.”

“That’s not true and you know it! Just because you can be a little obsessive sometimes doesn’t mean I love you any less! I love you, Branch, flaws and all.”

“It’s Frond,” he snapped, hands balled into fists at his side. Gently, Poppy reached out a hand to place on his shoulder, but he jerked away, spinning to glare at her. It was the first time since he’d become Frond that he’d been the least bit hostile. 

“You don’t need to change your whole identity just to take a vacation,” she said, clasping her paws together. “Why are you so insistent on this?”

“Because I am!” he yelled, fire in his eyes, “Because I have to be! Because Branch is an unloveable depressing freak! But Frond is — he’s actually good enough! He’s exactly what everyone wanted, he’s perfect!”

Her heart ached. She wanted to reach out, to hug him, but she knew he would only shrug her off again. “Is that what you think?” she asked softly.

“It’s what I know,” he sighed, hostility waning. He looked tired, and it was the closest to him that he seemed in the day they’d spent here.

He sat down in the sand, and when he didn’t protest, Poppy joined him.

“Everyone leaves eventually,” he said, staring out to sea. Poppy was focused solely on him.

“I won’t,” she said, the words tumbling out of her of their own volition. “I’d never.”

“Hm.” He was quiet for a moment, the two of them listening to the waves hitting the sand. It would have been peaceful, if Poppy wasn’t so weighed down with concern.

She wished she knew what to say. Usually she considered herself to be pretty good at comforting other trolls, but for once… she was at a loss. She had no idea how to fix this.

A smile tugged at Branch’s face. He huffed out a laugh.

Poppy turned to look at him, hopeful for a moment. Maybe this had all been some elaborate prank to teach her about being careful what you wished for? One thing was for certain, she’d never take her friends for granted ever again. She loved them all exactly as they were.

Unfortunately, that’s not what seemed to be happening right now.

Branch began to really laugh, a sound somehow unnatural.

This was getting past the point of unnerving. She’d even classify this as scaring her, by now. “B—Frond?” she prodded carefully. “What…?”

He almost doubled over, tears beginning to come from his eyes as he laughed. “I’m finally perfect,” he gasped through his cackling, “I’m finally — finally perfect and — and it still doesn’t matter because I ruined everything!” he cried, clutching his sides.

He took a few calming breaths as he leaned towards her, hands cupping her face. For whatever reason, there was a warmth tingling in her cheeks that almost reminded her of how she used to feel around Creek. The way he was looking at her felt intimate. It felt sacred. 

“Don’t you get it?” He asked softly, tears streaming from his eyes. There was a thinly hidden devastation there, just below a layer of false humor. She’d never been able to say that a fellow troll laughing felt wrong to her, before. “This island… it’s perfect. Something about this place — it makes us better. Wasn’t that what you wanted? For me to be a better troll?”

Yes, but not like this. She just wanted him to grow. She wanted him to open up. To blossom like a flower. An adorably paranoid flower. 

He let go of her face to gesture to himself, a massive grin across his face. “See! I did it! I’m finally normal! This island fixed me!” He stood up, and Poppy nearly tripped over herself to keep up. “We can stay here,” he was saying, “we’ve got each other, and our friends, and there’s plenty of food! And nothing is going to hurt us. Nothing is trying to eat us, or kill us, no one can leave me again!”

Poppy finally began to clock what it was about him smiling that had her so on edge. He looked manic.

“It’s all I’ve ever wanted,” he admitted quietly. She wished she could share the sentiment. “I mean, look around. It’s a beautiful place. We can build shelter if you really want — not that we need it. But every day can be singing, and dancing, and hugging! Doesn’t that sound amazing?”

It might have, at some point. Under any other circumstance. If her best friend wasn’t sobbing and laughing at the same time, maybe.

“Poppy?” Called DJ from a bit further down the beach, startling the queen out of her spiraling, confusing thoughts. “Did you fix Branch, yet?”

And something about that just sent him right back into a laughing fit. “Why would you want him?” He asked, “that obsessive freak? He’s just like him!” He screamed his laughter, and the tears were returning. Poppy didn’t know what to do. “Insisting on controlling every little thing. God, I hate him so much!”

DJ, who wasn’t all that close to the pair, stopped in her approach. “Kay, I’m just gonna… oh, what’s that Smidge?” She took off back in the other direction.

Great.

“Who do you…?” She could hardly bring herself to say the words. Trolls didn’t really do hate. At least not when it came to other trolls. Things had to be… seriously extreme for that word to be thrown around.

“I hate him,” he repeated, cackling, “he was supposed to be better and all he turned out to be was a freakish little clone.”

He was usually the one grounding her. She didn’t know how to go about grounding him! This was all wrong and — and she wished they’d never found this cursed island in the first place! She wanted her best friend back! She wanted him to stop crying! How could he cry when she didn’t know how to fix it?

“Guys!” Came a frantic shout from where DJ had previously retreated. This time it was Smidge running up the dune. “Oh my guh, there’s a huge storm coming in! We need to leave ASAP!”

Oh, no.

[cold1dead1eyes]

9. lotus-eater machine

lotus-eater machine: a character goes to sleep, and wakes up in their own personal paradise. the truth, however, is that the paradise isn't real.

whumpee cuddles closer into caretaker. they're bundled up in soft, fluffy blankets, watching their favourite movie. cicadas chirp in the darkness outside. caretaker laughs at a scene, hugging whumpee closer.

it's the same movie every night. the same laugh, the same warm blankets, but whumpee doesn't care. here, they're safe and happy. something tells them that whatever's outside is the exact opposite.

caretaker picks up a piece of popcorn and brings it to whumpee's mouth. they hold it there expectantly.

"open wide~" caretaker coos, and whumpee freezes. their stomach drops. suddenly there's nothing but blood, thick red metallic on their tongue, choking up their throat. the smell of antiseptic. the bright white glare of a medical light.

'open wide~' whumper says, right before they cram the pliers into whumpee's mouth. and whumpee screams, cries, begs, but none of it stops whumper as they clamp the pliers down on a tooth and pull-

"whumpee?" whumpee makes a startled, wet noise. they break out of their trance and stare up at caretaker, who's looking back down at them with a concerned frown.

"are you okay?" the same words, every night. whumpee knows how the day starts and the day ends and nothing ever changes. it's all so predictable. a fabricated paradise. that's why it's perfect; nothing that's real could ever be this good.

"mhm." they whisper, and cuddle deeper into caretaker's chest. after all, it doesn't matter if it’s real. here, they’re safe and happy and whole.

they open their mouth and caretaker pops the popcorn inside. whumpee chews happily. they're already half asleep from the faraway glare of the TV, and it doesn't take long for them to doze off.

prompt from @whumpay

[badthingshappenbingo]

Prompt Masterlist: Part 2

Part 2 of our prompt list ("Facial Horror" - "Lured into a Trap") is below the cut:

Facial Horror

Facing Their Phobia

Fainting

Fake Kill Scare

False Friend

False Sense of Security

Falling from a Great Height

Falling Through the Ice

Fantastic Racism (Speciesism)

Faux-Affectionate Villain

Feud/Rivalry

Fevers

Fighting from the Inside

Financial Trouble

Find the Cure

Finger in the Mail

Fingore

First-Aid Kit

Flashbacks

Flooding

Food Poisoning

Foot Torture

Force Feeding

Forced Out of the Closet

Forced Prize Fight

Forced to Beg

Forced to Hurt Someone

Forced to Kneel/Bow

Forced to Watch

Forcibly Stripped

Forgetting to Eat

Framed

Friendly Fire

Friendship Falling Out

Frostbite

Funeral/Memorial

Gangrene

Garrote

Gaslighting

Gave Up Too Soon

Get It Over With

“Get Well Soon” Gift

Gilded Cage

Go Through Me

Going into Hiding

Going into Shock

Good Intentions, Bad Results

Grabbed by the Chin

Grabbed by the Hair

Grief/Mourning

Guilty Conscience

Gunshot Wound

Hair Matted with Blood

Hallucinations

Hand Gagging

Hand Stomp

Handcuffed/Manacled

Hanging

Harassment

Harmful Healing

Hate Plague

Haunted Location

Hazing

Headache/Migraine

Healing Machine Malfunction

Heart Attack

Heatstroke

Held at Gunpoint

Hidden Scar

Hiding an Illness

Hiding an Injury

Hijacked Vehicle

Hives

Hogtied

Home Invasion

Homesickness

Hope Is Scary

Hostage Situation

Hostage Video

A House Divided

Human Shield

Human Weapon

Humiliation

Hurt Caretaker

Hurts to Breathe

Hyperventilating

Hypothermia

Hypnosis

Hysterical Strength

I Ain’t Got Time to Bleed

I Deserve This

I Have You Now, My Pretty

I Have Your Loved One

I Just Want to Have Friends

“I Know You’re In There Somewhere” Fight

I Should Have Been Better

I Will Only Slow You Down

I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure

Ice Pack

If I Can’t Have You

“I’m Fine”

Impaled Chest

Impaled Palm

Improvised Weapon

Incapable of Disobeying

Infected Wound

Innocent Bystander

Insecurity

Insomnia

Internal Bleeding

Internalized Prejudice

Interrogation

Intubation

Isolation

It Amused Me

It’s All My Fault

It’s Quiet… Too Quiet

Jaw Wired Shut

Jealousy/Envy

Journal/Diary Entry

Kick Them While They Are Down

Kidnapping

Killing in Self-Defense

Kind Restraints

Kneecapping

Knife to the Throat

Knocked Out

Lacerations

Laid on a Stretcher

Lassoed

Leave Me Alone

Left for Dead

Leonine Contract

Lifted by the Neck

Locked in a Cage

Locked in a Freezer

Locked in a Trunk

Locked Up and Left Behind

Losing a Bet

Losing a Job

Losing Their Temper

Loss of a Pet

Loss of Hearing

Loss of Sight

Lost Their Voice from Screaming

Lotus-Eater Machine

Love Potion/Love Spell

Lured into a Trap

[whumpay]

WHUMPAY 2023

Well, this is earlier than usual… But, as a thanks for all y’all’s help getting prompts together, I’ve decided to release the list earlier! And, well… With the new ‘Extreme Edition’ addition, I figured a bit more prep time may be warranted.

Rules:

You only have to use one (Or two, if you’re doing the extreme edition.) prompt a day! But you’re welcome to use multiple if you want to, and it still counts for both.

I know the description of the blog says it’s a writing event, but if you want to draw or make other kinds of content, that’s cool too.

Have fun, tag content warnings (such as noncon, graphic violence, etc) and try not to be crushed by the mortifying ordeal of posting your writing.

This is a pretty chill event so you can start posting whenever but I’ll be reblogging posts made to the #Whumpay2023 tag throughout May.

EXTREME EDITION: Made to be used together with the normal prompt list, the extreme edition prompt list has 31 types of whumpees for you to use. This is entirely optional, and you don’t necessarily need to do them in order. I know it says bonus points, but it basically is just bragging rights.

(Prompt list under the cut.)

GROUP ONE: PHYSICAL WHUMP 

Day 1: Heatstroke

Day 2: Asphyxiation 

Day 3: Physical Torture

Day 4: Passing Out From Pain

Day 5: Near-Death Experience

GROUP TWO: MENTAL WHUMP

Day 6: Psychological Torture

Day 7: Betrayal

Day 8: Claustrophobia

Day 9: Lotus-Eater Machine

Day 10: Trapped In Own Body

GROUP THREE: WHUMPER TYPE

Day 11: Intimate Whumper

Day 12: Good Whumper / Bad Whumper

Day 13: Reluctant Whumper

Day 14: Vengeful Whumper

Day 15: Unintentional Whumper

GROUP FOUR: CARETAKER TYPE

Day 16: Bad Caretaker

Day 17: Parental Caretaker

Day 18: Reluctant Caretaker

Day 19: Carewhumper

Day 20: Enemy-To-Caretaker

GROUP FIVE: SICKFIC

Day 21: Working Through Illness

Day 22: Surgery

Day 23: Worse Than It Seems

Day 24: Allergic Reaction

Day 25: Deadly Illness

GROUP SIX: SICK FIC

Day 26: Scars

Day 27: “I didn’t know where else to go.”

Day 28: Self-Isolation

Day 29: “I won’t let them hurt you anymore.”

Day 30: Nightmares

Day 31: Forced Relaxation

ALTERNATE PROMPTS:

X. Sadistic Choice

X. Epistolary 

X. Dehydration

X. Anger Born Of Worry

X. Death Wish

X. Stress Position

X. Gore

X. Just Out Of Reach

X. Hurt/Comfort

X. Magical Whump

EXTREME EDITION:

Whumpee Type:

Day 1. Vampire

Day 2. Young

Day 3. Stoic

Day 4. Winged

Day 5. Whumper-To-Whumpee

Day 6. Immortal

Day 7. Defiant

Day 8. Demon

Day 9. Villain

Day 10. Possessed

Day 11. Multiple Whumpees

Day 12. Robot/AI

Day 13. Cowboy

Day 14. Team Leader

Day 15. Werewolf

Day 16. Team Outcast

Day 17. Mermaid

Day 18. Asshole

Day 19. Fairy

Day 20. Hero

Day 21. Healer

Day 22. Soft

Day 23. Comedian

Day 24. Compliant

Day 25. Monster

Day 26. Traumatized

Day 27. Touch-Starved

Day 28. Stockholm Syndrome-d.

Day 29. Vengeful

Day 30. Ghost

Day 31. Alien

[dcdarkweek]

DC Dark Week - Day 5:

POWER & CONTROL 

Kidnapping | Forced Exhibition | Human Prey | Addiction | Imprisonment | "Take Me Instead" | Collaring | Stockholm Syndrome | Replacement | Isolation | Cult | Blackmail | Love Bombing | Voyeurism | Stalking | Mind Control | Orgasm Control | Conditioning | "Make Me" | Possession | Most Dangerous Game | Stripping | Public Claiming | Ownership | Lotus Eater Machine

For May 9th, we will be pursuing content relating to Power & Control. Fascination turned to fixation, fraternization to fetishization; it’s time to indulge those darker infatuations with unsuspecting muses. When obsession treads a darker path, and those distant delusions are no longer enough, it’s time to delve into acquisition, procurement and proprietorship. 

Mind the tag “Power and Control” if you wish to avoid content for this prompt day.

[willow-wednesday-offical]

Willow Wednesday Prompt Masterpost

If you would like to browse all caegories, prompts, ships and characters, check out the Navigation Page.

Prompt Tropes

✨ Body Swap ✨ First Kiss ✨ Lotus Eater Machine ✨ Modern AU ✨ Song Lyrics ✨ Soulmates ✨ Star Wars AU ✨ Time Travel Scheduled: ✨ Accidental Marriage ✨ Amnesia ✨ Domestic Fluff ✨ Fairy Tale ✨ Fake Dating ✨ Forbidden Love ✨ Friends with Benefits

Prompt Themes

✨ Borrowed Items ✨ Clothing ✨ D&D ✨ Dancing ✨ Daydreaming ✨ First Kiss ✨ Loving Hands ✨ Music ✨ Mementos ✨ Sparring ✨ Stolen Kisses ✨ Stories ✨ Tree Scheduled: ✨ Accident ✨ Ache ✨ Action ✨ Adventure ✨ Anniversary ✨ Baking ✨ Betrayal ✨ Biggest Secret ✨ Blind Date ✨ Caught ✨ Comedy ✨ Crime ✨ Defying Prophecies ✨ Despair ✨ Forest ✨ Garden ✨ Happy Ending ✨ Haunted

Prompt Dialogue

✨ "Don't say it" ✨ "Is that a knife in your pocket?" ✨ "When did you know?" ✨ "You should see the other guy" Scheduled: ✨ "I need your help.”

[herohardshipsbingo]

Hero Hardships Bingo: Prompt Spotlight

Today's Prompt Spotlight: Lotus Eater Machine 

As TV Tropes explains, "A character is knocked out, or goes to sleep, and wakes up in their own personal paradise. Whatever they wanted most in their life is finally theirs. The truth, however, is that they're being held prisoner by another character who is using something to cause very intense and realistic hallucinations." 

*Reminder that all prompt spotlight information are suggestions, and you are free to either make your fills similar to these ideas or go wild with your own interpretations!

[zombified-queer]

Prompt: Lotus Eater Machine

>⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯<

The laughing gas makes Jerafina forget why she even came to the Habitat in the first place. Was it her glasses? No. That’s not it. Maybe to spend the summer here?

That sounds more like it.

She has to laugh. How silly of her to forget!

If only she could find her glasses. The sky looks so pretty this morning. It’s a shame everything looks so blurry.

But Jerafina’s content to stare at the sky anyway. It doesn’t need to stop being blurry to be pretty. It’s that lovely green, almost teal. Just a swath of green-blue-teal towering over the shapes of the Habitat. 

It’s not her favorite color.

Jerafina has to laugh. The sky’s always pretty! Silly to think it’s not.

If only she could share the moment with L...Lily? Lulia! Share the moment with Lulia. How silly to think she’d ever forget Lulia.

But Lulia isn’t here. Jerafina looks all around the Habitat, harder than she’s ever looked for anything before. She doesn’t need her glasses to know the sound of Lulia’s laugh to the smell of her perfume.

Lulia must have left last night.

That makes Jerafina stop laughing. Lulia left. Jerafina sighs and rubs at her temples, where a migraine is threatening to form.

On the terrace, Jerafina finds her glasses. Snapped cleanly in half. She tears the hem of her skirt, binding her glasses together. It’s flimsy but it’ll have to do for now.

When the gate clatters open and the sky turns a deep blood orange, Jerafina leaves and keeps her eyes on the road ahead.

[adriensaltprompts]

Submitted Prompt: “Never Wanna Wake Up”

AU wherein the world depicted in the show is actually Adrien’s personal lotus eater machine.  This situation could have come about in a number of ways; maybe he was sniped by an akuma, or carelessly got hit while pestering his ‘partner’.   Maybe it’s a magical test of his character, or a punishment handed down upon him that was meant to show him the error of his abusive ways.  (Or maybe he isn’t even a Miraculous Hero at all in the waking world, and being Chat Noir is simply part of his fantasy.)

Whatever the case may be, it’s long past time for him to wake up.  But Adrien resists any and all efforts to extract him.  As we’ve repeatedly seen, Adrien simply does not CARE about anything beyond his own personal desires; everything revolves around HIM.

Whether or not anyone else is trapped in there with him doesn’t matter.  It’s completely irrelevant.  In fact, once he becomes aware of the situation, Adrien believes that’s the case – that all of Paris is stuck in his dream – and could not be happier about it.  Regardless of the truth, he thinks that there are other victims, and is perfectly fine with that.  Provided, of course, that they don’t have any way of damaging his ideal world by exerting some sort of influence over it.

No, as far as Adrien’s concerned, this place is pretty much perfect.  The only way it could be better is if Ladybug finally gives in to his advances… but tormenting and taunting her is fun, too.  As is the prospect of having even more control.

Thus, we have a battle of wills, with Adrien outright rejecting the reality that the world doesn’t revolve around him, in favor of a fabricated world designed to uplift him no matter what he does. 

He’s got no desire to be 'saved’; if they’re going to get him out, they’re effectively going to have to drag him kicking and screaming the whole way.  He wants nothing to do with a world where people are more than props in his private paradise, kissing his ass and stroking his ego.  And he certainly doesn’t want to face any consequences for his bratty behavior…

[certainempatheticturkeymuffin]

BTHB PT 2

Hey @badthingshappenbingo I fuflilled the second prompt: Surrender.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29527548

It's...a very loose interpretation, but it works. I was supposed to be doing Lotus-eater Machine, but this popped into my head and wouldn't go away. I'm also putting way too much effort into Lotus-eater machine, so :P

Anyway, this one is WAY worse than Cramping regarding angst, so I used a brighter color.

Again, sorry for the potato, I had to use mobile this time with....interesting results.

[magioftheseas]

Lotus-eater machine with World Destroyer x Nagito for your bingo meme? I think this prompt really fits them.

SORRY FOR THE WAIT, ANON, OH MY GOD.

Anyway, for the @badthingshappenbingo whoaaaaa and cross-posted to Ao3 here. It’s still pretty short tho. Sorry.

Warnings: Mentioned instances of violence. But it’s pretty mild for a danganronpa fic, even based on the sdr2.5 ova.

For as long as his life had been bright and dazzling, there’s always been a shadow looming over his shoulder. A blight always threatening to eclipse the sunshine, and something that he had to continually ignore to the best of his abilities. He doesn’t know when, exactly or why—but it’s just something he has learned to live with.

“That is a deception,” the shadow murmurs to him, gripping his shoulders. “You truly are so troublesome.”

The shadow was an annoyance. But, it’s fine. No matter what the shadow says, the world remained bright and sparkling as it was supposed to.

As it had to.

--

“Komaeda!” Souda is waving at him frantically, with a grin splitting his face wide open.

(Not like how when the shadow had ripped his jaw clean off just the other day—)

“We’re going to the arcade!” Souda announces, then, upbeat as ever. Beaming like he should. “You, me, Kuzuryuu! We haven’t had the chance to hang out in way too long!”

“Idiot,” Kuzuryuu griped. “We see each other in class all the damn time.”

“That’s different!” Souda harrumphed before smirking. “Besides, you spend all of classtime making googly eyes at your girlfriend.”

“Wha—?!” Kuzuryuu’s face lit up, red and furious. “How many fucking times do I gotta tell you that it’s not like that?! Peko’s just a childhood friend of mine! Not... Not...” He trailed off into a flustered sputter. “N-Not my girlfriend...”

“How are things going with Sonia-san again?” Komaeda asks cheerfully, and Souda gets even brighter.

“She’s beautiful as always! You’d make Pekoyama a happy girl, too, if you weren’t such a coward, Kuzuryuu...”

“What was that?!” Kuzuryuu snapped heatedly. “You want to say that to my fucking face?!”

“Hey, come on, don’t get that serious, haha! I’m joking! We both know she’s already pretty happy!”

“O...Obviously... Idiot... What the hell ever, let’s just go.”

Komaeda giggled at them. Isn’t it nice? Isn’t this nice?

“Komaeda, what about you?” Souda wonders then. “Are you happy?”

“Of course!” He doesn’t hesitate. “Why wouldn’t I be? Oh, please don’t tell me it’s because I don’t have a girlfriend...”

“Please don’t tell him that,” Kuzuryuu deadpanned. “You know how he is.”

This time, Souda gets rattled, pinker than his hair.

“I-I wouldn’t! I get it, I do! I really, really, really—”

The shadow twists his head off, but it only lasts for a second.

“I do! I do get it!”

Kuzuryuu grunted, but he gave Komaeda the kind of supportive, considerate glance that he was so prone to. It made him happy, it really, truly did. Souda trying so hard also made him happy.

See, this world was perfect. Ideal. Even when people were confused or insecure, others were willing to support them and help them understand. And people always tried to do better, with little in the way to stop them. Determination and good intentions ran everything. Nothing more, nothing less.

People liked and accepted him, even if he wasn’t significant in the cosmic sense. And his own existence helped others. Wasn’t that wonderful? It really was wonderful, especially when at the arcade, him almost getting knocked out lead to Souda getting one of the best prizes.

Souda was cheering, Kuzuryuu helped him up graciously, and the shadow—the shadow’s stare bore into him, piercing under the drones of arcade machines and little pew, pew, pews from the several rounds of Galaga being played.

--

“See,” he says, holding a bag of ice to his head. “This world is perfect. I don’t need your interference.”

To make up for his injury, Souda bought him strawberry bubble tea. It’s pretty obnoxiously sweet, but it’s the thought that counts and he likes strawberry. It’s just fine. Kuzuryuu and Souda are bantering good-naturedly even as Komaeda stares down the shadow.

“It’s fine,” he insists. “Everything is fine. Not only is everyone getting what they need, I’m able to get them what they want. And nothing stands in our way.”

“Hmph.”

The shadow takes his drink, pinching at the straw as he sips from it. It’s such a ridiculous image that Komaeda wants to break into hysterical laughter, but he stops, stops, stops.

Across the street, there’s a happy couple sharing ice cream. It’s such a nostalgic image, one that makes him think of—of something. Something he can’t quite grasp. Under the eternally summer sun, where waves lapped along an endless beach. Wasn’t Mioda there playing a song? Weren’t his classmates playing in the water? All except for—

Komaeda blinked. Everything froze.

“Everyone gets what they need and you get them what they want,” the shadow drones. “But what about you? Isn’t there someone you want that this world won’t give you?”

Kuzuryuu and Souda have been scribbled out crudely. Even as Komaeda frantically tries to remake them, the images just get more and more muddled until they, too, become shadows. Shadow upon shadow upon shadow, staring him down with piercing red eyes. All with that same image.

“Komaeda,” one of the shadows says, then, but without a gaze at all. “What are you doing sitting by yourself? Don’t you get lonely?”

“I... I-It’s fine! It’s absolutely fine!” he exclaims quickly, forcing out a laugh. “Just seeing everyone else happy is enough for me. I don’t... I don’t need to ruin that happiness for them just to brazenly indulge. It’s enough...”

Everyone is carefree. There’s no need for wishes, for desires, for hope. Everything comes naturally, because people are so wonderfully capable. He doesn’t—

Then shadow before him shifts. In several forms. One he only passed by and only spared a glance. One that so brilliantly shot him down. The one that had been haunting him for so long, tearing everything else around him asunder. All in that same dark suit, until finally, they don something simpler. Warmer. A plain uniform consisting of a white shirt, a green tie, and dark pants. Komaeda’s stare bores into the heart-shaped pin on the breast pocket before going up and—

Ah.

The shadow smiles at him. Touches his cheek. It’s such a warm smile, contrasted against that amusingly prickly appearance. He’s always known that this person was so kind, so wonderful... How they press their forehead to his, humming softly.

How they disappear in an instance when Komaeda tries to cup one of their hands with his own.

“Komaeda?”

He blinks several times, coming to. Souda and Kuzuryuu are staring at him. They’re immediately worried. To be cared for like this is almost too much for his heart to take.

“Is everything alright?”

The shadow stares up at him, cold and knowing. Another shadow wraps its arms around his waist, holding him tight in ways he never dared to dream.

“Everything’s alright,” he lies, and his expression doesn’t even change when with a flick of the shadow’s wrist, both Souda and Kuzuryuu are slumped over and dead, blood pooling around their skulls. What a mess.

The shadow holding him squeezes him. Whispers his name, “Komaeda.” Pleads with him, “Wake up.”

Komaeda shuts his eyes, rebuilding the world once more.

[cold1dead1eyes]

whumpay 2023 masterlist

my fill of the prompts by @whumpay for their may 2023 challenge!

I. PHYSICAL WHUMP

1. heatstroke | 2. asphyxiation | 3. physical torture | 4. passing out from pain | 5. near-death experience

II. MENTAL WHUMP

6. psychological torture | 7. betrayal | 8. claustrophobia | 9. lotus-eater machine | 10. trapped in own body (nsft)

III. WHUMPER TYPE

11. intimate whumper | 12. gore (alt prompt) | 13. reluctant whumper | 14. vengeful whumper | 15. death wish (alt prompt)

IV. CARETAKER TYPE

16. bad caretaker | 17. parental caretaker | 18. reluctant caretaker | 19. carewhumper | 20. enemy-to-caretaker

V. SICKFIC

21. working through illness | 22. surgery | 23. worse than it seems | 24. hurt/comfort (alt prompt) | 25. deadly illness

VI. AFTERMATH

26. scars | 27. "i don't know where else to go." | 28. self-isolation | 29. "i won't let them hurt you anymore." | 30. nightmares | 31. forced relaxation

[darkfeanix]

I Am That I Am

Fandom: Supernatural Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Jack Kline, God | Chuck Shurley Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Unhappy Ending, Not Beta Read, Non-Consensual Bondage, Non-Sexual Bondage, Mind Games, Consequences Summary: Jack thought he had absorbed the power of God from Chuck, but God is not so easily done away with. An alternate take the Supernatural series finale.

Prompt: Lotus-Eater Machine (@badthingshappenbingo​​)

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34485814

[imgoingtocrash]

Loki and Spider-Man: Far From Home please!

You’re a gem!!! I’ll ask you some back too (to make up for the fact that I haven’t caught up on the Whumptober verse since I read We Forgot To Break Up before bed and it emotionally fucked me up so bad I couldn’t sleep for an hour.) ((In a good way. The talk between Tony and Steve was so GOOD I COULDN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT.))

Anyway.

Loki - what’s the most outlandish (or it could just be your favorite) au you’ve ever read/wanted to write/thought of?

I don’t think it was outlandish so much as it would be a pain in the ass to actually make into a fully realized fic, but considering a “Wandavision but Irondad” prompt for the last Friendly Neighborhood Exchange, I immediately decided that the 60s sitcom Irondad would parody would be The Andy Griffith Show, because it was filled with Father-Son vibes and also lowkey modernized fathers who actually, you know, loved their kids enough to do the work of really raising them.

Tony is Andy (small town sheriff and widowed father), Aunt May is Aunt Bee (Andy’s aunt, who in this version would probably also be widowed or Ben is someone in town that she dates), Peter is Opie (Andy’s son, who teaches Andy Fatherhood Lessons as he grows up), Happy is Barney (Bumbling deputy, sorry Happy), and Pepper is Helen (the Independent Woman school teacher that Andy dates and eventually marries). 

I’d love to cast Rhodey, but trying to put him in the character profile of anyone else would be an insult to his character’s intelligence lmao. Like, Gomer Pyle? I think not. (And also, this show was so white only one black character ever had a speaking role.) Better to make him from scratch and give him the respect he deserves, I think. Probably something in the military.

My mom put on this show a lot when we were kids, and I think the Family Values at the show’s core, particularly some of the best episodes that focused on Andy and Opie’s relationship, would lend really well to a Wandavision-esque world-bending where Tony is like...”something is wrong but it’s a nice small town where nothing really goes wrong,” you know? And it seems like something maybe his mother or Jarvis would have put on for him, a fantasy world where dads aren’t shitty.

Idk...I love the idea so much but I do NOT remember a lot of specifics about the show, it would be tough to make happen.

Spider-Man: Far From Home - share something about yourself!

This isn’t really ~about me~ but uhh I’m playing Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town rn and I named my alpaca Gerald!!! Also of the chickens are named after Team Steve members (this was not an allegory of my thoughts about them, I just thought it was fun and Falcon and The Winter Soldier had just started).

This was a long af answer, but honestly that’s only one of the two “Wandavision but Irondad” ideas I had but didn’t write. AU/Dream World/Lotus Eater Machine episodes are my favorites, so I loooove thinking about that kind of stuff.

Thank you for the ask and letting me ramble! Everyone please go read Whumptoberverse and cry with me!!!

MCU Fanfiction Ask Game

[dcdarkweek]

DC Dark Week - Day 8:

POWER & CONTROL: POSSESSION 

Ownership | Mind Control | Slavery | Kidnapping | Stockholm Syndrome | Imprisonment | Captivity | Mindbreak | Conditioning | Training | Collaring | Orgasm Control | Supernatural Possession | Lotus Eater Machine | ‘Take me instead’ 

For May 10th, we will be pursuing content relating to Possession. When obsession treads a darker path, and those distant delusions are no longer enough, it’s time to delve into acquisition, procurement and proprietorship. 

Mind the tag “Possession” if you wish to avoid content for this prompt day.

[willow-wednesday-offical]

Prompt:

✨Lotus Eater Machine✨

Click here to see everyone's 'lotus eater machine' prompts.

Click here to see all prompts!