#tw: mentions of real cults

[phantom-of-the-ruckus]

Hello puppets theories #2: Why I can't see the handeemen as related

1/?

Special thanks to my discord sister (whose actually my best friend) and co-creator of the theories: @dolly-royal for hearing me rambling about evil puppets and cults, helping so much finding out my points, and bringing up points I did not notice.

This will be a jungle of many reasons why I don't see the handemen as related. There is a change individual posts will be created furthering these points.

And who from now on will be part of my tag list for my theories and observations

(If you want to be part of the list or wish to part take in discussions feel free to DM!!)

special thanks to @dreamland-creations for hearing my rambles and seeing my constant screenshots (ily little meow meow/planotic/affectionate)

Before reading this, please read my previous lore for more dept:

(I am linking the one with the reblog because Andrew replied to that tweet I shared, and explain to me the connection but sorta confirmed that Owen and Mortimer are indeed Gods)

As a quick recap. I came out with the theory that Riley believed Mortimer was her "Father" at first as she tried to explain logically (avoiding the supernatural aspects) until she accepted that Owen created her and just sees Mortimer as a leader. She just refers o him as her "true father" out of respect.

I am adding here some things that I forgot to mention:

I am very well aware of the first Nick Nack tape, however I will say this: The tape is originally around in the early years of the take-over. I have a theory in-process regarding the timeline. So that means during that tape Riley was refusing Owen as her creator.

Going also back to the same point. Daisy canonically has said and it's implied she doesn't really care what the others do as long as they're nice to her. She hasn't shown any evidence based on the puppet interactions that she sees them as a family. So no, I don't think she sees Mortimer or Owen as her fathers.

Nick Nack is the only handeemen that doesn't address Mortimer as father or has shown to see him as such + Not to mention he doesn't treat the others as family or has any indications that he sees them as such as evidently with Riley and Daisy.

So, with those things out of the way. I'll start with a post I wanted to make for a long time and it's about my arguments of why I strongly disagree with the view the puppets are related.

Disclaimer: I am not calling out or criticizing those who believe it. Although this is my personal opinion, yours is just as valid as mine and you have every right to disagree with me. Until we have an actual response, we only have speculation

So, I'll divide this into several points that I am working alongside with Amber (Dolly-Royal) to address our POV.

Part 1: The talks about Gods: Owen is not actually viewed as a father.

This is mostly about the cannon fact that Owen is a puppet God. It is established several points in the game as well as in the tapes itself. This is a straight-up fact that was actually brought in the first hello puppets game when Scout and host find Owen's dead body turned into a puppet-like human and Scout saying the following:

"Shit! That's Owen, that's the guy that made us ...(proceeds to explain Owen creating them and how he regrets it now)... it is weird to met your god" (Scout, Hello Puppets!)

This probably seems like some sort of irrelevant, or simply a weird comment off made from the first game, but actually...this is shown and implied several times in the actual gameplay of the midnight show itself.

The first example that I can actually think it was implicitly implied that Owen was a sort of God to the puppets was during the second phase of Riley's level where Owen calls her "Atheist" after she denied that he created her and believed that the puppets evolved.

I can see people taking this as Owen commenting in the whole evolution reflects Atheist beliefs, but that wouldn't exactly fit within the conversation Owen and Riley were having. Owen could simply remark that he was her father instead of calling her an Atheist if it was actually the case that he was her father as in terms of family and not Father as "Father of creation", which she sorta implies during off the conversation in one of the tapes.

"We are just reflections of our creator. A river and a tributary." (Daisy Danger loyalty tapes #7)

This goes pretty much goes along with the whole "Owen is a puppet God" narrative in the Midnight show as a whole. I did mention before that as someone who grew up in a religious environment, I was not stranger to see people referring to God as "Father" (in terms of Father of creation)

So, I wouldn't be rare for the puppets to refer to Owen as their father of creation, while Riley wouldn't due to not believing in God (hence why she was a puppet Atheist) which does goes along with this phrase she says during our first encounter with her in the MS.

"The others may call you that; but as far as I am concerned, Mortimer is our father, and you are just a Lab Rat" (Riley Ruckus first level, Hello Puppets!: The midnight show)

I believe that Riley was making clear she wouldn't call Owen her father because he was not the one who breathe life into her as it was Mortimer who did so, and therefore should receive the title of "Father" according to her mindset.

I did briefly mention a theory of mine involving Riley perspective of Mortimer at the end of my first long post focused on the lore and talk more about the cult theory:

It would make sense for Riley to call Owen a simple nobody who is no use to her other than some testing subject. Why would she care about a God she doesn't believe in? After all, Owen is not a puppet but just a human, a cattle for them.

Anyways, outside Riley referring to Owen as "The creator" there are other instances in the tapes and the actual gameplay where Owen is implied or is referred to be a God. There are the mentions of religion of the game by Daisy, but I'll divulge into later. Strangely enough, Mortimer is the one who constantly has made a lot of religious comments and these implications, Riley appears to be the second one. Daisy and Nick don't really mention much.

Anyways, I'll start with the minor implications towards Owen being confirmed in the game to be a good.

"For the love of Owen!" (Mortimer, Nick loyalty tapes #1 I believe. Hello puppet Midnight show)

This one is the most straight forward. This is clearly a reference to the phrase "For the love of God!", except that God was replaced by Owen because Owen is the creator, and therefore the actual God figure of the puppets.

Second one is more of an implication

"You'd rat out Owen himself if it got you a pat on the head" (Mortimer, Daisy loyalty tapes #7, Hello Puppets: Midnight Show)

Although some might argue that they would say that Nick would rat out their "Father", I actually argue that Mortimer comment about Nick ratting out Owen is actually about Nick ratting God himself just to get the benefits

Which does go along with Mortimer calling Nick a "Judas" who according to the New Testament in the bible betrayed Jesus (who was also referred to as God himself) for some benefits, or what Mortimer implies "A pat on the head"

This is actually into Mortimer's character, but that would be part of another segment.

Anyways, the most important reference Mortimer directly makes into the game in this cut scene:

Based on the context, and implications of Owen being a creator of the game, it's pretty clear Mortimer is referring to his situation with Owen himself as it's a conversation they have during that cutscene.

I am still trying to figure out what did the creators themselves particularly meant during that cutscene, but my best take is that Mortimer is referring to his plans to force Owen into submitting to the puppets.

The puppets have dark plans to survive and according to Scout take over the world, but well that might be just an exaggeration or an actual plan, but nothing of the sort was explained in the game prequel. We know that Owen tried to stop the puppets multiple times, and they would not be able to thrive because Owen did intend to undo the spell and at the end of the game it is implied that he wants to destroy them.

I would also love to mention something else Mortimer mentions "Owen's presence haunting the Handeemen." I think this has to do with the poetic parallel Andrew Allen mentions in this tweet:

I do believe Andrew confirmed that Owen and Mortimer are considered Gods among the puppets themselves (which could explain why Riley refers as Owen was an impostor), but as the religion suggest, Mortimer would be always lesser than Owen himself, and even though he tries to give what the puppets need (A shaman, a guide) he would always be overshadowed by the greater God that created them all.

This actually reminds of the whole Satan and God complex in many religions. According to some beliefs (not mine) Satan wanted to be like a God, but he is always lesser to Jehovah/God/Jesus. Which ironically both are represented as the Evil (Satan) and Good (God) of the world.

Which would not be shocking if the creators got some inspiration by the major ruling religions of the world like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (ironically, the later two taking inspirations from Judaism, and Islam from Christianity as well. Hence, why they are similar in some aspects)

Part 2: The Handeemen: It appears to be a cult

Heavy trigger warning for cult talks and cult characteristics.

For this section, I'll focus more into the character of Riley herself as she appears to have the most prominent behavior that I think might be hints it's not a "Family" but rather a cult

As my dear friend Stich pointed out in one of our conversations, we believe that the puppets are in, as she puts it, "A patriarchal cult" with Mortimer as their leader and the puppets as the twisted "Family" based on some strange behaviors the puppets exhibit throughout the game.

More notably:

"Mortimer should not be defied"

Throughout later in the tapes from the puppets and the game itself, you can see that Mortimer is being quite a respected individual and who the puppets will side with no matter what (more or less) it is clear that they follow him out of fear and also respect as he was the one who brought them to life and the one that they ought their loyalty towards him.

Still...they refused to go against Mortimer no matter what he does or what even Owen says.

I am well aware of the whole puppet rebellion but I actually have an interested take and I think I mentioned before in my headcannons, but I'll say it again:

Riley was visibly unsure when it came to "overthrow" Mortimer.

If you look closely at her conversation with Daisy in tape #12 (Riley's tapes) Riley has a peculiar way of sinking into the idea of betraying Mortimer:

"....That would be treason..."

If you listen to the tape closely, you can actually hear Riley is rather muttering with a slight hint of horror in her voice. Not to mention she takes a pause before saying more loudly

"If Mortimer knew..."

Wish is obviously referring to Mortimer getting upset about the idea but she's unable to bring herself to finish the sentence as she knows what Mortimer would do, which Daisy does explain that Mortimer would pretty much make Riley's life a living hell as Daisy suggest Riley should become the new leader.

Surprisingly, the first thing Riley says is a direct "No" as she starts to have a hard time explaining why she disagrees if you focus on the way her VA (Jannel Bierch) delivers this line.

"No. This...This is not a rational plan."

What I find interesting, besides Riley having issues with Mortimer's leadership over the puppets, Riley is quick to refuse the idea of throwing "A'coup", and it's actually Daisy that convinces her to carry on with the plan but rather tackles on one of Riley's ego to convince her to carry out the plan as if you noticed, Riley seems to be a character that adores admiration and to prove herself constantly as a character and be always right.

Still, even though she carries out with her plan, she still makes clear she doesn't want to do this and has no choice according to her last tape: Riley's loyalty tape #15

"Mortimer. Our true father. Our leader. It gives me no pleasure to say, that we have assembled here to dispose you today.....I will always revere the name Mortimer Handee; but your leadership has become unsteady, and it's time for someone else to lead the puppets to glory."

What I find curious is how Riley still remains respectful towards Mortimer even after she announces that she's trying to overthrow him. She even makes clear that this is something that could potentially pain her, but stills holds respect to Mortimer Handee as a character.

Why am I bringing this up? I'm bringing this up because I believe might have the mentality of a cultist in regard to her leader that are common within cults. I've been trying to reach articles in regard to the subject, but I would divulge more into the whole what makes them a cult than explaining the whole "family aspect", so decided to pull out some small characteristics of this small article.

More specifically, I want to bring these particular points out.

One of the biggest things that made me curious about why the Handeemen particularly remained loyal to Mortimer besides his treatment of them and how tired they are of him. I think this particular characters goes well with the whole

"Not defying Mortimer" and the portions I show of Riley's dialogue, that are proof that she's still loyal to Mortimer regardless of what he did to her. Before any of you tell me "Phantom, he manipulated Riley to stay with her with Rosco"

I do agree, but if you look closely at these subtitles and the way Riley thanks Mortimer then it does become clear Riley easily fell into her devotion with Mortimer:

This was one of the biggest hints that the Handeemen were a cult was the way Riley behaved around and some of the things she said. One of the other hints that she gives is in her personal dialogue in tapes and outside tapes:

Riley almost never talks about herself in a singular way when it comes to the handeemen. It is almost always the Handemeen as a whole. She does occasionally refer to herself, but when it comes to the Handemen it is always "We" as a whole.

Even she addresses when she complains about Mortimer, she briefly mentions "Yeah, he constantly gets upset over me because he forgets what he ordered me" but her biggest complaint is how "Mortimer is going to bring down the puppets"

Once again going with the whole "Us" mentality, and I think this portion of the article might be the reason why:

When you think more about this, that would make much sense into why Riley would be more concern about the Handeemen than for example let's say Owen or any of the hosts, and event Scout herself.

I have another reason why she acts the way with Owen and the other humans, but let's focus on Scout for a moment.

In the first game Riley mentions that she doesn't consider Scout "A Handeemen" in other words, she is not one of their kind. I've always wondered about why Riley despises Scouts so much and I think it is not exactly about her [Scout] being created to destroy the handeemen (which I highly doubt Riley is aware) but rather this:

Scout can arguably be considered as an outsider to the Handeemen group since she's not a handeemen (which furthers down my point)

I am mentioning this because I want to elaborate into a possible meaning of "Family" in the sense of the cult based on these two observations.

Outside like one or three mentions of the usage "Father" Mortimer is referred by his first same and is talked more about as a leader than a "Father." (there is no evidence proving he ordered not to be called a father)

What Riley considers her "family" just goes into the three Handemeen, however, she treats them more as colleagues/and a leader rather than a family + she referred to them as a family in just two "occasions" but gave no indication she sees them as such.

As I established before, Riley is nonetheless a loyal follower to Mortimer's cult. As from my previous point, I believe that Mortimer has more the association of a God than a father (another hint that is a cult) and I believe that everyone may probably have misinterpreted the whole "puppet Children"in the literal sense rather than creations considering Mortimer thinks of them more as subjects than a family (which I strongly believe he was using to guilt-trip the handeemen into submission)

(This is from Superhorrorbro tapes video. This is tape #15)

I think the whole "family" and "children of Mortimer" has a lot to do to what my good friend Stich herself said as she believes "The Handeemen are in a Patriarchal cult as a twisted "Family". "(implying she agrees they are not related)

Like I mentioned before, the usage of family can have a different connotation when it comes to religious subjects, and it is not strange for cults to use the terminology of "Family" to refer to the group inside the cult (which was confirmed by an ex-cultist.) E.I Charles' Manson's cult was referred to as a "family" even though the members were not related to each other at all.

This most likely tackles into one of the aspects cults tend to do with the followers as a form of abuse and control (taken from this Article this would be used a bit more into part 3)

I did mention before that I believe the puppets have needs of their own. According to Marlow's hierarchy, there is a need for love and belonging which correlates to something the cults prey upon to gather new followers, and I believe this is where the whole "family" thing becomes strong.

Family for the puppets is not about being an actual family. They are in a closeted group, an elite group (according to the previous "cult characteristics article" for a better explanation)

(I'll argue that instead of humanity, is referring to the well-being of their kind)

The usage of family to them is more about being part of something and belong. This can be a parallel to the religious aspects of cults. Although it's not prominent, the references to religion and Gods is no stranger in the game and is another aspect of the cult. This goes along with the "how to stuff article" mentions briefly in one of the things cults seek out for leaders that I mentioned later.

The best example of what I mean with the "family" usage of things would be from a work of Stephen King himself "Children of the Corn." For a quick summary, here's what google summarizes the movie to be:

I hardly doubt that all the children may be related (some might be) but I can see a parallel of them as just as the Handemmen being the loyal subjects who serve a higher figure and leader: Mortimer Handee.

This also goes along with Mortimer being referred almost always as the Handeemen leader, which even Riley does. Outside tape 1, Mortimer is simply referred by his name which I found strange.

He's always refer as Mortimer and "Sir" but not father. Like I said before, there is no indication that he demanded not to be referred as, but this might be because of the whole cult structure and calling Mortimer their leader and refer to his name is a sign from the puppets that they respect him.

Mortimer constantly refers to himself as a person of higher standing, which Andrew did confirm (think) that the puppets are in a sort of hierarchy where Mortimer comes first. He does imply it with this:

The game itself also treats Mortimer as the ultimate power of the puppets, which goes along with what I am saying.

There are also many points I want to bring about the cult theory, but that will divulge less into the subject of "Not being related" into this series of analytical posts, so that would be another thing for another set of posts.

I'll eventually released the other posts and make a master posts combining all of them into one place as Tumblr will not allow me to post pictures.

[a-star-that-burns-brightly]

I don't know if this still happens cause I'm not too involved with the Fuuta side of the community, but when I was first getting into Milgram I remember being somewhat annoyed at how much I saw Fuuta's murder being watered down to just "Haha twitter user was twittering". And I still feel that way, not because I think Fuuta should be specially punished for his murder, but because in a series full of murders that anyone could commit when placed into their shoes, Fuuta is the character that I think exemplifies the fact that any of these prisoners could be you if you were placed into different circumstances.

[sunflowertoonz]

I like your pfp

Ah yes. This is a frame of the animatic that im almost done with but im currently procrastinating it bc I dont wanna draw the last… 4 frames without my stylus.

Oh yeah. I lost my stylus.

Btw the character is a cult leader. Its a fictional, fantasy cult that revolves around a god. Its satire. Its way more similar to a new religion (it actually becomes one. Did you know that some religions used to be called cults before being recognized as religions?)

Real cults are bad. Remember this. They are actual trouble and is triggering to victims of it.

[musical-chick-13]

CHAPTER TWO IS UP!!

Rating: Explicit Fandom: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Relationships: Eleventh Doctor/River Song Additional Tags: Consensual Non-Consent, Dom/Sub Dynamics, Dom Doctor/Sub River, Kink Negotiation, Character Study, Dual POV, references to River’s past of being in a cult

It’s a really good thing they’re in deep space with no one else on the ship. Anyone in a five-mile radius would probably be crushed flat under the weight of his current level of indignity.

He’s offered a respite (albeit one with a rather sour aftertaste) in the form of River groaning softly in pain as she readjusts her position on the bed. She seems to settle into a relatively bearable arrangement of limbs, gradually rolling herself over to face away from him and nudging herself toward the bed’s center.

Deciding it would be best to let her get some sleep, the Doctor gets up as gingerly as he can and pads toward the door. But before he exits the room, he turns to regard her with a kind of strange and, for the moment, unnamable curiosity.

 --Or, River breaks her ankle. They both have some Feelings™ about it.

[diltonsstrangescience]

“Formerly” OH MY GOD

PRISONERS???

WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING ON THAT SHOW???

[error-core-animations]

Raph shoved another book back on the shelf, already tired of checking books. There were plenty of blank ones, some partial ones, and only a few complete ones. Raph didn't know what sort of information Donnie was going to get from this, but he hoped it was something useful.

Glancing around, he spotted someone else, who seemed to also be reading, or at least looking through books. Well, Don had said to ask people about what they were reading.

"Hey. You. I'm getting some information for my geeky brother. What are you reading? And have ya found books that were complete, or were they blank or missing things?"

He frowned at his notepad. "Pretty sure that's all the questions Donnie wanted to know."

(aquietwritingcorner)

"Oh! Uh, I'm reading..." Mikey checked the title of his comic. "Spider-man and the Power Pack? It's weird. I like it, but it's... I dunno. I know a lotta you guys don't have soulmates, but this comic feels..." He narrowed his eyes. "Targeted. But, uh, it's complete." He flipped through the issue, showing off the colored pages and all that jazz.

He didn't mention Rupert, people tended to get upset when he did. It made him feel... weird. Dirty, almost. Like he didn't deserve to be here because of him. Was he putting others in danger by being here? By... existing? No, no, that'd be silly! Rupert wasn't dangerous, and neither was he! Donnie might be, but she wasn't any more dangerous than her counterparts. That was just how Donnies were, it seemed.

Why would anyone think his sweet, domestic relationship was bad? They were soulmates! That just wasn't how it worked. Even people from soulmateless universes had to see that!

@tmntstorycomp

[izzyferal]

You cry over an abusive rapist.

I can't wait for you fucking cultist cunts to get yours in s2 when Izzy doesn't get redeemed, doesn't get a love interest, continues to be THE racist abusive villain, and eventually gets burned to a crisp.

I am only publishing this for the sake of documenting the harassment that Izzy fans receive on the regular. I dealt with it on twitter and I now deal with it here. I know if I post anything to my insta, I will be harassed there as well.

This fandom has a problem with harassment and it isn't izzy fans doing it.

@izzy-anti-archive

[malewifehenrycooldown]

a small post (read: long) of me rambling about the meta implications (kind of???) of Henry + THAT ret-con/reveal in NMH3 in episode: Flesh and Blood. (NMH3 spoilers!!! read at your own risk!!)

okay one thing about Henry that genuinely give me emotional pain is that fact that as a child (like. VERY YOUNG) he tried to save his siblings (Jeane and Travis) from their father who was a serial killer and decided to go on the run. It's not clear if their father was a serial killer in the literal sense, or that he was also an assassin too (it's not really made clear or elaborated on).

The worst part is that they got caught, and Henry, being the older brother who tried to protect his siblings took the fall for them. He had his memory completely wiped, and was taken in by the Cooldown family in Ireland and was basically raised as their own son. sure that sounds nice, until you realise that there's a high possibility that his serial killer father paid off the Cooldown family to raise Henry as their own and to keep his real heritage a secret. I'm not sure how Henry went down the path of becoming an assassin, but I have a funny feeling the entire Cooldown family are reputable assassins themselves (and have been for generations). Which if that's the case, has a lot of meta implications, that absolutely need to be addressed.

This also goes along with some previous posts I've made about NMH1. That some of the enemy characters have the same purple beam katanas and/or have the same ability as Henry (which is to create spheres of energy and use them to attack your opponent). This could be the result of people modelling their attack/style after Henry who has made a name for himself in the world of assassins OR, that Henry is being put into a position where he has to train other assassins, and thus have used Henry's training as a spring board for them to become legitimate assassins. Whether Henry is doing this willingly or unwillingly, is unknown, although I place my money on the 'Henry is being told to train a league of assassins with (several) guns pointed at his head'

Honestly, knowing that Henry tried to save Jeane and Travis makes the fight with him in NMH3 more heartbreaking, because Travis at this point has Killed Jeane (their sister) - because she was the No. 1 assassin in NMH1. Now, Travis is forced to kill the person that has saved his life before and was punished for trying to protect his siblings. Do you know how deeply fucked up that is??? completely forget Henry's incoherent ramblings, and focus on the fact that the narrative of No More Heroes is about how the cycle of violence, revenge destroys people - and in most cases that cycle is perpetuated not just by the system but also is unfortunately re-enforced by family history and inter-generational trauma.

I'm not saying I want another story of NMH, but I do want a version of NMH where Travis has an epiphany and realises that his entire family is stuck in a cycle of violence and destruction. And decides to tear down the system and end it - He even says in NMH2 that he wants to tear down the United Association of Assassins, tear down the SYSTEM that makes up the organisation that's in the pocket of Jasper Batt Jr.

And as clumsy as NMH2 is with it's ludo-narrative dissonance - that line has stuck with me, especially with the fight with Alice Twilight and Holly Summers in mind (which have HEAVILY impacted Travis as a person). I want a story of Travis Touchdown, that looks back on his fight with his sister Jeane, and laments that he could have spared her (doing so is against UAA rules) - but realises that he can rectify that mistake by saving Henry from a system that is an ouroboros.

Travis made the decision to become an assassin - and he just so happened to become THE crownless king in the process. But Henry did not have that luxury, let alone a choice (assuming the Cooldown family is made of assassin), and so maybe perhaps Travis can repay the favor of saving his only other blood relative from a system that destructive and throws out tools that they think aren't of use anymore.

TL;DR: the Touchdown-Cooldown Siblings deserved better and definitely need LOTS of therapy to heal from the inter-generational trauma they have.

[cryptidwithaninternetconnection]

Reblogging this as a reminder to be cautious these days :’/

My hypothesis is that in like 10 years gen z is gonna have a big cult boom the way the boomers did in the 70s

[phantom-of-the-ruckus]

Cult theory updates 3

I'll prop write my first essay today and facing the inevitable essay about why I refuse to ignore the you-know-what (Still not me defending it, justifying, or condemning it. I made clear several times that I don't think the characters are related, but I'm taking the neutral stance. Don't try to twist my words) and why I personally believe is an important aspect to Nick's character

I feel before writing the essays about my cult theory and the characters, I guess I have to get the big taboo subject out to clear out things

----

Update No. 3 Indoctrination

There was something very peculiar about the puppets seeing human as cattle, and if it wasn't for other theories and headcannons that I read I wouldn't have gotten the "Aha moment"

I am not sure if this is the right terminology, but it is some sort of beliefs that the members of the Handemen cult are set to follow

1. Mortimer is the only leader and the major voiced to be heard the sort of "father" of the clan (Father as in father of creation )

2. The studio is the safe place for puppets, the host world is not.

3. Puppets are the superior creatures and humans are animals. You don't want to behave like an animal

4. Don't trust anyone other than what the leader says to trust, specially hosts

This is based on the behavior and things the characters said in both games. I do believe it's part of the indoctrination and brainwashing they have into following Mortimer and obeying him.

This goes into analyzing Riley's character as a whole and what makes her relationship with Mortimer and their bond pretty much important since she's the most loyal and brainwashed out of all the handemen

She also has a particular great dislike for humans besides the irony that she sees potential into in their world but was also the one who told Scout the cruelties or the host world so she didn't want to come out.

I take this as Riley seeing potential of using our own world to the puppets advantage and go beyond making a stupid little kids show

Still, keeping the puppets tied to them and not to play with the animals meant for experimentation and slaughter, but help in the cause Mortimer tied them together

Her mind is set in one goal and that goal alone

---

Second update of the post, Mortimer's lies and how this is normal of cult leaders as well.

Tw: mentions of actual cult leaders (Jimmy Jones)

I was thinking more about Mortimer lying not only to Riley and the puppets in general and thus I remember another fact about cult leaders

They lie and keep stuff from their followers.

Te best example I can give is Jimmy Jones. He keep riches and lied several times to their cult about their ways of living. He pretty much had valuables, lived better than their followers but punished those who tried to get something good for themselves?

Why? My best guess (Not an expert ) is that it's egocentric, keeping their followers to obey, and acting with paranoia to the basic needs.

Why I am saying this?

Well Mortimer does this things in the game is a different way.

1. He's quite egocentric and alludes himself as a king and a sorta god

2. He uses fear and abuse to get this followers to follow him and obey him (pulls Machiavelli's the Prince argument of being feared more than loved)

3. He's quite paranoid and believes Riley acting on the need of closure and happiness, or Nick desire for affection is a sign rebellion.

From what I could tell, cult remembers are forced and learned to be content with crappy styles of living and a lot of sacrifice.

Basically being content into what the leader has given them, so wanting something that the leader did not provided could be seen as something bad (in theory ) and I think Mortimer's metaphor of a king fits well

A king stays in power making sure all their subjects are miserable but complaint to his rule. A happy subject is a sign that someone is disobeying him and is denying what the king impose or gave.

Taking this as an example, in theory Nick's happiness was a sign that he was defying the way of living expected

Maybe Mortimer punishment against the puppets is to make clear that he is not someone who can they tamper with, and his "heartbreak ending" it's just a way to manipulate into feeling guilty for trying to betray him

[harianaswhore]

⟡ ₘₐₓ ᵥₑᵣₛₜₐₚₚₑₙ ⟡

NONE OF THESE ARE WRITTEN BY ME

ᵐʸ ᵒᵗʰᵉʳ ʳᵉᶜˢ ᶠ¹ ʳᵉᶜˢ

— ᶠᴸᵁᶠᶠ ⟡

heaven is a place on earth with you - @lumi-nescentt

private professor - @sinofwriting

bow (^)

made for each other (^)

even kiss begins with tabs (^)

raised to love (tw: some dark themes & jos verstappen) (^)

mornings with max - @verstappen-cult

max is the type of guy to... (^)

protective (^)

5 times max refuses to acknowledge he’s sick + 1 time he does (^)

reuniting (^)

pining and yearning - @theemporium

getting spoiled (^)

i pay attention (^)

getting jealous over him (^)

gift giving (^)

distractions - @starlost97

showering max with compliments - @lovings4turn

love at midnight - @unformula1

morning kisses - @adventuringblind

he must be lucky! (^)

matchmaker pets - @the-flaneur

at least for the pictures - @love44lew

cuddle bug - @chrisevansonly

beach read - @monzabee

"i might have had a few shots" - @forzalando

anyone can cook (^)

the ways in which max shows you he loves you - @thatsdemko

— ᴬ��ᴳˢᵀ⟡

go ahead and smile - @foreveralbon

trust me - @postracehair

a fool's flowers - @leclucklerc

drunk walk home - @everythingne

a second chance - @charlesslut16

navy fury (tw: jos verstappen) - @delulujuls

love me harder - @ynsbarbbb

protective max (tw: jos verstappen) - @formulaa-1

— ˢᴹᵁᵀ⟡

big 'ole freak - @mariahcarreyyy

can't you see - @cherry-leclerc

flustered tweets (suggestive) - @charles-leclerizz

sultry vindications (^)

needy - @bunnys-kisses

"who's my pretty girl?" (^)

with the red dress on - @aliwritex

thighs (suggestive) - @vivwritesfics

handcuffs (^)

neck kisses (VERY suggestive) - @verstappen-cult

— ˢᴼᶜᴵᴬᴸ ᴹᴱᴰᴵᴬ ⟡

smitten - @chrisevansonly

finish line - @norris55s

we're on each other's team (^)

do-over - @maplesyrupsainz

just screeching tires & true love (!!!!!!mentions of SA!!!!!!!) (^)

children of divorce - @landonfour

bejeweled - @poetsblvd

thighs don't lie - @thepersonnamedsam

can i call you rose? - @f1version

broken - @onlyangel4

potion (^)

horner!reader - @pucksandpower

ramsay!reader (^)

hamilton!reader (^)

love story - @verstappen-cult

slay intensifies - @vivwritesfics

princess treatment - @natailiatulls07

paint him red ! - @agendabymooner

full of fan behavior - @covenists

new desire - @formulafics

paint me in lovely red - @bth3cowboi

your honor, he's a simp - @httpsserene

— ˢᴱᴿᴵᴱˢ ⟡

pre-gala the real prize jealousy panties captivity rocky escaping thighs consquences a mile high new beginnings (each part has sexual content) - @dilemmaontwolegs

when i speak, he listens so i'm the villan no point in fixing it winners always win they'll never shut up - @uglyducklingofthe2000s

mouse (^)

hard launch appendix touch - @archiverstappen

one two three (smau) (harry and f1 in one fic is everything) - @alonetimelover

max & the three musketeers (smau) (this is so funny i was hollering) - @verstarppen

strawberry wine - @scuderiahoney

little leclerc gets married to max (smau) - @theemporium

please, oh please two - @sinofwriting

he had it coming (smau) - @youreverydayfangirl

[twi-liight]

Hi! I suffer from Baldur's Gate brainrot. I just stumbled upon your blog and love your writing! Could you do some Astarion, Gale and Karlach headcanons for taking care of Tav after they're badly injured in battle?

Reckless Attack ❣

Grieve, weep, and agonize over a corpse - but know that death is never final in Faerun. The burden of injuries will instead always be present: pain is eternal, no matter how numb. ❥ Astarion/Tav, Gale/Tav, Karlach/Tav. ❥ TW: Descriptive mentions of injuries and gore. ❥ Act 2 spoilers. ❥ They/them pronouns for Tav. ❥ Tav is the nickname for the reader/oc insert. Their real name is up to you!

An Absolutist cult has gathered deep in the bowels of the forests of Rivington. Nothing out of the ordinary... Other than the sheer numbers they possess, creating a dense population of Absolute extremists gathered in stone ruins.

Adventuring parties that dare to end their machinations perished slowly and painfully. Their corpses - what is left of them - are displayed pierced from the gnarled branches of the trees, where they bleed out on the forest ground.

Tav, Astarion, Gale, and Karlach had a plan: throw a barrel full of smoke bombs into the middle of the ruins, firebolt, and profit. Except things didn’t go according to plan (they never do). That barrel was supposed to be at their rendezvous point, but the cultists found it before they did and thought it a gift from their Goddess.

Trapped in hiding, Tav decided to do what they do best: attack.

A potent necromancy curse was successfully cast on Tav, negating any healing spells thrown their way.

Well.

Fuck.

ASTARION

"As always, you refuse to listen to me. And now look at you: a mess. What did I say about running afool to the vanguard?" Astarion does not wait for their response. “Don't do it. It is smarter to be in the shadows in this instance. And what did you do? Ran alone into a quarry of cultists with no sense of self-preservation!”

Anger, pure anger, is present in his voice, sharpening his typical melodic lilt into daggers. If he cared about the present company - Shadowheart, Halsin, and Gale crowded into a tent, surrounding Tav upon their cot - it is nonexistent in his wine-red eyes. They could get lost in those bloody depths for hours. But not now. Not when seething rage roils off of his body like a cloud of darkness.

They look away.

"Nothing to say for yourself, darling?” he mocks. Astarion’s visage twists into a sneer, sharply turning his face away from them. He finds an unused rag, wets it, wrings it of excess water, and then moves past Shadowheart. “Allow me,” he murmurs to her, gentler.

Shadowheart’s inquisitive green eyes understand the depth of the situation immediately. She sighs, clearly annoyed he has taken over her job, but is dissuaded by Astarion’s next string of words: “I’ll clean them up. Magic and healing and all that wonderful nonsense are not necessarily my area of expertise. A firebolt here and there, surely, but I wouldn’t know where to begin with a curse that... Negates healing magic.”

“Sure,” Shadowheart replies, eyes flicking to Tav. Worry is evident over her features. Worry hangs heavy around everyone. Emerging out of battles victorious and grievously injured is commonplace; nothing a mass healing word couldn't fix along with a good night’s rest. Open wounds would be closed scars, ailments would be cured, and broken bones would be unbroken. Rinse and repeat.

This time, it is different.

They, and they alone, were cursed with a necromancy spell that makes all healing magic useless to their wounds.

Their wounds are appalling: Broken ribs evident with the pain swelling in their chest and labored breathing, purple and black blotchy bruises from the hammer blows they took to the shoulder, an open laceration across their chest, their ankle snapped in two, burns on their left leg crawling up their thigh. Blood all over their face from their own and from the enemies they felled.

“Hey, it’s fine,” they wheeze out. "Nothing I can't handle. The cultists are down and dead and buried - everything else can come after."

Hesitantly, Gale opens his mouth to reply, but is abruptly cut off by Astarion snapping out: "No."

"No," they echo. Their brows furrow.

"What a saint you are," Astarion snarls. His lips are down-turned, fangs bared as he speaks, but his ministrations upon their face are soothing. Gently, he rubs off the blood with a cool washcloth, eyes focusing on the task at hand as he cannot bear to look at them.

"Throwing yourself into the heat of battle like that, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Tell me, my dear, do you enjoy watching rational fly past you when you make your impulsive decisions?"

They flush with humiliation and hurt. Broken and battered, they dig their elbow into the cot to prop themselves up and face Astarion head-on, but Halsin presses a hand into their shoulder and pushes them down.

Fuck. Their head spins in circles.

"You're one to talk. Impulsivity is your middle name; you said yourself that planning is not your forte." Even raising their voice hurts but they do it anyway. Their eyes, threatening to slip into oblivion, flood with frustrated tears. "What the fuck is your problem, Astarion?"

"Must I really spell it out for you, sweetheart? You go around, telling everyone exactly what they need to hear. You tell them they aren't alone. That you will help them, that you will ensure they see the future that they want." The words are venom: petty and spiteful and yearning to be understood. "You," Astarion hisses out, "are so blind."

Tempers rising to fever pitch, Halsin tenses from his spot at the foot of the cot. From the corner of Tav's eye, they see Gale murmur something to him, something like, Let this play out. Astarion would never hurt them.

"I am the only one who will take the first step!" Tav cries. The words explode out of their broken chest faster than they realize, flying like an arrow straight toward Astarion's unbeating heart. "I risk my life - every day - for all of YOU! For all the people that need me! For all that I am because-"

"Because what?" He taunts. "Because it is the right thing to do? Look at yourself, Tav! You are on death's door if not for everyone in this room!"

"Because no one else will do it! Not anyone in this damn camp cares enough to- to help the people we could-" They cough violently, but they slam their elbows into the cot to prop themselves up. No one stops them this time as they meet Astarion's burning eyes. "No one cares but ME-"

"WE care about you!" Louder. Vicious. Astarion's voice splits in the air in two in one fell swoop, striking them down like lightning into silence.

He's breathing heavily, panting, as if exhausted. The adrenaline pumping in his veins is begging him to swoop Tav up and run away with them. Away from all of this bullshit and into hiding within the shadows. Maybe the Underdark. Maybe the Shadowcursed Lands. They can descend into madness together.

At least there, they will be safe.

"I care about you," Astarion chokes out before he can stop himself. "More than anything. Do you know that? I hope you know that."

Their mouth forms the words to reply, Of course I do, but it doesn't leave their throat. Instead, it stays stuck there like a fluttering butterfly, forced into silence. It hurts to speak. It hurts to talk. It hurts to see him like this.

He calls out their name so quietly it could have been a trick of the wind.

"Astarion," they plead.

He shakes his head, stubborn and unconvinced. "You don't owe these people anything. You certainly do not owe them your life for their burdens. I," he breathes out, voice as shaky as a leaf in the wind. He screws his eyes shut and clenches his fist around the rag, where their blood stains his palm.

"I almost lost the sun of my life today."

When Astarion opens his eyes, they are steeled with resilience and fury as they gaze into theirs. It is hypnotic. It is lonely. They yearn to comfort him.

"It will not happen again."

GALE

"Easy," Gale murmurs, a strong arm laying them down in his tent. Soft blankets and pillows meet their back, and the cushy grass beneath makes for a cool and comforting sleep. Their breath stutters, but Gale gazes at them so fondly as he pushes their hair from their face that the pain eases.

He does not miss their labored breathing. "Shhh shh shh. I've got you. Just focus on me."

His thumb lingers on the swell of their cheek. His eyes flutter close. A gentle glow of purple surrounds him, and eventually, that gentleness extends to Tav. The agonizing, piercing sensation in their chest numbs into a cool, muted nothingness. They gasp - then exhale in relief, slower than their panicky, short breaths from before.

"That's it," he encourages. "Well done, my love. How are you feeling?"

"So-so," they reply. Their voice aches and croaks, but for some reason, it makes Gale smile.

Oh no. He knows that look.

They study his handsome, tired face, looking for any signs of alarm. Is he hungry? Does he need to feed on another artefact? Was there an envoy telling them they missed another Absolutist hideout? Did they miss something? Did they do something wrong?

No. Nope. "Enough of that." He takes their hand, kisses their knuckles, then sighs. "You're the last person who should be worrying about someone. Such a pest, hm? Always buzzing around me like I'm seconds away from disappearing in front of your eyes..."

"You are," they say. Their brows furrow, and they pant out, "The-- your burden to carry, the--"

"The orb, I know. I know." His heart twists. It aches. He failed Mystra before and that was painful. But this is another subject entirely; it couldn't come close. Watching sheer heartbreak in their expression because of him? Oh, Goddess forgive him, he has failed them.

Gale can scarcely celebrate his victory, too. He undid the damned curse that affected Tav's ability to receive magic. The necromancy spell was so potent that Tav rejected any healing spells thrown at them. Late into the hours of experimentation, he, Halsin, and Shadowheart considered allowing the effects to wither and die rather than exterminating it outright. It was Jaheira who told them it would be inefficient, because how long would they have to wait in camp while Tav rode out the effects of the curse? Ideally? Hours. But days? Weeks? Months?

He spent the long night following and feeling out the curse with the Weave. It was a complicated hex - a tangled knot of magic that had to be unwoven carefully, thread by thread. Every connotation, every intent was traced back to the heart of the curse, and he followed it with abandon.

"I'm sorry for all the trouble, then," they whisper.

"You should be," he jests. "Nearly made my heart collapse, seeing you like that."

The image is still burned into his mind. He can't stop thinking about it. His mortality has always been a dreadful afterthought pushed into the further recesses of his tadpole-addled brain, but was he so taken with Tav that he never realized how mortal they were, too?

No. No. Gale tightens his grip on their hand, giving them a comforting squeeze as they breathe in and out, in and out. It's not that he never realized how susceptible they are to death and danger. He just never wanted to confront it.

"You are changing the very premise of my life," he says softly. An exasperated chuckle leaves him as he shakes his head, adding, "as always. I don't know what I would have done if I actually lost you, back there." What wouldn't I do? "No scrolls of revivifies, no Withers to bring you back. I wouldn't be able to accept it."

He understands Ketheric Thorm all too well, now.

"Come here," they whisper. Gale lets their hands press into the back of his head. He thinks, absently, that he would let them do much of anything. In their care, he is no grand wizard with a plethora of achievements under his belt. No. He is as humble as the Weave itself, and their hands compose music and art for him to simply bear witness to.

They rest his head upon their chest, where his ear can listen to the comforting sound of their beating heart.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud thud.

"Good night, my love," Gale says, when their breathing evens and they have finally fallen into peaceful slumber. He does not sleep at all.

KARLACH

"Oh gods. Oh gods!" Karlach clasps Tav's left hand between hers, holding tightly and vowing to never let go. Their blood stains her hand and chest and clothes. It's everywhere. Sickly sweet and sticky, drawing all of her attention from the room to the sensation of it dripping down her skin.

They've lost so much blood. It's nauseating, like an unsettling reality has just settled in her stomach.

"Tav!" She exclaims, helpless and pathetic. "Why did you do that, you big idiot? You seriously could have gotten killed out there, why-- why aren't you..."

Responding? Where are their quips, their sass, their brightness she fell so fast and hard for? Tav lays there upon the cot, broken and battered. Karlach has seen the remains of her enemies after she has slaughtered them and has barely flinched. She can barely stomach the sight of them bloodied, bones twisted in the wrong way, bruises so purple they're as black as a chasm.

All they can do is breathe. Their eyes focus distantly above them to the roof of the tent, but nothing else.

Panic seizes her faster than she can control it. "Are they breathing?! Are they going to survive this?! Fuck," she growls, running a frustrated hand through her dark hair, matted with blood. "I should have made those sons of bitches suffer."

"Karlach," Shadowheart says, firm but gentle, her hands bloody too as she applied pressure down on Tav's wounds, "it was important that you returned them to camp as fast as you did. Sometimes, we do not have the luxuries to let our enemies die in pain."

Right. Right. Karlach watched an Absolutist barbarian slam his warhammer into Tav's back. Once to knock them down. Twice to keep them plastered on the ground. Once more to keep them unconscious. She saw red, then: the rage she slipped into boiled her veins so hot, the howl she let out sent her surroundings enemies into a frightened frenzy. She hacked her great axe into the barbarian over and over and over until he was nothing but a bloodied pulp of a man, more gore than flesh.

She scooped Tav up from the ground. Karlach never let anyone else touch them. She snarled and snapped at the others who tried to come too close and dead sprinted as fast as she could back to camp.

She heard their choked sobs of pain in her arms. They choked out her name, and Karlach couldn't offer them much of anything other than an, "We're going home, bubs, just hang on. 'Kay? You just focus on me."

"Can I stay here?" She begs Shadowheart. "I won't get in the way. Just let me hold their hand, please."

Shadowheart exchanges a conflicted glance at Halsin. He nods, and she sighs. "Fine," she says. "But - I need you to stand to the side for now. You can hold their hand after we're done figuring out how to undo this curse."

"A fine specimen of a curse, really," Gale adds, his hand curled under his chin. "I'm almost impressed."

"I would be too," huffs Shadowheart, "if our reckless leader wasn't caught up in this mess. Really, what were you thinking?"

"Right?" Karlach shoves off into the corner of the tent, doing her best to keep herself as small and as out-of-the-way as possible. Tears flood her eyes, and she chokes out, "Of all the things to do, why did it have to be that? I thought you said you trusted me! To have your back! I have your back, don't I? Don't I?"

"Of course you do," Halsin croons. He hooks his finger into a bottle of salve, and spreads it on Tav's burns. Tav visibly winces and tenses, whimpering in pain.

"Stop whatever you're doing right now!" Karlach wails. "You're hurting them! I'll kill you, Halsin, I swear it!"

Gale exchanges a look with Shadowheart. He ponders deeply for a moment as Karlach sobs devastatingly behind them. He opens his mouth, then shuts it promptly.

"Just say it," Shadowheart urges impatiently.

"We should play a game," he suggests. "The quiet game."

"No way," Karlach hiccups. "I'm dogshit at that game. Anyway, focus on Tav or I'll gut you, seriously."

❥ Additional links: kofi | ao3

[many-but-one]

Satanic Panic, The False Memory Foundation’s Shaky Origins, and Why You Should Believe RAMCOA Survivors

(TW: mentions of RAMCOA, False Memory Foundation, child torture & death, cults, trafficking)

Pretty disappointed to see a fairly popular and well known blog on tumblr is encouraging the idea that RAMCOA doesn’t exist. Just came across this post and was pretty bummed to see the comments too.

For those that agree with them (most of my followers won’t but who knows who will stumble across this), please know that RAMCOA has been going on for much longer than the Satanic Panic. The Satanic Panic was fabricated in an effort to discredit RAMCOA survivors. It was supported by the False Memory Foundation, which was created by a man (and his wife) trying to prove his daughter’s repressed memories of trauma involving him did not really happen. [Explained further in the third article further down in this post]

For the record, false memory/planting false memories has been disproven, it’s not possible to fully plant false memories in patients. Some memories can be altered to an extent because memories can be disjointed and influence from others can cause memories to shift slightly, which is why it’s not encouraged for trauma patients to share exact detailed memories with each other. For example, if two trauma patients were abused by their father and had a similar situation happen and patient A spoke about their experience in detail, if both fathers wore glasses and patient A describes their father to have black rimmed glasses, patient B’s memory might shift to believe that their father also had black rimmed glasses, even though his glasses were gold rimmed. However, it’s not possible to fully plant memories that do not exist in a patient’s memory. The “base memory” so to speak has to be there in order for any alterations to occur, and those alterations that are possible are often rather minuscule, such as glasses or whether or not their abuser had facial hair or not, or the color of the person’s eyes. Not an entire scene of RA. [Again, explained well by the third article below.]

Repressed memory has been proven to exist. (Though it’s more accurately called dissociated memories by clinicians) It can even exist in people who have traumas that happen in adulthood. Pieces of a traumatic event may go missing in a patient’s working memory, and they may not retrieve it until they are ready to process the memory and all the emotions and information that comes with it. However, it still exists stored in the brain, just in a different area than working memory. It’s why triggers to the traumatic event (that the patient may not even realize are triggers until they occur) can cause flashbacks and memory resurfacing during said flashbacks.

Some sources explaining the False Memory Foundation and the harm they’ve caused: [a good overview of a woman who was major in the development of the idea of repressed memory being a myth, by a researcher of child psychiatry], [while this is a psychology today article, I think this explains well how misused the idea of FMS - false memory syndrome - is.] [A comprehensive article explaining the roots of the FMF and how the studies used to “prove” false memory are terrible and easily debunked, with several assertions from professionals in the field.] I want to add that while the FMF has dissolved and rightfully so, the British False Memory Society is still alive and well, as well as the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction, and both groups still cite False Memory Syndrome as being real and claim that RAMCOA survivors have false memories of their abuse.

However, before Satanic Panic happened, people were starting to actually believe in the existence of RAMCOA and the concept of DID was brought into the mainstream. A survivor on tiktok has a very good video on this situation. And that scared people, especially the abusers themselves who didn’t want to get caught. That’s when the False Memory Foundation stepped in on the heels of Satanic Panic and literally rewrote the textbooks therapists learned from, and basically taught everyone that repressed memory doesn’t exist. Any therapists that spoke about their patients’ experiences with RAMCOA were sued. Therapists stopped wanting to treat RAMCOA patients for fear of being sued and/or losing their license or being told they planted these memories in their patients’ heads and possibly losing their licenses. It led to generations of old therapists not treating RAMCOA patients and generations of new therapists learning it doesn’t exist.

But it does exist. To outright deny that child torture cannot exist is absurd. 1-2% of reported child abuse falls under the definition of child torture. [source, TW: photos of children with serious injuries from torture included on page 7 of this document] For the record, my abuse was never and has never been reported, and most survivors—RAMCOA and non-RAMCOA, whose trauma falls under the definition of torture—never reported or plan to report.

Even if you find the mind control aspect to be far-fetched, ritual abuse most certainly does exist. I’ve seen videos on the surface web on fucking tiktok of all places of child torture and ritual abuse. Organized abuse such as sex trafficking and labor trafficking does exist. Two out of those three things in the acronym are well documented to exist. And for the record, ritual abuse and cult abuse even in adults can cause extreme mind and identity alteration, upwards to the point of nearly being mind control. Look up OSDD-2 in the DSM-V. Look up just about any cult survivors testimonies and hear how they talk about how they nearly became a different person within their cult, how the cult uses torture and mind altering drugs to get their initiates to commit terrible acts of violence to each other. Now imagine if that same stuff were happening to a child whose mind is significantly easier to mold and change. Even if the child RAMCOA survivor does not develop DID, it can cause extreme conditioned responses in which the child (or now grown adult or teen) will still do the responses even now because as a child they were threatened with torture or death if they didn’t do it.

Mind control is essentially an extreme form of conditioning, and with the plethoras of research on DID and how it functions, it’s not even a difficult concept to grasp that a cult member might learn how to split new alters in a child via torture and then manipulate those alters to do what they want individually. Anyone who knows fuck all about DID knows that alters can be triggered out via positive and negative triggers. All mind control programming is, is creating a specific trigger for a specific alter and then when that child is exposed to that trigger, that alter comes out and does the task it was taught to do—usually via torture, manipulation, and threats of harm to the child or those the child loves. It’s not a difficult concept to grasp, and with how long TBMC (torture based mind control) programmers have had to perfect their work, it’s no surprise that they’ve learned how to make alters do extremely complex tasks or hold onto specific functions, always at the ready for their specific trigger.

RAMCOA research doesn’t exist in mainstream spaces because it’s nearly impossible to be taken seriously because of people who claim it doesn’t exist when it’s not even a complex topic to understand. They just don’t want to accept that it exists. The concept is terrifying, harrowing, and at some times almost absurd—and that combination makes it easier for people to put their blinders up and decide it doesn’t exist. [Edited to add: On top of this, what little research is done on it is steeped in conspiracy theories that often have roots in antisemitism. While I’ve asserted that Miller’s deprogramming books are good reads for RAMCOA survivors, she does often sound conspiratorial, and quotes Svali, a known antisemite. While I don’t think RAMCOA is exclusively related to the Illuminati stuff she often talks about, Miller’s work cannot be completely discounted because of her beliefs of where the abuse originated. Where it originates matters much less than the fact that it happens. However, not from dark, underground, secret societies—but from normal places like churches, children’s own homes (yes, RAMCOA can be done by a single parent to a single child, it just may look different than say, a trafficking ring), trafficking rings, militaristic groups, political cults, etc. I wanted to put the above put there because I know someone is going to come at me and try to say the researchers who talk about it were conspiracy theorists. Yeah, they were. Maybe they were the only ones willing to talk openly about it because of the fact they’re conspiracy theorists? I don’t know. However, I think it should also be noted that just because the researchers sucked doesn’t mean the information taken from them isn’t useful when you weed out the conspiracy stuff. For example, a LOT of modern understanding of medicine was taken from Nazi and Japanese experiments during WWII. Arguably some of the worst doctors on earth. Do we discount everything we learned because they were horrible, evil, people? No. While those who studied RAMCOA went about it in shit ways, that doesn’t discount the information learned completely. Likewise, much of modern psych understanding came from roots that included incredibly unethical experiments that would never be allowed today. Do we throw out all of that info too? No, we don’t. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t hold these people accountable, I’m saying we cannot throw out all discussion of RAMCOA because the doctors who talked about it were shitty people.]

I wish I could decide it doesn’t exist. I have permanent scarring that proves what happened did happen. I have doctor’s visits that prove I am disabled because of the traumas I went through. I have a DID specialist who didn’t even know programming to our extent even existed before our parts started telling her what they went through and she heard it from our own mouth. She had to learn how to deprogram us on the fly because she’d never done so before. So fuck off with your “oh, RAMCOA patients only have RAMCOA because they’ve been influenced by their therapist to believe they do” bullshit.

I relive my traumas in flashbacks and nightmares daily. There have been periods in my healing process where I couldn’t leave the house without someone with me for months. I couldn’t hold a job for nearly a year. I didn’t know any of this happened to me until I was in my 20s. I thought my memory was just bad and the only parts of my childhood I remembered were little blips of good things, usually involving my parent that was not involved with the cult or memories with friends at school or when I was hanging out with my sports teammates. Living with this stuff is hell. You think I want to live with this stuff? If I could permanently erase it all from my memory forever I would. But I can’t. I don’t have that luxury.

It happened. And I’m not the only child it happened to, both in the area of my country I live in and in areas all over my country and the world. This is not an isolated phenomenon. It is more common than anyone tends to realize (though still rarer than most DID cases, thank fuck). I was lucky to survive. I survived because they wanted me to. I saw a lot of children, teens, and adults who were not as “lucky” as I was. If you won’t respect survivors and their stories, at least respect the ones who didn’t survive. They didn’t deserve their final moments to be so full of pain. All of the children in these groups deserved to be loved and cared for and treated with softness and compassion. So do adult survivors like me and many others.

If I could end on one thing, it would be to urge the doubters to have some fucking compassion and empathy for people who have been through things they cannot even begin to understand. My past feels like a nightmare I will never be able to escape. I cannot erase it. I can only try to heal from it. So heal I will do, and in the process I will continue to speak the truth of my experience as safely as I can.

You want proof it’s real? Survivors are your proof.

WE are the proof.

[Edit: changed some wording for clarification + added a section after rereading a couple hours later]

[Edit 2: I realized I said my abuse has never been reported, I meant my RAMCOA related abuse. Want to make that clear. I reported sexual abuse done by my church to CPS and nothing came of it. CPS actually wrongfully claimed that since they had no reports existing of that church harming kids they wouldn’t pursue it since it happened so long ago, when a cursory google search of said location shows they’ve been reported multiple times and all reports were dropped. Why, I’m not sure.]

[ymechi]

Who is the real Creator?

Sorry this took so long I have so much to say but I have no idea where to start. I hope you guys are okay with how it ended and the decision I made. This is a yandere au but with Nahida it is platonic (and the rest of the underage characters).

-TW: cult au, yandere, impostor au, mentions of being hunted down, mentions of trauma, self harm (nothing major)

-Gn reader and darling (please tell me if I mess this up message me and I will fix it)

part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, this is part 5, part 6

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Reader began to unpack their stuff, it was mostly clothes and books, everything else like cooking utensils was unnecessary as there were attendants who would handle stuff like cooking and cleaning. Reader guessed that was the perks of being an Archon.

The room was a bit of a mess the large doors were open and the boxes littered the floor with various trinkets and Readers personal belongings. 

One should not look down on how much stuff one can gather, even in a foreign world. Soon they would be able to write poems with how well their vocabulary had gotten.

Reader took out a shirt and folded it neatly putting it inside the nicely carved wardrobe. They felt a little out of place in the spacious and very fancy room. Yet there was a certain charm towards it, Reader especially loved the tall glass windows that let the sunlight in.

"I see you are already settling in."

"Oh, Nahida! I did not see you there, yeah I thought it was best to do it while I could."

"You know there are attendants if you ever need help, please don't feel too bad it's their job after all."

"Well if you put it that way. . . I guess I could use a hand with the rest of the clothes." 

Reader had underestimated how many clothes they had, it was boring to fold them and sort them all. They had bought most of their clothes and personal items as both Nahida and Reader did not know the extent of the tension that Darling's reveal would cause.

They looked through the boxes and one object caught Readers eye. It shined as the sun reflected on it. Reader took it out and observed it. This was a gift Darling had given them, it was a Fanoos that was intricately carved and made out of polished gold. The lantern's glass was made out of various colors in geometrical shapes. Overall it was very beautiful something Reader would like.

Speaking of. . .

"Nahida what will happen to Darling after. . . you know?"

Nahida watched the lantern that was in their hand without saying anything and then looked at Reader with a smile.

"It was decided that they would go to an isolated temple in Inazuma for their own safety. Even if they are innocent we can't be too careful what others might do."

Well, at least Darling would be safe there was no need to worry after all they had the Raiden shogun. Inazuma would be far away though.

They looked at the Fanoos, it would be pretty to add it near the nightstand. . . There was already a lamp there, so they decided to put it on a bookshelf instead.

"It looks very nice on the shelf there," said Nahida.

"Yeah, I am glad you think so too," replied Reader.

Reader saw a familiar hat figure silhouette from the open door. It was Wanderer as they had expected, curiously he was carrying several moving boxes as well.

"That is right I forgot to tell you Wanderer decided for extra security to move in here as well, I saw no reason to turn him down."

"O-oh but is it fine for him to just move like that because of me?"

Wanderer must have heard the conversation as he turned to look directly at them. He nodded toward Reader who gave him a small wave. After the status of Readers creator-hood was revealed Wanderer had taken to being polite to Reader but after some more nagging on their part, he had mellowed down a bit. He did tease them from time to time as was normal between them.

Reader hoped with time they could go back to the usual scowling Wanderer who did not hesitate to say what was on his mind.

However, that did make Reader ponder why he turned polite while Nahida stayed the same.

Reader must have been staring at Nahida as the Archon looked at them with a tilted head.

"I see you two are talking behind my back, not very nice I must say."

"We were just talking about your new living arrangements," she looked at Wanderer with an innocent look, "you know, it made their grace feel really bad."

Reader snorted at Nahida's jab at getting into Wanderer.

Wanderer looked surprised but sighed looking at Reader with a sincere expression they did not expect to get today.

"There is no need to concern yourself with that I chose to move out of my own violation, no one forced me to."

Reader gave an awkward smile and wrung their hands together.

"Alright, but I still feel bad-," Wanderer sighed at Reader, "let me finish! I feel bad so if you need any help come to me okay?"

Wanderer looked like he was about to turn down the offer until Nahida interjected.

"Actually since you both are moving in how about we all take a shopping trip to buy decorations, you can then ask Reader for advice on what to buy, two birds in one stone."

"A shopping trip sounds nice," Reader said and looked at Wanderer with hopeful eyes.

Wanderer closed his eyes and sighed.

"It seems you won't let this go, fine then let me put these stuff down and we can go down to the market."

Nahida and Reader looked at each other with a smile. It was going to be a fun trip.

.

.

.

The sunset this day was a bright crimson and was fading into orange at the horizon. There was no cloud in sight. the people were gathered near the central temple in Sumeru. One of the Creator's temples. Reader grimaced.

They adjusted their hood once again feeling nervous not to get caught. Wanderer held their hand more tightly and they gave a squeeze back feeling thankful.

Soon one of the heads of the religion came out near the podium.

The people were confused and some were curious but it was clear soon everyone would find out what the gathering was for.

Nahida stepped up as well, and she began to speak. Then the priest took over and Reader watched everyone's face turn to shock and outrage.

Impostor.

Reader clenched their jaw and held Wanderer's hand tighter. He did not flinch or let go.

Nahida and the priest calmed the people down in the end but there was still much tension left.

By the end of it Reader and Wanderer left the place.

.

.

.

They met Nahida outside of a meeting room. She looked exhausted and Reader's heart ached. With clumsy hands, they took out a juice bottle they had.

"You look tired, please take some."

Nahida gave a small smile and nodded.

"Thank you."

Her voice was small and a bit hoarse no doubt from all the talking. Once again Reader felt awful not being able to do anything, especially since Nahida was a dear friend.

"Please don't worry about me I am fine, as an Archon this is one of the many duties I must attend to," her face turned more serious looking at Reader, "I am afraid we are not done yet this is your turn now."

Reader's shoulders squared and they nodded. Right, it was their turn now. No more running away and this time they were not alone either. Reader looked at their friends and gave a reassuring smile.

Nahida smiled and nodded at them before turning and opening the door.

It wasn't as intimidating as they had imagined when they entered the room. It was decided for Reader's sake they would ask the acolyte and Archons who would be able to attend to come and not tell anything of the importance of the meeting. Naturally since the recent announcement from the church most would be busy, only those who had time would come and it would not be a large group. It was better for Reader to start off small Nahida had recommended and they agreed.

The Archon’s that were able to attend were unsurprisingly Venti and Zhongli. Yet most people in the room would be unaware of the importance of such figures.

As they entered Nahida stepped in front of them while Wanderer walked behind them, they felt rather safe this way.

The others who had arrived were Diluc, Lisa, Cyno, Kujo Sara and Chlorinde. Quite the cast had come. Now all of their eyes were on the trio but mostly on Reader as they stood in front.

Nahida stepped up to speak but Reader beat them to it putting a hand in front of her, all while still looking at their audience.

The sky outside was just as red there was an odd silence in the wind. The shadows on the acolytes' faces deepened and their eyes became glaring embers of accusation evident on their eyes.

Impostor.

They had thought a lot about what to say, and there were many words and accusations they wanted to scream at the top of their lungs until Reader's voice became hoarse and dry. Yet what were words when actions could speak louder?

They took out the same kitchen knife from before on that day from their pocket. They did not bother to look at their reactions. Reader took out their palm and cut it and watched as it bled a brilliant gold. They were still unused to the sight themselves and took a moment to admire it.

They heard a sharp breath. Before anyone could speak they threw the knife onto the table.

Reader then left the room.

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Taglist: @resident-cryptid @probablynoposts @esthelily @mitsukashi @charming-mage @chaoticfivesworld @irisxiel @dulcedelechenginamo @yu-ulda @samohxt2-0 @pinkpainc @vianitry

[tedspankoffskifan42069]

im literally gonna put all your followers in my bastards box and if you try and free them ill kill u w my bare hands you BITCH

My brothers in order of how much i like them, from most to least:

Blinky (we both LOVE drama, though granted he's more interested in boring old adults. He just watches stuff a lot of the time so he is automatically the least annoying)

2. Nibbly (he's the youngest. He can get a little extra annoying around Honey Festival time but at least it's only once every human year. Other than he really just has baby brother privileges.)

3. Wiggly (he's bossy at the best of times and I will forever be annoyed his stupid doll plan actually worked. But at least he isn't annoying about anyone. Plus he got me Max Jagerman so yay)

4. Pokey (I'm still mad hatchetfield high got affected in his apotheosis. A whole Alien invasion WASTED on The Most Boring Man Alive)

5. Tinky. (HE NEVER SHUTS UP ABOUT TED. GET A DAMN CULT ALREADY DUDE. IT GOT WORSE AFTER HE FOUND OUT TED HAS A LITTLE BROTHER. TINKY I HOPE YOU SEE THIS AND KNOW YOU ARE THE MOST ANNOYING BROTHER EVER

[konigsblog]

-gooner/porn addicts 141

;a gooner is someone that's addicted to porn.

tw/cw: "gooning", cult-like themes, porn addiction, mentions of NON-CON, rape, DUB-CON, depravity and delusions. dead dead: do not eat. 🪦🕊️.

characters included; 141. 🩸

gooner cpt. price

your captain has a sick and twisted addiction nobody knows about, aside from you, who found out after looking for a file on his computer. no, it's not his cigar problem, everybody knows about that! but, instead it's his disgusting, depraved porn addiction, the countless porn videos on his computer evidence of that.

gooner price doesn't treat it like a religion, or like a cult. if anything, gooner price has an addiction, one that cannot be fixed. he will watch almost anything, despite how morally wrong it may be. he can't help himself, he goes crazy without out, and if he's too busy, or on a mission, he goes insane and becomes easily agitated without his pornography.

at times, he finds himself sneaking into the new recruits barracks, raping them to relieve of his urges. he feels disgusted and he knows how deranged he's becoming, but he goes insane without it. he can barely get off, and you're subjected to hours of long abuse as he holds out his orgasm (he's unable to cum w/o pornography), dizzy and dazed as he slobbers over himself, cock aching and balls tight.

gooner sgt. mactavish

sgt. mactavish does treat it like a cult. he makes sacrifices to his "god", that god being pornography, and his sacrifice being you and other recruits he finds. he's known to be creepy in private, everyone has heard him jerk off at least once, because he fists his hard dick multiple times a day, barely cumming.

he likes to hold his orgasm, to prove himself to be worthy. and when he sacrifices his victims, he feels proud of himself. people thought it was just his sexual needs, but they were completely unaware of his sick actions, how he acts them out. johnny is so far gone, he'll watch rape porn while raping a drugged reader. your cunt becomes swollen and sore, puffy from being used for hours.

gooner sgt. gaz garrick

like johnny, sgt. garrick also treats it like a cult. instead of sacrificing, he manipulates you into bending over for him, so he can use your body for however long he pleases. he's not exactly using you for his pleasure, he can't get off simply from your body. he needs multiple forms of stimulation to get him cumming, and even after hours, all he's left with is a sore dick and painfully tight balls.

he watches porn all the time, almost drunk and intoxicated off of it. you'll find him drooling all over himself with sticky globs of cum all over his hand abdomen, finally cumming after holding out on his orgasm for hour. he "prays" all the time, even in public. find him watching porn on his phone when he's supposed to be writing reports, crying from overwhelming and overstimulating himself. he enjoys the pain, he thinks it makes him a good believer in porn.

gooner lt. simon riley

like price, he does treat it like a religion, but instead uses it to distract himself of all the horrible things he's done in his life. from taking part in attempted rape in the comics, he's desensitized to this. he knows it's illegal, but doesn't truly believe there's a real issue. just submit to simon and act as a fleshlight for him, so he can watch porn while having an outlet.

simon's cock aches all the time, and if he doesn't jerk off at least once a day, he's left trembling, almost nauseous as he feels jittery. he'll rape your mouth, holding you down while watching porn. might make his own porn too, that's how far gone he is.

he'll pass out from his orgasm, after dragging it out for hours, pained and aching.