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cinnamonest · 1 year

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I've been thinking a lot about the historical "Oni being absolute menaces to humanity and taking their females as breeding slaves on the regular" AU for Itto I made a while back (part one here) and decided to make a part two for it because I am denegerate and shameless.

I love the concept of them (or any group/boy/etc) having absolutely no conscience whatsoever, or rather just this wacky values/moral system defined by their own best interests and imperatives, it's just so >:)))))

I also keep thinking of the Oni in this AU as some combination of 1) the supermutants in fallout, 2) the orcs in skyrim and 3) the viltrumites in Invincible, particularly bc there's a scene in Invincible where Omniman talks about how viltrumite blood is so potent that Mark is technically like 99% viltrumite despite technically being only half-viltrumite bc human genes are so weak by comparison, and that concept gave me Tingly Sensations therefore I made them the same

//this is darker than the last one, contains mentions of gore, viscera and death, intense fear, unintentional cannibalism, gendered-focused stuff, forced impreg, monster death, plus all the usual warnings

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The Oni generally don't breed with each other. Why is this? Eh... who can say. They can be... somewhat aggressive and stubborn creatures, so it's difficult for them to form partnerships with each other without, you know, ending up trying to kill each other. Both go with calmer creatures that compliment their own heated natures.

The female oni tend to breed with other youkai, as they tend to want creatures just as strong as them, but less… hard-headed and aggressive as their same-species counterparts. They go for boring creatures that are strong, but stupid (seeing as they don’t make use of their strength by terrorizing other species, the logical thing to do with that strength).

The male ones, though, crave weaker things, so they go for humans.

The thing is, Oni genes are so strong, any halfling offspring is essentially just an Oni with a drop or two of the other half's blood. So even if an Oni takes the tiniest, shortest, weakest, frailest, sickliest human girl, the offspring will still be tall, insanely strong, and in good health.

You would need centuries worth of cross-breeding before you’d begin to see a diminishing in these traits, which is why it doesn't really matter if they breed with such a weaker and inferior species such as humans, the offspring will be just as strong as their fathers anyway. Consequently, they don't have to worry about any traits the mother might have that would be undesirable for the offspring getting passed down.

In fact, this contributes to what they choose. Whereas a human male might seek out a stronger, healthier female in hopes of producing children with the same traits, the Oni do the opposite. Since they don’t have to worry about the weak traits being passed down, they go for the weak ones. Granted, all humans seem weak by comparison, but if for example you see a group of them out in their fields or going down their roads that’s clearly struggling to keep up with the others and falling behind, stumbling a lot, and so on, that means it’s a weak human. You’ll often see the other humans turn their heads and look over their shoulders to check on the one falling behind, so they acknowledge it’s a weak one, too. They’re also easier to pick off, as you can sometimes quietly come up behind them and snatch them up while the others aren’t looking (be warned though, they tend to squeal and attract attention if you do this).

Similarly, whenever they’re performing tasks and moving things around and the like, look for the one that’s carrying the smallest amount of things in its arms. Sometimes this is just laziness, but often it means they can’t carry the same weight as the others.

All that matters is the sex of the human, so that you can breed it. You can usually distinguish this by the color of clothing they wear, the way they walk, the sound of their voices if you get close enough to hear, and for some of them, their hips or chest may protrude enough to be visible even clothed.

Which is why finding you was a very fortunate coincidence! The gods must have some favor for him.

You've been going in and out of unconsciousness, head still throbbing pretty badly. The intense panic means your brain has been fighting as hard as it could to retain consciousness, but the blow was still rather hard. Even in the mental fog, you’re vaguely aware of an increasing concern as you realize you’re getting further and further from home, through the woods, into unfamiliar wilderness.

You’re not certain how much time passes, you black out a few times before you reach a cabin out in a clearing, surrounded by woodland. Nice little stream next to it. It would quite the scenic spot if not for, you know, your current circumstances and the panic accompanying them.

Once you get in, you're awake again, dizzy and disoriented. You're promptly set down – gently! Gotta be careful with such fragile beings – onto a bed.

You slowly sit upright, pushing yourself up on trembling arms as your vision slowly stops spinning. And then, you… sit there. You don’t think you could manage to stand without falling down even if you tried, and even then, your body is completely frozen in fear.

And you sitting still is a pleasant surprise. You're already doing so well! There's a lot of Oni who recall that their human girl would take off running the moment she was set down, flail and kick and scream and the like, but not you! You're being very good. You're just sitting upright, hands clenched into fists, staring straight ahead. Perfectly still, aside from that weird vibrating thing your body is doing all over.

First things first. Take all the human clothes off (no need for them, you’ll just be here all the time anyway, and the robe things humans wear makes it complicated to take off, much less practical than their own clothing, so this avoids a hassle). Make sure you don't have any injuries. You make a soft little sound and tense up at all the touching, as you’re lifted and spun and jerked all sorts of ways to look over you for cuts or bruises, but you don't fight. You just curl up, pulling your knees up to your chest, tiny human hands trembling, curling up to grasp at the sheets.

You have everything you need for now right here. Bed, some extra blankets (humans are temperature sensitive, they get cold easily), and a big bowl of water (he wasn't sure if humans use cups or if they drink straight from the water like animals, so this was a suitable solution), on a table beside the bed.

And a nice cuff connected to the wall for your neck. He’s already prepared ahead well ahead of time, of course, it would reflect poorly on him not to have fully planned the essentials out, being unable to properly care for a human partner would be culturally shameful to them.

As with everything else, you make a little squeaking sound when it goes around your neck, but don’t move a muscle, merely sitting tense and shivering, eyes wide and darting all around, taking in your surroundings. Of course, it’s expected that you would be disoriented. It’s all very new to you. Most humans don’t ever really leave their villages.

And that’s fine. You have plenty of time to get used to your new environment. You will be here for the remainder of your life, after all, unless you both have to leave this place for whatever reason. Regardless, there’s nothing unexpected – they share their own experiences amongst themselves enough and are taught enough to know humans aren’t exactly ecstatic and enthusiastic from the get-go, and many try to run away. But, pretty much everyone says that they become a lot better behaved over time. Sometimes you have to hurt them to achieve this, but it’s just a necessary part of the process.

Interestingly enough, almost all accounts say that the humans seem very fearful at first, that they jolt when you touch them, that they whimper and often struggle or flail around, as if scared of something. Although the reason for this is unknown. Most conclude they’re just skittish, like animals.

Hm. But… what now? There’s a lot of advice passed around on how to get a human, which he followed pretty well – lurk around the villages, wait for an ideal one to go off on its own, make sure it’s not being watched by another human, be sure to be gentle and not break it on the way back, and make sure it’s not injured upon arrival. And likewise, there’s plenty of things they’re taught how to do in regards to daily life and certain aspects of having a human, but no one ever specifically says you’re supposed to do this or that after the checking for injury part. No guidelines for what to do next.

Might as well try to communicate. The vocabulary and accent and intonation of the Oni and human dialects are quite different, though, making normal conversation impossible.

First, you probably are called by something, right? He tries the standard tactic – point to self, say his name, point at you, poke your chest, wait for an answer. It takes a few times, but you finally get it, raising a hand – still shivering badly – up to point out yourself and stammer out an unfamiliar word. Thankfully it’s something not difficult, some of you humans have names that are nearly incomprehensible to their linguistic familiarity, but yours is intelligible to him.

You’re still shivering really badly. Must be cold. Here. Have the blanket. It gets wrapped around your shoulders.

Your eyes dart around a bit more. You open your mouth, but as soon as you turn your eyes to look up at him, you close it and bite your lip, shrinking back. You swallow, you stutter, but you finally do say something vaguely intelligible, or at least, he can understand a few words.

Let… let me go… let me… I… home… won’t tell… about this place…

That’s also expected. They do try to leave. As with everything else, they know this full well. The humans don’t like being taken out of their human herd.

But if they accept it in the end, then it can’t be a bad thing. That’s only logical. And at least you were asking rather than just trying to flee, so that’s a good start!

You probably wouldn’t be able to make out what he’s saying, though, if he tried to explain why. So a simple ‘no, stay here’ should be sufficient.

Your expression doesn’t change much when you hear that, seeing as you’re already wide-eyed and fearful, but you do swallow heavily. You force a sheepish smile as you try a different approach.

O-oh, you don’t want me… too weak… a-and... can’t… I can’t… like you all can… should just t-take me back, right…?

That doesn’t matter. Do humans really not know about this? Of course you're weak. That's the point.

More importantly, how sad, that you think you would be unwanted for some traits of yours. The humans must have been cruel to you to make you think this. Well, you’ll be appreciated here! So don’t worry, you don’t have to go back, you can stay here.

You don’t reply, but your facial expression twitches, which he thinks maybe you understood at least some of what he said. Your eyes go back to scanning over your surroundings. You seem to fixate on the door. Hm… well, at least you can’t get over there, the chain won’t allow for it. So there’s nothing to worry about. Besides, there’s more important matters at hand.

He grabs you by the waist, pulls you to sit on his lap. You’re still so stiff.

But don't worry, you don't have to do anything, anyway. You feel so light, if he just grips both hands on your waist, he can jerk you up and down with ease. Gives the motion a test – yep, if he holds you up with a hand on each side of your waist, you feel about like holding a small rock or something, no effort required.

Which is also the best way to do it, the first time at least – for those body size difference issues. It's said that if you put the human girl down on its back or stomach without first knowing their body and it's limitations pretty well, there's more risk of injury if you go at the wrong angle. With you sitting on top like this, chests nearly touching, it will be easy to readjust you to different angles of needed.

See, while being a bit bigger on average in general, their bodily proportions are also a little bit different from humans' in a few key areas. For starters, Oni have pretty big hands — the hand-to-body size proportional difference is bigger than that of a human. Just by enough that it's not immediately noticeable, but when you see it up close and really look at it, it becomes apparent. See, if he wraps both hands around your waist, his thumbs meet each other in the front, and the middle fingers come close to touching in the back, almost wrapping around you fully.

The other disproportionate part... well, it's a known issue that can cause some difficulties in breeding, but there are certain guidelines and tips to ensure it doesn't become too much of an issue.

There's a necessary test before mating. See, the Oni have learned that humans are fragile internally, just like how their bones and skin are fragile. There's a certain limit. Unfortunately, this was learned over time through trial and error... hey, be glad you were born when you were, and weren't one of those unfortunate early experimental relationships that turned into cautionary tales.

Okay… hold still for a second, he has to do the test you’re supposed to check for. Pulls it out, lines it up with your body, pressing it against your stomach.

You freeze up, your eyes go wide and you start to breathe really strangely, these short and rapid shallow breaths over and over, leaning back and away. You're staring intensely are the spot where the tip ends... right there, right at the bottom of your ribcage.

Which is good! That's what they test for, to make sure that it doesn't go beyond the human's bottommost rib, commonly known amongst them as the “bottom-rib rule.” Any more than that, and... well, based on word of mouth, the human can potentially sustain some pretty intense internal injury. That would be bad. It's an important matter of compatibility. This is good news, it would be so awful if he had to go return you after all this effort.

The other part is to check the girth versus that of the girl's forearm. Any more girthy than that, and likewise, it's best to return the human. Again, he'd hate to have to do that. Or maybe it was the upper arm? Yeah, that sounds right. Human forearms are so tiny, there's no way that's all they can manage. You're holding your arms bent at an angle, hands in front of you with your fingers curled, uneasy, as if you want to reach out and grab something, but are too hesitant to.

You whimper, a pitiful little noise. You're probably unaware of the bottom-rib rule, and mistakenly believe it'll hurt you. But it won't. See?

...Okay, well, actually, it's having trouble going in. It doesn't slide in softly like it's supposed to, it feels more like meeting a firm resistance, where you're clamped down so tight that the tip is big enough that it's more like a blunt object pressing against it.

But you just have to kind of shove, right? Hold you really tight with both hands, line it up — too focused to hear your soft little 'w-wait, wait-', and jerk you downward really hard.

There. See, with that much brute force, it just went right in. You're not even bleeding!

You do make a pretty loud sound though. You throw your head back, eyes blown wide, taking a choked, gasping breath before you make this... shriek. Your legs involuntarily spasm and kick.

You're gasping and heaving. It kind of bulges out of your stomach a bit, you can see where the end of it is by the protruding lump in your gut.

You do squeal quite a bit more. Your eyes leak tears. But that's normal, so it's said. As long as there's no blood and no signs of severe injury, the cries and noises are just what they do. Regardless, some pain is normal, unfortunately, you have to go through this initial stage where there is a bit of pain a few times to reach a point where it won't hurt.

The reason for this being, the she-humans are used to their human males, a species known for being quite pathetic, as they're weak and cowardly and, most notably, are not nearly as endowed. Really, it's so strange that such breedable creatures like the human females have such inferior counterparts, and even more bizarre that you so often willingly mate yourselves to them. You're probably stuck with no other choice. How unfortunate.

Your eyes are huge. You keep your gaze locked onto the spot of the bulge in your stomach, a look of shock and distress on your face.

Okay. Try that again... pull you up, jerk you down. And again, and again. Faster with each movement.

Your hands reach to your sides and grab at the hands wrapped around your waist, but you're shivering so badly all you can do is grip at them. With each movement, you make these little yelping noises, squeaks and squeals. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to differentiate between pained and pleasurable sounds for the human girls, they more or less make the same noises for each, so it's said. Again, the standard is that as long as there's no blood, that means it's all fine.

You get louder, higher, until it culminates into squealing. Your body spasms and quivers, fluid squirts out of you. Those are all supposed to be good. As the spasming slows down, you start to go limp, you sort of slump over.

…But it’s not until the adrenaline wears down that it seems everything catches up to you. After a few minutes, just as you seem to get to breathing normally again, your face contorts, you clench your teeth and groan in pain, falling down onto your side and clutching at your lower abdomen. And then you sort of curl into a ball, pulling your knees up, whimpering.

That’s probably supposed to happen. Or at least normal. You did pass the rib rule, so you can’t be injured, your body probably just isn’t used to it. It’s said to also be not only normal, but pretty much the majority of cases, that they seem to be in some pain afterwards, for up to several days. Their bodies just have to get conditioned to it. It shouldn’t take too long.

On the bright side, you don't take long to fall asleep. In fact, you essentially sort of uh... collapse. Your eyes close and your shivering goes still, only occasionally twitching, body still a bit tense, but noticeably more relaxed than it was up until a few moments ago. Probably very tired, today was a really big day for you after all! You're overwhelmed with the transitioning to a new lifestyle and all that.

Likewise, you jolt when you wake up the next morning, and you panic for a second, head jerking all around as you take in your surroundings and seem to remember where you are. You must have expected to still wake up back in your human village. But no, no need to be so afraid, you're in a much safer place than the human village now, so you'll probably calm down any minute now.

You move to stand up, but... when you try to move your legs, you suddenly stiffen, your jaw clenches and you groan in pain as you fall back onto your side, clutching at your lower stomach again. Huh. Are human bodies so weak they take more than a few hours to recover from soreness? You're even more fragile than he realized. No matter. There's already some food you can eat... got it from terrorizing some human merchant yesterday, just a few hours before coming across you actually! So no need to make food for now.

For now, you can just get adjusted. He's patient, no worries. You need to familiarize yourself with your surroundings and get used to things, of course, over the next few weeks.

Which you do. Of course, your first priority is getting out, but you're smart enough to not just bolt with him around. Until you actually get such an opportunity, you have to do your best to survive. Seeing that your captor has a surprisingly cheerful and good-natured disposition puts you at a bit of ease, but... even on the first day, it becomes immediately evident that much of what you heard in your village's folk tales and legends is not only true, but even worse.

At first, you thought it would be better, because of the one thing that is a bit inaccurate — they don't tower over people to the same extent you always heard, no. He's definitely a little taller than the average person, but not like a nine-foot giant the way your legends described. So, that would hopefully mean they're not as strong as legends say either.

Except that turns out to be even worse. You get a taste of reality on the very first day, when you had to build a fire in the stove this house has inside. After being given an instruction to 'wait here' along with some other words you couldn't quite make out, you watched in curiosity through the window as he walked over to the edge of the forest, grabbed a sizeable tree by the trunk and—

The blood drains from your face. You have to sit down, you feel dizzy. Still, you have to listen to the sound of the thing scraping against the ground as the now-uprooted tree is dragged towards the home, set on the ground, and torn apart. You would almost think it was an act of intentional intimidation, if not for that airheaded smile on his face as he comes in to hand you the pieces, not seeming to recognize the act as abnormal in the slightest. You're doing your best to comply, so you give a twitching smile back, taking it with trembling hands.

He notices you keep looking at it though, staring at the rest of the tree laying on the grass outside, to be used in coming days. You're probably not used to seeing it done that way, he does know that. Humans, for some reason, choose to use a bunch of metallic tools to take stuff like that down, but really, it's kind of a hassle, using his hands is a lot easier. Surely you won't mind that.

He notices you do this a lot in coming days, too, whenever things are broken. Whether it's rocks, metal, wood, anything. Whenever he crushes or breaks or snaps something sturdy with his bare hands, your eyes widen a bit, you often swallow heavily and shrink away a bit. It's probably the noise, some of you humans are sensitive to loud noises, right? He'll try to do it faster so it can be over sooner, then.

There are a lot of inconvenient little details to owning a human, so he also learns. He learns that you have to be picked up very carefully too, not just set down carefully. If he just grabs an arm or leg and lifts you off the ground that way, it seems to hurt you, you yelp and squeal. And you really panic if you're picked up by the neck. So he makes a point to remember to pick you up in one of the ways you seem to prefer, where your body is supported.

You also can't move as quickly, and your weakness is easy to underestimate, often finding that you struggle to pick up what he would consider lightweight things. You tire out easily, often having to pause and catch your breath despite not having moved much at all by his standards. For whatever reason, you also tend to sort of limp when you walk, sometimes stepping in a certain direction will make you grimace and tense up, clutch your lower stomach again, and you have to take a few moments to breathe in and out before continuing. It's all rather endearing, though, and it's fine that you're so weak, it's not like you need to be strong.

Similarly, being unable to understand each other very well presents some challenges. You're very smart, though. Generally, you can understand the tasks you're being assigned to, even without understanding any words for them. He just has to pick you up and place you in front of an object or task, and you start doing it. Although you do tend to drop things a lot, with those shaky hands of yours. He's also been working hard to correct your speech, since you say so many things wrong. Works with you in short sessions, holding an object that you don't know the correct word for and keep saying the incorrect human word. Has you say it over and over until you hopefully get it.

As for you, you soon find that the Oni lifestyle is rather... lazy. You're used to the lifestyle of Inazuman village culture. Everyone wakes at sunrise, they all go out for a day of whatever they do, be it rice field laboring or crafting or whatever.

Your internal clock is also set to wake up around then from years of routine, but now you find yourself laying awake, locked in place by an iron grip until some time in the late morning, if not around noon, the sun is already high up in the sky. Not that you get out of bed without at least breeding once or twice beforehand.

Morning time is probably the easiest and gentlest. Being from the side angle means there's an extra few inches that don't quite go in, and you're grateful for anything that reduces the throbbing pains later. There is a typical routine, you get bred once or twice when you wake up, and again before you sleep, but other than that it's randomized throughout the day, whenever the urge strikes, you suppose. Your insides are bruised and battered. You get used to the constant soreness, the irritated, raw, reddened flesh.

Soon, though, you can manage to stand up soon after (you still need a few minutes to get over it, but your body has indeed adjusted). You stand up, make food, eat... and then it just sort of varies. You never do too much, a lot of it is helping with this or that, working on tasks to maintain the house or make more food. You finally get allowed to wear your old clothes after you manage to communicate that it protects you from sunburn and dust, but only loosely tied in the front (easier to remove, that way), and nothing underneath it (very pesky and unnecessary).

Sometimes he goes away for a while, leaves you chained to the wall, in the bed. Comes back with armfuls of stuff. Bags of wheat and rice and other sources of food, all of which you know full well was obtained through some form of theft or pillaging. You tend to say a thanks to the gods for your provisions as your people are raised to do, but you now add a little prayer of hope that no lives were lost in the process. You often help put it away in the correct area of the house.

Regarding that, you do manage to one day communicate a question about the house, after repeating yourself a few times. Did you build this?

He very proudly answers that no, he didn't, there was a human living here, and he just killed them and took over the place! Leaving home, slaughtering some other creatures and taking over their dwelling is sort of a coming-of-age rite of passage for every young Oni, apparently. Most leave the nest and live by themselves a while, may later come back to live in one of their communities... you do manage to make out that part. The thought of going go live in a place where there are others of these... things makes you shiver more than the newly acquired knowledge that you're living in a dead man's house. You try to forget that information in the coming days.

You still get bred more throughout the day, and at night. Often just grabbing you wherever you are and pulling you back. Nor do you have to be in bed, because as it turns out, there's no issue with just picking you up and railing into you with you suspended in the air, jerking your body up and down like some kind of toy, with no signs of it being strenuous or difficult at all. It's a rather terrifying experience for you, though, seeing as your legs flail in the air, the way you squeal when you're suspended off the ground.

Even in general, he does notice that you are rather... fearful. Always easily startled, your expressions are frequently nervous.

Not that this is unexpected. Fear is very prevalent in the she-humans. Everyone who owns one has said the same thing, that they have these behaviors where they often stiffen and whimper and tremble, especially in the beginning. No one knows exactly why this is, or what it could be that they're so afraid of. Reasonably, they should feel very safe, as they are in good protection, but they may not make the connection that their captor's strength equates to their own safety, due to their tiny, simple human brains.

A surefire way to do ensure they understand this, and put the fears to rest, is to demonstrate one's strength and protection. Wait for dangerous creatures to come wandering to the home, and kill them, make sure the girl witnesses it. Ideally, he waits for a group of churls to come rummaging by, and quickly makes work of them, caving their heads in with a club. Repeat this process as necessary, and be sure to be as violent and bloody as possible about it.

Thankfully, there's plenty of churls in the area, so the opportunity arises frequently. You do seem to have some reaction. Your eyes go wide, you shiver really badly. You tend to look away from the corpses. You stiffen at his touch, still.

It must not be enough, the creatures must have gotten too close to the house for your comfort. You'll just have to see more demonstrations, more violent in nature.

So next time, he just decapitates them with his bare hands. One hand on the shoulder, one hand grasping the jaw, and then simply pull the two apart. There's a ripping sound, a crackling sound when it snaps the vertebrae. That gargling sound when the thing's throat fills with its own blood, then silence.

See, aren't you glad he took care of the... oh, you're swaying back and forth pretty bad. You alright?

You stand on the porch for a few moments, swaying, before falling flat on your back.

Huh. Odd. Well, at least you wake up shortly after, once you're set in bed. You reply to questioning with something about seeing blood being the reason for your loss of consciousness. How strange. Humans are really built against their best chances for survival, aren't they? And the human males are too weak to protect you, too. It's a miracle your species has survived.

You're just an extra fearful one, he finally concludes. That's okay, it's kind of endearing. And it's not like it really causes any problems.

Despite it being... unsettling, though, you are reasonable enough that you're actually quite grateful. Admittedly, you know you're be dead in minutes if you were on your own against these creatures, so, you're glad to have the protection... you still can't help but sort of subconsciously imagine if that strength were applied to your bones, though, whenever you think about trying to get out and run home. The more of these demonstrations of strength and protection you see, the more you can't help but let your mind wander to potential consequences of what may happen to your arms and legs if you were to be caught trying to get out.

In his mind, though, it's all just part of keeping you and the homestead safe. Of course, churls aren't really much of a threat, and taking care of them is no big deal. Neither is any other monster. In fact, he's pretty sure he's never come across a living being that wasn't pretty easy to kill, aside from a few of his own kind. Which he did kill several of his own kind, you find out in one attempted conversation.

Competitiveness and violence is not only accepted, but actually encouraged amongst the young Oni. Their elders and villages pretty much teach them that brutality is the way of survival and prosperity. As long as a fight is started on equal agreement, whatever happens in that fight is considered fair, and culls their species of the weak. Sneak-attacking murders, though, as well as killing when the other did not agree to fight, is seen as cowardly, and punished severely. He's always fought fairly, though, and came out the victor in every fight thus far.

The weakness of most creatures doesn't mean there's nothing to watch out for, though. For every Oni, the real threat to you and your human's sanctity is a very stressful, and unfortunately, very likely scenario.

See, humans live in these herd groups. Sometimes, there is a possible worst-case scenario in which the human's former herd comes looking for them. While humans are weak, they are often sneaky and crafty, such as their weapons that fire from a distance to compensate for their weakness. Also, they attack in groups. You have to watch out for that, make sure they don't sneak up on you.

As you might imagine, humans, especially of the male variety, kind of resent the Oni to an extent. Not that there's any good reason, besides maybe the history of Oni killing them en masse and decimating entire villages and pillaging their food and tools and stealing their wives and female loved ones to make them broodmares and cucking them and all that. But mostly, it's just irrational, unfounded prejudice.

Because of this, sometimes, especially if one of their herd females goes missing, they team up in large groups and try to hunt them down, attempt to gang up on and surround them. It’s not unique to them either, the humans in this era would later be recorded in Inazuman history to actually frequently go up against the various monsters that terrorized them (being human in this time period was quite unfortunate, when you consider everything they were up against).

The solution is to be very proactive, get the humans before they find their way to you, and prevent more humans from coming along.

The first step is to patrol the vicinity of the homestead for humans. If you find one, just quickly kill them in some way (twisting the head in a circle does it instantaneously).

Now, the important part here is to ensure the other humans stay away. This is achieved by taking one's various human kills and arranging them as a warning.

Most Oni put the human heads on pikes, string the intestines out like a rope between them and leave the rest strewn out in pieces, but he prefers to sort of take a lazy shortcut by just running a stake through the body as a whole, at a sort of upward angle so it goes in through the back and out the neck or mouth. Then, you prop the stake up high, so any incoming humans will see it. And if they're not stupid, they’ll take the warning, turn around and leave.

He had a few already, but needs to get working on it now that the homestead has something worth protecting! It takes some time (and the effort of chasing down the humans), but eventually he gets a nice series of stakes set up in a decently well spread-out circle around the area. Hopefully, you will take this as a source of comfort, knowing you were saved from all these potential threats. You blacked out and collapsed again the first time you were proudly shown them, but he understands that's just your weird human tendency, and doesn't mean you're any less appreciative.

Humans are very sensitive to putrid smells, though, so he had to put it a ways away, albeit still within eyesight from the porch. But that's probably better, ensures the humans turn away even sooner.

Oh, and as another plus, the bodies attracts birds! Specifically those black crows, they come swooping down to pick out the eyes and soft parts like the belly and lips and cheeks first, then bigger birds come to scavenge the rest of the tougher parts.

This is similar to a traditional practice the humans have, where they lay out seeds to attract birds, so hopefully it will give you a comforting and familiar feeling. He takes you outside and sits down, pulls you onto his lap and rests his head on top of yours to watch the birds come flock to eat. The birds that eat seed and the birds that eat putrefying flesh are probably different sorts of birds, but they’re still pretty.

It's basically a form of traditional lawn decor for them. There are other variants, too. Once you get enough, a lot of Oni make this banner-like piece by stringing skulls together on a rope through the eye sockets, then tying each end to a tree branch so it's stretched out over a distance. Other bones can be stuck in the ground in a line akin to a fence.

The number of human bodies and bones collected and displayed on your homestead is supposed to be a demonstration of one's prowess. A pride thing. But eventually, he runs out of humans to pick off that come wandering in, and has to go over to a nearby farm to snatch up a few. Grabs a few meat animals while he’s there too, gotta have more food since there’s two of you now.

That’s generally how they get by. It’s sort of a natural process via evolution, when you think about it. Humans learned to adapt by hunting and fishing and the like, they’re clever and all. And Oni likewise got strong and powerful and learned how to… well, no, they don’t need to learn to hunt, when they can just pillage.

Not that they never kill their own meat. It’s just that there’s a lot less of a strategy than with humans. They’re fast enough to catch up to most animals, and strong enough to just kill them on the spot with their bare hands. No need to invent bows and arrows and spears and stuff like that, although they do use clubs every now and then. Thankfully, most things out here are churls and monsters, so you don't have to watch any animals die, but you do get to bear witness to unsuspecting monsters getting too close, only to be immediately lunged at and snapped in half. Pretty easy.

And if there’s a shortage, just go to a human settlement and take some of their livestock. He has plenty of human stuff already, various non-perishable foodstuffs and materials. And sometimes, especially if no animals are available, just take people.

...About that. You know that whole "they don't actually eat humans" thing? Turns out that's... only partially true.

Yes, it's correct that the stories you're told in childhood are fiction. You're not going to be killed and eaten when you're dragged away by one of the horned monsters, that's just told to young girls to scare them into not wandering off, while also hiding the age-inappropriate reality from them. The Oni don't actually eat people... that is, for ones intending to be kept for breeding.

Some male humans are not so lucky. Animals are preferable, but sometimes food is running low and some of the would-be territory markers become lunch instead.

But he's actually very considerate of you, in that way. He realizes that you might not react very well to the thought of eating one of your own kind, so, he makes sure to go ahead and hack up the human meat to the point it's not recognizable as such before giving it to you to make food out of. What you don't know won't hurt you.

Much like everything else, they simply don’t think of killing (and consuming) humans at random, with no reason other than urge or convenience, as wrong. It’s just… what one does, what they all do. Take what you need, do what you want. And if the humans being stolen from get mad, just kill them. It’s not like it’s hard to do so, so why not?

But for whatever reason, despite your seeming repulsion, oddly enough, he notices you do go over to the humans hanging on the stakes, sometimes. While it's gruesome, while it leaves you feeling sick to your stomach, you always make it a point to go out and look at it, take in the features, clothing, everything.

Checking to ensure you don't recognize the face. You almost don't want to know, but at the same time, you can't live with not knowing. You're terrified that — no, you know that one of these days, you're going to see a familiar face.

That day does finally come.

Something was off about these humans, from the start. Finds them while making a quick sweep of the territory to check for threats. Coming through the woods at nighttime, carrying lit torches to find their way through the dark, unusual behavior for their usually cautious kind, who are self-aware of their vulnerability. What's more attention-grabbing, however, is what they keep yelling.

Yelling something over and over. The word you said pointing to yourself that first night, the word that gets you to turn your head and grabs your attention if he says it. Your name.

Why would this person be yelling it so loudly? No, not one, but several people. All calling out.

To come out all this way, it has to be humans here to look for you. Intending to steal you away. The audacity. Planning to just, what, grab you and drag you away from your home? He can't allow that.

Apparently the warnings were not enough to keep these humans away. In fact, they seem to be taking the territory markers as some sort of trail guidelines, coming directly down the trail of warnings leading up to the homestead. Or maybe those bodies have rotted and aren't recognizable warnings anymore... he hasn't checked in a while.

Oh, well. If so, these humans can just replace the old corpses.

They probably figured out what happened to you. Some girl goes out to get something and disappears without a trace, leaving behind no blood or signs of having been killed or attacked by an animal? There's generally only one explanation for that.

They're actively looking for recognizable signs of one of the abhorred creatures' dwellings, putting aside the natural unease the warnings would give them, instead using them as markers to know they're getting close. Hope they haven't hurt any others of his kind while trying to avenge you or something. Don't they know you're not being harmed? Why come after you then?

How stupid. Even if you were being harmed, they're just getting themselves killed anyway. Oh well. Their choice.

It's confirmed that they're looking for him, or at least one of his kind, because they do immediately attack on sight, when he makes his way over to them. Very pesky, they swing their swords around and make a lot of loud noises. Saying some gibberish or another, hard to tell with their weird way of speech. The attacks are easy to sidestep, though. This repeats a few times, the humans keep swinging and he keeps casually stepping out of the way.

It's getting annoying. He reaches out to plant his hand on one of them somehow and make the human stand still, but this turns out to be a poor choice – the sword nicks his arm. Ow.

Okay. Now he’s irritated. He grabs the human by the head, lifts it up, and flings it hard against the nearest tree trunk. There’s a lot of snapping sounds. It falls down limp and unmoving.

Wow. They really are fragile. But just to be sure, he rolls the body onto its stomach and presses a foot against the spine until there’s a crack, ensuring the spine is broken all over. You tend to faint when you see particularly bloody corpses, and he’s worried you’re going to hit your head one of these days. So breaking the bones is a better way of killing the human without making too much of a mess. This one isn’t bloody besides a few scrapes from the trees, but it is all bent at weird angles all over.

Still, this unfortunately earns a very negative reaction from the rest of the humans, who attack with increased vigor. It's easy to grab them by their heads, though. Their skulls are also very soft, so if you just put one hand on each side and squeeze down, it pops very easily. The issue with that, though, is that he gets gooey stuff and blood all over his hands, and that might make you faint again... but it's the fastest way. Didn't think to bring a weapon. Sorry.

Very soon, all ten or so of them are taken care of. And thankfully, at least half of them still have fully intact heads, which makes them more intimidating-looking to hang up. The humans seem to be carrying rope on them (maybe that was supposed to be to restrain you? Surely they know he can easily tear through rope...), so he goes ahead and strings several up into the trees, lets them hang by the neck, even easier than running stakes through them. The rest have to be brought back to the house, though, set on the floor just long enough to fetch spikes and get them skewered.

You grimace as usual, but then you turn your head to avert your gaze, to go back to your task.

But before you can even fully turn your head away, you do a double-take. Your head snaps back to the previous position to look at the bodies again.

Your eyes go wide, your jaw falls open. The utensil in your hand goes clattering to the floor, and you fall down onto your knees. You slowly raise your trembling arm to put your hand over your mouth. You start to breathe rapidly.

That's an expression he's never seen on your face. It's not disgust. In fact, you shuffle over to one of them in particular. Cradle the head in your trembling hands, seemingly no regard for the blood. Normally you would never touch them, or even get so close. This is different from how you usually react to human corpses.

...Oh. Right. They were calling your name. They knew you. He now realizes you are probably seeing people you were fond of run through with a stick like a roast. Whoops.

The more he thinks about it, that one in particular that was very, very invigorated, seemingly attacked with more ferocity than the others. Perhaps driven by an intense emotion, comparative to the others, maybe knew you better. The same one you're holding, staring at with wide, disbelieving eyes. But it's odd. That human looks nothing like you. You can't be related. Perhaps it was just another member of the human herd you were in.

Or maybe...

A thought occurs to him. Something that, somehow, has never crossed his mind before.

You might have been mated to a human, before you came here. That's... a very likely possibility. They do tend to stick to their own kind. He's never really considered it, but, you did have a life and a home before coming here. It's widely thought that humans have terrible memory, but maybe you're an exception? You probably recognize this one, if that is the case, as it would be a human you saw daily.

That's... irksome. It invokes a strange emotion he's never really experienced before. A strong dislike for that one in particular, an irritation. Should have killed him slower. At least he can really tear him apart when hanging him up.

It's a bit irritating that you'd be sad, though. You should have forgotten that by now, you know? And you're supposed to like him more than you ever did that one. That one was weak, so why would you continue to be fond of him? Why would you still be upset?

And why do you look so afraid, whenever he takes a few steps over to you? You stare up with wide, terrified eyes, shrink back. But they're dead, no threat to you. You wouldn't be afraid of him, would you? Surely not. You would never. Maybe you're just confused, overwhelmed.

You make a soft little sound when the one you're holding is pulled away from you, you hold your hands out to grab at it, but when your eyes meet, you shrink back as always. You curl up, pulling your knees to your chest, burying your face in your arms. You shoulders start to make a jerking movement every few moments, you sniffle.

...It is very, very irritating. In fact, because the human's body is rather intact even after dragging it away (promising to return soon, to which you had no reaction but to continue your soft little sobbing), for once he puts a great deal of effort into taking it apart piece by piece, putting the head up on a stake, the arms and legs on separate ones. It feels satisfying, in a petulant sort of way. There's a belief among one of those youkai or another that if a body is torn to pieces shortly after death, the spirit will never find peace, roam the earth forever or something. He hopes that's truly the case. It is deserved, after all.

But by the time he gets back, you've exhausted yourself into sleep. Curled up, eyes all puffy, right where you sit on the ground. You barely stir as you're put into bed.

You stay sickly for a while after that. You're quiet, cold, you don't want to get out of bed. You barely respond to anything. You seem irritated, resentful even, always turning away. It is frustrating, admittedly creates a very bitter feeling, that same foreign emotion. But, he has no idea what to do about it. Eventually, he gets frustrated enough that he grabs you by the shoulders, forces you upright. You protest, writhe, but increasing the grip on your shoulders to a point of pain causes you to go stiff and quiet. There you go. This must be what was meant when he was taught that sometimes you do have to hurt them a little for their own good.

You're essentially forced to become interactive again, dragged everywhere, given mild doses of tight squeezing pain when you refuse to react. You finally become responsive again, slowly, little by little. Really, you have no other choice. The only thing you can really do is carry on. He takes that as a good sign, though. Sometimes, though, you have this mean expression, it's very unpleasant. Thankfully, this, too, is fixed very easily, just by grabbing you by the jaw and telling you to stop. You always listen very well.

More humans come after that, too, looking for you, another party that must have known something happened to the first one. Those, though, he makes sure to just leave hanging in the woods, having learned the first time to be sure not to have a repeat of what happened last time. And then one more group comes looking for you, but after that, it stops. They must have given up, or perhaps he just wiped out so much of their population that they no longer see it as worth the risk.

Perhaps that first incident gives you a bit of spite, though, because one day, a few months later, you finally get your opportunity to run, and you take it. He goes to get something so close by, he thinks there's no need to tie you up, at least until he returns.

Oh... where did his human go? You're not in bed.

Oh, no. You must have wandered off and gotten lost. Humans will often see things that catch their short attention spans and chase after them, and they’re not very bright, so they can’t find their way back. You don't really know what you're doing, you just run off into the woods because that's your nature. It's part of why you need protection, from your own foolishness.

Of course, it doesn't take long to find you, out in the woods. You're whimpering pretty badly, and you start squealing when he picks you up by your neck, rambling at the speed of light.

I'm sorry I'm sorry please don't hurt me please don't I won't run again I promise please—

You're talking way too fast for him to understand most of it though, even if it wasn't muddled by the human accent and dialect.

Poor thing. You're panicking so badly, you must have been so afraid when you realized you couldn't find your way back home. But it's all okay now. It’s alright, you didn’t mean to. You're promptly set down in bed when you return. See? You're safe. Good human. You get a pat on the head.

You recover from it, but it takes a very, very long time before you're willing to try again. You're emboldened by the lack of, you know, having your limbs snapped or something the first time, so you do try once more, and then another time, but it always ends up the same way. You never make it so much as a mile.

It does eventually become a problem. Okay, the first few times it was excusable, but you really need to stop doing this. You clearly don't understand that being out here is bad for you, that it's dangerous. So he has to tell you, to be sure you get it.

You can't be running off. Don't leave unless I tell you to. You'll get hurt.

It seems to work.

In truth, you didn't understand what he said, but you did understand the last three words, and that's all you need to, your eyes widen and you stiffen up yet again. Even so, the tone of voice, especially the contrast from his usual, was enough to terrify you into not trying again, at least not for a long, long time.

...In fact, you start to sort of... give up. You're not really sure exactly when it began, but, you notice these days you've more or less accepted your fate. At first, you were adamant on returning home, you thought of nothing else, but these days it feels further and further away.

You’ve grown used to things. You stopped having your life flash before your eyes at every touch and sudden movement pretty early on, and it just gets more comfortable with time. Although you do still hold onto some hope, still stay alert to opportunities. Even then, what's the point? Nothing to go home to, not anymore.

But even when you think about leaving, you do feel a twinge of guilt. You would almost feel bad, leaving him alone... you try to shake the feeling, remind yourself of how it ended up like this, remind yourself of what you saw on that night that now begins to feel further and further away, but... you know he cares about you a lot, really.

It baffles you, their apparent value system.

He seems to think nothing of the various humans that hang on spikes around the property, the ones killed or devastated by theft and pillaging. Handles their corpses like you used to see butchers handle slabs of meat. Kills them without so much as a second of hesitation.

You would expect someone like that, someone capable of that brutality, to be incapable of tenderness and caring. Likewise, you'd expect a caring person to be incapable of such cold violence.

And yet, that time you fell down in the middle of the yard, scraped your knees, he was across the yard and by your side in seconds. Carried you in, wrapped your bleeding knee up with some of the rags kept in the drawers made out of torn human clothes. Refused to let you walk for days, carrying you everywhere until you insisted you were fine.

That time you caught a cold, he never left your side for the entire time you were sick. Every now and then, when you cut or burn yourself cooking, he always hurries to get you water from the stream and some spare cloth to wrap around it.

Sometimes you jolt awake in the middle of the night, from dreams induced from the grotesque imagery burned into your brain. And when you do, he always stirs at the motions you make, pulls you close, rubs your back in a comforting way.

He brings you back things from the human property pillaging you might like. Silks so valuable you never would have dreamed of owning a single one. New tools and utensils for you, cute decorations, anything that might make you happy.

And on the rare occasion now that you, even now, still occasionally get some glimmer of hope and "wander off and get lost" again, he always frets over making sure you're not hurt before bringing you back.

It's all so caring and sweet, it feels so bizarre when you're struck over and over again with the reminder that it is, in fact, all the same individual.

Likewise, when the day comes that you finally do start to swell up, he shows a lot of concern for your well-being. Makes sure you don't walk as much, carries you more often, ensures you're always eating a lot. Very happy about the whole thing. But he does notice you seem to be very very very distressed and concerned about the matter, the look on your own face when you look downward, the way you start to breathe fast and clench your fists.

You're probably concerned for your well-being, you think it'll harm you or something. Is that what you're worried about? Don't worry, the horns don't grow in until shortly after they're born. They're just little nubs up until then. So don't worry, it's not gonna like impale you from the inside or anything. So you can put your fears to rest, yeah, that's definitely your concern.

He wouldn't want you to be afraid. You are very valuable to him, you know, a real treasure. And like so many treasured things, you are so very vulnerable, so fragile.

Not that you need to worry, he'll always be there to crush anything that tries to take you away. After all, stealing you away from your only home and tearing you from someone who loves you is unforgivable. He can't comprehend what sort of evil creature would do something like that.

#.it #i keep thinking of that scene in brklyn99 thats like #'do i even weigh anything to you?'#'it's like holding a couple of grapes'#also darling trying to rationalize why its okay to stay w/the person that murdered your loved ones bc reasons #yan.txt

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cinnamonest · 2 years

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//breeding, sex-based victimization stuff, violence stuff, dehumanizing language (?) incredibly degenerate, enjoy this quick thought I had (but ignore the existence of female oni and the genetic logic here for me okay I need this)

I've been remembering the concept mentioned in the Itto profile about how historically, oni were probably feared to an extent by humans, which (combined with the fact that Itto is prime candidate for absolute caveman behavior) leads to the concept of a darker alternate history where they're both 1) even stronger and 2) neither subspecies made any effort to become buddy-buddy with the humans, and instead just sort of utilized their strength to terrorize them and thus get what they want from the humans (including mates!). Seeing as thus the species staying a far ways away from each other, there's also some mild dialectical language differences and thus a pseudo-language barrier where they can sorta understand their victims, but not fully. No need to try and understand, the humans are the inferior species anyway, and are essentially just vulnerable creatures asking to be raided and terrorized.

Like these super strong humanoids could probably take on a considerable amount of people at once. So if they come and take something, no one is going to stop them. If an oni comes bumbling into your farmland and picks up a sheep? That's their sheep now. Not a damn thing you can do about it if you don't want to be picked up and hurled to the other side of the property, if not just get your head caved in, so most humans will just have to accept it.

Rural living and farmers are still a thing, but the average farmer would much rather have their livestock picked off by predatory animals. One, because the oni are much smarter and will be more likely to come back in the future for seconds, and two, because they often also may spot some equipment or tools that seem useful, and they'll just snatch that up with the other hand as well. The more fearless (or stupid, seeing as they have no way of knowing how well-armed a village is) ones will sometimes find themselves stumbling across small defenseless villages and similarly take whatever they find. If one decides to raid your property, they'll take anything they see that looks appealing -- your livestock, your harvests, your tools... and, if you're particularly unlucky, potentially any daughters, wives or sisters you have who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and cross paths with the creature.

Of course, humans initially thought they were some monstrous, barbaric species looking to eat humans, but it doesn't take long to recognize some patterns in the victims. It's usually sex-based on which victims are chosen (aside from the occasional small boy that was unfortunately mistakeable for female), not the plumpest or biggest individuals, which would have been more ideal if eating them was the intent. Instead, they just seem to take the opportunity of stumbling across a human female of a grabbable shape and size (which, for their race as strong as theirs, means pretty much any shape and size) and grab them, sling them over their shoulder and head back off, ignoring all the squealing and kicking. And once people start spotting and interacting with half-oni that start popping up, the actual fate of those presumed eaten individuals becomes clear. They're not being taken as prey for eating, just as brood sows.

The thing is, despite how all of that may sound, and in contrast to human misconceptions, they're not necessarily mean or anything. They're not some heartless, unfeeling creatures, nor like animals with no complex thought. Maybe some are mean, but most aren't; they have individual personalities, just like humans. Some are perfectly nice! They're just following basically the standard, a custom so normalized that it's never questioned. None of them think of it as wrong or harmful in any way, nor stop to consider that the human's will is meaningful in any way.

Think of it like how humans have dogs. Sure, maybe if left unrestrained, the dog would go wandering all around, far beyond the limits of the walls or fence or leash that normally restrains it, but that doesn't mean that it's somehow doing the dog a disservice or transgression, nor making it unhappy, by keeping it in said fence or house. The dog is perfectly content with it's limited range, and more importantly, letting your dog go out unrestrained would eventually almost certainly lead to it getting lost, injured, or even killed. Which is sound logic in that case.

Except in their minds, humans are no different! That's if you asked the oni and not the humans. Besides, if the human was unhappy, it would attack. But they don't. Sure, sometimes if frustrated they will punch and kick and bite and pull and stuff, but it's so weak that certainly not their maximum strength right? It's only play fighting, or cathartic, not a serious effort. If they really wanted to be freed, they'd hit way harder than that. And if the humans were running around all the time, they'd get hurt, they have a knack for getting their weak bodies injured, so it's good they're kept from doing so. And their human male counterparts are super weak, they could never keep them as safe.

So yes, they don't perceive themselves as cruel or as doing anything wrong at all. If you asked the average one, he would probably think of himself as a great caretaker! Anything that sets foot near his human gets its skull caved in, and he keeps the human well-fed. Sure, it's not like he asked the human if it wanted to come along or anything, but that's just... how it's done. And even if it protests, again, it's more like a dog howling at the front door wanting to go run in the yard during a storm -- it's just not good for it, but the dog doesn't know that.

They don't really think about the complexities and potential feelings of the humans regarding the rituals and norms, they just register in their minds as what one does. It's the standard behavior they're raised to mimic. For an oni, once you're grown, you go out, prowl about near human societies, find an ideal human, pick it up by the leg and carry it back home! Then you lock it up and keep it stowed away forever, breed the human and have lots of halfling offspring, and raise them to do the same. Is that not basically the same as what humans do amongst themselves? Thus, there's no reason to question it.

Sometimes, though, the acquisition of a human girl can be a bit difficult, because for some reason they always stay close to their villages and rarely ever go out by themselves. And if they see oni, their eyes get all wide, they freeze up for a second before they run off, squealing like a pig all the while. Thus, there are some common pieces of wisdom and warnings and tips passed on communally and generationally. For example, if you chase the screaming she-human and follow it into its village, sometimes the villagers will try and chase you away with pitchforks and beans and other defensive measures, and you might end up with a pitchfork stab wound or worse. They tend to sort of gather in groups to defend the place, making you have to go through them to get to the one you were after. And while one human would be easy to take down, they can get frustrating to deal with in larger numbers... besides, when you start pulling them apart, it makes a mess. Can't blame them for wanting to keep the breeding creatures to themselves, though.

The goal is to find one that strays a bit too far from the other humans, and preferably isn't paying close attention to its surroundings. The best bet is in the rural areas -- less walls, less population, less weapons, less humans hear the screaming, lots of such advantages.

That being said, oni know also that there is no need to be discriminate, except in a few select areas. There are advantages and disadvantages to any shape of human. If the human is small and narrow, that just makes it easier to pick it up and toss it around. If the human is one of the more curved-looking ones, it makes it better for breeding. So on and so on. The only real area where it's good to be discriminate is to ensure it's a weaker one, just makes it more easy to deal with. Not that the strong ones can really compete with oni strength, but they break out of restraints more easily.

Regardless, upon stumbling across a human, a good strategy is to kind of move around the human first, get on its other side so you're in between it and its village, so the only direction it can run in is further into the wilderness. Then it will get all disoriented and start running in circles, and often basically end up getting turned around and running back towards you. However, humans, particularly this smaller, weaker half, are not particularly athletically capable by oni standards, so they get tired really quickly, so it's easy to just chase them until they exhaust themselves and collapse, doesn't take very long at all. The downside being they may trip and injure themselves in the process.

Notably, they squirm around and squeal a lot when you try to breed them, but that's totally normal too, that'll stop after a while. Their bodies aren't really made for such large insertions, human males are much smaller in that department. But just because they're not used to it, or that it's not what their bodies are idealized for, doesn't mean they can't handle it, or that it harms them. Maybe hurts in the sense that they might flinch and whimper and squirm a bit, but it doesn't actually do any damage.

...So yes, all of that information composes the mindset that you are going to be dealing with. Likewise, humans do the inverse. Human society deals with it the same way they dealt with every danger in older times, warning children through some kind of cautionary folktale about what to not do once they're grown up. Making up something about how people who go off on their own, or even just don't stay within the boundaries of their village, will get snatched up and taken away by some horrible horned monster. Of course, they leave out what happens after the matter to make it more child-friendly, but it scares kids nonetheless, which thus accomplishes the goal of making sure they're wary once they reach adulthood, and thereby enter the primary age for being targets. As an adult, you're given the more bluntly honest and true to reality version of the warning meant to be conveyed, that if you stray too far away from your home by yourself, you might end up getting dragged off and kept as some breeding toy forever.

But as with all potential dangers in life, people simply get so used to safety that they start to take chances. It can't hurt just this one time, becomes the mentality. You did something similar -- you had been on a day trip, with a group of course, and noticed a missing object when you returned. You're aware of the dangers (there's plenty, since wild animals are also a threat), but... you allow yourself to follow that line of thinking, that it's just one quick trip outside. It won't be hard to find. And if you see anything, you won't be far from home, so you can run back fast if you need. You'll find it in no time, anyway, you'll only be gone a few minutes.

And you do. You spot the missing object within seconds. If you grab it now and run back home, the whole ordeal would only take a few minutes.

You bend at the knee and stoop down, extend your arm to reach down and grab it. But your hand doesn't make contact with it before you feel a harsh tug at your throat where the collar of your shirt is pulled taut against it, the fabric being pulled at from behind you. In the blink of an eye, your feet leave the ground.

You flail. You kick. You spew curses and snarl. It doesn't seem to have any effect on the creature holding you up in the air. Of course, that's expected for a human girl to do. They think they're going to be eaten, and they're just not used to being held up in the air and all that, which is why the human will panic when their feet aren't on the ground, and even in your weird little human dialect, the "put me down!" is distinguishable. But there's ways to handle that.

After a moment of your thrashing, you feel your center of gravity flip as you're quickly rotated upside-down, head hanging down and held up by a single hand gripped around your ankles. It helps the human get all of its panic out and eventually makes them calm down (if you hold it like that long enough, it will even go to sleep!). Sure enough, you do in fact stop struggling, after a few minutes.

You soon realize, contrary to the common depiction of the oni species, this one doesn't seem to be mean. He seems pretty happy, flips you back upright, smiling and patting you on the head. He says something you don't understand, and then moves to grab both your arms before throwing you upward, hauling you over the shoulder so your hips rest on top of it while your upper body hangs down.

You make some noise to the best of your ability. Your head is spinning and you're disoriented from the sudden movement, but you cry out and yell, hoping to catch the attention of anyone that can hear you.

Why do the humans do this? Who knows. Oh well. You chose this.

You're set back down on your feet, very softly and with great care. Humans are fragile. This is another piece of critical information told to young oni as a warning to be cautious, as their frail little human limbs and skulls crack far too easily, and their bodies take forever to heal from such wounds. So while you can sling them around as needed to some extent, it's common advice to be careful not to grab them too hard, and be careful of where you toss them, make sure they always land on a soft surface, and make sure you put them down softly when you're putting their feet to the ground.

...However, despite the two pieces of conventional wisdom perhaps contradicting, there's another way to deal with the noise. You stand disoriented for a moment, just about to take off running before there's an sound and a jolt of pain and everything goes black. A technique in which, if you hit the she-human's head with one good thwack, it will fall asleep instantly. It's very convenient for situations such as these. But no need for worry, it doesn't hurt the human... At least that's what others have said.

As it turns out, it really works! Now you're nice and quiet, not to mention completely limp aside from breathing. It makes it much easier to quickly carry you off, far, far away from your home. The humans have a decent sense of direction after all, so there's a risk of you getting out and running back home if you're not far away enough. And then he'd have to go in and most likely bludgeon a bunch of other humans to a pile of meaty mush just to get you back, and that's just such a hassle, you know?

#I WILL continue this at some point I cannot be stopped #I WILL expel the degeneracy from my system #.it #yan.txt

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