#inhuman interaction

[physicallyimprobable]

Alright so yes, this does seem like a fake story (unfortunately) but personally I was most interested by comments saying that it was made by AI, since the prose seemed human enough to me. Fortunately, one commenter (@bsidetrack) was kind enough to link this YouTube video which gave some tips, so I decided to try them out on the story above. And of course arrange them in a list, because that's who I am. The numbering is according to the video, with sub-items added whenever I felt like it.

How To Spot LLM Reddit Engagement Bait

None of these points are diagnostic, which makes sense because you, a human, can literally just Write Like This if you want to. These are just all things that add credence to the hypothesis that a post was written with LLM. In particular, multiple people pointed out in the comments of the video that folks with the 'tism tend to do a lot of these, and indeed are more likely to be falsely accused of being LLMs.

(Also I'm using the term LLM because I'm tired of people conflating all AI with this garbage.)

Good grammar and syntax. Even spacing, starting letters of sentences are capitalized, clauses are correctly separated, etc. Not really evidence for an LLM so much as lack of evidence against an LLM. Plenty of humans (including myself) do their best to write with proper grammar. Predictive text models, however, find it difficult to speak with obviously-bad grammar. I like the analogy used in the video: "Averaging the output of the entire internet to generate a Reddit post reduces mistakes, the same way that averaging the faces of a bunch of people returns a face that is more symmetrical than most individual faces." 1a. Inconsistent grammar and syntax. The definitions for "correct" grammar differ with cultures, but a given person will usually use a single convention, while an LLM will flip between correct conventions at random. The most common examples are switching between dash sizes and changing the way quotation marks interact with other punctuation. This post doesn't really do any of that, though; all of the quotation marks are the same and all punctuation is pulled inside.

Neat structure. Each paragraph is about a specific topic, which was introduced by the first sentence. Again this is good practice, so humans can and will do this, which means this point is more about how seeing a poorly structured post gives evidence of it having been made by a human.

Long dashes. In many of these websites, including Reddit in particular, there is no way to get an em-dash or an en-dash beside using a keyboard shortcut, which a strong majority of people don't know about. Now, I personally am very aware of these shortcuts and sometimes use them (well, I use the em-dash sometimes and the en-dash never) but from a probabilistic perspective, if you see text using an em-dash—which, to be clear, looks like this—it's more likely to have come from an LLM than from a person. I suppose I should also give an example of an en dash, but there's only like 2–3 correct uses for them.

Excessive direct quotes. Humans telling a story about themselves will usually not bring in direct quotes, since remembering an actual quote from a casual conversation is something that almost nobody does. Of course, humans can and do remember and quote single words and phrases, but LLMs will quote entire sentence fragments, even if it doesn't really make sense to do so. Honestly most of the quotes in the above passage make sense to me, but "The spirits have chosen you. I can't fight them anymore." seems a bit on the borderline. 4a. There's also a specific structure that LLMs love to use, where someone describes something with "a descriptor in quotations" and "a second descriptor in quotations". That is, when describing what a person is saying they give exactly two quoted examples. This one doesn't appear in the story above, but you can see a lot of examples in the video.

Common words, phrases and tropes. Let's toss these in a sub-list. Keep in mind that none of these are hard evidence since they are, in fact, common. 5a. "I was floored. I was stunned. I was blown away." LLMs love emphasizing that characters are surprised by things. 5b. Smirking, grinning, or a combination of the two. I'm willing to bet this is specific of AITA LLM posts, but they love making their antagonists smirk. 5c. "My friends and family are split on the issue." LLMs love stating that the people around the poster have divided opinions about the issue, on account of that's what the AITA subreddit is focused on. This is especially egregious because a lot of the LLM stories have one perspective that is very clearly in the right, to the extent that anyone taking the other side would need to be downright malicious. We have a very good example here: Her friends are divided; half of them are taking her side while the other half say she should have "just kicked him out the normal way", you know, the thing she'd been trying to do for six months. 5d. Overhearing whispers to a stunning degree of accuracy, especially if it's about a contentious topic. 5e. "So, Reddit, AITA?" Honestly seems pretty weak as evidence to me since like 60% of human posts end this way, but apparently LLMs are more likely to use that specific phrasing, and more likely to provide a little summary of the problem after asking. This ties in to point 2, so the same caveats from there apply. In our case, I'd also like to point out that this summary doesn't really fit the story; nowhere does it seem that Steve is "emotionally clingy". He just seems like a normal loser. Also, from the comments of the video: 5f. "So buckle up, because here's where it gets wild." LLMs enjoy nothing more than a good escalation. We have a "now here's where it gets spicy" in this one as well.

So funny you forget to laugh. LLMs love making the most milquetoast wink-to-the-camera jokes you've ever seen. It's hard to describe the theme of them in words, but honestly for me the hard part is to clock them as attempted jokes in the first place since they're so terribly not funny. I think "which, honestly, was kind of flattering" might have been an attempted joke. I can't tell because I can't see if the author is winking to the camera or not.

Unbelievable details. Your standard "and everyone clapped" fare: strangers being invested in your issues, crazy coincidences, and contrived happenings. The ferret thing is one example, as is the bluetooth speaker in the walls, but neither of those seem too ridiculous on their own to me. The weirdest part for me was the friend using special effects makeup to "pretend to be a Victorian child ghost in the hallway mirror." How would that even work? Surely for him to see her in the hallway mirror, she would have to be behind him in the hallway? Also, what kind of makeup changes your height to be that of a child? 7a. A complete lack of emotional investment in the part of the poster. Real people are usually reluctant to leave long-term relationships, and will basically always have some strong emotions about doing so, but LLMs typically either paper this over with a simple phrase like "I was devastated" or (as we see in this example) fail to mention any emotional reaction at all. 7b. Omitting parts of the story that people usually include, and in particular the breakup process itself. How much of the stuff in her apartment was his? She states that he "packed a bag" and left; were all of his worldly possessions in there? Real breakups have logistics and annoyances, especially between people who had been living together.

Woah that's a wacky premise! LLM stories will generally have more outlandish titles and premises than real ones. (This can unfortunately only really be used as a test if you're on the actual subreddit, since the posts that get screenshot and spread are always such posts anyways.) Faking a haunted house definitely fits the bill. 8a. Another tip for finding them natively on Reddit is to check their comment history. LLM comments will be the most therapy-textbook all-affirming statements, every time. 8b. Everyone sucks! Stories in which every single person is being antagonistic to a cartoonish degree are way better at generating engagement than those in which characters are at all reasonable.

So, of all these red flags, which ones does the story raise? We've got clear violations of 1 and 2 (although not 1a) which could mean nothing. They're safe on point 3, with no long dashes in sight. Point 4 is questionable at best; definitely more quotation than usual, but still not at a level that I find strange. From the canned tropes we have 5c, 5e, and 5f. Jury's out on 6 and honestly I'm not sure if I'd be able to find an example even if it were there. Clear violations of 7, 7a, and 7b; crimes against plausibility that suggest the story is at least made up by a human, if not an LLM. Finally, a violation of point 8, although they're fine on 8b and it's impossible to verify 8a since their account has mysteriously vanished (as far as I could find).

In summary, while we can never be fully sure, the story contains enough of the hallmarks of LLM writing that I'm willing to at least entertain the possibility. I'd say pretty certain fake, and probable LLM story.

[minimiance]

Traveling Buddies ٩(๑❛ᴗ❛๑)۶ (Vash x fem reader)

Warnings: Monsterfucking :3, inhuman vash, loving sex ngl like making love…, biting (briefly), NOT MUCH ITS A SOFT ONE LET ME KNOW IF U WANT A ROUGH VER :3, made with 1998 vash in mind but really can be read as either!!

—————

Going along with Vash after that one night. You never brought up how inhuman he looked that night, and you felt he almost appreciated it. When all was said and done you were laid out next him, panting like a dog.

When your vision had cleared, the man laying next to you was the same he looked when he brought you to this rundown inn. The next morning when you woke up, you stared wide eyed as you watched him pack his own stuff and yours as well.

You maybe vaguely remember a conversation along the lines of “wanna follow you everywhere Mayfly, wanna bring you with me” as he pounded you so hard you were walking with a limp.

And then next you knew you were out in the deserts of No Man’s Land, riding along with Vash and digging through a sack to give him a donut as he rode. Looking off into the distance as you continue along the path set by Vash. He seemed to know where he was going. On the breaks where you would stretch your legs and drink water in the heat were marked with a soft peck on the lips from Vash. Sharing the canister of water and a small meal that wasn’t very good. The end of the break was always signified with a deeper kiss from Vash where you felt a familiar inhuman rumble deep from his chest.

Coming to the next town was a multiple day venture, leaving you tired and worn out. Sighing in relief when you were able to eat a full meal and wash up.

Settling into the inn’s bed and ignoring the kisses you feel at your neck for a moment before eventually allowing Vash to move his kisses down to your chest. Letting him suck at your nipples as he purrs softly.

He was more open with his inhuman nature this time. Glowing before your eyes get blurry. Working you open on his fingers and letting you see his cock, that seemed to sprout from a…flower of sorts? You couldn’t bring yourself to think about that much. Watching as a tapered and ridged, and almost bioluminescent blue, entered you slowly. Listening to Vash whine in a double toned vocal. You finally get to see the exact ridge that rubs against your clit on his harsher thrusts.

Feathered wings encapsulate you both, leaving you unable to see other than the faintest glow from inside of you where you are both connected and the glow from Vash and his skin all over.

“Mayfly…” Vash groans in your ear “love you, need you so bad. Gonna make me a good man…” He sighs, loud clicks coming from him that you can now identify as a sound of pleasure. He wasnt human, there was no way you were making things up in your head.

He was too fast with his thrusts, bumps that you can feel the whole time as your thighs tighten around him and you claw the only human flesh you feel on his shoulder as you silently scream. Vash rubbing small circles on your clit as you come undone with him, listening to the trill and buzz that comes from him take over your mind again like nights prior. Whining when his teeth sink into your shoulder possessively.

Laying with him and his unusually cold body, wings craddling you both in tight together as clawed fingers run up and down your side. Humming and purring like an engine as he traces your face and leaves kisses all over you.

[ohno-the-sun]

Thinking about why most dca fanfic doesn’t interest me even though I love the guys

And I think it’s a mix of me not being a huge fan of y/n or second person pov

But also I feel like my ideal fanfiction with the boys is to have them interacting with like “normal” people

Like I love it when they just talk to like the random mechanic that’s got a kid at home or a retired Italian grandma who thinks they’re too skinny and doesn’t understand they are a robot, or like the mom of a kid who goes to their daycare who’s working 3 jobs so is always late but is kind to the bots anyway, or a depressed autistic teen who thinks the bots are interesting but is also dealing with a lot at home

Idk, I think there are several super good y/n fics, but usually I’m way more enraptured by like the simple platonic interactions they have with regular people

[all-all0s-eyes]

I love this idea because it forces attention to how alien Mb’s thoughts are in comparison to humans.’ It’s not just looking at all these things - it’s paying attention to all of them. And the amount of attention it considers inadequate for crisis situations is more attention than we pay with our single-track thinking.

In that context its ability to render itself in human terms is all the more impressive. It contextualizes the allusions it makes to forgetting that humans live in a mental world fundamentally different from its own. Its seemingly extreme stress in the face of human interaction is clearer. Yes, it’s undersocialized, and yes has a long experience of punishment for showing interest in socializing but it also finds human interactions unintuitive much of the time bc it literally cannot relate. It just has to remember that humans have hormones and partial memories and physical distress with consequences it just doesn’t have, all affecting our behavior. No wonder it resents its organic parts for dipping it into the shallow end of meat chaos.

Murderbot tv show where we see from Murderbot's perspective. Not just its eyes, but its actual perspective.

So of course at least 10% of the screen is playing Sanctuary Moon, half is actual eyesight, and the rest is various cameras and feeds shifting and swapping in importance.

You know shit's serious when the Sanctuary Moon view vanishes, and during boring (to SecUnit) moments of humans talking the show view slowly grows to take up most of the screen.

[kacievvbbbb]

something about the fact that Zoro saw s-hawk eyes furrow in effort with a concentrated frown and a little sweat drip down his face and immediately went what is this? who is this fraud?!? Mihawk would never be so human

The fact that there's also this translation is sooo much funnier because this is so much differnet than just calling s-hawk more human as a jab. Mihawk your boy is coming for your throat.

[willyhoos]

saw an old 2017 post blaming england for davie not getting to see the flowers again before his death. besides that being just a little silly...

...i guarantee you that davie never thought about those flowers again.

america is the only one who brought them to his funeral. (there's no other blue flowers. davie's family didn't find them to have specific sentimental value, evidently.)

america repeatedly brought them up throughout his lifetime, and davie was never interested.

i think that was the point! it was a beautiful/fleeting moment of a human's childhood that was unnaturally elongated through america's weird semi-immortal existence... and it started to rot!

america's perception of time is so strange that he searched for those flowers in the field for over a decade before he finally gave up. at that point, why would davie remember the face of a child he met for a few hours, once, many years ago (against all logic that the child should have aged by now?)

this was america's first experience with/true acknowledgement of his immortality and inhumanity. it's SUPPOSED to be lonely and isolated and unnervingly quiet. we get the feeling through various colony!america comics that while america adored england, he left america alone a lot...

so eventually america started seeking companionship from his citizens... other kids "his age." they look like him, don't they? (<- creature who is unaware of his nature as a human facsimile)

america is easily distracted, and he's also a lonesome, skittish kid who prefers the wilderness.

as it's been said before... it's not impossible this is america's first real interaction with a human. it's not impossible he's simply failed to notice up until now that humans come and go pretty quickly. evidently, england didn't explain to america that getting emotionally invested in humans is a very bad idea (unlike the op's claim, this IS something england can be faulted for!) the comic is america running around in confusion and pain for 60 years, give or take.

imo, the davie comic is just a representation of what would become one of my favorite theme's with america's character: a lonely desire to be human beyond his capability. he's so enamored with humans, he's an immortal being who is jealous of the mortal lifestyle. he wants those passionate, short-lived human connections so badly (like 'father and son,' 'husband and wife' etc)! but it's just too painful. it's like watching a movie on 100x speed, you're just bitter you can't experience it how you should.

there's a big wall between america and the human family there, and i'm pretty sure it's named "davie."

[giddlygoat]

i enjoy this scene in average amounts

[lupi-usque-ad-finem]

Heyy heads up that user “jadeeyedwere” is a self proclaimed proud zoophile and is associated with lycantheory! You reblogged a post from them.

heard and a heads up to everyone!!!

reblog has since been deleted.

zoos are not welcome in this community and never will be.

genuinely seek professional help if you are one because I promise that you will find no tolerance here.

[maximusboltaqon]

GUYSS the 1986 x-factor annual has bb seemingly using like. actual sign language!! and more than just medusa can understand him!!!

[thormanick]

All the Kavetham/Haikaveh ideas I don't have capacity to currently write, a very detailed list:

(Which I am humbly placing here before you. Be warned: this post is an incredibly long one!)

1. Fatui!Kaveh AU, where the night before the meeting happens between Kaveh and Alhaitham at the tavern, Kaveh gets a deal from Fatui representatives to work on a huge project in Snezhnaya. Kaveh is sceptical about it, but decides to accept the offer during the dialogue with Alhaitham (seeing himself as a burden, Kaveh decides that he will cause more trouble to Alhaitham than the Fatui, thus he decides to accept their offer even if it seems too good to be true). He tells Alhaitham about his decision to leave for Snezhnaya, and so the two relatively amicably/peacefully part their ways (not without Alhaitham testing Kaveh's reasoning a bit, but Kaveh's resolve remains strong).

And so, Kaveh leaves for Snezhnaya, where he gets to work on several huge projects for the next several years under Sandrone. Most of them are related to construction, engineering and reverse-engineering of Khaenri'ahn and Khaenri'ah-inspired technology, and he gets barely any time to work on his personal projects (he's overworked and exhausted and doesn't get much time and opportunity to be creative; however, the payments are good and he's on his way to getting out of debt, which is practically the sole reason driving him forward. The projects get progressively more complicated and, in a way, unhinged - engineering military equipment is alright, but working with the remains of Khaenri'ahn technology, dead gods and such proves to be... mentally taxing. Everything happens very gradually though, so Kaveh does not immediately notice the true scale of where the Fatui are ready to go to achieve certain goals). Kaveh doesn't really like the work environment of the Fatui, but he does his best (the Harbingers creep him out whenever he gets to see them on a rare official occasion (he might specifically dislike Pantalone because the Harbinger keeps picking at him for his debt, given a chance), but Sandrone's a decent boss who is somewhat encouraging and invested in his work and personal projects. She might be especially interested in Mehrak's existence and operation). Overall, everything goes quite smoothly for Kaveh, even if he doesn't feel quite at home in Snezhnaya and is aware of how dangerous the Fatui can be. He does not consider himself to be paranoid, but the other shoe has to drop at some point - and that happens when the new Acting Grand Sage of Sumeru gets to visit Snezhnaya on a diplomatic mission (aka: Kaveh reconnects with Alhaitham & Co for the first time in what feels like forever). The situation gets complicated when Kaveh realizes that Sandrone encourages the reestablishment of his connection with Alhaitham specifically - and she never encourages an action if she doesn't directly contribute from it.

Feelings, emotions and shenanigans ensue.

TLDR: Kaveh's doing his best despite being restricted in his ways of work, prevented from realizing most of his creative projects and slowly but surely building emotional walls around himself because Fatui and Snezhnaya; Sandrone being a kind of decent boss with sorta good work ethic but horrendous morals who is not exactly a good influence on Kaveh's idealistic tendencies and guilt complex; Fatui being contextually horrifying but kinda normal coworkers if you don't look at them too close; Alhaitham trying his best as a political figure (Nahida help him) while also trying to get Kaveh to return home with him (because he misses him); the main conflict revolving around Kaveh and his life choices with Sandrone and Alhaitham being kind of foils to each other (with Sandrone gradually destroying Kaveh's idealistic morals and playing on his guilt to get the most out of his potential as an innovator, and with Alhaitham actively trying to resolve Kaveh's guilt and show him that, despite their arguments, Kaveh's idealism still has place in the world and can co-exist with other philosophies). There might or might not be some macguffin-esque Deshret relic that both Akademia and Fatui hunt for that eventually brings the whole crew back to Sumeru. Kaveh might or might not get a chance to meet a fragment of Deshret's spirit within the mentioned relic. But there definitely will be a happy end for everyone here (Deshret will make sure of it).

2. Calamity!AU. The new Cataclysm comes, enveloping all Seven Nations, and so Sumeru does its best to survive. The cities are ruined, and the people gather together in random places to survive. Alhaitham gets to live within one of the settlements, established by the Akademiya. While trying to survive the first wave of the new Calamity, he is also looking for Kaveh; after an argument between the two the architect left for an expedition to the Desert, right before the new Calamity began. Unfortunately, the news comes that his group should have been around Tunigi Hollow - one of the spots in Sumeru where the first wave of the new Calamity hit the hardest. There is no concrete information on whether Kaveh's group survived or not. Alhaitham, not loosing hope, does his best to find any information on Kaveh's whereabouts, but due to Sumeru becoming extremely dangerous to traverse and disjointed as a result of the new Calamity, the search stretches out for almost a decade.

One day Alhaitham helps a caravan, traversing the forests to get to one of the settlements, to fight off the monsters. Unexpectedly, Kaveh turns out to be one of the members of the caravan. Their reunion is almost cut short by the caravan's need to keep going, but Alhaitham convinces Kaveh to join him instead. The two return to the new Sumeru city settlement, where Alhaitham lives and works under the watch of Akademiya and Lord Kusanali. It appears that during his years of travels around the destroyed Sumeru Kaveh learned new ways of architectural construction that would be more efficient against the monsters, born by the Calamity. He also seems to behave quite differently, hardened by the experiences of the past years. Alhaitham proposes for Kaveh to stay with him in the city, and Kaveh accepts. The feelings, new routines, dealings with the changed versions of each other and attempts to find new pace of life in the new world ensue.

TLDR: The world might be ending and impossible to live in, but even so each new day is brighter when the person one loves is by their side.

3. Another Cataclysm!AU, where Kaveh and Alhaitham get assigned separate missions in the grander scheme of things created to prevent the coming of a new Calamity. The plan succeeds and the world remains safe, but not without heavy losses: amongst many others, Kaveh does not survive while carrying out his mission.

Decades pass as Alhaitham goes through his grieving process. Eventually, one evening on the anniversary of the Calamity's prevention, Alhaitham wanders to a place he and Kaveh used to visit together. A Ley Line disruption occurs, and he gets to see a glimpse of Kaveh through it. They have a conversation; the Ley Line apparition (a memory of Kaveh) is convinced that Alhaitham is from the future, and so they talk a lot about the Calamity, whether it was prevented, and about each other's futures. Alhaitham can't bring himself to tell Kaveh that he does not survive the Calamity, but he does tell Kaveh that his architectural legacy lives on. Kaveh commends Alhaitham on his achievements (though not an acting grand sage for a very long time, Alhaitham kept playing an important role throughout Sumeru's history, helping to keep it safe).

Eventually, their time runs out. Ley Line disorder starts gradually disappearing. Alhaitham urges Kaveh to be careful and stay safe, knowing that the Calamity (on Kaveh's side) is yet to come. Kaveh laughs and tells him that on his side, Alhaitham just told him the same words after they finished the debriefing session, related to the Calamity. He says that he was feeling very nervous, but that seeing future-Alhaitham made him convinced that they are on the right path.

And so, the Ley Line disorder disappears. Alhaitham spends some more time at the spot before returning home. Despite painful memories having been brought up, his heart feels a bit lighter.

TLDR: closure comes unexpectedly, takes many forms and does not erase the pain in an instant, but, nevertheless, it heals.

4. AU! where Kaveh and Alhaitham are both magical birds that can transform into humans (and half-humans).

They live together in the depths of Sumeru forest - a domain of a long lost God of Wisdom. Kaveh's feathers are rumoured to bring blessings, while Alhaitham's feathers, on the contrary, are said to bring bad luck or even curses. Humans, living at the edge of magical forest, kinda worship them, but also prefer not to interact with them, primarily because Alhaitham is not happy when others trespass on his lands, and because searching for Kaveh is extremely hard (he's often off working on his projects deep within the forest), and the magical forest is very dangerous on its own. So, the humans build their cities outside of the Sumeru forest, and Alhaitham and Kaveh peacefully live together in the depths of it.

Despite Kaveh and Alhaitham living together for a long time, their opinions on humanity are diametrically opposed: Alhaitham barely tolerates humans, finding them to be reckless, meddling, cowardly and deceitful; Kaveh, on the contrary, finds humans to be creative, inspiring, free and beautiful in their own way. Throughout the years, Kaveh manages to build somewhat of an amicable relationship with the humans, living at the edge of the forest: he learns more about their traditions and arts, while the humans receive his guidance and blessings in various matters of living, craftsmanship and arts. Eventually, Kaveh's knowledge and magical powers catch the eye of Lord Sangemah Bay, who resides in and governs one of the bigger settlements at the forest's border. She makes a deal with Kaveh that, despite providing him with valuable (in his eyes) experience of working with humans on some of his grandest architectural projects, costs him a lot - meaning he has to give away lots of his blessed feathers, which makes his remaining magic much weaker (and generally undermines his health for a bit). Alhaitham is not a huge fan of such approach (in his eyes, Kaveh is wasting his powers and time for nothing, endangering himself), and so a conflict between him and Kaveh breaks. As a result, Kaveh flees their home, secluding himself while he's focusing on other projects he finds curious. Kaveh keeps working with humans, and though Alhaitham certainly keeps an eye on Kaveh's wellbeing, he does not make it easy for humans to reach him. So what if there are new random magical seals, obstacles, almost-traps and riddles appearing here and there when people try to get to Kaveh? It's a magical forest, things happen! (Kaveh knows that Alhaitham does this on purpose, and Alhaitham knows that Kaveh knows, and it leads to them indirectly, and then directly bickering and arguing. The magical forest quite possibly grows very tired of them. Their friends Tighnari and Cyno certainly do, but alas.)

The new equilibrium, found by Alhaitham and Kaveh, is challenged once more when Kaveh leaves to the Lord Sangemah Bay's city to direct yet another one of his grand projects. They do not see each other for a long while. Despite all the challenges, Kaveh's relationship with Dori gradually grows stronger - the two value their partnership - and Kaveh ends up making friends amongst humans. However, not everyone is happy about Lord Sangema Bay's growing friendship with the "deity of blessings" personified. As some people come to despise her for her wealth, influence and ever growing power, so do they come to despise the bird of paradise.

When the project is complete, the time for celebration comes. Kaveh gets to attend a feast by Dori's side as a guest of honour, and is invited to stay the night in her palace before returning to the forest. Kaveh agrees: he's been spending all his days and nights at the building site, and resting a night before returning home would be nice. As the night goes on, however, Kaveh begins to feel weary and unwell - the new type of wine he was served did him no good. He excuses himself early for the night and, as soon as he gets to his bed, he's out cold.

After an undetermined amount of time (in what appears to be the middle of the night), Kaveh wakes up because of immense pain in his back.

As he gradually comes to his senses, he has a horrible realization: one of his wings was cut off when he was asleep. Alerting the guards and Dori yields no results: the intruder escaped, presumably with Kaveh's wing, and there are no traces of them left. While Kaveh gets immediately attended to, he goes in shock and, eventually, loses consciousness.

When the messengers form the city arrive to the forest, Alhaitham receives them reluctantly at first, but as soon as he hears of what happened, he rushes to the city. He ends up taking Kaveh back to the forest, hoping that its healing magic will help restore his wing. However, nothing seems to work: neither spells, nor the powers of nature, not even Tighnari's medicine. Though the wound is slowly healing, Kaveh remains unconscious for days. To get more information on what happened, Alhaitham returns to the city to question Dori together with Cyno (who's also to continue the investigation within the city once Alhaitham returns home), while Tighnari stays with Kaveh.

Though the questioning concludes that Dori knows nothing and is willing to assist in the search of the perpetrator, Cyno concludes that she was not thorough enough in ensuring Kaveh's safety and overall security of the celebration in general, revealing that Dori recklessly cut corners here and there. Furious, Alhaitham leaves Dori his cursed feather, giving her an ultimatum: she has to find the perpetrator and give them to Alhaitham to deal the final punishment. Until then, her city is doomed to slowly crumble into decay and oblivion. Dori accepts the deal.

Alhaitham returns to the forest to look after Kaveh, while Cyno remains in the city to continue the search. When Alhaitham comes back, Kaveh is finally awake. However, he remains extremely closed-off, practically a shadow of himself. The recovery process is slow and challenging, but Alhaitham does his best to support Kaveh in all ways that matter. Kaveh struggles with healing: the loss of a wing affected not only his body, but also his mental state and magic. He cannot transform, he can barely use any of his magical skills, and he cannot fly anymore, which hurts him most of all. It takes a while for Kaveh to get on his feet (quite literally), even longer to finally leave his room. He also feels guilty for being in Alhaitham's care, because he remembers all of the Alhaitham warnings about the humans he didn't listen to, and so lots of internal conflict ensues.

Meanwhile Alhaitham does all he can to try and navigate the situation. He looks after Kaveh's healing process; brings back his blueprints and equipment from Kaveh's place so that he has enough to work with if he wishes; he also (to the best of his ability) remodels their home to make it more accessible to Kaveh. Given that their natural method of moving around their house was flying (whether in form of birds of half-humans), Alhaitham now implements more adjustments for walking or climbing. (When Kaveh feels good enough to leave his room, he's amazed by what Alhaitham managed to achieve. He also helps fix some of the constructions, given he's the one with the experience in architecture.) Alhaitham and Kaveh grow closer, slowly unpacking and mending their relationship, turning it into something new and beautiful.

At the same time, Alhaitham continues to watch the forest borders - to make sure that no intruders interrupt Kaveh's recovery and their peaceful life together. One day he notices an interesting sight: a small, but beautiful shrine appeared right by the forest. He decides to investigate; upon approaching the shrine, he meets Nilou (whom he saw in the palace when he visited Dori). She explains to him that, after he and Kaveh left the city, a group of people decided to organize a shrine, dedicated to Kaveh, to pray for his recovery. Nilou explains that in their eyes it's the least they can offer for all the help that their city received in the past and as amends for the pain they have caused. Alhaitham warns her not to get any closer to the forest, but the action of people leaves a lasting impression on him.

Meanwhile, Cyno's investigation progresses. Cyno writes to Alhaitham that together with Dori they managed to find and capture the perpetrator. Questioning reveals no useful information, but Cyno suspects that there might be more to the attack on Kaveh than they anticipated. To uphold his end of the deal Alhaitham goes to the city to deliver the punishment to the attacker and to undo the curse he put on Dori's city. Before he leaves, Kaveh, scared of what might happen to Alhaitham, sews into his cloak a blessed feather for protection (because Alhaitham wouldn't accept it outright). While Alhaitham is away, Kaveh begins working on a new project: a mechanical wing.

When Alhaitham gets to the city, he is led to the cell where the attacker is being held. Cyno and Dori are by his side for the final questioning. The man - a mere mortal (with strange red-ish eyes), one of Dori's citizens - keeps talking in circles, making less and less sense with each new word. Alhaitham lets Cyno and Dori go before rendering the punishment. When the curse (one of Alhaitham's darkest yet) is finally prepared, suddenly, the tables are turned. The perpetrator attacks Alhaitham, but his movements seem unnatural, almost like those of a puppet. Alhaitham realizes, that the man is being controlled by someone with prowess for strong, incredibly dark magic that seems similar to that of the Desert. The strange puppet manages to overpower Alhaitham in a fight, but cannot harm him (due to the protection from Kaveh's feather). The perpetrator manages to escape, taking with him Alhaitham's cursed feather (they seemed to be pleased to receive it. Alhaitham fears to think what they will use it for).

Dori and Cyno pick up the investigation, with Cyno going straight to the Desert. Dori begins reinforcing the city (her people discover that Alhaithams curse (now lifted) awakened Miasma deep under the ground. The Miasma begins to slowly spread, seemingly in the direction of the Sumeru Forest). Cyno sends back a message, confirming that strong and dark magic seems to be gathering within the Desert, possibly for the purpose of destroying the magical forest.

Alhaitham manages to get back to Kaveh and tell him of what happened in the city. In order to be able to protect the forest together with Alhaitham, Kaveh doubles down on his efforts to create a mechanical working wing. Everything works, besides the golden feathers - they need to be blessed in order to allow the mechanism to work as intended, but Kaveh does not have enough power for it. Alhaitham takes a risk and brings the feathers to the shrine, created by Nilou and other humans, so that they could bless them for Kaveh. (They are short of one feather eventually, and Alhaitham gives Kaveh one of his own, his first blessed feather, to complete the wing.)

TLDR: Kaveh works on restoring his wing and faith in himself and humanity; Alhaitham learns that humanity is not always evil. Dori and Cyno discover that the escaped perpetrator (caugh controlled by Dottore caugh) used Kaveh to get to Alhaitham to gain his cursed feather for completing some sort of ancient ritual to unseal the forbidden knowledge magic deep within the Desert in roder to unleash it on the magical forest, slumbering God of Wisdom and human cities. Kaveh learns to curse his feathers (while opposing Dottore in a final fight), and Alhaitham learns to bless his. Humans and Sumeru Forest continue to coexist peacefully. Alhaitham and Kaveh live together happily ever after.

5. Pacific Rim!AU, where Kaveh and Alhaitham used to be pilots of a Jaeger, but during one of their battles they suffered too much damage. In order to save Alhaitham and what remains of their Jaeger, Kaveh takes most of the damage by severing already unstable connection between Alhaitham and Jaeger's system. Both barely survive the encounter, but meanwhile Alhaitham manages to recover fast, the damage Kaveh has taken leaves him in a critical condition, eventually resulting in him being unable to ever pilot a Jaeger ever again (and putting many new restraints on his usual daily life).

As soon as Kaveh comes to his senses, the two have a huge fight about Kaveh's rash decision, and eventually break off their friendship. They don't see each other for a long, long time.

As the time goes on, Kaveh learns how to live with the changes that his body sustained with the help of his service dog Mehrak. Eventually he takes on a job at one of the Jaeger construction facilities (together with his friend Tighnari), studying Kaiju and creating new Jaeger modifications - though no Kaiju has been seen in the past several years, the world is still afraid of their return.

When the suspicion of the new Kaiju appearance arises, new pilot recruits and ex-pilots are summoned to the facility. There, Kaveh meets Alhaitham for the first time in years. After their fallout, Alahitham resigned from piloting Jaegers, yet now he had no choice but to return to train new recruits (and possibly resume his role of a Jaeger pilot). Now once again the two have to work together as a part of a team in face of approaching danger, trying to resolve their past conflicts and overcome their fears and insecurities along the way (when deep down they simply want to keep each other safe).

TLDR: Kaveh & service animal Mehrak is a neat concept I'd love to see more of, just as a concept in general. I think this one could be an interesting story idea centered mostly around Kaveh's day to day life. Additionally, Alhaitham who used to be only drift compatible with Kaveh but now suddenly discovers he's drift compatible with Cyno. I need more Cyno & Alhaitham camaraderie I think it would do them lots of good (at least in this specific AU setting lol).

6. Oxenfree!AU where Kaveh and Alhaitham are two ex-best friends turned reluctant coworkers (photo-journalist and journalist respectively) working on writing a piece about the disappearances of a group of teenagers that happened at the Edwards Island several years prior (timeline somewhere between the first and the second games). The radio shenanigans ensue, making the two face their past, possible futures and, most importantly, their present. (In Oxenfree tuning into certain radio sequences can temporarily mess up time-space shenanigans, just fyi).

TLDR: I just think that this setting could facilitate some character exploration that would be very fun.

7. Modern MermanKaveh!AU, post-fallout, where it's a little bit more about haunting Alhaitham (and the narrative), than being a merman. Due to an unfortunate set of circumstances, Kaveh drowns one day, trying to save someone from the water. Due to an unfortunate set of circumstances, he doesn't really die, being stuck in between (existence and death, normal life and the necessity to live in water). Kaveh manages, for quite a while even!

But of course Alhaitham has to come back and turn his world upside down once again.

TLDR: can you tell Alhaitham's quote about drowning stuck with me huh (and I made it literal lol). On a serious note... Idk, vibes??? I want to see the "stuck in the middle" Kaveh, whatever that entails. Some existential explorations. And the development of his relationship with Alhaitham, of course. // Kaveh is a merman unable to fully live the life he used to have, and Alhaitham doesn't know that he survived (for a while), alternatively "let me help to save you from metaphorical and literal drowning" Alhaitham and "I learned to live like this, this is what my norm now looks like" Kaveh.

8. Another Modern MermanKaveh!AU/DrownedGhostKaveh!AU, because I apparently have no self-control (I feel like I should also clarify that whenever I mention a mermaid, I think of them more as of ghosts of drowned people and less as mermaids-mermaids, the half-human half-marine creature ones). This idea was initially prepared for chili/zhongchi but it's been sooooooooooooooooooo long and I still haven't done anything substantial for it so I'm borrowing it from myself for myself and tweaking it for kavetham because I figured it could fit them. So here it goes,

Alhaitham is a scientist/marine biologist that moves from the city to a much smaller port town, getting himself a place in a local partially repurposed lighthouse. Kaveh is a merman, who has been dead for a long while and who's been living within local waters ever since he drowned. Alhaitham leads a very isolated life, going through a rather rough patch emotionally (maybe a badly ended past relationship and relocation from an established group of friends to a remote place brought up past negative emotions related to loss that were bottled up for a while. who knows, not me). Anyways, Alhaitham's not doing too well, but seaside walks help him unwind, even if for a short periods of time. During one of such walks, he finds an old pendant washed ashore. He picks up his find, hoping to do some research on it outside of his work time (because research is his fun-time).

He expects this to be a brief excursion into local history. He does not expect to become haunted by the ghost of a man to whom this pendant belonged to way back when.

Kaveh, in turn, is extremely excited to finally, finally be able to get out of the sea to the surface. He intends to stay ashore as long as possible and, well, if he just so gets to amuse himself by haunting a grumpy marine biologist that refuses to believe in merpeople, ghosts of drowned and other supernatural occurences - who's he to say no?

TLDR: this AU can go two ways (in my eyes): the happy ending way and probably more gothic-horror-story-esque ending. So, Alahitham is cursed to be haunted by Kaveh: for a while he's the only one who can see him, with Kaveh being something akin to a ghost. However, the longer Kaveh haunts Alhaitham, the more human he becomes (others can see him, he cannot phase through walls anymore, etc.). The curse in itself goes something like this: the cursed thing, after being picked up/taken in, cannot be thrown away and will always come back. The ghost, tied to the haunted thing, shall haunt whoever picks the cursed thing (the thing should be tied to the ghost, but may not necessarily belong to them) and drain their life energy. The ghost can become free and human again if the haunting goes long enough and they kill the human who picked the cursed object in the end during a very specific time that doesn't occur too often (proverbial blue moon, idk). If they don't kill the human and decide to let them go, then the ghost will seize to exist and the human will regain their strength. (An alternative option to the ghost dying for a less angsty au: the ghost voluntarily takes back the cursed object and returns to the place where they died, but then they will never be able to haunt anyone ever again. The effect of the curse on the haunted remain, but much weaker).

In this case, let's say Kaveh and Alhaitham stay by each other's side from half a year to a year, idk. They grow closer, eventually becoming friends and maybe more (the usual kavetham shenanigans Kaveh falls first but Alhaitham falls harder). Alhaitham's mental state gradually improves, yet overall he becomes weaker because of the curse (to the point that it becomes a serious concern), which Kaveh blames himself for. The appointed time approaches (both Kaveh and Alhaitham are in on the details of the curse), and Kaveh, seeing it as an opportunity to set Alhaitham free, manages to separate himself from Alhaitham. Kaveh is ready to return to the sea/merge with it (ah yes the classic Little Mermaid influence does anybody feel it lol). However, Alhaitham sees through his plan and arrives just in time to stop him. They have a confrontation. Eventually, they manage to lift the curse (as you can see I have not figured out exactly how this can happen but! it definitely can!) with Kaveh becoming human again and Alhaitham regaining his health. The two continue to live together happily ever after.

The other scenario is practically the same, but it's more ghothic? and abstract (and probably more suitable for the og pairing it was made for, but i'll throw it in anyways). I have not engaged with gothic literature much and thus don't have much experience in how it works/how to write it, but the idea is that Kaveh is more of a projection of Alhaitham's grief than a ghost fo a drowned person (in other words, he's definitely a ghost, but his presence is also much more symbolical). The story follows quite similar beats, except the setting of the curse is a bit different: it's more of a "kill first or be killed" thingy with a deadline. Kaveh earnestly tries to drown Alhaitham at first through various means, but the more time they spend together, the more Kaveh sees of Alhaitham's life and pain and feels sympathetic for him. Despite the curse, Kaveh tires to help Alhaitham in various ways; and it works! Alhaitham gradually begins to feel better; the two grow closer to each other (more in a platonic way).

So now the precedent is that though Alhaitham's overall doing better, the curse still preys on him, hindering his life in various ways that become more and more serious/dangerous (the curse's deadline approaches, and it tries to survive the best way it can through Kaveh's influence on Alhaitham). Eventually, Kaveh lets Alhaitham go, merging with the sea (once again, yes, it was partially inspired by the Little Mermaid). Alhaitham realizes what happened and tries to look for Kaveh, but it is in vain.

Eventually, life goes on.

Bonus Elden Ring AU (because guess who suddenly went on a lore video watching spree): Kaveh is a craftsman and one of the inhabitants of Castle Morne who managed to escape before it was overrun by Misbegotten. He's a follower of St. Trina and Miquella (he doesn't follow Miquella at first, but slowly he comes to suspect that the two are one and the same). After escaping from Castle Morne, he finds his way to Jarburg, where he is welcomed to stay and be the new Potentate.

Alhaitham is from a distant branch of Carian royal family and a scholar at the Academy of Raya Lucaria. Quite possibly explored an area of studies similar to Sellen's. Eventually he separates himself from both Academy and his family, becoming a wandering scholar.

The two meet somewhere nearby Jarburg when Kaveh gets ambushed by the same people who were trying to get to Alhaitham. The two fight them off. Kaveh, trying to help injured Alhaitham, leads him to Jarburg. The two continue living together there ever since (not without hiccups, but they're doing their best).

TLDR: this one is short and very simple because I just started diving into the Elden Ring's lore, but I just. Really wanted to make some AU for them. I also desperately wanted it to be peaceful and happy one despite it being a seeming impossibility for anything dark souls/elden ring related, but one can dream. If I were to make this one darker I'd probably expand on the duality of their two characters here, and how Alhaitham probably used to conjure spells on humans (with gaining knowledge being his sole life purpose for a long time) and has challenges with comprehending the world outside of a framework of pure logic, and how Kaveh gets an increasing tendency of escaping to the dream world/wherever Miquella is in order to alleviate his mental turmoil (maybe he witnessed too much during his escape from the Castle), and how the two have opposing perspectives on the idea of worshipping gods, and- like, there's a lot that can be done. But I also just really really really want them to simply be happy together in a jar village, leading a peaceful life.

That's it for now! Thank you for reading all of this, I can't commend your patience enough if you got to the end of this list!!!✨🎉✨

Maybe in the future I will unpack some of these aus. who knows.

[loonybun]

TRICK OR TREAT!

hiii take this thing i wrote a while back!!

contains: faerie whumpee, hunter whumper, abduction (ish), loss of control/autonomy, burning, and implied cannibalism. fun lineup i know.

They poked their head out of the doorway, looking over the unfamiliar living room. Hand-knitted doilies and blankets littered the place, completely covering any furniture. A figure at the other end of the room sat in front of the fireplace, warming a pot of water over it.

Various hunting tools were neatly hung up beside the door, tarnished from years of use.

“Are you feeling better?” The human had turned around. They were facing them now, smiling softly. They only received a brief nod in response.

“…That’s good. You were pretty banged up when I found you. I don’t even know how you managed to do all of that damage in a snare.” They tutted, constantly turning back to look at the boiling pot. “I hope you don’t mind me bringing you back here to patch you up. I figured it’d give you a chance to rest.”

The faerie they’d spoken to slowly made their way over to the door.

“I appreciate your kindness,” they murmured.

Their words made the human smile brightly. “And you’re planning to be on your way?” They tilted their head at the faerie. “The woods aren’t kind to those who wander this far in. You’re sure you can navigate it?”

Hesitation flickered across their face, before they finally nodded. “…Yes, and… Thank you. For saving me.”

“You should repay the favor by staying for dinner.”

The faerie glanced back at them, making firm eye contact for the first time.

They found the abyss looking back at them. A miscalculation.

Their fingers grazed the doorknob, only to flinch back in pain.

“I’m asking you to repay my favor. I don’t think my request was unreasonable.” The human chided them, black eyes gleaming in the dim firelight. The faerie stared for a moment, clutching their burnt hand.

An invisible force drew them in, closer to the stranger. Before they knew what was happening, they were sitting on the couch, hands anxiously gripping the knitted quilt beneath them.

“I don’t want to stay for very long.”

It was more of a plea than a request.

The human took the water off the fire and moved over to the next room, leaving the faerie in agonizing silence. Time seemed to drag on and on until their eventual return. This time, they were carrying a dish of meat and a fork.

Their visitor shifted with discomfort.

“I… I don’t-“ They stuttered, unable to force the words out.

“I know.”

“I can’t-“

“I don’t think you’ll have a problem with it once you try it.” Their captor mused, picking up a chunk of the substance and bringing it closer to the faerie’s lips.

They squirmed away from the fork, but their struggles were cut short when the human forced their jaw open and closed their teeth around the utensil. The coppery taste of too-rare meat flooded their mouth.

The horror of recognition overpowered any sense of relief they could have gained from it.

“I knew you’d like it.” The stranger hummed, offering them another bite.

[slumbers-nightlight]

Hello, everyone! I decided to post an idea that I thought was really good! And I hope that you all like it!

If you don’t then I must ask you to leave as I don’t want you to subject yourself to something that you don’t enjoy.

Please be aware of the following triggers as well before you open this story. A question mark next to a story means that I’m unsure if it’s there, but I felt like it was.

I hope you enjoy the story!

🖤-Potential Triggers!-🖤

Slightly Unwilling Regressor, Platonic Yandere Behavior (?), Things Going Wrong in Space, Kidnapping (?), Implied Nursing, Mention of Disease Spreading

🖤-Please Be Advised!-🖤

Imagine that you’re an Astronaut in the Marvel Universe, and you’re finally being sent up into space. Everything’s great, all systems are good to go and you’re in your spacesuit. You’ve been trained on what to do in every situation.

And once you break through the atmosphere, you see everything. You pass by the moon on your way to your destination, and you can see all the stars.

It’s so beautiful, and you’re doing everything that you’re told to by the command center. It seems like it’s going to be a peaceful ride.

That is until you see a strange energy in the distance, you report it in but they have no clue what you’re looking at. They advise to brace yourself, activate the protective measures, and pass through it as a detour would simply take too long.

So you try to, and the protective measures do activate only for them to not work. You hear the countless sounds of ticking clocks once you enter this strange energy.

Your communications line to earth starts glitching out, and you start to feel… smaller… Your space suit is much bigger on you now than it should be, and it’s only getting bigger. You’re actively getting younger right before your eyes.

Of course, panic ensues cause “What the hell?!”, and trying to will it to stop does slow it down. But much like putting your hand over the end of a hose, it isn’t really stopping it…

Rushing to the communications line, you try to tell them what’s happening. To ask for some kind of way out of this, but the static is too much. All you can hear is “Abort!” among the static.

Thinking they want you to escape, you run over. Nearly tripping over yourself as you do, and strap yourself into it. It used to be so cramped and tight when you would do training simulations, but now it’s almost roomy…

So after a short count down, you blast off in your escape pod. Out of the energy, and hopefully towards earth. But you have no clue where you’re going…

You’re too small to reach the controls for the escape pod now as you realize that you’ve become a baby. Hell, you can’t even talk to activate any voice commands.

You’re adrift in space… A baby in an oversized spacesuit, inside of an escape pod…

The pod flies through space for hours on end, you can’t even keep track of time. All you can see is things pass by through the little window.

You’re alone with nothing, but your thoughts… What was that energy? Do you have to grow back up again? Is earth looking for you?

You don’t know… You just know that you wish these baby instincts would stop trying to make you gum on your hand…

Soon enough though, something happens as your pod finally gets caught in the atmosphere of something… You aren’t sure what it is, but you come crashing down onto its surface…

The resulting force of the crash is enough to shake you quite a bit, and although you don’t want to. You begin bawling like a newborn.

After about a minute, there’s muffled talking from around your pod. You can’t make out what they’re saying, but soon the door of your pod is pried open.

There’s quite a lot of confused talk, and soon you feel yourself lifted out. Your tiny body held closely to a woman with very long red hair, you’re snug against her.

You involuntarily coo as unfocused eyes look at the world around you, it looks a little bit like earth but also different. The people around you appear a bit strange. Does that man have hooves?

“A baby…? From Terra…?”

“Perhaps it’s a peace offering from the humans, your highness…” “Or maybe some kind of trap to spread disease…”

“Disease spreader or not, this baby is innocent… Let us take them to be examined…”

So you’re brought to a medical ward where your spacesuit is removed from you completely. It’s taken to be examined as you’re laid on a table, and very thoroughly inspected.

They check your vitals, make sure that you aren’t sick, and look over every single little thing.

The entire time that you’re here, you’re honestly confused about where you are. This is clearly an alien planet, but you don’t know the name of it or how far away you are from earth.

However the red headed lady from earlier, you heard her be called Medusa at one point, is here with you the entire time alongside what you can only assume is her husband. He looked terrifying at first especially as he didn’t speak, but your mind started seeing him as friendly when he distracted you from a blood draw with a small stuffed toy.

Medusa is talking to him the entire time about why you were sent here, and what they’re going to do with you.

After a while of being inspected, the medical staff gives you an entirely clean bill of health. Declaring you to be a “Perfectly Healthy Human Newborn”.

And once it’s confirmed that you weren’t a trap sent to spread disease or something worse, they decide to keep you. Just until they can figure out what to do with you.

At least that’s what they said… It’s been half a year that you’ve been here on Attilan…… You think… It’s hard to keep track of time when you’re a baby…

The Royal Family has been kind to you, Medusa and Black Bolt have been treating you as if you’re their own baby. Like Medusa actually gave birth to you.

You’ve been sleeping in a bassinet in their room at night, one of Medusa’s hands over the side of your crib at all times. Letting you grab and hold her fingers through the night. Big scary Lockjaw always moving his bed to be right next to your bassinet so he can keep you safe.

During the stage where you were up every two hours, Black Bolt would hold and cradle you through all of his kingly duties. You would have found humor in this big intimidating man holding a tiny cute baby if you weren’t said baby…

Honestly you’d really like to go back to being a grown up now…

It’s not that you don’t appreciate what they’re doing for you, but you had a life back on earth. There isn’t much to go back to, sure as there’s no friends or family. But your job is important…

Plus fighting off all these baby thoughts is getting exhausting… You’ll be thinking about your absolute favorite thing to eat in the entire world, and planning to have it when you get back. Then boom, suddenly a thought of being cradled and nursed by Medusa creeps into your mind.

You’re just glad that you’re at least bottle fed. For the time being anyways, Medusa has been taking medicine.

Sometimes you think that they know that you’re an adult mind in a baby body. You once tried to spell out “I-M A-N A-D-U-L-T” with letter blocks.

You had worked so very hard on it, you were struggling to keep the ability of how to spell in your mind. And you felt proud of yourself once you had finished.

But as soon as you were done, proceed to Gorgon “accidentally” messing them up. You were so frustrated that you started wailing right there and then.

All of that hard work was wasted, but you were soon calmed down by Gorgon holding you. Saying that he was so sorry, and gently patting your back. Involuntarily mind you… Almost like that sort of thing just had the magic power to calm you down… Hm… Maybe it did have magic pow-? Oh look! It’s your bouncer!

Gorgon straps you in, and watches as your worries vanish as your tiny hands bat at the little items dangling above you. He’s just happy that you’re calm again. And distracted enough to not notice Karnak putting away your letter blocks forever…

“Better to have deniability about knowing their correct age than to make it obvious that we know…”

Besides everyone is sure that you won’t miss them as they weren’t even your favorite toy in the first place…

It almost seems like every single day as well, your adult mind leaves you just a bit more. Just yesterday, you were able to identify Lockjaw as a dog as soon as you saw him, and register that Crystal wasn’t related to you.

Today? You accidentally identified Lockjaw as a bear, you registered Crystal as “Auntie!”, and Black Bolt?

Well that’s clearly your Dada, isn’t it? Why else would you be instinctively making grabby hands at him from your playpen?

You might try to fight off these thoughts to the best of your ability, but it’s getting harder every single day. Medusa’s voice becomes a bit more soothing to you, Black Bolt’s embrace becomes more and more comforting, the idea of the big world starts to be a lot more scary for someone like you.

But you don’t have to worry about any of that. Mama, Dada, and your big happy family are right here for you to keep you safe until you’re all grown up.

Honestly part of you wants to accept being their baby, wants to accept being a Little One on this strange alien planet… But you know this isn’t right, you need to go home…

No matter how safe you might feel in Black Bolt’s arms, no matter how soothing being fed by Medusa is, no matter how fun playing with Lockjaw is…

You want to return home… Maybe at least for a day or two…

How can you get there if you can’t grow back up though? If you can’t even crawl yet?

Hm, you’ll figure that out another time… Aunt Crystal just said it’s Tummy Time, and you can’t miss that. It’s very important after all.

Maybe after that? No, that’s when Mama feeds you, then takes you on a short walk outside to look at all the interesting stuff. You don’t want to miss that.

After that…? No, that’s when Dada rocks you to sleep for naptime while he does his kingly duties, and you can’t miss that…

Goodness, you really are busy… Even as a Little One…

You’re sure that you’ll find some time though…

And that time comes when you properly meet your uncle for the first time, Maximus the Mad… You had never met him before this…

He approaches you when Triton is out of the room, and you’re in your playpen. He actually speaks to you like you’re an adult, and you start feeling bigger for the first time in a long time.

You pull the pacifier from your mouth in awe as you look at this man, he says that he can get you back to earth. That he can get you far away from all of this.

Back to your life, your job, your home, your things… All if you cooperate…

Of course you can’t stop yourself as this is finally your chance, your mind is clear from baby thoughts and you might not have another chance like this.

This is your chance to return home, and you can’t waste it…

With a nod from you, he snatches you out of your playpen and takes off before Triton gets back. He rushes you out of the area as your mind races with thoughts, both adult and baby in nature.

Maximus’s intentions aren’t entirely kind though. He just wants you out of the way so that way, he can hope to more easily toss Black Bolt off the throne in the future.

No you after all means no heir, and no heir means no one take the throne over him. Especially not a human. He just won’t kill you. Even he has limits, and killing a baby is one.

So he rushes you to where he was told to simply study your escape pod, and it turns out that he didn’t just study it. He fixed it, and programmed it to take you away back to earth.

Maximus doesn’t waste a single second as he knows that Triton will raise an alarm once he’s back, and sees you missing. So he hurry’s to strap you in, and get you ready.

“Remember to stay hidden… If you don’t then they’ll drag you back here, and all of this will have been for nothing…”

You can’t even attempt to try and babble out a question about becoming big again as he slams the door shut, and you hear the escape pod come to life.

The door to the area is broken by a loud booming voice that shakes your pod as it takes off, it scrapes against the opening in the ceiling as it flies. You can see Black Bolt flying after the pod through the little window for a moment before it leaves Attilan.

Now once again that you’re in the endless reaches of space, you can only wonder how long it’ll take you to get back to earth. Maybe as long as the first time?

And when you look out the small little window, you realize that you were never actually too far from earth anyways. You can see Attilan on the dark side of the moon.

Wait… The pod is getting tighter… What’s going on?

You look over yourself as your onesie rips, and you realize that you’re returning to your normal age. Almost as if being away from Attilan is restoring you to your correct age.

Speaking for the first time in so long feels foreign to you, almost wrong but you can’t help but sing the entirety of a song. You have proper motor functions as well, you snap your fingers and do all kinds of movements you couldn’t before. Nothing too crazy of course, you’re still in a cramped pod in space.

Your teeth are back, and so is your hair. The baby thoughts being pushed to the back of your mind, and replaced with more adult ones.

For once you imagine going to a restaurant without the thought of Black Bolt wiping your face after you eat so messily, and also imagine going to bed in your own bed on earth without the thought of a goodnight kiss from Medusa.

Crashing back down onto earth for the second crash landing of your life, you’re immediately treated as alien life until they figure out who you are.

Honestly nothing is weirder than sitting nude in an escape pod with your hands up as you confirm your identity to people with guns…

You’re immediately brought in for questioning after that about everything that happened, you explain everything but when you try to tell them about Attilan and the Inhumans.

Something inside you refuses to let you go into detail. Won’t let you mention the silent king, the Inhumans, anything about Attilan other than what it looks like.

All you can tell them is about the energy that turned you into a baby, how you took the escape pod and wound up on an alien planet, and how the people there took care of you.

Other than that though? Nothing… You can’t bring yourself to say their names…

It’s almost as if something in you won’t let you speak too much about them to protect your family… Wait, family? No, no, no… They weren’t your family, they were just…

“Oh my sweetest little one… Mama and Papa love you so very much…”

…Them…

Once you’re given a clean bill of health, they keep you for a few days just for medical observation. Then when thats over, you’re finally free to return home.

To a small apartment that felt far more cozy in your memories. Everything is so dusty, and nothing works due to unpaid bills. All your food is moldy too, but at least your job was kind enough to give you a lot of money after your prolonged stay in space.

So once you get everything cleaned, turned back on, and restocked. You’re finally able to relax.

Except you honestly can’t, something just feels wrong about all of this. Your apartment no longer feels comforting, and you can’t explain why.

You try to tell yourself that it’s just because of how long you were a baby, and eventually you’ll get over it. You’ll get over it, and soon you’ll… You’ll be a baby again…

Wait, what? No… No, no, no… You’ll be better again… Not a baby again…

As the days pass by, you try to get back to normal everyday life but it’s a bit difficult. Whenever you’re at work, you sometimes feel like you’re having a hard time understanding what you’re doing.

And sometimes your clothes feel so uncomfortable as well, it’s to the point where you gave up and just bought an adult onesie to wear around the apartment whenever you’re home.

Don’t even get me started on the amount of times that someone has caught you unintentionally sucking your thumb. That excuse of “Oh sorry, I just hit my thumb!” can only work so many times.

You wish all of this would just stop already… But it feels like the more that you fight it, the worse that your mental health gets like your brain thinks that you’re denying it something important.

Eventually you decided to try and just slowly get yourself away from this, you wear your onesie for less and less time everyday. You use a pacifier for less and less time.

It does help, and you start feeling like you’re able to go back to being big entirely… No more baby stuff…

Although there are certain moments where you get stressed or overwhelmed, and feel like you need to be a baby. You suppose that’s alright though.

What? You can’t deny that it helps…

So as the days pass on, you start to move away more and more from baby stuff. You’re completely going back to normal. Just with the occasional slip into baby stuff…

It seems like everything is going to be alright now. Even if you do miss the Inhumans occasionally, but you know it’s all for the better.

After all, if you had stayed with them then you would have remained a baby forever. Possibly with them finding a way to warp your DNA so you were an inhuman just like them.

Then you probably would have never been able to leave!

Thank god for Maximus sending you back to earth…

Besides you’re sure that Medusa and Black Bolt will have a baby of their own, and completely forget all about you. As much as the sheer thought of that makes you want to cry for some reason.

Huh… That’s weird… You feel like you can hear hooves coming down the hall of your apartment complex…

It sounds so much like Gorgon too, but that can’t be it. Gorgon’s back on Attilan with the rest of the Inhumans, and even then… What would he possibly be doing here?

Now you feel like you can hear Lockjaw’s paws against the floor…

It probably wouldn’t hurt to check so you walk over to the door, and just before you can open it. It’s ripped off of its hinges by Medusa’s hair.

You nearly jump out of your skin at the sudden surprise, stress levels at an all time high as “Holy sh*t!”.

Your brain immediately slips into babyish thoughts to try and cope with the surprise, and you try to fight them off as the group comes into your home.

Medusa and Black Bolt looking incredibly relieved to see you as they rush over, and hug you tight. Their embrace sending waves of comfort over you.

“Oh… Oh my little one… It’s okay, shhh… We’re here now… Mama and Papa are here, it’s okay… We have you now… You’re safe…”

Part of you wants to melt into their embrace and let them cradle you snugly in their arms. You feel like not even the strongest force in the world could harm you right now.

But another part tells you to push away from them, to keep being a grown up, and to not let yourself become a baby. To not be dragged back to Attilan.

However your arms won’t let you push them away as instead you simply reach up, your hands gripping at them like you’re trying to feel secure.

Mama and Dada are here… So is Aunt Crystal, the big puppy Lockjaw, Gorgon, Karnak, Triton…

None of them seem even remotely phased by the fact that you appear to be much older right now. Or that you’re walking, or that you’re wearing adult clothes, or that you might be trying to talk.

They all just look happy to have found you, and that you’re unharmed. Karnak steps forward to reassure you.

“Don’t worry, little one… Maximus has been dealt with, he won’t send you away from us ever again…”

“And even if he tried, we’d stop him before he even picked you up…”

And something about that is just so relieving. Is the fact that with Gorgon’s words, you know that Maximus isn’t dead? So he can send you back…? No, that doesn’t sound right…

But before you can figure out why you feel so relieved, you feel yourself being lifted up by Black Bolt. He’s cradling you in his arms just like he used to.

“You’ve spent enough time on earth, my little one… Let’s get you home, alright?”

However just as they’re about to leave the apartment, and bring you back to Attilan with them. You’re able to finally move, you hop out of Black Bolt’s arms. Much to his surprise.

Of course, he tries to grab you again but you put your hands up and tell him “Wait! Just listen!”.

He looks reluctant, but he does stop. It looks like they are going to listen to what you have to say, but some of them also look a bit impatient.

So you do your absolute best to retain Adult Headspace and thoughts while you’re telling them that you’re an adult. That your life is here on earth.

You do appreciate absolutely everything that they’ve done for you, and being cared for them was really nice. But you can’t be a baby forever as nice as it might be.

It’s not hard for them to figure out that you’re very conflicted about all of this based on your words.

So they sit with you, and tell you that it’s fine if you want to be an adult right now but you’re still their baby. Attilan is your home as well as far as they’re concerned, and it’s more your home than Earth.

Especially after you tell them that you have no family here on earth.

This probably starts an incredibly long conversation between you and them. Like one of those long conversations about one topic that just go on for hours.

The Inhumans are saying you should be on Attilan full time even if you don’t want to constantly be a baby. You’re saying that you want to stay on earth full time as an adult or during your moments in Baby Headspace.

Eventually though, you do reach an agreement that seems good enough for them.

You’ll live on earth while you’re an adult, but whenever you start feeling younger mentally. You’ll immediately call them to bring you to Attilan until you’re feeling grown up again.

It’s not really the ideal situation, but it’s good enough.

They stay with you for the rest of the day after that, and do fix your door. And leave you with a tight hug, and a kiss on the forehead. Alongside making you swear to call them if you feel small.

Afterwards they leave you with a way to contact them, a baby monitor in your house just in case, and some of your baby stuff.

So this is how you start your new life.

You continue to work, and be an adult but with a lot of visits from your new family on Attilan. Like sometimes you just come home, and one of them is on your couch.

Living your life as an adult from time to time just like you feel you should, but feeling no shame in just getting small every once in a while.

You use the device they gave you to contact them whenever you feel Baby Headspace incoming, and they come for you. Usually via Lockjaw teleporting.

It turns out as that the effects of the energy that originally turned you small in the first place are still in you. As every time that you’re taken to Attilan, you shrink back into the form of a baby.

Luckily they only sometimes use this as an excuse to keep you longer than normal. Like “Oh little one, I'm sorry… I didn’t see you signal that you were big again…”. Not always but sometimes.

However if something is going on down on earth that they don’t feel comfortable with, they’ll just pop down and snatch you up until things are better.

All for the purpose of keeping you nice, and safe after all.

And when you’re falling asleep in your bassinet, dressed in your favorite warm onesie. Feeling the blanket be pulled up on you by Black Bolt, and feeling Medusa gently placing your pacifier in your mouth.

You feel truly loved, and cared for.

Even if you weren’t born to them, or met them by choice… You know that this is your family…

[snail-speed]

Frieren as a series is so captivating to me because it's the first time in a while I've seen a piece of media be like, so outwardly offended at the notion that people who think/behave differently are in any way comparable to monsters

[justaboutsnapped]

god i love characters that haunt the narrative <- being very normal about next to normal

[thenexuscollective]

I'm actually flabbergasted to realise that there is blogs and people actively participating in syscourse since ALMOST A DECADE./NEG SRS/

I'm not a "both sides are right" guy/DEAD SRS I'm pragmatic and will support endogenic systems and tulpas because unlike everyone in this community I actually grew up wildly disconnected to said community and labels and had the time to look at things unbiased, but seeing someone(s) being willing to fight the same arguments thrown at them again and again is stupid. not stupid, my bad, but it looks tiring.

even with the best interest at heart I find this useless. I would fight for trans rights and any other minority's rights as long as a fight needs to be done and more. but I would NOT do so by damaging my mental health to debate with people that are either not set on changing their mind by choice, or doing so just for the sake of hurting people. I would just throw some links and resources back and forth and that's it.

my point being.

are you guys ok.

my point being.

how fucked up are you to engage in meaningless fights in an emotional way again and again.

my point being.

I know you're fighting to help people. but I don't trust you./srs

seeing someone, not enjoying, but being able to live through such an emotionally challenging and low-key traumatising/damaging moment(s) normally and seek it again and again is making me feel unsafe.

are you doing this to help people or are you just enjoying fighting for the sake of fighting?

I don't trust you.

I don't enjoy infighting.

to be perfectly clear, we are NOT saying that we are not thankful for the resources brought by these people to the community. we are saying that we low-key wish to disconnect from the entire plural community as a whole. yet again.

-sincerely, a traumagenic, endogenic, spirigenic, willogenic, and protogenic, system with mild dissociation.

[free-luigi-mangione]

it's shocking to know how cruelly Luigi was treated in PA especially because on top of all this he was also in solitary confinement

They kept him under suicide watch in the turtle suit as the writer and fellow inmate said. Suicide watch is basically solitary which is already harmful to health taken to extreme.

The cloth is a flimsy plastic one, doesn't keep the cold out at all and they are naked under it. Some prisons would tie people to a metal chair and leave them there, others would not do that but don't give people a mattress or a pillow or at some prisons even a blanket to sleep on. The lights are always on because obviously they have to psychologically torture people in there.

knowing all this, i just feel so so terribly sad for him. he doesn't deserve any of this. he's been a model prisoner. and apart from that one time he tried to speak to media calmly and got pushed around and yelled out so he could be heard and got bruised, he's never been any trouble. and yet, he's had to suffer so much.