#so Me Being Wild And Feral WAS just who i was and how i behaved. it was my character!

[rubberbandballqueen]

you know, i usually look back on my eighth grade self as like, this quirky, Weird Girl(tm) who nonetheless had a network of various accepting friends, but i’m transcribing what i consider to be my most Iconically Eighth Grade diary volume, and i think that “an absolute feral lunatic of a child with a penchance for scraps who miraculously had a group of people who had Bonded with them like a horse girl to a wild mustang” is much closer to the truth

[mtkay13]

Lord Zhou and the Ghost Valley Master Cross-posting because i'm just that wild, hah! /jk More about the art below! --and a little talk about WenZhou and their relationship to power (+ some meta).

So hum, it is no secret that I enjoy a bit of "spice" in WenZhou's dynamic and at times am very prolific on my nsfw twitter account.

Collars and leash stuff have been on and off, and I was recently enabled for more of that by friends going wild about ZZS on a leash, etc, etc. LBR: I don't think you need any reason to go feral about that kind of stuff--but seeing how I myself seemed to regress to the state of a wild horny beast while making this painting, I felt like I may need to adress it a little. Here are some of my thoughts about WenZhou & power:

WKX and ZZS are both men who are/were in a position of extreme power. Both rose to that position of extreme power, but from very different starting points and motivations.

ZZS was, from what we know from how he describes himself in TYK and from how he behaves in QY, a very smart, cocky, ambitious kid, who probably deliberately sold his services to HLY to keep rising. There were probably ideals mixed in that, but point is, ZZS desired that power, that influence, and was encouraged to reach it. Becoming a sect leader so young was probably a shock, but nothing indicates that this position wasn't wanted. ZZS also mentioned not having a physique as advantageous as ZCL's when he was a child; so he probably had to work hard to reach his goals. Point is: the power was desired and strived for.

WKX has, without a doubt, needed the power, without ever really showing any pleasure nor satisfaction in having it. Surviving in the GV =/= reaching the top; if anything, becoming the GVM put the largest target on his head--but it is likely that reaching the position of GVM was necessary for him to execute his plan (find the key, pull the right strings, obtain his revenge). WKX was a little genius who didn't want to study, and probably wasn't dreaming/aiming for power. Conclusion: the power was a necessity and a tool. Many various characterisation points/analysis/dynamics can be pulled from this, and it is quite interesting to explore how, later, their relationship to power can evolve, both re:the rest of the world and each other. For the following personal analysis, I also worked with the following points from the book:

ZZS admires WKX's strength and power

WKX seems to have multiple fantasies of control and domination

ZZS seems receptive to many of them (including the biting, the somno stuff, and the cnc suggestions)

WKX admires/envies/resents ZZS' freedom

ZZS has fun becoming a subversion of his past self (swearing, being gross, being ridiculous, being openly cocky)

WKX is a control-freak and is very patient

ZZS is a bit conservative

WKX quite the opposite

Now how does that bring me to ZZS on a leash for the GVM?

(note that this is my current conclusion, not the conclusion)

I like to think that on the one hand, ZZS is that man who sees himself as a man and enjoys a lot of things about masculinity. The power that he likes for himself, he also enjoys seeing it in someone else's hands--he likes fighting for it, but (and this is a very personal interpretation) I like to believe he gets the most thrills from being overpowered; because it shows how strong the other is, bc it subverts whom he is himself. The power he's fought to get, has had all his life, but ended up leaving him alone at the top, feels good when taken from him--or when there's someone strong enough that he isn't alone up there anymore. On the other hand, I feel like although WKX would benefit from relinquishing some control and power, he does enjoy using it in a personal, pleasurable way, rather than by necessity. While he probably likes toying with presentations, with appearances, and doesn't mind being perceived as the wife, as the more submissive one in their fake-traditional relationship play of husband and wife, having the power, holding the leash---simply out of pleasure and mutual satisfaction is, I think very cathartic and arousing for him.

But then, why precanon? For the aesthetic bc I'm a simp for TC!era ZZS. And because showing him so strong, so powerful, yet leashed, is kind of a reminder that... It's not about real power. It's not about who, between them, is the strongest, the most powerful, the winner or whatever. It adds that thrill, the aknowledgement that this is out of freewill and choice and pleasure, I guess.

On top of that, man, I'm sorry, but peak TC!ZZS right post-QY canon after he's become the most powerful man in the country but is completely jaded by what happened in the end? On a leash? For a man he respects?? ugh

Anyway TLDR; I think it's hot and all of that gibberish barely has anything to do with my actual motivations to draw this.

[bokettochild]

Febuwhump Day 18

@nancyheart11 you asked me for a Twilight Whump for this one, so I did my best! He wasn't talking, but it's a little tastier with the spice of another perspective >:)

I hope you enjoy!

Rating: Gen

Wordcount:

Summary: They talked about wandering off alone, but that doesn't exactly stop certain people (AKA Twilight) from not doing it again. Maybe Warriors is taking it too personally, but Mask's pup is giving him a headache. He just wants all his little brothers safe in one place, is that too much to ask?

(Note: I have not proof written this. My apologies, but half my keys aren't working, so typos are probably there.)

-

  They do not run off alone, they just don’t! It’s not so much a rule as something that everyone understands, so why in Hylia’s name is it still so hard for the others to actually do? Warriors resists the urge to hiss at himself; he is not Mask or Wild, he is not a feral little creature that can’t use his words, but by Hylia’s Wings does he wish he could get away with it sometimes! 

They’d talked about this! Not at length, and yes, his opinions had been very quickly dismissed in favor of discussing the ability of their enemy to shapeshift, but he’d expressed his disapproval with running off alone in the middle of a battle! 

But who really listens to him anyway? 

No, the captain stops in his tracks for a moment to shake off that thought, that’s not fair. Most of the other heroes listen. For Wind it’s second nature, and Time too, most days, listens without thinking about it. Even as an adult, the other respects his experience in leadership and knowledge of fighting and working with others. Four, even for his faults when it comes to actually working with and not simply around other people, still hears him out when he speaks. Sky and Hyrule both respect him for his title of knight and the work he’d put in to earn it, and even Legend, who despises soldiers, will respect his decisions and follow the plans he’s set. Yes, there's some disconnect, which is to be expected when working with a new team of people that aren’t accustomed to each other just yet, but they’re trying. Most of them are trying. 

Twilight and Wild are their own story. 

The captain’s teeth saw against each other as he ducks through the underbrush, following the faint trail left by big paws and the even bigger tracks of a moblin. How can a person be so determined to keep others in line and behaving, to keep others in the group safe and obeying the rules, and yet they themselves trod all over them? 

Granted, he is also currently separate from the group, wandering off alone, but he’s not the only one and everyone else knows what he’s doing. He’s tracking Twilight while the rest collect themselves and make camp. Wild had offered to do it, but after the last time, he just can’t trust the kid to actually come back; Wild’s proved where his loyalties lie, and it’s with the rancher, not their group. When asked to make the choice, they all know what it would be. 

He told the champion to stay. 

He doesn't know if he’ll be listened to, since that’s also the other point of struggle here, but he’s done all he can. He’s a good tracker, used to picking up the slightest sign of enemy activity, and his reasoning of being their current medic and thus the best choice in the case Twilight had gotten injured in some way, seems to be reason enough for most of the rest. There’s offers of course, to have someone go with him as backup, but looking over the tired men and boys in camp, he turns them all down. They need the rest, and time to recover from their own injuries and exhaustion. As a soldier, he’s been trained to push his limits, his exhaustion, his pain, his physical abilities, and ignore all barriers until his assignment is completed. The others may be heroes, ones who’ve faced odds that soldiers could never imagine, but they’re not likely to have experienced that sort of pressure and he wouldn’t want them to. 

They need their rest. He can get his once his duty is done. 

Now if only Twilight wouldn’t make it so hard by having wandered off to Nayru knows where! 

A hand drags through his hair, disrupting it, but it doesn’t matter. Yes, there’s a small voice that hisses to fix it, one that sounds a bit like Proxi, but these heroes care even less for how he looks on any given day than for what he says.  

Still being unfair, Link. They aren’t all bad. They’re good kids. 

Sure, they’d probably all take offence at being called kids but that’s what they are! The youngest are very young and even Time, their eldest, still looks to him through force of habit for guidance and aid. At most, he’d say the oldest most of them could be is twenty, early twenties for the rancher and skyloftian, but that’s still young enough to still be tripping over themselves in an effort to understand adulthood. They are, in his mind, still kids, and they’re mostly good ones, so he really can’t go lumping them all together as not giving a darn when they very much do. Not about his looks, thank Hylia, but about what he has to say? Most definitely. 

Again, it’s just Time’s pups who don’t. 

Goddesses, they take after their old man to an extreme level! It feels like just yesterday he was chasing down the little scamp, explaining the importance of comradery, of trust, of teamwork. Just yesterday, he was tilting brilliant blue eyes up to meet tired ones and asking, nearly begging, for the kid to please just give his way a chance. 

He sort of doubts such methods will work on his kid’s much older pup though.  

Twilight and Wild are similar in that they are stubborn, but they’re also much older than Mask had been, and neither is desperate for the stability the young boy had sought. They have Tie and each otehr, their own little bubble, separate from the rest of the heroes, and while both have an obvious respect for his skill, that’s about where their respect for him ends. They don’t look up to him, don’t admire him, don’t see him as anything more than another hero in their group, which is nice as far as not needing to babysit them goes. He’s glad that they don’t need him to keep an eye on them, that they’re stable enough mentally and in their perception of themselves that they don’t need someone else to support them, and if they do, they’ve already found that in each other. Still, having even the smallest of ways to get through to either of them would be nice. 

He’d thought that experience with the army would help connect him with the champion, that maybe a bond with Time could be something he could connect with the rancher about, but so far, no dice. 

His feet skid slightly on some leaves, bringing his attention back to the task at hand. Right, he needs to find Twilight. He can worry about driving home the idea of not running off alone when he’s sure the other is still alive. Granted, they didn’t see the black lizalfoes, or anything they think might have been another form of the beast, in this last battle, but it doesn’t take the most powerful of monsters to lay a hero low, especially if they don’t have anyone to watch their backs. 

The paw prints change to boot prints with the same seamlessness as they’d become paws at the beginning of the trail, and blood, crimson not black, spatters on the ground in an arc that indicates a swinging blade right where the moblin’s feet shift into a spin to face its pursuer. The trail of blood falls to the left of the trail, which means it could be delt by the left-handed hero or by the opposing monster, but considering the sudden turn, his money is on the rancher being the injured party here. 

By habit, his hand falls to his bag, assuring himself he’s got his med kit close at hand. 

By the three, these boys could save themselves so much pain if they just covered each others’ asses! Next time they get to the ranch or any place where they can stop for a little, he’s asking Time to help him arrange a training session for these kids. Maybe with their unofficial leader’s support, he can even get the two pups in on the session. As is, he’s sure Wind and four will be willing, and Sky will most definitely be his most valuable asset in teaching them. Good grief, whatever the Knights Academy on Skyloft is teaching, they're doing a great job, because that boy melds seamlessly in with whomever is closest to him!  

That may or may not be why he keeps close to the skyloftian, but who can blame him for wanting the assurance of having someone to watch his back when he’s so busy trying to keep an eye on all the others all the time? 

Twilight could have used the same, and blood specks along the trail as he goes. The steps become distorted, shuffling over each other in what’s clearly a break from the chase to fight. Here though, seven or eight paces from the initial blood spatter, more footprints join the mix. A bokoblin- no, two of them. The rancher’s steps disappear for a short moment, but with some looking around he finds them again. A flip or a throw landed him behind his foe, but he’s pushed back, heels dragging as they shuffle backwards into the woods as the enemy presses forwards against him. 

More tracks join the mix; an ambush. 

He grits his teeth, pushing forwards, ignoring, for the most part, the trail of the monsters in favor of following boot prints that press heavily to the dirt at the heel and toe, running, now pursued rather than the pursuer. The rancher will have known to try and limit the area of approach from his foes by darting into the trees. At best, he’d have circled around to pick them off from behind, but the prints don’t indicate as much. The speed of the different monster types will change have changed the tides of the fight though, with the bokoblins moving faster, prints fading out entirely as they likely fell and faded to miasma, leaving behind a moblin trail that continues, joined by more of its kind. He’d estimate at least three, maybe five of the creatures.  

Not great odds for one already injured rancher. 

He picks up his own pace. There’s no sounds of battle ahead or anywhere close by, not that he can hear. Granted, cannon fire in the war has definitely damaged his hearing enough that he could just be missing it, but he chooses to believe that there’s nothing, if only in the hope that Twilight will somehow be headed back along the trail towards him already, instead of being even further out, still in the middle of a fight. 

He doesn’t stumble across the rancher walking along the path though. No, he follows the fight, the footprints, trailing through the trees until there’s nowhere else to go. A wall of earth, steep enough to be a struggle to climb for anyone currently being chased, rises up and the footprints spin about to face those following after. He doesn’t keep track after that though, because the moment he sees fur and brass armor that catches the fading light, he knows his search is done. 

“There you are, rancher.” 

The urge to steal Time’s thunder and call the other man a pup- not with the affection of the now older man but with all the ire of its original connotation among his own people, is strong, but he resists. That would be considered out of line without context, and he doubts Twilight even knows the source of the nickname he so values from his mentor. 

Knowing it means a young person who’s annoying but not yet unbearable, yet, would probably kill some of that magic. 

So, he bites his tongue, keeps his impulses to himself, and moves to the side of the younger man, who’s currently slumped against a tree, breath strained but still there as dark eyes, a shade or so darker than Time’s own, flutter slightly with an effort to stay open. 

“Cap’n?” 

Darker or not, there’s definitely a lot of Time- of Mask, in the rancher’s face, and it makes staying mad with him a bit of a challenge when he’s looking so pathetic. “Got yourself in quite the situation, haven’t you,” he hums, kneeling at the younger’s side and taking his time with a once over. The rancher’s tunic has taken damage, but his concern is where crimson leaks from the tears, not where blades have slashed through only to be halted by chain mail. Yes, the bruising won’t be fun, but his concern is something he can fix, anything that Twilight will actually need help with. 

There’s a wince from the other. “Not my intent.” 

“Never is,” he unclips the bag from his belt, eyes falling on a nasty looking gash just below the cut off of the chainmail’s sleeves. There are some light scratches over browned features and an injury to the leg that leaks slowly into the earth below, but the rancher’s armor looks to have done its job well.  

“The others?” 

“Fine.” He keeps his attention on slipping the bracer from his brother’s arm, on unbuckling and sliding away the leather, the underlying glove, and then rolling up the sleeve to get at the injury he needs to treat. Wound care fills his mind, not answers, not talking. That can come once he’s assured that the other is alright. Much as the man drives him mad, he’s still Time’s kid, and still a fellow hero, still a brother, still someone who doesn’t deserve to suffer just because he’s particularly good at being stupid and reckless. 

“Wild?” 

“Fine.” He repeats, sucking in his cheeks as he sees the damage done without fabric blocking the way. Claws do so much more damage than blades, and the chances of infection are higher too. Not as much as with bites, but it’s still not preferrable. 

“The kids?” 

He huffs, turning to grab for his kit, looking for anything he might have to quickly clean the wound. “You’d know if you didn’t run away mid battle.” 

Hurt crosses sloping features briefly, not for the prodding at the wound site, but from his sharp tongue. Regret stirs briefly at his heart, but like his ire, he pushes it down to keep his head clear and his mind focused on his work as their team’s current medic. 

“Yer upset.” 

The urge to tell the kid ‘no shit’ is very strong, but he bottles up that too. Instead, he keeps his eyes on the wound, on wiping it down and looking for anything that might have gotten into the cut.  

Twilight’s ears flick back, not appreciating having his words ignored. If there’s one thing the rancher is accustomed to, it’s answers when he speaks. Wild always answers, Time too even if it’s not verbal, and the younger ones always respond to. Being met with silence, both verbally and in body language, must be new to him. “Did somethin’ happen?” And when he still doesn't answer, “Wars, what’s goin’ on?” 

“They’re fine, now hush.” It’s a deep cut. Not as bad as the axe wound, but not light by any means either, and it will need stitches. He keeps his needles in a bottle, clean and ready for use, for this reason. Mask used to fuss that it was a waste of a good bottle, and the thought lightens his heart just slightly as he pulls it out and grabs the needed supplies to close the wound in the rancher’s arm.  

“No, Wars-” there’s a straining from the body beneath his hands, but Twilight doesn’t successfully pull himself up, and his face flashes white for a moment before he slumps again. It seems the mighty rancher has spent all his strength in fighting alone, nothing left to use to so much as sit up by himself. 

“Stay still,” he sighs, pushing down, entirely unnecessarily, against a shoulder. It’s for the sake of the man’s pride, he tells himself, to pretend to play along that twilight can get up on his own right now. “Let me work.” 

Work and bottle up his frustrations enough that he can talk afterwards. 

Twilight, however, has no such intentions of likewise staying silent. “Captain, what’s goin’ on?” 

“I said stay still.” 

“Are they hurt?” Blue eyes bleed worry, the same desperation his mentor used to let slip, sometimes still does when it’s his pup in trouble or hurt. “What happened?” 

“Nothing.” 

“Why are you actin’ like this then?” 

The urge to growl again rises, and again he shoves it down with pursed lips and clenched teeth, focusing his energy on starting the stitches and hoping the pain of them will be enough to distract the younger man from his line of questioning. It doesn’t work though. 

“Wars?” 

“Twilight,” his voice snaps without his allowing it, eyes flicking up to meet midnight blue, “I’m trying to focus. Stitches aren’t easy, believe it or not.” 

They’re familiar and he’s done more stitches in his life through human flesh and zora scales than his baby sisters have in their needlework projects that Maither gives them. He won’t admit that though, not if it gives him an out from having to talk. Honestly, some days, he really misses having Proxi around to speak for him when he’s stressed. She was always much better at that sort of thing than he was. 

Twilight falls quiet at his words though, but he still feels those eyes fixed on him, searching his face even as their gaze is broken with a flinch or a huff of pain as the needle pressed through flesh and pulls the two edges of the cut together. He has to stop a few times to dab away blood and clear the area for the next stitch, but he’s quick about his work. In and out, twisting the thread together to close the wound, moving on to the next stitch and watching as the flesh pulls together again over where blood leaks out. 

He's done before he’s ready to talk again, but bandaging is something they’ve all done, and he can’t say that actually takes so much focus as to stop him talking, and Twilight knows it, already pressing again with the questions. “Wars-” 

A scoff escapes, puffing hair out of his eyes to clear them, even though having it to hide behind would be much more preferable. “You really are Time’s pup, aren’tcha?” 

A tick. “What does that mean?” 

He ties off the ends of the linen wrap, tight enough to hold but not so much as to cut off circulation. “You’re a worrier and a fuss pot.” 

Heavy brows crease in answer, but Twilight doesn’t actually have a foot to stand on when it comes to opposing his words. Instead, the rancher just stares at him, waiting until Warriors turns his attention to the injured leg, arm finished. 

It’s only once he’s gotten a start on treating the cut there (this time from a blade) that the rancher’s voice rises again, guarded and wary. “You’re mad at me,” 

He doesn’t answer. 

Rather than guess why, Twilight pushes ahead. “I couldn’t let that moblin escape. We don’t know what’s out here, and letting it terrorize a village jist wouldn’t do. You know that, Wars.” When there’s no answer though, the country accent keeps rolling, pitching slightly, straining. “There was a whole ‘nother camp out here, one that might have attacked us in the night!” And then, when still no answer sounds from his lips, “You would have done the same.” 

“I would not.” He clips, snipping his thread and briefly glancing over at wide eyes. “I would have attended to my men and then pursued the enemy when we, as a team, were capable of doing so Wandering off on my own is what nearly lost us the war. So, as a rule, I won’t be doing that again unless I absolutely must.”  

That shuts the rancher up, recognition dawning in midnight eyes that falter and fall as he turns his attention back to tending wounds.  

There’s no more pushing done by either party, and it’s quiet as he works save the hisses and hitches of the younger man’s breath in pain as stitches are laid and bandages wrapped. That done though, the quite is almost overwhelming, even to him, and he finds himself sighing at it, crouching before his pup’s pup and resisting, with a lot of effort, the urge to hook a finger under the other's chin and lift that gaze to meet his own, like he’d done with his own kid what feels like only yesterday. Instead, he keeps his hands to himself, but gentles his gaze all the same. It’s not that hard, not when faced with familiar features drawn up in a soft scowl that, were it Mask, he’d teasingly call a pout. “I’m not mad,” a disbelieving look meets his own at the words, but he pushes his tone a bit firmer with the next ones. “I’m frustrated, but we can work over that later, preferably after we’ve all had dinner and some rest. For now, we should head back to the others, before your cub starts thinking we’ve dropped off the face of the world or something.” 

A furrow forms between dark brows, too sharp teeth, wolf teeth he muses to himself, gnawing at the other's cheek lining. It’s a bad habit, and he’s sure the man knows it, but he doesn’t correct it. That’s not his place. 

He can guess what’s troubling Twilight though. “Can you stand?” 

A huff, a little smile that’s flustered enough he can guess the answer. “Not really.” 

He knew it. He doesn’t hold it against the other though, instead, shifting to kneeling at the man’s side, shuffling about as he must before giving a waring of his intent. “I’ll carry you then.” 

Alarm flashes clear as day over the rancher’s face. “Cap, I don’t-” 

“I’m stronger than I look,” he assures, although it doesn’t seem to do any good. No doubt, twilight’s staring at his slighter frame and remembering his own bulk, but honestly, he’d served for years in the army. If he couldn’t haul an injured soldier any distance, he wouldn’t be worth the rupees he earns. 

Getting Twilight up on his back with no help from the weakened rancher or anyone else is a bit of a mess, and there’s some slipping and struggle which the rancher no doubt sees as proof that this is no good, but despite protests, he keeps at it until the other is slung over his back. Twilight is heavy, much more so than the other boys would be, but it’s not his first time hauling an Ordonian to safety, and the bulk of his brother just means he moves a bit slower than he would otherwise. 

Twilight’s grip around his neck is weaker than is ideal, but in the long run, it’s probably better that way, because it means his breath doesn't get cut off as he heads back to camp. 

Like he said, once they’re there, when they’ve had something to eat, and probably after the rancher downs a potion from his cub’s bag, they’ll need to talk. This time, he will not accept having them change the subject or redirect. This time they will discuss going off alone. 

After though. After they’ve had time to catch their breath. And he supposes, shaking his head, after Twilight wakes up again from the doze he’s apparently fallen into. 

Good grief, the man even snores as loud as his mentor! 

[coralinnii]

You don’t have to do this right away but Part two for idia? Its okay if you dont feel like doing it, just remember to rest and take breaks!

"If you are a villain, then let me be your accomplice"  feat: Idia genre: drama notes: sequel to “being reincarnated into a new world as the bad guy” Idia ver., roughly 1.2k word count, mentions of blo*d, d*ath, and life-threatening situations, is there a gn equivalent of a himbo? cuz slight himbo!reader energy, unspecified beasts,

Finally, it’s here! The long-awaited villain/ess au sequel to the final housewarden (sorry Idia and Idia simps). Admittedly, this is not so much romantic as more fleshing out of their story :p whoops. I might make a continuation of the aftermath of this but I felt like this is a decent stopping point for now. 

Since accepting his growing feelings with you, Idia has been on an emotional roller coaster where he likes being around you but being around you makes him nervous to the point of almost puking. He finds himself glowing, both metaphorically and literally whenever you drop by and it doesn’t help when you seem to enjoy his personal space, seeing as you always bring yourself into said space. 

He knew that if he voiced his discomfort, you would make your best effort to distance yourself but the mere idea of that doesn’t make him feel too happy either. He’s grown accustomed to seeing your eyes sparkle at his new innovations, your warmth as you scoot closer to him on the couch, your voice when you share your random thoughts and questions

“Have you ever dreamt of your own death?” 

Ok, maybe he’s not too accustomed to everything you say

For a while now, you’ve experienced dreams that seem to burn themselves into your memories, forcing you to remember every detail as though the world compels you to. These dreams showed you snippets of life that seemed so real and scarily bears similarity to the real world. Your dreams foretold events in the near future which used to scare you to the point you begged your siblings to stay with you at night, assuring you it meant nothing. 

In truth, you wondered if you were given a strange and powerful gift but one thing about your visions stopped that train of thought. In your dreams, you tend to behave and act in ways you never would. The you in these dreams was spoiled and mean, especially to the Shroud family which you could never bring yourself to do in a million years. Because of that, you assumed your strange visions to be your imagination going wild. An alternative reality that didn’t happen.

But for the past few weeks, you were visioning your terrible end taking place in an expedition alongside your brother. You saw yourself perish at the hands of a feral beast with your brother then seeing your sister cry over your body and proclaiming to avenge your deaths, believing it to be the doing of the Shroud family. 

“What a strange dream, right?” You laughed in hopes to play off the absurdity of it all. “It’s just that…I've been seeing that dream more often now. I guess I’m more nervous about the expedition than I realise”

If it were someone else, you may have been considered strange or even going crazy. You thought Idia would see you that way or at best, try to convince you that it was nothing more than a wild fantasy, like your family does. 

But Idia was not a typical man. 

To be fair, you were not a typical person to him either. If it were anyone else, Idia wouldn’t care less about their troubles or at best, do the bare minimum to get them off his back. But it was the person who unknowingly stole his heart and watching you visibly affected by your disturbing visions persuaded him to seriously consider your words. 

“Tell me everything you saw” 

And lucky he did.  

Your father taught you a lot of things. How to swing your sword with gusto, to grit your teeth and dig in your heels when anticipating a blow, and to stand your ground no matter the odds. But he never told you how painful a racing heart can be or how loud the sound of blood rushing through your system is. Although, you supposed you can forgive him since he would never want to imagine you coming face-to-face to a deranged beast as your own blood blurred your vision. 

During your expedition, you and your siblings encountered a group of disorientated beasts and while this was nothing new to you, these creatures were more unpredictable in comparison to your previous encounters with this species. It was as though they were fighting something internally and your squadron was unfortunately caught in the crossfire. The large beasts were demolishing things in their vicinity, indiscriminately knocking down anything and anyone without care. 

Their unpredictable attacks ultimately led to one of them taking a vicious swing towards you and your brother, sending you both over a tall cliff with the large beast tumbling after from the force of its own attack. 

You vividly recalled this scene, as it was foretold in your dreams. You were trapped and wounded with your brother unconscious after taking the brunt of the attack when shielding you. You willed yourself to keep a strong grip on your sword. If your dreams truly turn to reality, you and your brother will meet an untimely end here. 

“Great heavens, give me strength to protect my brother” you prayed as you took one more long breath before letting out a feral roar. 

You ran full speed towards the rampaging beast, putting all your strength into your swing to sever its leg, hoping to incapacitate its movement. Unfortunately, your depleted strength and eyesight left your attempt with a sizable wound but not enough to deter the giant. 

Your blood has now ran cold as you realise the severity of your situation. Partially blinded and hurt, you were helpless in front of the deranged beast. Your tears mixed with the blood that cascaded over your eyes but you thought there was no use in wiping away the mess on your face. 

In your fearful madness, you thought you might as well make your last moment memorable. You turned your head towards the sky, intending to stare at the beast with as much defiance, refusing to show fear towards any foe. 

But something was odd 

Since the encounter with the beasts, they were nothing but aggressive monsters, agitated and reckless in motion and action. Every moment with them was spent defending yourself from their endless attacks. 

So why does it seem peaceful? 

Even with a wound on its leg, the beast’s body was relaxed like it was in pure relief from whatever was ailing them. If you weren’t just glad you’re still alive, you might have been a little offended by the lack of interest the beast had on you. 

With the rush of adrenaline slightly fading, you started taking notice of your senses a bit more, your injuries were being recognised, you felt the burn in your legs from the stress…and you felt a strange sensation on your wrist. 

Looking down, you found the source to be the beast radar device made by Idia. You found it strange since it wasn’t nearly this hot even when you first came in contact with the beasts earlier but now, the device was evidently warm and you could sense an aura-like energy being emitted from it. You weren’t confident but you wondered if Idia added something more to your device. And it was affecting the beast before you.

Daring to test your theory, you slowly stepped back from the beast, angling your wrist further from the beast, observing the facial changes of the creature. True to your hypothesis (but unfortunately so), the beast’s body started shaking as though something unpleasant had returned to it. You wanted to celebrate your eureka moment but acknowledged this may not be the best time. 

Then, like a gallant warrior, a figure appeared seemingly from the heavens and with a swift motion, speared the beast’s head from above. The creature let out a final painful roar before crashing down before your feet. You looked above to see your sister perched atop the beast, covered in sweat and blood. 

Your sister jumped from her position and ran to you, encasing you in a tight embrace. You noticed how your sister was shaking with palpable fear. 

“You’re alive. Thank the heavens you’re both alive” your usually level-headed sister cried into your sister as she wrapped her arms tighter, which you’re impressed she still could. 

Although, you were grateful for the embrace as you felt your legs give out under you from exhaustion. Your sister worriedly called out your name as she supported your weight but incredibly, you just let out a laugh. 

Against the odds and contrary to your haunting dreams, you were alive. 

Was it strange you thought of Idia when you realised that? 

[lets-try-some-writing]

I've eaten up all your feral!Orion content and it's SO GOOD!! Do you...have any thoughts on feral!Orion and Megatronus???

I do love me some feral Orion. So of course here is some more for you dear anon!

Previous part here.

The Terror of the Pits

Megatronus met Orion in a rather simple way. Orion Pax came down from the upper echelons of Iacon to ask him some questions about his ideals and beliefs. While not normally something he would entertain, Orion had a look in his optics that Megatron knew well, the gaze of a hunter. Thus, intrigued with the archivist, he allowed an audience... then two... then three... and before long he was having bi deca-cycle meetings with the head archivist.

Orion was well educated in all manners and knew far more than he likely should have about anatomy, methods of making mecha "disappear", and how to get out of arrests and assault charges. Not only that, but Megatronus noted nearly immediately the fanged denta the archivist had and the slightly clawed digits that he sported. At first he thought them mods or upgrades made for appearances sake, but upon meeting Ratchet around the time Orion began associating with him regularly, those thoughts went out the window.

He watched on in total bewilderment as Orion went from normal mech™ to possessive nightmare fuel straight from the deepest pits of Cybertron in under a Klik whenever Ratchet turned up. Orion did not play games when it came to his medic and Megatronus was quick to stay the frag away from any action that Orion saw as a threat. He was there to observe the archivist nearly shred a gladiator after the mech in question made an inappropriate comment toward Ratchet and since that cycle he never again judged Orion based off his appearance and kept himself in line.

Ratchet was off limits and that was fine in Megatronus's book. Orion was a good companion and grew to be an excellent aid in his efforts. Thus he could easily overlook a little hyper aggression on the archivist's part. He was content to merely observe Orion's little habits and keep himself out of them, however he should have known that as his and Orion's friendship grew stronger, so would Orion's tendency to act out of the norm.

It was small things at first, a simple lingering touch here, a slight growl there, and the odd instance of Orion stepping in front of him almost protectively. That was it for a while and despite being odd, it was nothing worthy of much note. They were friends and gladiators tended to behave similarly when they felt the need to make a point. Of course then Orion seemed to get bolder and those small things evolved into something more.

Next thing Megatronus knew, Orion followed him fragging everywhere when he was in the pits visiting. The archivist was not as tall as him, but Primus his field made up for the lost height easily. Orion took no slag and made himself to be Megatronus's personal guard even though it was completely unneeded. The younger mech was not afraid to size up gladiators nearly double his size nor did he hesitate to begin growling and making a show of himself with flared plating when he felt Megatronus was in any sort of danger.

It was odd, very much so. However when asked Ratchet simply shrugged and offered the truth like it wasn't the strangest thing of the century.

Megatronus: Why is he like this? Is he perhaps malfunctioning?

Ratchet: No, not at all. He's just got active base coding.

Megatronus: Orion Pax? The archivist? Who hurt him badly enough to have him acting on base coding?

Ratchet: No one. According to Alpha Trion he came straight from the wilds and the coding has just stuck.

Megatronus: Then all this-?

Ratchet: Its a sign that he cares. You get used to it.

It was worrisome at first, but Megatronus let it be. Orion could be as wild as he wished so long as he didn't cause any wars or civil unrest. Thus Megatronus also overlooked the scratches that were most decidedly not from battle that he found carved onto his back almost as boldly as a "kick me" sign. He got a bit of mockery for it from his fellows, but that mockery quickly evaporated like smoke when his archivist threw himself into the arena during a particularly tense fight and practically mauled Megatronus's opponent.

Orion was downright feral as he latched on and dug into his enemy with enough strength to have Megatronus considering weather or not Orion was a civilian or not. Of course what terrified him most was how Orion's mouth seemed to open far larger than it should have as he bit down on the other gladiator's neck all while his optics widened so impossibly that it was frightening. It took three separate mecha to get Orion off Megatronus's opponent and even then it also took Ratchet to calm Orion down enough to peel him off where he had practically welded himself to Megatronus's side.

Orion Pax was from then on known as a terror in the pits not to be trifled with. Not a spark dared go anywhere near Megatronus with anything but pure intent when Orion was around simply because there were also a few incidents reported to him by Soundwave of Orion hunting certain mecha down to leave ominous dead things on their porches.

It just kept escalating as their friendship grew and eventually Megatronus grew to appreciate the little things Orion did. He liked the way Orion wrapped his field around him and he greatly enjoyed the random gifts Orion brought. They were always a tad ridiculous, but he was proud to weave the bits of plating Orion collected from his foes into a charm that he wore when he wanted to make a statement. And while a little more irritating, it was rather humorous to have Orion go out of his way to bring Megatronus his energon for him and only after checking for contamination.

It was almost like he had his own attack dog, but Orion was far too clever to be awarded such a pathetic title. No, with the way he would hunt down those he thought wronged Megatronus with a vengeance? He deserved the title of Terror of the Pits.

In the end Megatronus took great pride in painting Orion's armor a few vorns after their meeting and proclaiming him an honorary gladiator with how often he somehow managed to kick the afts of his fellows during spars. Orion was a challenge the gladiators liked to face and Orion was always calmer after getting down on all fours and going wild against the heavily armored gladiators who could take a great deal more of a beating than the soft little city mecha.

Good times.

Megatronus never forgot those simple days and had a great deal of fun making bets with Ratchet regarding who Orion would fight and who would win. Ratchet usually won, but Megatronus told himself it was because Ratchet had known Orion longer.

[15-lizards]

I'm not the genderswap Robb ask but can you genderswap the rest of the stark children? Fashion or not you're just so good at headcanons

Anon can we kiss

Male Sansa you are so beloved my sweet boy. The heir to winterfell but everyone thinks he’s a little bit ridiculous bc of his adherence to gentlemanly, frivolous southern customs despite being the future warden of the north. However he’s still courteous and charming enough to win over his fathers men. So he’s the odd one out but everyone still enjoys him. All the girls love how much of a sweet gentleman he is, and they love to watch him ride gracefully, dance gracefully, and spar gracefully. However he can be a bit snotty at times, despite his good intentions. So this means he frequently buts heads w/ Arry bc he doesn’t behave properly for his rank. Begging his father to betroth him to the princess (Joffahina? Idfk) so that he can become king consort and live in the south like he wants to, which Ned reluctantly agrees to. And we all know how that turns out…

Arry my bad ass little kid who I raised…also I know he’s aged up but Harry Gilby is so perfect for this idk just imagine him as a child. A true wild Northman, he fits in more than his brother does, but he’s not as physically imposing as others, nor does he respect authority enough (which is very northern behavior in some cases, but also very disrespectful in most others). He’s the classic ASOIAF unruly second son. Everyone’s headache, constantly shrugging off his duties to go riding or sparing or exploring, ignoring social conventions to make friends with every kitchen boy and serving girl. Thinks his brother is a stuffy ass of course. Once his brother gets engaged to the princess, Arry is suddenly the new heir. Goes south to court and avoids every betrothal his father tries to make for him, learning the braavosi style with his dancing teacher instead. Once all hell breaks loose he certainly has A Time trying to get home and eventually going to Braavos to shrug off his identity as heir to winterfell to become Nobody

Baby Branwen my child. Curious and stubborn little girl who isn’t quite at the age where she needs to start acting like a proper lady, leaving her mostly free to climb and explore and generally do whatever she wants. She’s quite taken with the idea of how the queen became a renowned female warrior, and has dreams of becoming one too someday, begging her father for riding and sword lessons, of which he only gives her the first at the moment. Her fall ruins the widely expected idea of ever getting her married, and her own idea of becoming a warrior, thus leading most people to believe she has become a generally useless burden. After her and the Reeds escape from winterfell and beyond the wall, she starts leaning more and more into her greenseer and skin changing abilities with aid from the three eyed raven, but despite this slow loss of morality she’s still just a scared child

Tiny Rina. Not much to say besides the fact that she’s still a feral three year old. No big changes from her male counterpart. However she IS riding back to winterfell on that damn unicorn I am making that canon in my head.

Joanna Snow the most hard headed ambitious stubborn teenage girl in the world with a superiority AND inferiority complex she’s everything to me. Doubly ignored and scorned for not only being a bastard but a female bastard. Useless in Westeros’ eyes. To her she only has one option, and gets shipped off to like an “elite” woman’s fighting force instead of the wall but surprise surprise this place also sucks balls and it’s still as cold. It’s mostly full of other bastards, former prostitutes convicted of crimes, and third and fourth daughters who didn’t want to join the faith. Total asshole at first but is eventually ride or die for most of her girls and the organization they’re in bc she is nothing if not loyal to her word.

[highlifeboat]

Cause this AU got me by the throat and I love expanding on ideas with you (going off the assumption this is her more lucid/less violent times):

1. How's Max's mom handle daily life with the Dimitrescus? Her kid just casually having breakfast with cannibals, working for one, trading snide remarks and somehow not getting killed/attacked for it (Cass wants to, Mel just gives her a look to behave more in front of Max's mom - Max may take advantage until his mom scolds him for rudeness, even to a cannibalistic nightmare)?

2. You know the maids have gossiped about Max before, how is his mom handling that? Especially since some is true?

3. (Potentially little angsty) Oh God is Cass gonna tell her about some of the "dumb shit" (in her mind, honestly pretty horrifying for a parent to hear) Max has done while dealing with trauma?

4. Does she ever witness one of the midnight escapades (Mia being feral, group snack time, etc) and how does she respond?

5. Is Daniela trying to become her mother in law's favorite? Is she succeeding?

6. Does Max admit that Mel is his best friend?

Oh, I’m SO GLAD you’re liking this because I’m living for it rn.

ANyway

1 . It definitely takes a little time before his mom is somewhat comfortable around them, and even then it’s just… bizarre. Everything she knows about the Dimitrescus is that they’re merciless cannibals who will eat anybody that even looks at them wrong but… here they are. Eating dinner together like a normal family, with typical family banter going on. That her own child is taking part in. Him trading snide remarks with Cass especially scares her a little. Daniela tries to reassure her it’s fine “They’ve only fought once in the last month!” This somehow does not help.

Life really isn’t as… wild, as she would have imagined living with one of the Lords to be. There’s definitely moments of things being said/done out of pocket that’s clearly just normal for them, but overall it doesn’t feel any more chaotic than her own family.

Alcina and Mia try to be accommodating, and she actually makes decent conversation with them (dare she say she thinks they could almost be friends). Elena and Melony are both very sweet, she’s still not entirely sure what to make of Bela and Cass, but Bela’s been very polite and respectful, and Cass has been nice, if brutish. Daniela is very sweet. So, y’know, for a family of people eaters and their somewhat normal S/O’s they aren’t bad.

Looping back, Melony is definitely making Cass hold back from saying her usual snarky comments in front of Max’s Mom. On the flip side, his mom is also making him hold back negative remarks because “You shouldn’t be rude.” (Cue the “Sorry, mama…” “Good. Now apologize to Cassandra.” “*....Sorry Cassandra.”, to which Cass would chew him out for later. If Melony didn’t also make her apologize.)

2 . In terms of rumors/gossip, I feel like that’s something she isn’t entirely… surprised by, at the very least. It just largely depends on what type of gossip it is.

Even while living in the Village Max was pretty… not secretive about sleeping around with women, so hearing maids whisper things about him sleeping around wasn’t exactly a revelation. Of course there are exaggerations. Things that are clearly just rumors spiraled out of control. She can deal with those (though it does bring back some… less than fond memories of being harassed for having a “Whore (insert slur) daughter”)

There’s also… other gossip. Debates about his gender, whispers about his mental health, general mutters about his relationship with Daniela (mostly if it’s even real or not), something . Some of those are a little… harder to ignore. But Max seems to simply wave them off because “I don’t care what a bunch of idiots call me.” (which she’s pretty sure he’s said word for word years ago as well). She wants to talk to him about it, because she can tell it bugs him at least a little, but he doesn’t want to and she can’t make him. Even if she is his mom. She just reaffirms how much she cares for him instead.

It still bothers her, in all honesty, but she knows not much can be done about it.

3 . There’s things Max has done that Cassandra definitely classifies as “Just fucking stupid” despite it being part of a series of ongoing problems for him having no self preservation, that maybe she and some others don’t fully realize is super serious. Because not everybody knows how bad Max’s PTSD/trauma is and that it’s part of the reason for why he does certain things.

I can see Cass, when his mom asks about how he’s been doing, telling her about how he once “fell over the banister railing” in the main hall and landed on his face, or one of the many times he was shit face drunk and passed out and they almost thought he was dead, or literally any of the several instances of him getting into an “accident” that “could have killed him”. While his mom just sits there, horrified, and incredibly concerned for her baby boy’s well being.

Bonus points if Max is in the room with them (maybe cause he doesn’t fully trust Cass to be nice), trying to laugh this stuff off as “Haha, yep, I sure am stupid.” but silently freaking out because he can probably count at least 3 of those stories that were actual attempts on his life that he just failed at. But he doesn’t wanna bring down the mood or concern his mom.

I think the two of them have to have a conversation about that.

4 . Once. She’d gone to the kitchen for water, brought a candle for light, walked in on all Mia, Melony, Elena, and her own son all gathered around shoving snacks into their faces. They immediately noticed her, stared, Max said “It’s a coping thing.” Suddenly she wasn’t thirsty, and she turned around and walked back to the guest room with a muttered “That can’t be sanitary.”

They’ve never brought it up after, but she thinks about it sometimes.

She has seen Mia be feral more than once, though. She has no clue what her deal is, because Mia’s pretty normal like 90% of the time (Still a little weird, but normal compared to everything else). And then she’ll just see her perched on a chair devouring a bushel of grapes and a whole loaf of bread or something. At this point she chooses not to question it.

5 . Daniela definitely gets the “Must impress boyfriend’s mom” mentality real fast. Despite Max constantly saying “She already likes you, you’re fine.” Daniela is determined to be the best daughter in-law. She’s constantly trying to help and do whatever she can to stay on his mom’s good side (and maybe doesn’t realize she’s being a tad overwhelming)

To her credit, though, she probably actually is her in-law’s favourite. Cass is too much of a bully towards Max (well, and in general) for his mom to really like her, and Bela is… Bela. She’s very well mannered, but also just kind of awkward and stilted. Daniela is still weird, but she’s much easier to talk and get on with. If she had to rank them favourite to least it would be; Daniela, Bela, then Cassandra.

6 . I like to think the way Max was introducing everybody was like “This is X and she's pretty cool.” or whatever.

And then he gets to Melony, gently puts his hand on her head and is like “This is Melon Ball. You’ll love her. Kind of my best friend. She’s basically a sister to me at this point.” Which is not something Melony has ever heard him say out loud.

His mom thinks it’s cute her son has a little (haha) friend. (She likes Melony a lot more than the people he used to hang out with)

[klonoadreams]

Well, considering that I'm coming out of not being able to move my dominant hand for a long time (I couldn't draw cries), I'll ask questions.

Also-ran Will Brie have interactions with other characters? (I'm talking about characters like Red, Blue, Gold, Green, etc.)

Publicity is important, and considering that she wears clothes from a brand originating from Paldea, would they invite the little changeling to Paldea so she can talk about something? I could also give talks to children who feel abandoned (something quite common, but not said, at least in the anime, Brock and his brothers are a great example, even if that is in Kanto)

At some official gala/event she said "what the hell" to the repercussions and just took off her shoes?

Considering everything about how people try to imitate her idols, what have been the waves in the population in trying to follow her and be equal to her? (the girl is feral, she is made differently, even if they managed to give her a life outside the forest)

How would she behave if she went to Alola? (her parents are pokemon, and Alola is one of those who most see pokemon as equals)

Into the wild Do you know the "El Macho" meme from Despicable Me? is that Volo? (he has a son with what I think is one of your wildest ocs, she fishes with her teeth!)

The Wisteria Does she also show her love with bites? (like when cats get affection overload)

What would her future relationship with Shinjuro be like? (because, you know, alcoholism, even though he left it that's how she met him)

Does the Cat stay with the Owl? What is her ship name?

Would she plant a tree like the one she had in the backyard of the house? (because of the symbolism and familiarity)

Gone Fishing I feel like I know her but at the same time I don't, any information about her?

Will she be one of those who hides or will she send everything to hell with her and not care how people look at her because she is proud of her? (because, you know, racism)

I feel like her clothing style is that of a surfer and/or swimmer, I also feel like she dresses like Nani from Lilo and Stitch? (Also, Nani is a goddess, she gave everything for her sister, and David is a loving person, I also adore him)

I'VE BEEN STRUGGLING TO ANSWER THIS ASK BUT TUMBLR MOBILE HAS BEEN SCREWING ME OVER BY GETTING RID OF MY STUFF BEFORE I HAVE A CHANCE TO SAVE FOSKFNNF

ANYWAYS.

yes, brie will have her interactions with others, and as a reminder, Alola Noa and Scarnoa are also in this same continuity, so...lmao :V

Sawyer might pop up, I need to cook more with her first before I come up with an answer. And Punch Baby Akari definitely did exist, her bloodline continues lmao

She'd get along with the Pokemon of Alola so, so well, especially qhen interacting with the Tapus.

AND YES I KNOW EL MACHO, LMAO, yeah that sounds about right.

Andou does show love through bites, watch out. And the Cat and Owl shipname would be idk, Sunflower?? That sounds cute.

Andou sticks around close enough, though she will move in with Himejima, she just bounces from one place to another for training and socialization.

Shinjuro needs to pspspps for kitty to warm up to him. It'll take a while, but eventually. And yes, plant tree for Fujisaki house. :V

Mako is still a babbu, but she is very feral and a brat kid who drives her papa up the wall. But she is love and cherished. And also pretty fucked mentally since she's matured wayyyy to quickly for anyone of her physical age (its the discrimination and injustices)

Also yes, she'd vibe with Nani wear, tho she mostly sticks with comfy clothes.

At least until Nami and the others get to her, so she goes from shorts and t shirts to haltertops at the least, brought to you by Nami growing tired of her dorsal fin ripping the back of her shirts lmao.

She's the ship dress up doll at times lmao.

Otherwise, she keeps to herself unless otherwise. She checks for the right timing, if she sees it, she'll take it and say whats on her mind

Mainly when she knows she isnt alone to face the backlash lmao

[demonsfate]

Okay, hear me out: feral Devil Jin. Still evil and sadistic, but more animal-like and unpredictable + possibly non-verbal.

Funny enough! While I still make DJ verbal, I do write him as "animalistic." I'd have to go searchin' for 'em, but I believe I even wrote about how, if you really think about it, DJ isn't evil - he's just evil in human standards. I write DJ more as this animalistic being who depends more on instincts. It's my HC as to why he hates humans so much, and enjoy their suffering. It's just what was wired into him; as Azazel created him to be a "tool" to punish humanity for their betrayal. Therefore, he created DJ to loathe humankind and view them as "prey."

I also hc that's why he didn't kill Heihachi when he first awoken - because he was running off instinct (the instinct to survive, and therefore flee the place that brought him harm)

And I also sometimes base my depiction of him, as well as how his body functions, off birds! Particularly the vulture. Like the vulture, DJ has stronger stomach acid (hence why he can eat bodies raw) - and by association, this also applies to Jin lol. DJ is also more likely to coo when relax, and (don't tell him I told you this) does enjoy his wings being pet and "misted." And plus I also make the joke (but it's also very true!) That like a wild animal, he can easily take anything as a "threat" and attack the person should he feel threatened.

For my own depiction, I hc that he does start off far more animal-like than human and unpredictable, perhaps even a bit non-verbal at first. But the longer he's "conscious" the more ""tamer"" he becomes. Especially by the time he takes over Jin's body and the Zaibatsu then plunge the world into War. However, as I've also mentioned - even though he behaves more "human like" during this time - he was still too inhuman to be convincing, and perhaps that's one of the downfalls of why his war ended badly for him.

But yeah! While I may not go all the way as some peeps like to hc! I do definitely support looking at DJ as more of a creechure than treating him like a human!

[destielshippingnews]

Edvard's Supernatural Guide 2x04 Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things

Spoilers us to Supernatural 15x17 and Buffy 6x07

This episode brings the ‘Dark Dean Arc’ to a close (sort of) with the show’s first zombie episode. Zombies were not originally the reanimated, flesh-eating corpses first presented in Night of the Living Dead, but originated from voodoo folklore. A voodoo zombie is a reanimated corpse used as a slave by a powerful wizard. The Romero zombies which have been a staple of horror fiction since 1968 are a blend of this idea and the pre-Victorian era idea of a vampire.

I discussed this in my analysis of 1x18 Something Wicked and referred to the different varieties of vampire in Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire (to my shame, I have not read the following books yet). There are the Stokeresque vampires such as Louis, Lestat, and Claudia who are highly intelligent, as well as the vampires of the Theatre des Vampires, but in comparison to them are the ‘wild’ or ‘feral’ vampires Louis and Claudia encounter in far eastern Europe. These vampires had nobody to guide or ‘train’ them upon their awakening from the dead, but rather were left to crawl out of their own graves and haunt the forests and villages preying on people. Echoes of strigoi are easy to hear, and it is this mixed with the voodoo zombie which gave rise to the modern zombie.

Zombie!Angela – the reanimated woman – is not much like either. She is nobody’s slave, nor subject to anybody’s will as her voodoo counterparts, but rather she is an embodiment of grief, bereavement, and survivor’s guilt. This is precisely the role of the dead in Stephen King’s Pet Semetary which Dean so aptly references: survivor’s guilt is as good as a revenant which gets angry, violent, and ends up wanting to kill us.

Given Dean has recently been resurrected and his behaviour becomes more distressed and traumatised, the parallels between him and Angela should be blindingly obvious. She is an extreme version of Dean, as Gordon was in 2x03 Bloodlust, but whereas Gordon revealed the damage Dean could do to other people, Zombie!Angela’s most important function is revealing precisely how much Dean wishes he were dead. The end of the episode has Dean staking Zombie!Angela back into her coffin (a nice reference to strigoi lore) and growling ‘What’s dead should stay dead’. Dean regards himself as dead, and his staking of Zombie!Angela was his suicide by proxy.

This is the pinnacle of the ‘Dark Dean Arc’ as it shows the viewer just how deeply recent events have effected him. Other than this, Dean’s behaviour in the ‘Dark Dean Arc’ do not generally stand out to me as being especially ‘dark’. Chainsawing the vampire to death in 2x03 was a perfectly rational act, as was concluding the Greek professor resurrected his dead daughter. I understand what the writers of these last three episodes were trying to do with Dean, but in my opinion they have not quite succeeded: he is clearly not doing well, but he is not as ‘scary’ as Sam claims. This comes later with everything he does in 2x20-2x22.

One of the reasons, perhaps, why the metaphor of Zombie!Angela sucking the life out of plants and goldfish around her and killing the people who wronged her does not quite land with me is because Dean is not doing any of these things. He did go from 0-60 in two seconds with the professor when he (understandably) concluded the professor in Ancient Greek had used Ancient Greek magic to resurrect his daughter, but Sam’s antagonism and insistence Dean behave in a way convenient to himself is far more consistent and aggravating. This is another instance of the show telling us one thing but showing us something quite different.

Maybe I simply relate to his perspective too much, but he is not ‘being as ass’ as he says to Sam: an abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is completely normal. Call me a turd in Dean’s butt if you will (who else’s butt would I want to be a turd in, after all?), but the problem here is not Dean’s behaviour so much as it is the complete lack of stability and support in his life.

Sam relies on Dean to be the older brother / father figure who makes decisions and whom Sam can blame when things go wrong. Sam ‘loves’ Dean, but only when he is about to lose him: Sam needs the semblance of stability Dean can give him, but nobody is around to provide Dean support or stability. Bobby eventually tries, but forces poisonous expectations of stoicism, repression, and self-sacrifice on him, i.e. ‘I’m sorry your feelings got hurt, princess’ (after Sam tried killing him in cold blood in 4x21 When the Levee Breaks). Dean is supposed to be the strong one, the stalwart for everybody else. He is the centre, and when he cannot hold, everything else unravels.

If Sam cared, he would hand Dean a hammer and say ‘Go smash cars in Bobby’s yard. Get it all out. Smash up Baby if you need to as well. This appears to be how you need to process your grief, so get to it.’ He would not patronise and undermine his brother by trying to turn his bereavement into a foundation-level psychology lesson. Rather than being harangued in the middle of a suburban street like a naughty little boy, what Dean needs is somebody he can rely on to be strong for him when he needs it.

Considering his recent bereavement, he is still perfectly competent to lead an investigation by himself whilst his brother is pooh-poohing his every decision, treating him like a child, and generally being completely tone-deaf and myopic.

Somebody is going to write an essay about how I blame everything on Sam at some point, aren’t they? Great.

Having said that Zombie!Angela is a Dean mirror in this episode, it will not have escaped my readers’ notice that it was Angela’s lover who brought her back to life, not her father. This is an odd choice by the writer to reflect Dean’s grief at losing and being resurrected by John. I am quite sure it was not intentional for the writer to imply such things, but since Dean and John are being paralleled with a romantic couple (Zombie!Angela’s willingness in said union being unclear) my mind is going to back to my essay on John’s abuse of Dean and the show’s subtle implications of sexual abuse.

With that disgusting thought firmly in your mind, let us continue discussing Angela for as moment. She begins the episode crying about her boyfriend Matt whom she caught cheating on her with her flatmate Lindsey. What we are shown, however, is that Angela seems mighty intimate with Neil: their hand-holding in the cold open was decidedly not platonic. She was broken up about Matt cheating on her, but she does not appear to be the poster girl for faithful monogamy either. This is followed by the most horrific part of the episode – Matt entering Neil’s house uninvited without taking his shoes off! – only to find Angela has scarpered. She gives Matt one final lachrymose phone call, then crashes and dies.

And that, children is the moral of today’s episode: don’t text and drive!

After 1,400 words, it is finally time to get onto the episode proper. The first scene after the opening credits shows Dean and Sam in the car discussing visiting Mary’s grave. Sam wants to visit, Dean does not. Sam’s rationale is that is has some meaning to him, which is fair enough, but as with previous episodes his grieving seems very paint by numbers. To be fair to him, he has never done this before (Jess? Never heard of her...) and appears to be using conventionally-accepted, formulaic displays and actions as his way of coping in the hopes it will get him through it. As I said in 2x02 Everybody Loves a Clown, it looks like he is putting on a bit of a performance, and he comes across as very immature. I will allow this because nobody should be expected to be mature, rational, or even tolerable at all times when grieving.

Dean is against the idea of visiting Mary’s grave because it is not Mary’s grave. It is just a headstone erected by a family member he has never met in memory of a woman who burnt up on the ceiling and left no remains to be buried. This is also perfectly acceptable and understandable, and Dean should not be expected to go to Mary’s grave. This is completely fair, but it is also fair for Sam to want to. Dean seems to understand Sam’s rationale perfectly well, but does not want to say ‘visiting Mary’s grave would be too painful for me, so I’d rather stay as far from it as possible’.

It is understandable that Dean be irritable with Sam in the car precisely because Sam is being irritating AND trying to get Dean to do something he does not want to do, but Sam should be allowed to go visit his mother’s grave without Dean’s grumpiness. Sam’s claim that ‘nobody asked you [Dean] to come’ was utterly hilarious, by the way. Sam, my brother in Christ, Dean is the driver.

(I watched this episode after watching the first four episode of The Winchesters, and Mary’s death hit different after that. I liked Meg Donelly instantly as Mary, and Drake Rodger won me over as John. The story takes place in an alternate universe to Supernatural, so that Mary and John is not the same Mary and John from Supernatural, but still… I can understand completely why Dean does not want to visit his mother’s grave.)

Dean is right to say that the grave is meaningless, but funnily enough Sam is also correct to say it is meaningful, but it is only meaningful because Sam gives it meaning. Mary is not buried there, but it is the place Sam wants to go to show his respects for her, and that means something.

I named a star after my friend last year. It does not, of course, mean anything. There is no official ESA or NASA database which will record one particular star in the constellation of Aquarius as being named ‘Thomas’, only databases owned by private companies. The star named Thomas in my database might be named Jamal or Sakura in other databases. But the constellations we know in the sky are just the ones from Ancient Greece, and the names of the stars and planets from Ancient Rome and the mediaeval Arab world. They are not the same as Sámi constellations or Aboriginal names for the stars, so this is nothing new whatsoever. I have given that star meaning, and it does not matter than other people might see it and call it Nipple or Foreskin. For me, its name is Thomas and you can try taking that from me if you really want to.

At the graveyard, Dean stumbles across a gravestone which says 'Loving father', and after giving it a telling look, finds a dead tree surrounded by a ring of dead grass and soil. In almost uncharacteristic stupidity, Sam refuses to believe it could possibly have anything to do with the supernatural, insisting instead that the perfect circle of dead grass and the dead tree in the graveyard their mum is ‘buried’ must have a perfectly mundane explanation. This is obtuse, facetious, and downright dumb. Evidence of the supernatural was right in front of Sam’s dumbass eyes, but he was too intent on being Mr Smart Smart and undermining Dean’s assessments to even entertain the notion that the obvious abnormality in front of him was abnormal.

He does exactly the same later in the episode when interviewing the Greek professor, Angela’s father. Dean inquires about whether the professor has seen anything strange etc, to which the professor response is ‘I see her everywhere’. Dean’s supernatural senses are tingled, but Sam essentially says ‘Shut up, Dean’ by claiming ‘It’s perfectly normal’ to see your dead daughter everywhere… in a universe where ghosts actually exist and both Dean and Sam have decades of experience fighting them. If Sam’s skills in psychology were not clearly languishing somewhere in lower remedial, I might suspect him of conscious gaslighting.

Dean – Sam is sure – is simply searching for a supernatural explanation for a natural phenomenon so that he can feel in control of something and have something to fight. Getting Dean’s paw in his face after trying to psychoanalyse him in the car park in 2x03 Bloodlust clearly did not teach Sam that treating one’s bereaved brother like a dehumanised test subject is gross, as he does exactly the same in this episode, twice. The first time does not end well for Sam, as Dean does not stand for his crap in this episode.

I noticed long ago that Demon!Dean was not actually all that bad at all: the only reason other characters wanted to turn him back to Human!Dean was because Demon!Dean knew how to say ‘No!’ to other people and was determined to live his own life on his own terms. That fits with my assessment here that Sam’s biggest problem with Dean is that he will not behave in a way Sam deems appropriate and comfortable. Dean responds to Sam’s nonsense with appropriate anger, and Dean’s anger is not uncontrolled rage, but rather cold and scary. Sam question ‘Are you sure this is about a hunt? Not about something else?’ is met with a cold-eyed, calm ‘What else would it be about?’ which was clearly a German Shepherd growling at a chihuahua. Sam, however, does not know how to read Dean nearly as well as he thinks, as his ‘pfft’ reaction was the exasperation of a parent dealing with a petulant, stupid child.

Dean had wasted no time in finding out who was buried in the plot of dead land, and their next stop is the aforementioned Greek professor, Angela’s father. Dean is understandably suspicious from the moment the professor opened the door, but Sam of course is determined to be a combative contrarian and dismisses Dean’s suspicions as mentioned earlier. The visit at the professor’s home turns up nothing tangible (though perhaps Angela actually HAD been lurking around his home after being resurrected, this is never made clear), but attentive viewers will catch the fact that, after the professor says ‘Family’s everything, I’m lost without her’, the camera cuts to Dean. This coupled with Dean confession to Gordon in 2x03 Bloodlust that ‘I’m not alright’ and that there is a ‘hole in him’ tell us quite a bit.

Please remember also that Gordon exploited Dean’s vulnerability to control him rather than acknowledging and helping him with it. Dean was a tool for him to use, just like with John.

Moving on, Sam’s obnoxious, bloody-minded blockheadedness finally becomes too much for Dean to deal with in the motel room afterwards. He wants to dismiss Dean’s suspicions yet again by claiming ‘You’ve got a patch of dead grass and nothing else. ...There’s no reason for it to be unholy ground.’

I can only stare at my screen in utter bewilderment at this line of argumentation. Why would there need to be a reason for it to be unholy ground for something to be unholy ground?

Dean: I found a dead body!

Sam: What do you mean ‘you found a dead body’? There’s no reason for the body to be dead. You’re making stuff up.

Holy ground can be unhallowed, unconsecrated, or generally made into unholy ground. Why does this need explanation? And ‘dead grass’? It was a perfect circle of dead grass and a dead tree connected with a fresh grave. Is he serious? Is he really being serious? Even Scully was not this sceptical: she would not have concluded it to be a supernatural event, but she would surely have conceded there was something wrong.

Forgive me if I sound like a broken record, but Sam has really been trying to get the most out of his foundation psychology course and has been treating Dean as his guinea pig to analyse for weeks, if not months. What Sam should do is be like the rest of us weirdos and write a blog. And learn to read the room.

Then of course comes a moment Deancrits LOVE: Dean gives Sam a look which could easily be interpreted as anger, to which Sam responds ‘You wanna take another swing at me, go ahead…’ Of course, this line has also been used to justify the claim that Dean regularly beat Sam, or at least used the threat of it to control Sam. However, this was clearly a reference to Dean punching Sam in 2x03 Bloodlust, and not to any history of abuse at Dean’s hands. In my ears, it sounded far more like ‘you’re stupid and can only work through your problems by punching things’, or perhaps ‘What’re you gonna do, punch me again, you brutish oaf?’ because we all know Sam thinks Dean has the IQ of, well, a squirrel.

As in my analysis of 2x03, I will ask a few questions: does Sam act like he is scared of Dean using violence against him? Does he show fear of Dean at any point? Does he show Dean the same obeisance, obedience, and deference Dean showed John? No, he does not. And would Sam continue his frankly disrespectful pestering of his elder brother incessantly for weeks if he were scared Dean would use violence against him? No.

Dean’s response to this is not to punch Sam, but to shake his head and leave the room. which looks like long-suffering exhaustion and offence. Sam clearly has an image of Dean in his mind, and is incapable of seeing the real person standing in front of him. I can relate.

Dean will get his moment of vindication soon enough, but first a short scene involving Angela’s boyfriend Matt getting killed. His death is off-screen, and the viewer does not get a clear view of the attacker, but the reflection in the screen and the video paused on Angela’s face tell us clearly enough that Angela has somehow killed Matt.

Dean uses a card to gain illegal entrance to Angela’s home and ends up interviewing Lindsey, Angela’s ex-flatmate. He is clearly competent enough to do this kind of thing alone, and insightful and perceptive enough to eventually work out that Lindsey might have been the one Angela’s boyfriend was copulating with. This of course, makes it satisfying when Dean gets to rub in Sam’s face the fact that there is a case for them to solve, and that Dean was, in fact, right. ‘Sam, I know how to do my job, in spite of what you might think!’

Does Sam offer a proper apology for his behaviour? Nope, of course he does not. He says ‘I’m sorry’, but his behaviour does not reflect the sentiment. In fact, he goes on to be just as contrarian in 2x05 Simon Says in refusing to believe Dean’s assessment that Andy is not responsible for the killings, but more on that later.

One also wonders why exactly Sam was so quick to hide the fact he was watching porn from Dean. Whether or not Dean is really into sex as much as the show tells us he is, shaming or mocking somebody for watching adult entertainment is hardly something he would do. ...One also wonders why Sam did not lock the door if he was watching porn. Maybe he enjoys the idea of getting caught.

Dean and Sam conclude Angela has become a vengeful spirit, and decide to burn her remains. However, there are no remains in her coffin, but this is when Dean finds the Ancient Greek symbols on the inside.

They conclude Angela’s dad the Greek professor is behind it, but before confronting him, they go to the library to do some research. The viewer is not shown this, but Dean brings it up during the course of his conversation with the professor.

This conversation between Dean and the professor is supposed to be the apogee of Dean’s bad behaviour in the episode (or at least so the episode TELLS us). He is combative and hostile to the professor from the outset, and gets aggressive, ending by shouting and getting threatened with the police. This is the only part of the episode where Dean’s behaviour is out of line. It was rational and sensible to conclude that the professor was the one who resurrected Angela based on the evidence he (and Sam) had available to them, but the evidence was circumstantial and indirect. Dean jumped the gun, but his reasons for doing so were also understandable: John had brought Dean back to life after he died in a car accident, so it stood to reason that another father would resurrect his dead child after she died in a car accident.

However, the professor was a stand-in for John and Dean started taking his anger out on him. I see this as traumatised behaviour from a severely damaged man, but that does not negate the fact it was antisocial, threatening behaviour on somebody else’s property.

Once more, note the reference to Stephen King’s Pet Semetary, a story about revenants as an embodiment of bereavement and survivor’s guilt eventually killing the living. Angela is like one of the revenants in that book/film, but as much as I have stated repeatedly that Dean’s behaviour is not that bad overall in this episode, I can see that if he were to continue down the road he is on, he may well become a real danger to himself and others. Dean’s statement that ‘what’s dead should stay dead’ is both a reference to Angela AND himself, after all.

On the subject of Sam, he did have a difficult job in this scene. Perhaps he had also reached the conclusion that the professor might be involved, but had to be a counterbalance to try keeping Dean calm. He was right to focus on trying to keep Dean under control in this scene, and if he had not, there is a chance things might have got violent. Might. Annoying and contrary as he is in this episode, he actually did a good thing. However, he was so certain that the professor had nothing to do with Angela’s death, but based on nothing. Dean was absolutely correct that the flowers being alive does not mean much: the professor could have been keeping her otherwhere. Sam’s insistence the professor is ‘innocent’ is naïve, but in this instance Sam was actually correct.

Dean’s reason for making the conclusion he had was undoubtedly coloured by the fact he was positive John had resurrected him. This maybe blinded him. Perhaps he knew straight-away that John’s death was linked to Dean’s resurrection, and maybe even suspected it was a trade. Misguided and potentially dangerous as it was, it is understandable that he would not be able to see anything else. It is like when you lose a friend to suicide, and then stay in an empty, exhausting ‘relationship’ because the other guy has all the warning signs of being a Prime Suicide Candidate.

After diffusing the situation and getting Dean out of the professor’s house, Sam thinks it a good idea to harangue his brother in the middle of a suburban residential street whilst the police are apparently on their way. This dumbass decision is even stupider when we remember Dean has been a wanted killer since 1x06 Skin, no thanks to Sam and Middle Class Privileged Girl allowing him to take the fall for the shapeshifter’s crimes. Sam once more insists upon bringing up John’s death after weeks or months of Dean asking him not to and clearly finding the subject aggravating. ‘If you bring up Dad’s death one more time,’ Dean says while clenching his fist, ‘I swear…’

I know I give Sam a lot of flak for his incessant badgering of Dean to grieve in a way Sam wants him to, or to have conversations Dean does not want to have, but I am not so myopic I cannot see that perhaps Sam needs to have these conversations, and has nobody else to have them with. Sam is always very involved and up in other people’s business about their problems and emotions, but rarely talks about his own in any way. It is not Dean’s responsibility to do whatever Sam needs him to do at the expense of his own integrity or comfort, but Sam likely needs some reassurance from his elder brother, the only person he really has left who will not reject him.

Sam himself says he is scared of losing Dean in this very scene, and that is the only thing which gets through to him. Dean remembers he is needed and that somebody at least cares about some parts of him, and that cools him down a little. Alas, it is only when Sam believes he is at risk of losing Dean that he shows he cares in any way. How much different would things be if Sam were less like a nagging fishwife and more like an actual adult mature supportive protective brother.

Is that enough? Can I go back to either blithely ignoring or heaping scorn on Sam now?

Moving on, the show soon reveals that Angela has indeed been resurrected by somebody at the university, but rather than Angela’s father being the culprit, it is Neil, the ‘friend’ from the cold open. Dean and Sam soon find this out when – based on Dean’s insight from Lindsey’s diary (or ‘journal’, they seem interchangeable here) – they turn up at Lindsey’s flat just in time to rescue her from a vengeful Zombie!Angela. Dean and Sam do not take long to work out who resurrected her, and this leads them to discover her hiding place in Neil’s basement. This is where Dean finally concludes that Neil and Zombie!Angela are making the beast with two backs.

After meeting Neil at his office and letting him know they know, Dean notices the dead plants in the office and concludes Zombie!Angela is somewhere very close. Dean talks loudly about his and Sam’s plans to cast an antispell at Angela’s grave, ensuring she hear him wherever she is, then urges Neil to come with them. When Neil refuses (and his lack of protestations that Zombie!Angela is ‘alive’ is confession enough that he is responsible), Dean compels him to leave as quick as he can, but not to make ‘any sudden movements’.

Of course, Neil dies almost straightaway after Dean and Sam leave, and if Angela was anything like as clingy and suspicious as Zombie!Angela, I can see why her ex wanted to get away from her.

Jokes aside, Zombie!Angela’s murder of the man who resurrected her is an expression of Dean’s anger at John for doing the same to him. Dean is angry at John, an anger he believes he will never be able to truly express or receive restitution for. In 2x01 In My Time of Dying, he was ready to die and was a hair’s breadth from moving on. He was almost peaceful at the end with Tessa, only to be dragged back kicking and screaming, and then be forced to lose John AND be burdened with what John told him. He has every right to be furious with John after that, whether or not John brought him back out of love. Dean is suffering now because John forced him to do so, so it is no surprise he resembles Zombie!Angela, and even one of the dead in Pet Sematary (if only vaguely).

The ‘antispell’ Dean spoke about in Neil’s office was a ruse to lure Zombie!Angela into a trap. Dean and Sam working together in this scene was a reminder that they can work well together when the writers are not trying to make Sam look like the heroest hero who ever heroed. The most noteworthy part of the scene is that Dean stakes his narrative mirror Zombie!Angela into her coffin and says clearly ‘what’s dead should stay dead’. This is a metaphorical suicide, like when Buffy almost danced herself to death in 6x07 Once More with Feeling.

The episode ends with Dean finally opening up a little about what has been plaguing him. He is grieving John’s death, his own death, and struggling with the burden of what he might have to do (though he does not tell Sam this). Dean knows John sacrificed himself for him, and there is nothing Sam can say or do to make that better. Please remember what I wrote about Dean’s grief in 2x02 Everybody Loves a Clown.

As for Dean’s ‘single man tear’ immortalised by the obnoxious private school girls in 10x05 Fan Fiction, it does not exist. One tear falls from Dean’s eye in the final scene, but both eyes are wet and the camera cuts away before anything more can happen. There are significantly more than one tear in 2x20 What Is and What Should Never Be when Dean is talking to John’s grave...

plenty more in 2x22 All Hell Breaks Loose Part II when Dean is talking to Sam’s dead body...

way more in 4x11 Family Remains when remembering what happened to him in Hell...

14x18 Absence after Mary dies...

way more in 15x17 Unity when Dean is about to use Jack to kill Chuck...

Maybe I take things too literally and the humour is supposed to be that the idea of a ‘single man tear’ is ridiculous, but it does not seem that way to me. Men are supposed to ‘show more emotion’ and ‘talk about their feelings more’, but when it happens, too many people are quick to mock the manner we do it because it is not how women do it.

This episode advanced the story a little in allowing Dean to finally feel ready to open up a bit and allow somebody to get closer. However, Dean’s bereavement and grief are far from over (if it can be said that ‘bereavement’ is ever over at all), and things will only get worse for him as time goes by. That, however, if a story for another time, as this concludes my analysis of 2x04 Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things.

But before I leave, can I hug and make collages with GriefCounsellor!Dean? I never had grief counselling, so I would like to see whether it helps. For science, of course...

[symptoms-syndrome]

Anyway. Rambling about Wolf Play related things, wolf related things, the whole. Animalism thing.

Part of me (little p, I think, who cares) wants to stop viewing myself as an animal. It's dehumanizing, the logic thinks. It's bad for my mental health and self respect etc for me to see myself as an animal. Other people saw me as an animal, and that hurt me. So I don't want to continue to hurt and dehumanize myself.

But a different part of me, my therapist told me, is afraid to let go of that. I need to be an animal because I don't know how to be a person. I know how to be an animal and that's safe. And the animal part of me knows how to keep myself safe. Or so it thinks.

Wolf Play. Is really important to me. Of course. It's where I got my name from. Everything that Wolf says I think and I believe. Almost everything. We're very similar. Especially when I was younger.

It also hurts. Seeing a child (even when the child is an adult actor and a puppet, the way they use the puppet and the actor as almost independent characters is really interesting and IMO very reflective of dissociation in many ways, in that the puppet is the body and the actor is the spirit/soul/what have you, there are moments where the other actors speak to the puppet or speak to the actor, or times where the puppet is separated from the actor) act that way hurts. I feel like I can see him, like actually see and understand him, he's a scared, lonely child and he lashes out to protect himself, he doesn't know how to behave because no one taught him, but he's treated by many of the adults in his life as a bad kid. Which. He does lash out. There's a point where he punches someone, but that someone was an adult man who was ignoring his boundaries, and he's a small child who's scared. He couldn't hurt an adult man even if he tried.

I want to hold him, or just sit with him. I want him to feel safe.

The good adults in Wolf's life accept him as a wolf-child. They play along with him, they howl with him at one point when he's upset that one of them got hurt, to share the pain. They give him the respect a human person deserves but in the form a wolf would accept. And that makes him feel safe and loved.

Maybe that's my issue. I've only been treated like an animal in a derogatory way. Maybe I need someone to treat my inner wolf kindly. Maybe I need someone to love me like I love my cat. Maybe that's easier than being loved like a person.

But it's hard. When I feel like a feral animal that needs to protect myself. Any hand extended to me I need to treat as a threat. "Wolves are masters of survival. We know that every living being, even the tiniest and weak-looking-est has the potential of poison."

Wolf...feels like an "un-trained" me. A me if I hadn't been so thoroughly trained into acceptable, family dog behavior. Wolf is my basest instincts that are always right below the heavy, thick blanket of training. It's almost like a threat. "If you don't do what you're taught, if you don't listen to the training I'm giving you, you'll act like that. You don't want to be like that, do you? You don't want to be a feral animal in good company, do you?" That's very much a message I was given. A threat of being just some wild animal if I didn't follow the rules.

I'm noticing the word more. Training. I never gave it any thought really. I guess I was surprised that others might find it odd. I don't know if that word was explicitly used for me or whether I just saw the parallels myself. But I genuinely don't know what else I would call any of it.

And like...I don't know. It sounds bad, to "train" a person I think. But you have to train a dog, it's good for them. If you don't train your dogs then they pee on carpets and bite people and break things and eat things that make them sick. I can't conceptualize a good future or potential me without having been trained. And dogs are still happy even when they're trained.

My grandparents trained their dogs very heavily. They even had commands for when/where to piss and didn't need a leash to go on walks. They went to their kennel when commanded and came out when commanded and you could put treats right in front of them and they'd wait to eat them until they were told. And they still seemed happy I think. That was sort of the model, I think. To be disciplined like the dogs. Have self restraint. Resist temptation. Don't be an animal, even though you are one.

Not that I remember what any of my training entailed. It's sort of a void. I just know I was trained and I know what I was taught but not how I was taught it. But I don't think it matters. Ends justify the means or whatever. I came out the other end not acting like an animal.

[shiroi---kumo]

Hurt me not Them || Accepting 

[ @kazeofthemagun​] heaved out a growl: 

His hand trembled. White Devil. Gun Demon. Gold-armed Destroyer. White Devil. White Devil White De -

How long? How long would they be persecuted in this land? He could not care less for himself, he would take a pitchfork to the back gladly if it only meant White Cloud didn't have to. He would face the mob with torches and face his sins. He was the monster here, had always been one since birth. Not his other. Not White Cloud, who had sacrificed countless of his lives to save them. Day after day at Gaudium he martyred himself for them and this was the thanks he got?!

These... worthless fools. White Cloud was... too good for them. Even now, he had saved them from that diseased beast and they turned around and stabbed him in the back. He should have seen it coming. He should have..!

Angry, malignant thoughts raced through his head like a spreading cancer. A hand clutching white fabric clenched and jittered. Eyes like cold blue fire stared into weak jade with a desperate madness that could only be described as love. Even if he, time and time again, failed to admit it. How could a Weapon love a Ghost? How could a dead man love an angel?

"Just give the word and I'll kill every one of them."

There was something feral in the Destroyer's eyes. A burning sun staring at his beloved son, the moon he had so easily forgotten. You'll be alright, Seejvariil. I got you. I got you.

There was something wild stirring in that deep blue ocean. Ah, you've always made me behave... so strangely. But I could not help it. And I cannot help the rage even now.

I don't understand... these feelings.

This town had not been the most welcoming and he could see it in the faces. They were in need of help but their hearts beat with fear. Unfortunately most places within the space of this patchwork world was filled with citizens who’s hearts beat to that familiar rhythm. He knew it well. He too once operated on the tune himself. Some days he still does and in turn - they needed - no Black Wind wouldn’t allow it. They needed to keep moving through and even if he could hear the delicate whisper in the back of the crowd.... 

These people - they needed someone to defend them from the beasts that crawled in a night. They could do it for them in exchange for a place to stay for the night. They could do it for them in exchange for a warm meal that neither of them had to prepare. A bed to sleep in and a warm meal. Oh they could help them for that. He would gladly raise the Maken in defense of this small village if they would grant them that.  He would do it anyway but if they would grant them those small tokens of thanks then he would guard them with everything he was.  

Somehow a deal was forged. The beasts tend to show at sunset they were told. Just as the Sun bleeds into the sky would these fearsome monsters appear from the forest and they merely needed to dispose of the beasts and they would be granted their bounty. A place at the local inn, a warm meal and Black Wind had even managed to haggle enough for a payment of sorts. 

‘Never take a job for free!’  He’d been quickly scolded before he could agree to exactly that.  A grumbling mess about being swindled again while jade eyes rolled at the prospect. Money was never in the forefront of his mind - but could you really blame him when he had been raised with more of it than he knew what to do with? Bartering still wasn’t his strong suit. 

Fighting however was and the streets were barren when the sun began to sink below the horizon. Even if he disliked such a thing, he was still an expert at the craft and dispatching some unruly animals would be a simple task. The prince’s mind is caught solely on the idea of having a pillow under his head this night - even if that pillow turned out to be his other because surely they would only get stuck with one. He doesn’t care. A blanket and a mattress. He can think of nothing else.  

So as the sun sinks the villagers all disappear to their homes. The monsters should be in the area roughly soon.  

Wait. 

Wait.  

How would they have an exact time for - 

He can hear footsteps in the area and there’s a small group that hasn’t retreated to their homes for the night to avoid the fighting. Maybe they could ask his question ...  His hand lowers the Maken, as a man approaches him and the prince turns to face him. 

“Excuse me.” He sounds with confusion lacing his tone. “Excuse me could you maybe answer a question or two for me?”  

There’s a second man and third ... a fourth now and they are around him at all sides.  The man he addresses smiles lifting his hands and clasping them together as he approaches.  

“Certainly!” Is his bright and cheery answer to which the Misterican allows his back to straighten as he stands at full height - which still in the scheme of things is much shorter than the man around him.  “What can we help you with?” 

“I was just wondering a few things about the details of this job. So I was wondering if you could tell me a bit more about the beasts that have been bothering your village...” 

Jade eyes move to look around the buildings as his hand raises to motion towards them.  His mask slides back as he speaks, white mist slipping off his lips as he does so. 

“...There’s no damage to your buildings so you must have held them back thus far. How many are there? What are they like?” 

The man continues to smile, hands still folded together as he looks to the swordsman with a grin. 

“Oh? Well there’s just one. A fearsome devil that always comes out at night. It hasn’t struck our village yet but some of the neighboring ones it did some time ago. Wiped out everything...  perhaps you remember?” 

“Re-member?” 

A snow colored brow is raising in confusion as he looks the man with a curious look and his skin starts to tingle with an urge to run. Something isn’t right -  

He’s gasping in a strangled cry, blood splattering forward as jade moons go wide and turn new all in the same moment. He staggers, the Maken falling from his grip and clattering to the ground as his knees buckle and he’s coming down on them to the dirt below in seconds. 

“It’s a White Devil and when the mist rolls in, it takes everyone in who gets caught in it with it. We’re not about to let you do the same thing to our village that you’ve done to so many others, Lord Makenshi.” 

‘They know who I am.’

He can feel the dagger in the other man’s grip being pushed into his back hard and slow, and all that can leave him is a low scream as his left arm jerks backwards to shove his attacker away from him. He can reach the dagger, and his hand fumbles to find it’s hilt before the prince is gripping it to jerk it up and out.  He screams again and yet more blood splatters from his lips to the ground before him. 

“Black - Wind - “  

He doesn’t know why he even bothers to call for the man, when his other is at his side and catching him from falling face first into the ground in what feels like a blink of his now tired eyes. He’s coughing as he’s being leaned backwards to rest against his other’s left side. A claw like hand coming up to grip his shoulder tightly. 

Weakly his hand is raising as he can hear the man growling. He can hear that Windarian hiss and he’s almost positive that his Sun has bared his fangs even if it’s difficult to turn his head to look at him. 

|||   "Just give the word and I'll kill every one of them."

It’s both threatening and restrained. These fools have no idea just how deep they’ve dug their graves and yet are being spared in the same right because their lives are being held by a thread that only the White Prince could command at the moment. 

He’s coughing. He’s coughing and crimson life speckles and runs over ivory skin. Weakly does his left hand raise to press against the right side of his other’s face so he can turn his head down to look at the Moonlight Unlimited.  

“Forget them.”  He commands weakly. “Get the Maken.”   

It’s his only command as his hand falls away and he allows himself to curl towards the body of warmth that holds him. Black Wind would do it. He would kill them all and burn this village down for daring to lay a hand against his Moon.  He knows, and the night has just begun. The night bleeds tonight as the Sun continues to sink into the darkness but as the Sun faded the Moon can only rise in a crescent - a sliver of its usual self. 

“They know who I am. We need to go. Black Wind please.  Please get the Maken. I’ll be okay.. but we can’t stay here. You need to - “ 

There’s a pause in the middle of his words only to cough and spit more crimson red from pale lips. 

“ - I’m sorry.” 

[horrors-at-night]

I’m trying not to be biased but I think Liu would have a daddy kink.

Hear me out, I highly doubt any of the wild horrors have that kink. Jeff likes pleasing others and making others feel good, LJ likes having power over others so he can edge them and EJ seems to fall into his demon instinct when honry, going rough and possibly feral at times. Maybe BEN in like a joking manner of like “oh no daddy I’ve been bad” in an attempt to annoy one of the mates into fucking him senseless but not actually having that kink, just BEN being a brat. And briar it just doesn’t fit, I don’t think she’d consider any of her mates as a daddy. Plus it looks like she’s tries to get the upper hand being dominant, but she’s just to fucking easy to edge. I also highly doubt any proxies or HABITS group would be into that either, but that’s more of a feeling. Seems like they’d one another just cause it’s a need, Toby being put into his place and/or getting what he wants, or trying to be dominant against one another, but not seen in a daddy sort of way. I think puppeteer is a brat and would do things similar to BEN, and I think Nina would look more for an equal, someone she could possibly compete with for top or bottom cause idk she seems like a switch and I have a feeling she has either pegged someone before or wants to try one day.

But then there is Liu, who was the eldest child of a possible neglectful family, meaning he may have taken the role as parent for Jeff until Jeff went for attempted murder. After the attempted murder he ends up in a group that join the gov and he ends up becoming a horror as well. After that it’s torture until he learns to behave, which at that point he’s emotionally silent and is only “calm and collected” or “irratated and annoyed”. Because of this I think he’d be weak for someone who willing to take the pressure off of him, someone who will reassure him when he makes a mistake and encourage him to do things he may feel anxious or scared about. A person who would still scold and punish him if he fucked up, and praise him well if he did something good. He’s also a stubborn little shit (swear it’s genetic) and wouldn’t just allow anyone to take that role, it’d have to be someone that looks like they know more (possibly someone older) and someone who wouldn’t abuse having power over him, that person would have to prove themselves to him first before opening up.

Am I saying Liu has slipped up and called Rico “daddy” instead on “Doctor”, at least once? Absolutely I am. Do I know how Rico would react? Absolutely not. But it just feels like it fits the most, if my ramblings makes any sense. (God I can’t believe I used some critical thinking over a DADDY KINK and which character would have it)

This is the best ask I have ever, ever gotten

Thank you, anon. I hope you send more asks like this in the future ❤️

[elizabeths-writing-corner]

Hi, can I get some Obey Me headcanons? I'd love headcanons (of the bros & Diavolo's reactions) to an MC who practically turns Cerberus into a show dog? Like they teach them tricks, groom them, put bows on their collar and fur, gives them treats, knits them doggy sweaters, & completely spoils them to the point that Cerberus is more MC's pet than Lucifer's.

I am so happy I got a request! And the idea is so cute too ♥ I hope I delivered ^^ I think that Cerberus is neglected in the game and I would love to see more of him!

Lucifer

It hurts his pride a little that you managed to wrap Cerberus around your finger after he has spent so long teaching him how to behave,

Now Cerberus looks more like a show dog rather than a hellhound with his pretty, velvet bows decorating all of three heads, which didn't suit him as The First Born's demon dog,

You spoiled your new "puppy" so much that now he listens to you most of the time, not Lucifer,

He didn't let you see Cerberus for about a week, he said that because of your treatment, he neglected his duties in protecting the grimoire and became too distracted,

But Cerberus couldn't stand a day without you! He yelped all the time so Lucifer had to lift his ban,

Now you act like dog parents; you're the spoiling one and he's the strict one.

Mammon

His first thought was of course to make money on your perfectly groomed and well-behaved demon dog, just imagine how popular he would be on dog shows!

The thing is; Cerberus won't let Mammon get close to him, he growls at him and the demon just runs away every time,

Even if there's no profit for him, he loves to watch you two from afar as you're playing fetch,

He says it's because he's guarding you in case Cerberus goes feral (which, of course, won't happen) but it's really just because he enjoys your strong bond,

He buys a lot of toys for Cerberus on Akuzon (mostly because of you).

Leviathan

He never had a strong desire to build a special bond with Cerberus but it changed after he saw how you take care of him,

It's something he could never do with Henry,

He was a little anxious at first but after you showed him all the tricks you taught Cerberus, he became more and more engaged,

Now you're taking care of him together, it's one of the few things Levi enjoys besides anime and gaming,

He records a lot of videos of you playing together and showing new tricks,

He has a couple of characters he would like to cosplay, that would require Cerberus to dress up as well, it's the cutest thing ever!

Satan

He's a cat person, as we all know, but he finds it amusing how you're practically Cerberus' owner now,

He enjoys how Lucifer gets jealous each time the dog runs towards you instead of him and how angry he gets when Cerberus won't obey his orders and listens to you,

There was that one time when Cerberus tried to attack Satan, therefore he was a bit skeptical about forming a bond with him but thanks to your mediating skills, they manage to get along,

Satan helps you groom him and tells you fun facts about the hellhound's origin.

Asmodeus

He was so excited about the idea of dressing Cerberus up, all of these ideas for pretty outfits flooded into his head,

He won't help you bathe or groom him, he would rather give directions,

After you're done with the hellhound, he's like a completely new beast; his fluffy, messy fur is now precisely cut and smooth, fangs all clean and he's dressed in a cute, pastel sweater, which was specifically designed by Asmo and knitted by you,

When Lucifer saw the results of your work, he had mixed feelings; on one hand, it was nice of you to take care of his pet but on the other, Cerberus is supposed to be the guardian of the grimoire, not a show dog...

Beelzebub

Besides Lucifer, Beel is the only brother who's able to maintain Cerberus, so he was shocked to see how you, a fragile human, were able to tame him,

Beel is so excited to walk him with you and teach him various tricks,

He's so supportive; he helps you clean, groom and feed Cerberus (he's a massive creature, therefore the portions he eats are giant as well),

He thinks it's so sweet when you call Cerberus cute pet names and he unconsciously started to use them too.

Belphegor

He began thinking about how to take advantage of this situation and turn Cerberus against Lucifer with your help,

Unfortunately, Belphie can't even go down to the tomb without being attacked by the hellhound and that's because he attempted to steal the grimoire numerous times, even when you managed to spoil Cerberus to the brim, his instincts remained,

He can't maintain his laughter when he sees him all dressed up in bows, ribbons and cute, doggy sweaters,

Belphie loves listening to stories about Lucifer getting mad at you for spoiling Cerberus like that.

& Diavolo

He has always been excited to see Cerberus and after you transformed him from a wild, demon dog into a cute, friendly pet, he's even happier to come to the tomb,

He's a huuuge dog dad and spoils him practically as much as you do,

When you two are done with the hellhound, he's exhausted from all the playing and he's full of treats,

Diavolo always says that a person who animals like is a good person overall,

Of course, he will help you make dog clothes for Cerberus! Why do you even ask?

Now Diavolo wants to have his own demon dog and make you take care of him too,

Maybe Solomon would help him summon an Orthrus?

[nhinxsworld]

I love pet play so here is me doing pet play scenrios ♡♡♡♡ just some thoughts what pet i think they would have and what they'd do uwu

my list!

Characters: Gojo Satoru x reader ; Megumi Fushiguro x reader ; Toji Fushiguro x reader ; Naoya Zenin x reader and Itadori Yuji x reader

warning: nsfw ; petplay ; dom/sub ; humiliation ; dumbification and idk???

Gojo Satoru

He peaks as the soft/slutty bunny type of guy or a cunning fox

Honestly his white hair just gives me snow bunny vibes, but any kind of bunny would be cool with him.

On one side he likes to corrupt the innocent looking ones, cute little bunnies who get feral horny with him. Pretty costumized bunny ears for his pet, he can afford it. Pretty pillow princesses he fucks stupid, in any position, but it's a plus if he can see that soft pretty tail.

Or maybe just the classic playboy bunny type, model body. Curvy, pretty ones, the nice lips, nice everything with those skin tight skimpy bunny suits. Fishnet or nylon doesn't matter, he'll rip them apart, he loves that clean sexy look, before he messes everything up.

Why fox? He just peaks me as somewhat you know special out of the usual. Foxes are rather rare for pet play since they aren't the average pet either. Though I can imagine a pretty fox, who would tease him back and is playful would keep him interested. He just might put a collar on you and tugs you around for the fun of it.

He thrives at any title master??? fuck yes baby push his ego. Sir??? hell yeah push his authority might as well call him sensei. daddy?? sure as classic he'll call you little one and other sweet nicknames

Really depends on his mood that day or what you'd want him to do, he can do anything, if you're a good pet for him he'll praise you, if you want to be degraded sure he'll call you his slut and spits on your face.

You just want to fuck ? Sure, he'll fuck you stupid and breeds your bunny/fox hole/cunt. You want him to actually treat you like a pet?? Yeah sure he'll put down a water bowl and all that shit down for you to use, he'll give you hella foreplay.

jokes about animal abuse in the end lol

Megumi Fushiguro

He is my baby, but if I had to pick for him? I'd just say puppy's. Megumi is a confirmed dog person, so yep I think he'd like obedient puppy's. Probably blushes when you put on the ears and the tail, at first he was like nah he isn't into it, but now it gets his dick hard.

He is very soft and sweet, so I can imagine that he'd get along with a playful and obedient puppy's. Loves it when the soft fur of your tail brushes against his skin and how the cute puppy ears peak through your hair. He'll praise you and would call you his good pet as he fucks on all fours. Probably wouldn't tug too much on your collar and leash, it just looks pretty on you.

Would get so flustered at the beginning if you want to call him titles, even if his name is girly, he'd probably still likes the intimacy when you call him by his name between titles.

probably thinks it's a bit weird at first, but you can ease him into it, and he'll tell you what he likes or and what he doesn't like

Toji Fushiguro

I'd just like to think the bias towards dogs runs in the family if not I think he's just the basic cat type same shit but calls you kitty

unlike Megumi, Toji isn't soft. He probably wouldn't care if you'd wear gear or not, actually he might tease and bully you, if you want to wear pretty puppy ears and a tail. Would call you slutty and weird, but he'd still fuck you. He is probably older so he'd just might call you childish and the whole 'You want to be a what kid??' Other than that he wouldn't always call you a good puppy, he'd call you his dumb fucking mutt. Just lives to degrade you and call you stupid. If you want to wear a collar and leash he'll fucking yank you with it, piss him off, and he will choke you with it.

He will literally choke you when you call him daddy. It's unknown of whether he likes or he hates it, he'd just allow it. Sir might be too formal for him a lot of people call him that probably since he is a bit older and works at weird places where he doesn't give his name often. Probably doesn't like master as it might be too touchy towards his family issues back when he was a Zenin.

If it's the cat type he probably is an absolute brat tamer, if you're an egoistic little kitty you're fucked. Get down on your knees for him, he'll fuck your throat until you cry. Be a good kitty for daddy, milk him. Behave and he just might help your little drenching pussy out.

He is just here to fuck, but he would humor you a bit with dirty talk, if you do well, and he likes you. Otherwise nah he wouldn't really go deep into petplay. He is an adult man who was married to what it seems a very normal women so he probably doesn't want to do something super wild or new.

Naoya Zenin

hmmmm I think it's a bit difficult because one dogs are obedient, but they're also often considered dirty mutts I feel like he'd rather like something expensive like one of those white beautiful fur blue eye cats (lmaoo gojo) though cats are seen as arrogant, and he wants his to submit to him fully

probably looks and acting wise he'd like cats but he'd go for dogs too

He just seems like the type to degrade you, and it's easier to insult a dog than a cat y'know?

LMAOO FORGET THE GEAR WITH HIM you won't ever get to ask him to put on ears. He is a traditional man, the max he'd put on you is a collar. I just don't see him wanting to take you on your suggestions and I don't see him suggesting it himself.

If you're very, very, very well-behaved he just might call you a good dog. Yep, don't expect him to call you something cute like puppy. Probably the type to not let you wear any clothes, but your collar. Makes you crawl around with a leash attached, he wants to see you suffer, he wants to dehumanize you. He fucking owns you, he does whatever he wants with you. You're here for his pleasure not yours and he gets off to you being embarrassed and humiliated.

Bark back and he'll put a muzzle on you.

Don't even hesitate to lick the floor he walks on, don't look at him, when he doesn't allow it. He will punish you upon misbehaving and his punishments are real torture.

With him, you need to be well-trained and groomed, a dirty disobedient pet isn't going to stay anywhere near him. Be a good pet, and he just might let you sleep next to his bed, if you do very well and present yourself well in front of his family he just might treat you well and allow you to sleep on the bed.

This isn't pet-play to him he is just an asshole. If he makes you eat face first from a bowl like a dog, he does it to humiliate and laugh at you. Calls you pathetic.

Yuji Itadori

lmaooo its said he is mixed between dogs and cats, but I think he'd have a cat lean when it comes to pet-play

it's just the whole catgirl/catboy/catenby on the internet for him, he thinks cat ears are cute

would totally be exited if you wanted to wear cat ears and tail, he'd just be fascinated about them for while, thinks it's super cute nothing weird at all

hell he'd love it if you wore the cat ears outside bedroom activities too

Would coo and praise you, goes pspsp and all the shit like you're a real cat

wholesome sex but would get horny af if you meow while he pounds you

absolutely mad horny when your collar jingles around while he fucks you, it's too cute

Thinks it's super fucking cute would totally be intrested to look further for fun, probably would platonically treat you as a pet too. Calls you kitty outside the bedroom.

Neck scratches !!

Calls you his pretty kitty, would be down to do anything.

He is your biggest simp :)

[minkmousesworld]

letter: Okay I just need to get this off my chest, am I the only one who likes when Gyutaro was extra feral? Like when he was fighting for his life and than writers make him all shy and such haha no 👏🏾 I would like feral Gyu please help me he is living in my head rent free thank you for coming to my Rose talk 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

content warnings: shallow character analysis

To be honest, at first I noticed this ask too late, then I came to the conclusion that I have nothing to say, since I, well, just can't vibe with it, but in the end, I'm unloading the box now, and I think I need to explain why I'm not.

Gyutaro just doesn't seem "wild" to me unless he's in a high-risk life situation. He is on the more restrained side — balancing his bright and emotional sister — and, like an older brother, feels responsible and the need to act aggressively to protect. But if he and his loved ones are safe?

In ordinary life, he would probably be sarcastic and prone to despondency, but calm and unresponsive. Even when you are clearly trying to annoy him, it is easier for him to snap and ignore than to get involved somewhere — Gyutaro is used to being 'second' to someone more aggressive and not thinking too much. This allows him to compensate for his lack of confidence in his appearance, difficult relationships with the outside world and self-contempt.

He clearly almost overly indulges Ume, although he is the strongest among the two of them — because he is close, but "behind" until everything gets out of control and his help is needed. Gyutaro is rude and does not express explicit tenderness or endearment, because his way of saying that he loves someone is to take care of them and implicitly serve them without expecting praise, even if he wants it.

Therefore, I agree with others that he is on the quieter and even shy side when he does not know how to react to pleasant words or to attention. If you ignored, he could ignore outwardly; if you despised him, he would swear and snort, telling you not to mess with him and his sister; but if you are kind to him? After his suspicion disappears, he is left with a misunderstanding of why you are doing this, and prefers to ignore, avoiding, but secretly caring about you.

Gyutaro behaves so melancholic and phlegmatic that it's hard for me to imagine him wild until something becomes a serious threat — he will rather get discouraged or angry, but immediately cool down, I think.