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[whumpycries]

This probably isn't enough for an actual drabble, but I'm currently thinking about the idea of both Kane AND Jim waking up in the past at the same time. Just Kane running downstairs to fee Jim like he did in the AU piece you wrote, and finding Jim who is an absolute MESS cuz he thought he was back in Hell 🥺 cue Kane trying to calm him down like "no its ok Jim, its me! Well... the nice me? You're safe."

throwing this in the vault to drabble at some point

[whumpycries]

K&J x MMSS 4: Valen & Jim Part 4B

So, this is the first chapter of an alternate timeline that we wrote to the fourth crossover. This diverges from the story at the original chapter 4 (I'll call it chapter "4A" and this is the "B" timeline.)

The first three chapters go the same way, and then in chapter 4, for the "B" timeline, Jim's dropoff with his sister goes without incident, meaning Valen doesn't get burned and therefore does not come back into human territory with Jim. They go their separate ways and don't meet again until years later.

Since Valen does not have the protection from Jim and Liz in this timeline, he ends up getting captured by vampires hunters when he comes back years later--the same ones that took Kane in K+J. Those hunters then get the details from Jim's book mixed up--since obviously Valen would be mentioned in it--and think of Valen as "That vampire from Jim Liberman's book," assuming he's the one who held Jim hostage without really checking the details. They then offer Valen to Jim, who showed up expecting Kane like in K+J canon. So this version would be more of a "caretaker-turned-whumpee" and "whumpee-turned-caretaker" story.

We lovingly refer to this as "the horrors version." What happens to Valen in this AU is much, much worse than what happens to him in canon MMSS.

K&J masterlist

MMSS masterlist

K&J x MMSS crossover masterlist

To be added to the taglist, contact @whumpsday

Warnings: Blood, aftermath of torture. The usual. Just some real sicko shit.

***

The rest of the meeting at the border is tense, but ultimately goes off without a hitch.  Valen is ultimately happy to be rid of the car and simply runs back home.  They exchanged phone numbers, and Valen calls to leave a message to say he got home safely.

They talk a little bit over the phone over the next week or two, but Valen decides to leave Jim to his human life, and goes back to focusing on his research.  Down the road, he realizes he needs to spend some time on human territory to make it feasible, but by then he hasn't talked to Jim in years and doesn't want to bother him.  That's when the unthinkable happens.

***

They'd told Valen that his victim, Jim Liberman, was coming to pick him up, for revenge.  That he'd get his just deserts.

Valen can't remember who Jim is.  He'd racked his brain, trying to think of all the people he'd ever wronged, and had come up empty.  He's no stranger to tears at this point, but he cried like he'd never cried before that day, salty tears streaming down his cheeks in the same track they'd run a thousand times before, over the bare silver muzzle that had been fused with his melted skin for years at this point.  They hadn't even given him a chance, they'd just assumed the worst about him and used that as evidence that he deserved the worst torture imaginable for years, and now he was going to be given to someone who was going to treat him even worse, and he couldn't even remember who or why.

Then the hunter drags him outside and throws him at the feet of the human who was to be his new jailer.  And he does recognize him.  They met once for a few days, 15 years ago, and Valen's hazy, pain-addled brain can't quite remember what their interaction had been.  Valen found him outside, he remembers, and he'd taken him home.  That was bad, right?  Had he kidnapped Jim?  Maybe that's what they'd been talking about.

That doesn't sound like something Valen would do, though.  Well, maybe it was something he would do now, he has no way of knowing what kind of person he is now.  He does remember he used to be very kind and compassionate, though, and it seems like he wouldn't have hurt a stray human.  But the hunters have been telling him over and over that he's a monster, a leech, a wretched animal that deserves all the pain it's getting, so maybe he did hurt Jim, maybe he does deserve to be strung up in the sun forever with his air cut off.

But still.  Even if he deserves it, it's too horrible to think about.  He trembles on the ground, looking at Jim’s knees with pleading eyes.  Please just kill me.  Please just end this travesty of existence.

All of Jim's nerves and expectations go out the door the second he lays eyes on the vampire the hunter pushed in front of him.

Not Kane. Valen.

Jim looks at him in shock that quickly morphs into horror. He opens his mouth to object, to say you had the wrong guy and even if you had the right guy this would be unthinkable, but the words die in his throat. They're already handing Valen over to him, and only because they think he deserves revenge. He won't say anything that could even potentially jeopardize that. These hunters probably would not approve of him freeing Valen. God, they used the padded cuffs he brought for Kane, but that's a silver muzzle.

"I'll be g-going now." he says shakily to the hunter instead.

"Just give me a call if it's too much trouble and you want to return it." says Chase.

"That won't be necessary." Jim says curtly, trying to hold back tears. He and the hunter exchange goodbyes, and Jim drops to his knees, eye-level with Valen.

"Oh my god. Oh my god, Valen, holy shit, what did they do to you?" he whispers in horror.

"What did they do to you?"  Just what I deserve, right?  That's what they'd been saying this whole time, so he'd started to believe it.  The alternative was something unthinkable.

Jim reaches to unlock the muzzle- he can try to talk to Valen about the whole please don't use persuasion on me thing later, but it's apparent that Valen won't be able to speak for a bit anyway. "I'm gonna take this off, is that okay?" he asks.

Jim is taking the muzzle off?  That can't be right.  The muzzle stays on was the very first rule the hunters had laid down, because he was dangerous and could use his mouth to hurt in a number of ways, and this burning sensation locked around the lower half of his face had become the only constant in his new life, and the idea that it would go away had never occurred to him as a possibility.  It was part of him now, just as his skin was melted to the silver.

And why is Jim asking Is that okay? like his opinion on anything makes any difference?  What is he doing, talking to Valen like he's a person?  Valen doesn't answer, sitting there with eyes downcast.  Some humans didn't like it when he made eye contact, they said he was trying to use persuasion on them, and that earned him the ultimate punishment: the sun.  He avoided eye contact like the plague.  Even just looking up at Jim earlier had been risky.

"Alright. I'm goin' for it. Sorry that there's no way to do it without it hurting, but that thing on your face can't be comfortable. Sooner I get it off, sooner you can heal, right?" Jim gives his bony shoulder a gentle squeeze. "S'gonna be okay. You're out. I- I'm gonna help you, like you helped me." His tears do fall, then.

He unlocks the muzzle and begins pulling it off. It's melted into Valen's face and almost impossible to remove. His skin tears like wet paper. Jim punctuates his efforts with a sorry every few seconds until it's off, leaving Valen's face a gory mess, lips completely gone and teeth on full display. Jim retches involuntarily at the sight. "I'm so fucking sorry, Valen. Least it's off."

Valen dissociates from the pain, just thinking of Jim’s words.  It's going to be okay?  I'm gonna help you?  None of this sounds right, it clashes with what the hunters had been telling him for years.  Like you helped me.  Maybe Valen had helped this human?  But then why had the hunters punished him?  Helping a stray human does sound more like something Valen would have done, though, in the past, when he'd been a person and not a rabid animal.

Oh, that's right.  That's the answer to what kind of person he is now, as he'd wondered earlier.  He's not a person at all, he's a mindless animal, the kind that would, here still on the hunter's doorstep, immediately bite the metaphorical hand that feeds, in an attempt to turn it into the literal hand that feeds.

Valen's mouth hadn't been free in years, and all he can think of is his primal instincts urging him to take the chance to feed while he can.  They hadn't needed to train the instinct out of him, because he'd had no opportunity to use it.  And Jim is so very full of delicious, aromatic blood, and so soft and vulnerable, and so very, very right there next to his mouth, and Valen is so very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very hungry.

As soon as Jim says least it's off, the gory mess he'd just exposed around Valen's jaw comes to life and snaps shut over Jim's wrist.

Jim freezes, eyes wide and mouth shut tight. He cranes his neck to the side, just like he's supposed to, even though it's covered in fabric and Valen feeds from his wrist. He hasn't forgotten how to behave.

He trembles horribly as Valen feeds, crying much harder, though the only sounds that escape him are quiet sobs.

Until he starts to feel lightheaded. More lightheaded than Kane ever made him, even when Kane overfed.

"Valen, p-please." he whispers through his tears.

Nobody hears him. Valen's stomach is a blackhole that can never be filled, his heart a void that screams to be filled with violence.

Valen, p-please... Valen is gone, there's only this animal that won't stop drinking until he's forced to. He'll kill Jim, but he doesn't care, he can't.

He bites again, getting a bigger mouthful, tearing more skin, sweet, wet blood gushing into his mouth, down the front of his nearly-naked body

Jim knows it's bad bad bad, he'll be punished for sure, but he has to get away or he'll die. He pushes Valen off of him- it's easier than he'd thought it would be. His already-hurting wrist erupts even further into pain, and Jim cries out softly, cowering away from him.

Valen hasn't been strong in years. It's easy to push him off, his fangs tearing the skin as they're pulled out. He swallows what's in his mouth desperately, licking the remaining blood off his shaking, chained hands.

He bit, he attacked, he fed, the ultimate thing he wasn't allowed to do. The hunters are all still nearby, they'll surely hear Jim's pained sounds, and then he'll be punished beyond belief. But he needs the blood, he needs it, he can't think of anything else.

Jim holds his bleeding wrist to himself, sobbing.

"I'm sorry, I'm s-sorry, sir." he blubbers. "Please don't hurt me, I'm sorry. Please, I just, I don't wanna die."

Chase comes back out, hearing the commotion. "The fuck! It bit you?!"

Valen cowers when Chase comes back on the scene, his very presence instantly reducing Valen to a submissive, trembling mess. He whines like a dog, the only method of communication that had been available to him for years, and presses himself into the floor. Please don't put it back on, please please please.

Jim snaps out of it with the hunter's call. He's on a rescue mission now, he remembers. He needs to get Valen out of here safe, no matter now terrified he is of him.

"N-no." he lies, unable to stop crying. "This is the vampire's blood. Just, just tryin' to switch muzzle."

"Fuck, I told you it wasn't a good idea. You should've asked. Here, let me put the muzzle back on, it's better with it on." Chase starts to approach, going straight for the discarded silver muzzle on the ground.

Jim kicks the gore-covered monstrosity away. "No, just, use the one I've got." He doesn't want to muzzle Valen at all, especially given how painful Valen's face looks, but there's no way he can drive home with Valen unmuzzled after this. "It's in the car."

"Right, switching. Sure, your call." As Chase goes to grab the padded muzzle from the car, Jim mouths I'm sorry to Valen.

Chase fastens the muzzle onto Valen, too tight. "You good to go? Need anything else?" He assumes Jim's crying is due to seeing his captor again, emotions high.

"I'm good."

"You sure?"

"Yes." Jim insists. "I can handle this."

"Alright. Drive safe." Chase heads back inside.

Valen remains a terrified, quivering puddle on the floor, hardly able to believe he'd escaped Chase's check-in without being strapped to the board and set outside in anticipation of the sunrise. He'd swallowed blood, he'd fed, and it's better than he's felt in years despite the raw mess of his face and the new muzzle squeezing him. It doesn't burn, and his stomach has something in it, and any relief from the pain in any amount is welcome at this point.

He rolls over so he's facedown on the ground. He's muzzled again, the way he should be, and that's enough for his brain to remember he's supposed to be submissive and obedient and nonthreatening. He stares straight at the ground, no chance of eye contact

Jim shuffles back over to Valen and reaches out a shaking, bleeding hand to gently rest on his forehead. This way, if Valen lunges again, he can easily push back. Heart clenching with terror, he puts his uninjured hand under Valen's muzzled mouth.

"Please spit." he whispers. "I can't ask the hunter for first aid without letting him know you bit me. I need the bleeding to stop. Please."

Valen looks at what Jim's doing through a haze of pain and confusion. Spit. He knows that one. He has to be obedient.

As best as he can through the bit blocking his mouth, he lets bloody saliva dribble out of his mouth, stringing down into Jim's hand

"Thank you." Jim retracts both hands and rubs the saliva over his wound, thankfully stopping the bleeding pretty quick.

He takes a moment to breathe, trying to calm himself down. "Well, least I don't have to psyche myself up to feed you. Jumpin' right in the deep end." he says nervously. "Do you remember, when you found me? I was dying, and you gave me water. You saved my life. I'll never forget it. I'll make sure you get home safe, too."

Valen doesn't look at him. He can't. But Jim's words are washing over him in waves. Valen had saved his life. Yes, that sounds right. He'll make sure he gets home safe, too. That doesn't. Valen is a dangerous creature, and he'd just attacked Jim, and he was going to be disciplined and tortured.  It'd already sunk in a long time ago that he was going to be imprisoned and in pain for the rest of his life, and there was no way he could let himself believe Jim's words, to open the can of worms to start hoping again, because that was always how he got hurt emotionally. Bitter tears spring into his eyes.

As shaken as he is by the bite, Jim remembers what it was like to be so thirsty he'd do anything for water. He gets it, and he can see how terrified and desperate Valen is.

"It's okay. Let's get you in the car, alright?" Jim takes Valen's arm and helps him into the back seat, figuring he might want to lie down.

He's too nervous to take the muzzle off: if Valen bites while he's driving, it'd be very bad for both of them. He does take off both sets of cuffs, though. "Hope that's a little more comfortable. It's gonna be a few hours until we get back to my place, figure you could crash there while you heal up and head home whenever you're ready. I'll take that thing off when we get home, okay?" He gestures to the muzzle. "Don't wanna get in an accident."

Valen watches Jim help him into the car, and take his manacles off, and promise him gentleness, all with wide, uncomprehending eyes. Head home? Head home???? The possibility is too absurd to comprehend. Is Jim being cruel, messing with him? No, that doesn’t make sense. If Valen really had saved Jim's life, maybe this is real?

He lies down in the back of the car, with his wrists free, limply allowing himself to be carted around. He should apologize for biting Jim as soon as he can. Maybe that will earn him less pain.

He stews in that thought for part of the ride before being once again overwhelmed by his animalistic fear, and he starts pawing at the muzzle, trying to get it off, but there's a lock on it. He whines, tears streaming down his face.

Jim hears miserable whining from behind him. "Hold on, lemme pull over and see what's up.”

He does, pulling onto the shoulder and opening the back door. "I know it sucks right now. I'm so sorry. I'd ask what's wrong, but there's a lot. What can I help you with right now?" He's hoping Valen can charade it to him. He doesn't have anything to write with, and Valen won't be able to talk until he heals, muzzle or not.

Valen claws at the muzzle on his face, worming around in the backseat, just wallowing in his desperation

"Hey, hey hey hey." Jim hesitantly reaches out and takes Valen's hands in his. "If I take that thing off you, are you gonna bite me again? I'll take it off if you think you can hold off."

Valen tries to steady himself. Jim is helping him, Jim is trying to help him. Right?

He bit Jim, and it was nowhere near enough blood to sate his hunger, but if he wants the muzzle off, he has to not bite. He can do that, right? He nods slowly

"Awesome. Thank you, I know it's gotta be hard. But you did take enough to make me woozy, so I hope it's enough, 'cause I can't give you more tonight. I only got so much blood. I'll find a way to get you more soon, though, okay?" He can ask people. Liz or Laken, maybe.

Jim unlocks the muzzle, lifting it off Valen's face. "Didn't realize that asshole put it on this tight. I'm sorry, that had to hurt, 'specially with your face. Is there anything else?"

It's off and it'll stay off if he behaves. He can do that, he can behave.  He rolls over and curls up into a ball. He wishes he had something to cover himself, in case the sun comes up. Still hiding his face, he mimes a motion like pulling a blanket over himself

"Yeah, fuck, sorry." Jim should've been thinking about the fact that Valen would want some clothes for the ride home. He came expecting to have to come face to face with his abuser, only to be met with this entire situation, and his brain's on the fritz. He takes his flannel off and hands it to Valen. "Will this work for now? We'll be home in like, two hours, and then I can get you some real clothes."  It’s well before sunrise, but Valen would have no way of knowing what time it is.

Still crying, Valen takes the flannel and wraps it around himself, barely managing to get his arms into the sleeves, like he doesn't remember how to put on a shirt.

Thank you. It's the most covered he's been in years, and if he gets thrown into the sun, less of him will be burned. He wants to say thank you. But no, that's talking, that's bad, he might use persuasion, he has to show he's obedient. Eyes still downcast, he nods, hoping Jim can see his appreciation non-verbally.

"Alright. Let me know if you need anything else. When we get home, I'll get you a pen and paper so you can write. You can take a bath, get into some pajamas, and I've got a bed set up in the basement for you." Jim gets back in the driver's seat and keeps going.

All of that sounds too good for him.  He doesn't deserve a bath, and pajamas, and a bed. He knows that now, the hunters taught him, the hunters taught him he needs to be happy with a concrete floor and a hose and whatever pain they were giving him, because it could always, always be worse, somehow.

Valen tries to show he's grateful, but he's just so scared. He can't get his hopes up that this foggy promise of comfort from somewhere above him is real and not something he's imagining. He has a very good imagination.

He stays curled up in a ball, shaking. It's the first time in forever nothing is actively hurting him, and he has something in his stomach, and he feels okay, but all this change is making the entirety of his ordeal hit him all at once, and he can't seem to stop crying and being scared even though Jim is being kind to him. He tries to stay quiet so as not to seem ungrateful, but the tears and sobs occasionally come out in waves all the way home.

Jim's heart breaks for Valen. He has no idea what kind of unimaginable horrors he's been through, but he knows what it's like to be helpless and scared. He's just glad he can do something about it.

When they arrive home, Jim opens the back door and peers in at Valen again. He's nervous, very nervous, to be so close to Valen after the bite. But for the past decade, Valen's been almost like a deity of safety in his mind, the savior who took him from the brink of death and delivered him home. If Valen isn't safe, no one is.

"We're here, bud. C'mon, let's get you inside." he encourages, holding out a hand for Valen to take.

Valen wants to bite again. He really, really wants to. All he'd wanted to do for the past five years was bite the people who were causing him pain, and he is in pain and helpless and scared, and it's like wading through thick fog to grasp what's actually going on and what he needs to do.

Don't bite, the muzzle will stay off if you don't bite. Don't bite.

He gingerly reaches out and takes Jim's hand.

Jim takes him inside, leaving all the restraints in the car. He doesn't plan on using them. "Alright, what do you wanna do first? Bath, sleep, or write? Uh, just hold up one two or three fingers. And I'll get you some clothes."

Valen feels so overwhelmed by the way Jim is talking to him. He has to make decisions? He's too tired to think, drained and exhausted by his hunger and fear. He holds up two fingers. That was for sleep, right? Maybe he wants to just be left alone for a while

"Yeah, I bet you're exhausted. Lemme grab something for you to wear, just hang tight for a second, yeah?" Jim leaves briefly, returning with a set of soft checkered pajamas and a familiar outfit: the clothes Valen gave to Jim 10 years ago.

"I can finally return 'em." Jim says with a smile, handing everything to Valen.

Valen takes the clothes with shaking hands. He recognizes them. He finally remembers taking Jim home and caring for him when he was in need. Just as Jim is doing for him now. He buries his face in the outfit and drops to his knees, crying. He wants to say thank you. But he shouldn't try to talk, that's bad, and he should be good for Jim, who's helping him.

Jim goes down with him, rubbing his back, careful to avoid the half-healed burns. "You're gonna be alright. I've got you. I won't let anything bad happen to you. How about I show you downstairs, you get some rest, and tomorrow you can get cleaned up, get some more blood in you, and if your mouth's not healed enough to talk yet- which, yeah, I dunno how long that'll take- you can write anything you wanna say. Sound good?"

Valen tries to compose himself, sniffling. He's scared, but all he can really do is hang in there and trust that what Jim is saying is true, and that everything will be okay. Downstairs and rest sound nice.

When Jim shows him downstairs, the basement reminds him uncomfortably of his cell at the hunter's compound, although he quickly decides he'd prefer it to the upstairs anyway just because it has no windows and therefore no risk of the sun.

There's a bed, and a blanket, and a pillow. Jim intends those to be for him, right? He'd said he'd set up a bed for him. Right? But it seems so outrageously luxurious, so much more than he deserves or is used to, that he can't bring himself to accept it. He must be misunderstanding somehow, or thinking wishfully. Such things are not for him anymore, and he can't risk seeming entitled and presumptuous. He can hear the hunters' voices: You think you get a bed, leech? That's cute.

No, he can't risk it. He needs to show he'll be happy with whatever Jim gives him. Especially after he'd bitten Jim. There's no way that behavior should be rewarded like this.

He really, really wants the blanket, so maybe if he shows he knows his place, Jim will be kind and give it to him anyway, even though it's too good for him.

Valen staggers to the corner of the room and slides down onto the ground, lying on the cement floor with the clothes Jim had given him under his head as a substitute for a pillow. He hopes that misusing the clothes that way won't seem too entitled. The voices come back. Oh, you think you deserve a pillow, leech? That's cute. Since you don't know how to use them, might as well take them back.

"Oh, hey, what's wrong? Is something wrong with the air mattress? I know it's not, like, the best thing ever, but I only got... you can use my bed if you want. It's upstairs, but I can close the curtains and you should be peachy." Jim offers. "You can sleep wherever you want. Take your pick."

Oh no, no, this is too hard, it's too hard to try and figure out if it's really safe to accept the air mattress. He wants it so badly, which is the exact reason why he knows he can't have it. That is something they trained into him.  He curls his bony knees up to his chest and cries, unsure of what to do

Okay, Valen is scared. He's just scared. "It's okay. Nothing's gonna hurt here." Jim says softly. "How about you put on your pajamas and get into bed? Can you do that? I'll turn around while you get changed, just like, make any noise to let me know when you're done or if you need help.”

He turns around, hoping this will encourage Valen.

Valen wishes Jim would stop phrasing things so ambiguously, and start just saying what he wants Valen to do.  He is used to commands, not ambiguous suggestions.  How about you put on your pajamas and get into bed could mean anything.  He thinks it means Jim wants him to do that, but he really wishes Jim would just order him to use the bed so he can do it without being afraid that he's doing something he'll be punished for.

But he'd said Nothing's gonna hurt here.  That doesn't seem right.  How will Jim punish him, then, if he won't be using pain to do it?  Unless Jim doesn't think he needs punished?  Maybe he doesn't, if Valen saved him, like it seems like he did forever ago, in another life.  But the hunters had seemed so sure he'd deserved it, so maybe they knew something Jim didn't.

Oh no, if that was the case then maybe there was some danger that Jim could find out what it was that made him deserve pain, and then stop being nice to him and helping him.  His brain runs off in this anxious train of thought, before he tries to ground himself by the fact that Jim has turned around and clearly wants him to get changed.  Just get changed, you can do it, stop using your wild imagination and just get changed.

He drops the mangled, bloodstained tatters that comprise the clothes he'd been wearing when he'd been captured to the ground, then pulls on the pajamas.  They're soft and warm and cozy, and so, so wonderful and that makes him so nervous because surely this can't be for him, this has to be a mistake, right?

Say thank you, say thank you or he might take them back.  He tries to remember how to talk.  You have to vibrate your throat, like a growl, and move your lips, except he doesn't have those right now.  He tries anyway, and it comes out as a strangulated gurgle.  He puts his hands over his mouth.  No, talking is bad, isn't it?  He doesn't know, he'd never been given the opportunity with the hunters.

Jim turns around at the sound to see Valen dressed. "Awesome. You can go to bed now, get some rest. And don't touch the door, okay? It's got silver on it. I was, uh, expecting someone else, not you. The hunters said I was picking up Kane, so y'know, precautions. I'll leave it open, so don't worry about it. You need anything else before I head up?"

Go to bed.  Go to bed, go to bed means go to the bed and lie down in it and close your eyes and go to sleep. Right?  He wants to so badly.  But he is so, so anxious.  He wants Jim to reaffirm that he means for Valen to sleep on the air mattress.  It feels like it's not going to be safe to accept the bed and the blanket and the pillow unless Jim tells him he has to.

He can't look Jim in the eye and give him a questioning facial expression.  He can't ask Are you sure?  Valen is completely oblivious as Jim tells him about the door--he has no intention of going near the door, or trying to escape, escape is impossible and useless to even hope for--he's laser-focused on the bed.  He steps towards it and kneels again, slowly extending one hand out to touch the blanket, whimpering as though he expects Jim to hit him.  Keeping his eyes low, he looks at Jim and pauses with his hand on the blanket, to give Jim an opportunity to either tell him to keep going, or to shoo him away and confirm his doubts.

"Yeah, that's it. Shit, at least Kane let me sleep in a damn bed. Go for it. You're all good." Jim gives him a thumbs-up. "Or, uh, if there's some other problem, I could get something for you to write with after all?"

Valen nods at the suggestion, and holds his hand out, trying not to cry.  Why did this feel so hard?

"Alright, one second." Jim heads upstairs, coming back a moment later with a pen, paper, and a cutting board he grabbed just for a hard surface to put the paper on. He sits on the air mattress, handing Valen the materials and patting the space next to him. "What do you wanna say? It's alright, you're safe now."

Valen doesn't get up onto the bed next to Jim.  He stays kneeling on the floor and takes the materials from Jim.  His hand is shaky, and he fumbles with the pencil, crying as his hands struggle to write, something he hasn't done in years.  Eventually he manages to get out a message in messy font:  I don't deserve a bed.

Jim sighs sadly. "Yeah you do, man. You deserve a bed. Promise. Look, I don't know all of what those fuckers did to you, I can't say I know how you feel. But I do know what it's like to have to learn how to be a person again after being told over and over again I'm not one. You're a person. You deserve nice things, and you deserve to be safe, and you deserve a bed. Okay?"

Finally, finally that's enough to make him feel like he can take the bed without being anxious about it.  It sounds like it's safe for the blanket and pillows too.  Tears still rolling down his cheeks, he crawls into the bed underneath the blanket, balling up and tucking himself away.

"There you go. Feel free to come up and get me if you need anything, alright? Up the stairs, down the hall, first door on the left. Hope you sleep good." Jim pats him on the shoulder before getting up, turning the lights off, and heading upstairs. As promised, the door remains open.

The feeling of softness around him still feels wrong wrong wrong, after so long  on hard floors, but he weeps with joy at the luxury.  He falls asleep truly comfortable for the first time in years.  Maybe, just maybe everything is going to be okay.  He doesn't try and get out of bed, especially not to leave the room; he isn't convinced he could make it up the stairs anyway. But he doesn't even want to. He doesn't want to escape from the luxury of having a blanket.

***

@barebarb

@cc1010foxy

@emcscared-whumps

@gt-daboss

@hurtpluscomfort

@jakersdaboss

@lolrpop

@melancholy-in-the-morning

@pigeonwhumps

@secretwhumplair

@some-thrilling-heroics

@starfields08000

@t0rture-me

@thecyrulik

@thejinglingcourtjester

@vehan-tikkun-olam-and-stuff

@whuarri

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@whump-my-heart-away

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@wolfeyedwitch

@whump-addict

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[whumpycries]

Whumper-Turned-Caretaker CYOA 6

CW for the series | Masterlist

FYI: I might not update this next week because I have a lot to do for school including exams, but I should be able to go back to my normal updating schedule after that!

You chose to tell them that obeying is a more important rule than earning their food, so they should obey when you tell them to eat.

You lower your face to Whumpee’s level and look them in the eyes. “Whumpee. I know only eating once you’ve earned it is a rule you’re used to living with. But obeying me and cooperating is a rule you’re supposed to follow too, yeah?”

A look of fear overshadows their face as they realize the implications of that. They probably feel trapped between a rock and a hard place with the rules at odds with each other like this. “Yes, sir.”

“That’s the more important rule. I expect you to be obedient. You’re not going to be punished for doing what I tell you to. Now, eat.”

Whumpee nods. They still look fearful but they pick up the fork and finally start eating.

You watch them the whole time to make sure they don't try anything sneaky to avoid eating their food. This probably means that you’ll have to outright order them every time they need food, but they are eating without getting hurt so you’ll consider it a win.

“Good,” you say as they finish. You debated whether praising obedience might send the wrong message for their recovery, but at this stage you figure it will do more good than harm. They need the reassurance that healthier behaviors are a good thing and they’re not going to be hurt.

You get yourself some food as well. Whumpee appears to take it as a good sign that you sit down to eat, instead of doing something about them having eaten without doing something to earn it. And once they seem reasonably convinced that you’re really not going to punish them for it, they do look happier now that they have a full belly.

Taglist:

@kabie-whump, @whumpanthems, @whumpsoda, @3-2-whump, @generic-whumperz,

@taterswhump, @alivenova, @whumped-by-glitter, @expressionless-fr, @whumpycries,

@whumpsday, @moons-cozy-corner, @echo-goes-aaa, @whumplr-reader, @starfields08000

(had to split it into groups of five because tumblr is having issues)

[whumpycries]

K&J x MMSS 4: Valen & Jim Part 13

Part thirteen of the fourth crossover with @whumpsday!

K&J masterlist

MMSS masterlist

K&J x MMSS crossover masterlist

To be added to the taglist, contact @whumpsday

Warnings: Domestic violence/spousal abuse

This is the last chapter of this story! HOWEVER, like we mentioned at the start, this AU actually has two different timelines. So keep an eye out for Part B, which is coming next :)

***

The intervening months have been peaceful and uneventful, even with Kane there.

Until one day, Valen doesn’t come home.  Again.

Jim is going absolutely out of his mind with worry. The last time Valen went missing, it was the worst thing imaginable. The only thing worse would have been his death. He and Liz have been calling around to hunters, but no one's seen him. It wouldn't even make sense: Valan should have gone straight from Liz's district to vampire territory, and Valen is friendly with the local hunters, though Liz and Laken have been interrogating everyone anyway, as well as searching the area up to the border.

Jim can't sleep. The thought of Valen going through that again, or turning up dead, or never turning up ever again, has him hysterical. Kane tries his best to comfort him, but he's sick with worry too: he knows how cruel hunters can be.

And if it's not hunters... what else could have happened?

This drags on, with no word about his whereabouts, for weeks. Until one day, Jim gets a phone call, and when he answers, Valen's panicked, tearful voice is on the other end. "Jim!"

"Valen!" Jim screams. "Oh my god, you're alive! Where are you? I'll come get you, I'll bring you home, where are you?"

Kane is immediately at rapt attention, listening in.

Valen lets out a series of heartbroken sobs. "Jim, I'm at the Kithrara estate. My husband happened to find me when I came to vampire territory and forced me to come back. He's not letting me leave, he's not leaving me alone for even a second. This is the first time I've had even a minute alone to make a phone call and he's going to come back any second. Please, Jim, I don't know what to do, please help me."

Vampire territory. Valen is in vampire territory, Jim can't get him there. His heart clenches with despair, his eyes filling with tears. "W-what do I do? I can't even get there." He sobs, horrified that Valen is stuck with that monster again.

"I can get him." Kane says, determined, his chains tinkling as he moves closer. "I can bring him home."

"Jim, if-" Valen cuts off abruptly, but he can still be heard breathing heavily, and a man's voice distantly, talking menacingly. "Yes, sir," Valen's voice says far from the phone, and the line goes dead.

Jim cries out in anguish as the line drops. "NO NO NO!" He pounds the wall in despair, tears streaming down his face. He whips around to face Kane, also shaken.

"Please.” Jim drops to his knees, like he always used to. "Please, Kane... sir. I'll do anything. Please bring him home. You could, you could be free, just, just please help him get out of there. Please, c'mon, w-we've been good to you, right? Please."

Jim is under no illusions of how far promising Kane anything goes. Kane could condition it on taking him back, things going back to how they were before. Jim would do it, to get Valen away from that horrible abusive monster. He would give up being a person if he has to.

"Jim, it's, it's okay. I'll get him home, and come right back, and, and you don't need to do anything." Kane is honestly really relieved that Valen is in vampire territory instead of being tortured by hunters. He doesn't know the details about Valen's estranged husband, though if Valen is literally being imprisoned by him, that can't be good.

"Th-thank you, thank you, thank you. Kane, man, thank you. Please do it. Please please please, just, please." Jim is not entirely convinced Kane won't just fuck off the second he's set free. He would have no way to get Valen out, then. All he could do is hope for an eventual escape, and Jim knows firsthand how hard that is to pull off.

"I'll leave as soon as the sun sets. I promise, I'll find a way." Kane hesitates. This part is scary. "Could you... call Liz? I'd like to borrow her gear, and make sure that I can get to vampire territory without any of her colleagues... stopping me."

"Of course. 'Course, Kane. Thank you." Jim picks the phone back up.

***

That night, Kane shows up on the doorstep of the Kithrara estate, ready to raise hell. He doesn't even need to find Valen: all he needs to do is create enough commotion for Valen to escape.

He rings the doorbell.

A servant answers.  "Hello?  How may I assist you today?"

Kane dashes past the servant quite rudely, running straight inside. He pulls a stake from his belt and holds it up high.

"PRISCUS KITHRARA!" he shouts at the top of his lungs, hoping Valen hears. "Come out and face me!"

He is immediately swarmed by staff: a few servants, the ones brave enough to run towards instead of away, and a few moments later, security, who tackle him to the ground.

The landing at the top of the stairs leading from the entryway into the mansion proper is soon darkened by the presence of Priscus Kithrara, as well as an older vampire who looks to be his father.  Priscus has Valen at his side, holding his arm, in a facsimile of protectiveness at the disturbance.  Valen is in a modest dress that is not at all his style, and his eyes widen with hope when he sees Kane, but he stays silent.

"What is the meaning of this?" the elder vampire snaps.  "Who do you think you are?"

"Go!" Kane shouts, not looking specifically at Valen, but hoping he gets the message. The door is still wide-open.

Kane is wearing several pieces of silver, and a little bit of struggle is all it takes to start burning the people holding him down. He wriggles his lithe body out of their grasp among the ensuing screams of pain, though he knows he'll no doubt be tackled again a few moments later. He has to act fast.

He grabs a silver-coated throwing dart with a gloved hand and throws it directly at Priscus.

It sticks into Priscus's shoulder, through his clothes, and he hisses in pain, reflexively bringing his hands to the injury.  Valen bolts, flinging himself over the railing with his dress bundled in his hands.

"Valen!" Priscus thunders.  He grabs the dart to tear it out, then yanks his hands back as the silver burns him, before growling and grabbing it again, ripping it out and tossing it away like a hot pan.

One of the security guards steps between Valen and Kane, intercepting Valen on his way to the door.  Valen attempts to go around, and the guard crab walks to match, a high-speed game of chicken.

"Priscus, discipline your wife," the elder vampire growls.

Priscus reaches Valen before he can successfully exit the front door; Valen is smaller, and not as strong or fast as his husband, who is larger and stronger than Valen or Kane, and is also at a disadvantage of being in clothes not made to accommodate running.  Valen is yanked back by a fistful of hair, yelping with pain as he's bent towards the floor under Priscus's iron strong hands.  "What did we talk about?" Priscus growls.

This is bad. Kane needs the attention on him. What could he say to get Priscus to pay attention to him instead?

The most effective thing he can think of is unspeakably crude, and has a chance of backfiring and putting Valen in even more danger. But he's sure that nothing he could say would make Priscus focus more on him than this.

"I am Kane de Sang, and I fucked your wife!" Kane yells, his face heating up, mortified at his own words. "You're a spineless coward who needs a team of guards to face me instead of fighting me for him like a man!"

He's completely winging it. Obviously he will lose a fight with this man. All he needs is for Priscus to drop his guard for just a moment so Valen can get out the door. Just rip off the skirt and run!

Valen whimpers. "You little whore," Priscus hisses, slapping Valen across the face and throwing him to the ground. "I'll deal with you in a second." He turns to face Kane.

Inexplicable rage suddenly wells up in Valen at that moment. He's mostly just let the learned helplessness kick in until now, but for some reason seeing Priscus take Kane more seriously as a threat than Valen himself pushes Valen over the edge. "You will deal with me now!" he roars, throwing himself at Priscus, talons wrapping around his face and sinking into his eyes, blinding him. Dark black blood sprays out as Valen rakes his claws over Priscus's face, ripping at him with a ferocious wail.

Kane has an idea.  It could be a very good idea or a very bad idea. But it's Valen's decision, after all. He doesn't have to take it.

"Valen!" Kane tosses him a stake.

Valen catches the stake in a bloody hand, looking shocked and overwhelmed.  The room hangs in expectant, stunned silence for a moment, as the disobedient wife holds a stake near the sole heir of one of the most powerful families in the country.

Valen looks conflicted. Then his face screws up in anger, and he plunges the stake into Priscus's chest--not through his heart, but very, very close.

"Leave me the fuck alone," Valen hisses in his ear. "Or I won't miss next time."

He then very quickly strips his dress over his head and shoves Priscus away, tossing it over him, so he thrashes to untangled himself, still deathly afraid with the stake in his chest.

Now only in his bloomers and undershirt, Valen runs out the door and off into the night.  Kane dashes off after Valen while everyone is stunned and paying attention to Priscus's disgraced state.  The attention of the staff quickly turns towards making sure Priscus is alive and helping him, rather than chasing either of them ensuring a smooth getaway.

"Sorry for the crudeness!" Kane calls, feeling a desperate need to get that out of the way as soon as possible. "I just wanted his attention off you! That was amazing!"

Valen is laughing as he runs, from sheer joy and exhilaration. "Kane, my dear, it was a brilliant play, I wouldn't have had it any other way! Let's see that piece of shit come after his whore of a wife now! Hahaha! Thank you, Kane, I could kiss you!"

He's done good. Kane has finally done something right in his miserable life. His heart warms. "Save it for Jim! He's been inconsolable for weeks."

Jim, my poor Jim, I'm coming.

Valen has never run this fast, and doing it with a friend next to him is thrilling, and he playfully weaves in and out around Kane, zigzagging around obstacles and giggling. Knowing Priscus and that family, they wouldn’t dare come after him after this. Not when they’d seen Valen almost kill Priscus. They couldn’t risk the heir like that.

They’re finally done with him.  He’s finally free.

He arrives home, the door banging open, his chest heaving, his eyes wide. "Jim!"

Jim leaps into his arms, having been waiting by the door ever since Kane left. He squeezes Valen as tight as he can, which is not all that tightly to a vampire, but still. He sobs into his shoulder. "I missed you."

Valen hugs Jim firmly back, then picks him up and does a little spin. "I missed you more."

"Are you okay? He's not coming back for you?" Jim asks anxiously.

"I'm okay now. And I don't think he will," Valen says. "I think he's finally got it through his thick skull that he'd be better off simply finding a new wife, if he values his wellbeing."

"Good, 'cause you're too busy being, being my boyfriend." Jim laughs tearily. He looks over Valen's shoulder to where Kane stands. "Thank you. Thank you for bringing him home."

"I'm glad I could help." Kane says with a smile.

"Oooh, Kane, take all that wretched silver off so I can finally give you a well-earned hug, would you?"

Kane beams, discarding Liz's things on the porch before coming inside. Jim doesn't let go of Valen, pulling Kane into a group hug.

***

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[whumpycries]

Whumper-Turned-Caretaker CYOA 5

CW for the series | Masterlist

You chose to feed them.

Talking can wait; Whumpee needs a decent meal.

“Come with me. I’m gonna get you something to eat,” you say to them.

They look afraid. You can't blame them; usually you'd only let them eat after you hurt them. That’s probably about to come back to bite you now. Still, they obediently follow you to the kitchen, where you get started on fixing them a meal. You give Whumpee a glass of water to drink while you prepare their food. They drink gratefully, then warily watch you as you work. 

It’s not too long before the food is finished and the smell of it is wafting through the air. You catch Whumpee watching hungrily before they look away as if to pretend they weren’t.

You fix them a plate, set it in front of them, and refill their water. “Here, dig in.”

They look at the food, then at you, as if searching for a trick. They make no move to eat any of it.

“Whumpee, you need to eat something.”

“I can't, I have to earn it!”

You feel a small twist of satisfaction that your conditioning worked so well, but that's really not helpful now that you're trying to actually help them. “You don’t have to do anything to earn it anymore, Whumpee, I’m giving it to you—no strings attached.”

“Th-thank you, sir, but I should earn it first. I know.”

“No, you don’t. You can just eat. Please eat.”

“I can’t, sir,” they say in a small voice.

“Yes, you can.” You push the plate a little closer towards them.

Whumpee shrinks in on themself a little and shakes their head.

“Whumpee. This is irritating.”

They whimper slightly but don’t relent.

You’re starting to get a bit desperate. Whumpee will have to eat sooner or later so they don’t starve. They’re not in imminent danger of that, but it still can’t be good for them to go without eating for too long. But to “earn it,” they’d have to get hurt, which is what you’re trying not to do anymore.

“Please?” you say.

Whumpee looks unhappy but still doesn’t touch their food.

The poll option character limit was murder on this one.

Taglist:

@kabie-whump, @whumpanthems, @whumpsoda, @3-2-whump, @generic-whumperz, @taterswhump, @alivenova, @whumped-by-glitter, @expressionless-fr, @whumpycries, @whumpsday, @moons-cozy-corner, @echo-goes-aaa, @whumplr-reader Please let me know if I missed you, because I got a lot of taglist requests in a short amount of time.

[whumpycries]

K&J x MMSS 4: Valen & Jim Part 12

Part twelve of the fourth crossover with @whumpsday!

Call me a silverware drawer the way I have all these spoons for writing rn

K&J masterlist

MMSS masterlist

K&J x MMSS crossover masterlist

To be added to the taglist, contact @whumpsday

Warnings: Aftermath of torture

In this chapter:

Valen checks what time it is when they wake up.  Close to morning, and sunrise.   He slips back into bed and plants light kisses up Jim's neck.  "Good morning, sleepy peepy."

Jim jolts almost violently at the feeling of a mouth on his neck, then relaxes when he realizes it's just Valen.

"Shit. Sorry." He's been able to enjoy neck kisses from Valen for the last couple years without issue, but he's been extra jumpy lately with Kane's return. He kisses Valen on the cheek. "Just got a little startled." He's definitely not a sleepy peepy anymore.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking."  He runs his fingers through Jim's hair.  "How's your hangover?"

"Bleh. I've had worse, though." He snuggles against Valen. "You're going tonight?"

"Yes, I missed my window to go last night, but we should be fine to wait.  What about you, are you still going to the shops?"

"Yeah, I am." Jim's stomach turns at the thought of being left alone with Kane again, even with their positions reversed. His fingers brush over the side of Valen's neck. "Just, just make sure you come back okay. Like always."

"I will.  I'll go straight there and come right back."  He stretches and yawns.  "Kane is locked in the basement if you'd like to check in on him.  Want me to start breakfast for you?"  Valen occasionally tries to cook human food, and he enjoys doing it, and it inevitably comes out tasting very weird each time.  He's not as bad at cooking as he is at driving, but it's close.

Jim likes Valen's weird cooking even when it sucks. It's the thought that counts. He's sometimes better than Liz, though that's not saying much. And besides, interacting with Kane without Valen always there is something he'll have to get used to if they're living together again.

"Yeah, thanks, that'd be great. Surprise me." Jim gives Valen a kiss before getting out of bed to let Kane up.

Valen goes to the kitchen and starts making an omelet.  He cracks a few eggs into the pan, but then can't quite remember what all goes in an omelet.  Try as he might, no matter how many times he watches Jim cook, he just can't remember which ingredients go together.  Cooking seems to require an innate sense of human taste that he just does not have.  He would have thought that just through sheer rote memorization he would have been able to do it, and yet...

He puts in a bell pepper (stem and seeds and all), some cheese, and some bacon in with the eggs.  He's fairly certain about those ones, as well as garlic and black pepper, which seem to go on everything.  He then gets some bread, before remembering the bread just gets heated up and served on the side of eggs, not in them.  He pops two slices in the microwave.  What else?  Pickles and condiments go on sandwiches sometimes, so he throws the pickles in the pan, folds the omelet closed, and then squirts ketchup and mustard on top before putting it on a plate.  He then takes the bread out of the microwave, which is at this point slightly soggy and limp and steaming, and puts it next to the eggs.  There, it has protein, carbohydrates, fiber.  That seems like a good mix.  He puts an orange on the plate as well, then sets it on the kitchen table.  "All right, Jim, you can come eat when you're ready!"

Jim comes up with Kane shuffling behind. Kane's starting to get a little less scared: while he's still having trouble wrapping his mind around the idea that Jim wouldn't want revenge, he hasn't been hurt so far, and Valen seems willing to protect him. Kane also looks a lot better, hardly a sign of injury left on him. He smiles at Valen when he sees him, sitting at the kitchen table. "Good morning."

Jim sits too, examining the omelet. He takes a bite. It's interesting, weird but not that bad. "Thanks, I love it."

Valen beams, clapping his hands.  "Wonderful, I'm so glad.  Kane, you look well this morning.  Have you ever cooked human food before?  It's one of the trickier things I've done.  I would have thought my background in the sciences would aid me, but it appears relatively useless."

"Oh god." Jim comments. He does not think Kane would do very well at it.

"I haven't. You made that? And it's good?" Kane asks. He would like to feed Jim. It feels... appropriate. "Can I learn?"

"Well, I can't speak for Jim, but I can show you how I do it.  Which is probably not exactly correct, but appears close enough."  His eyes flick over to Jim as the human bites into a piece of omelet that has bell pepper stem in it.  "It's probably about as passable as human food as the blood I make is as passable as blood."  He smirks.  "Given the right equipment, I can manufacture substandard yet sufficient meals for either a human or vampire.  I should be featured on some sort of cooking program!"

Jim laughs through his mouthful. "That would be amazing. You're so right." He spits the stem out like an olive pit. "Kane, you could use a cookbook before you start experimenting, if you really wanna learn. Prolly best to get the basics down first."  Jim finishes his omelet and orange happily, and his bread with a little less enthusiasm.

"Alright. Kane, I'm gonna grab you some clothes, a toothbrush, basic stuff. Anything specific you need?" Jim asks.

"No, that's, that's great. Thank you."

"Okay, later." Jim gives Valen a kiss on the cheek before heading out.  Before Jim leaves, Valen pulls him aside and politely tells him that although Kane loathes to ask for anything out of fear, Valen has noticed that he seems to prefer long-sleeves and long pants, to cover his skin up.

Once they’re finally alone, Kane tentatively asks, "You're really... together? With a human?"

Valen smiles at the question, blushing.  "Yes, I am.  Most vampires already consider me a sexual deviant, so I figure, might as well go all in."

"Huh." The concept is still a little odd to Kane, though not as odd as he supposes it should seem. "I suppose there's a little hope for us all, then. If a vampire and a human can fall in love."

Valen smiles so, so wide.  That's such a romantic notion, and Valen didn't even have to say it himself and then be embarrassed about it.  "I suppose so.  Have you ever fallen in love?"

"No, I'm not the romantic type." It's better this way. No one would ever possibly like him back, he'd only experience heartbreak if he were to fall in love with someone. "What's it like?"

Valen's eyes go distant, his expression warm, his mind fuzzy and elsewhere.  "It feels warm.  It's difficult to describe without resorting to meaningless fluffy metaphors, but it feels like someone is finally on your side.  Like you've discovered something rare and precious and all you can think about is how to keep it safe for as long as you can, and how lucky you are that the stars aligned in such a way that you get to enjoy a little corner of life that you've made for a while, in the huge vastness of the cosmos.  It's on your mind all the time, like a worry, but it makes you feel better instead of worse."

"It sounds beautiful. I'm glad you've found that with him. As long as you can." Kane says softly. Valen has to be aware of humans' short lifespans. He's probably thought about it a lot. There is no spending your life together with a human. He's a ticking time bomb to heartbreak. Jim has to be, what, a third of the way through his life? More? He can't help but pity Valen.

Valen nods.  "Yes, for however long it lasts.  I'm quite reminded of how heartbroken I was when my first cat died.  It will surely be painful in the end, but that doesn't make the happiness and love we share while we have it worth less.  I'm sure love is not so rare that Jim is the only person I can experience it with, nor me with him.'

"Yes, I'm sure." Kane decides to change the bleak subject, picking absentmindedly at the padding on his cuffs. "You're going to vampire territory tonight?"  He's glad there will be more blood available, but nervous to be away from Valen's protection.

"Yes, I'm planning on going straight there and back. I'm going to advise Jim to simply keep you in the basement unbothered until I return, as I think that will be safest for all of us."

"Yes, that, that sounds good." Kane can't fuck up if he's just left alone. In his wonderful blanket nest in the nice, sunless basement. His new favorite place on earth.

Valen can just go home, back to vampire territory, anytime he wants. It's strange to be captive in the presence of a free vampire.

Jim comes home with a week's worth of clothes, all long sleeves and pants that Kane can use to cover himself, and a few other basic items. Kane is overwhelmed by the gift, clutching the bag to his chest.

It's so nice here. If Kane could live like this forever, he could be happy, captive or not. He's fed and unhurt. That's all he needs.

"Thank you. Thank you so much. I know it's still... undecided, what the two of you would like to do with me. Um, I would do anything to stay here. Anything. Please."

Valen looks unsurely to Jim. "Well," he says hesitantly. "I don't think Jim has plans to send you away or anything.  We're not going to let you go, on account of the risk, no matter how small....and we're certainly not going to give you back to those dreadful hunters. I'd count myself lucky if none of us ever saw them again."

Kane is immensely relieved by Valen's words. He looks to Jim for confirmation.

"Yeah. You're staying. And no matter what, never going back there."

Kane puts his face in his hands. "Thank you. I don't know how I could ever repay you."

"Just keep bein' nice is all." Jim says.

"What they did to you was wrong," Valen says firmly. "To be clear. It would have been wrong no matter who you were. Under no circumstances would it be right to leave you there, knowing what they were doing to you. Even if you weren't 'nice.' It's nice of you to want to 'repay' us, but it's just basic decency. Same as how I had to save Jim, when he was out alone and vulnerable."

"Exactly. Even if you started being a shithead again, we wouldn't send you back there." Jim agrees.

Kane doesn't really get it. He did deserve it, didn't he? They're just kind enough to save him anyway.

"Yes. Decency." he agrees.  Maybe he'll understand one day.

***

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[whumpycries]

No peaceful sleep for whumpee.

Captive whumpee who isn’t given a place to sleep.

Captive whumpee who is kept bound in an uncomfortable day and night, with no way to lay down.

Captive whumpee who is forced to sleep on a cold, hard floor.

Captive whumpee who is woken up every hour by whumper.

Captive whumpee whose whumper comes in to torment them while they’re sleeping.

Captive whumpee whose whumper blasts noise so they can’t sleep properly.

Captive whumpee who is sprayed with water whenever they fall asleep.

Captive whumpee who is allowed to sleep, but only when they fulfill whumper’s terms.

Captive whumpee who is allowed to sleep but only while whumper is with them or only in whumper’s bed.

Recovering whumpee who can’t sleep without horrible nightmares that wake them up with a racing heart.

Recovering whumpee whose caretaker always sees them whimpering and tossing and turning as they sleep, muttering ‘no’ and ‘please’ in between sharp breaths.

Recovering whumpee who is afraid to go to sleep due to the fear that something will happen to them while they’re not alert.

[whumpycries]

CYOA Whump Part 14

First | Previous

You chose: Raiding a merchant ship that's too fast for other ships to catch.

⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆

You sleep well that night. Really well. And you only spend a little while silently debating if it would be worth it to strangle Onthyes with the chain that binds the two of you together.

You wouldn't be able to carry his weight, you decide. You'd have to find something to cut off his hand with, and he purposefully left his weapons elsewhere before he laid down next to you. You'd have to drag him out into the belly of the ship searching for a sharp object, and considering how slow you would be moving someone would surely catch you.

Magic is out of the picture too. Your muzzle had been removed so you could eat but after that it was locked around your head again. You can still use your wind magic muzzled, but you don't think it can do much to help you here.

So you sleep next to Onthyes, both of you careful not to roll around too much and risk getting tangled in the chain. It's a cold night and he's really warm, and in the morning neither of you mention how you'd woken up curled into his chest.

The two of you have breakfast together, and this time Onthyes pockets your muzzle instead of putting it back on you.

"Don't make me use it again," he pleads, reaching out to wipe away some dirt that had gathered under the muzzle with his thumb.

You stretch your jaw. Your throat is still sore from yesterday, when an entire lightning bolt had rebounded back into your lungs.

"Let me see your ribs," Onthyes says then.

Sighing, you lift your shirt, trying not to be too aware of the other pirates milling around the deck. There's a myriad of boot shaped bruises spanning across your ribs and stomach. They'd been red when Onthyes looked at them last night, but now they're a deep, ugly purple.

He winces. "Ouch."

"That about sums it up," you say, pulling your shirt back down.

There's a whistle from above you. You and Onthyes look up towards the wheel, where Tinny is waving you over. You and Onthyes climb the ladder to the upper level.

"We're puttin ya to work today, kid," Tinny says, leading you over to where the captain stands at the wheel.

Erxik points at a tiny speck on the horizon. "That there's the merchant ship Elesyia. One of the fastest there is. You're going to help us catch her."

You squint against the harsh sunlight reflecting off the sea. "Easy enough."

You take a step back, putting some space between you and the others. You hold your bound hands out and the winds rush through you, bringing with them a rush of adrenaline. It's so much easier this time, now that you're fed and well rested. The ship lurches forward, the sails filling with a fwomp sound.

You're concentrating hard on keeping control over the winds, but you can hear Erxik talking to Onthyes. "As soon as we catch her you take him below and keep him there, got it?"

"You don't want me fighting, captain?"

"He's too valuable of an asset. We can't risk anything happening to him. Keep him below."

"Understood."

You keep your eyes closed, swaying slightly with the wind currents as you conduct them like a natural orchestra. It's easy to fall into a sort of trance doing this, until you can almost feel your body dissolving into the air around you. You feel insubstantial, but not weak. More cloud than flesh.

Then your concentration is shattered by the boom of cannons. Your eyes fly open as Onthyes grabs you by your shoulders and starts dragging you away. Your thoughts feel cloudy and scattered, your feet struggling to find solid purchase on the deck. You stumble and Onthyes catches you.

He grabs your face, trying to get you to look at him. You can't force your eyes to focus.

"Ventis, snap out of it! We gotta move!" His voice almost doesnt carry over all the yelling and clashing of swords and booming of cannons.

"I..." You shake your head, starting to come back to yourself. "What?"

"Come on!"

He manages to get you to the lower deck. The other pirates are busy firing arrows or leaping to the deck of the Elesyia or manning cannons. It's chaos.

⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆

CYOA whump taglist: (let me know if you want to be added or removed): @scp-1296 @sapphicccici @acer-gaysimpstuff @morning-star-whump @rainydaywhump @whumperofworlds @hauntedroseart @3-2-whump @fleur-a-whump @whumpsday @whumpisfun @whumper-whimsy @ghost-whump @fabled-whump @violets-whumperflies @whumped-by-glitter @thewhumpening-thesequel @lumpofsand @whumpycries @unicornbeck @gala1981 @a-formless-entity @ryahisbored @mentallyunwellautism @idontreallyexistyet

[whumpycries]

Whumper-Turned-Caretaker CYOA 4

CW for the series | Masterlist

You chose to clean their wounds with soap and warm water.

You figure soap and water is your best bet. Thoroughly cleansing, but gentle. You set up a towel to catch runoff. You’re not giving them a full bath right now, just focusing on washing out their wounds for the time being. You make sure the water is at a comfortable temperature, then set to work cleaning their cuts.

Though it’s a relatively gentle way to clean them, it still stings somewhat in the open wounds. You suppress a smile as Whumpee hisses in pain. Just because now you want to do what’s right doesn’t mean you’ve lost all your sadism.

Once you’re done, you gently pat them dry with a clean towel. You wash your own hands as well. It wouldn’t do to ruin the wound-cleaning with a careless touch.

You apply butterfly bandages to the deeper cuts to help them close. Then you wrap all their wounds in normal bandages. That should take care of the major concerns, as long as you make sure nothing gets worse.

You catch Whumpee’s eye. “If you start to see any signs of infection, or things start to get worse instead of better, tell me, okay?” you say seriously.

“Yes sir, th-thank you,” they respond timidly. Right. You should probably address the titles thing too, now that you’re trying to work towards their recovery.

You consider what your next priority should be. You figure a bath would be silly right after putting on bandages. Whumpee probably got clean enough when you washed their wounds anyway. You mentally move a proper bath off of your list of immediate concerns.

You give Whumpee a clean outfit to change into and have them put the old clothes in the wash. You should replace that with some better quality clothes sometime, but until that happens it’s best to have it cleaned to make sure they’ll have something to wear that fits them okay.

Taglist:

@kabie-whump, @whumpanthems, @whumpsoda, @3-2-whump, @generic-whumperz, @taterswhump, @alivenova, @whumped-by-glitter

[whumpycries]

♡ Febuwhump Day 27: Left for Dead ♡

@febuwhump

< Prev

Content: Guns, death threats, kidnapping, low-key suicidal whumpee

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

As dawn lights up the abandoned warehouse they’ve been sitting in all night, a newly stitched-up Whumpee tilts their head at Whumper with a smug little smile. “Told ya they wouldn’t show.”

“Why do you look so pleased? Your friends abandoned you. Left you for dead.”

“Cause I win.”

“You’re chained up. Completely at my mercy. I’m the only reason you haven’t bled out yet. You haven’t won shit.”

Whumpee sighs. “Can you just let me have this?”

“No.”

Whumper packs up their things, not missing the way Whumpee tenses expectantly when they pick up their gun to put it away.

“You’re not gonna shoot me?”

“Do you want me to?”

“Nope.”

“Then shut up.”

Whumpee continues to run their mouth for the entire drive to Whumper’s place. Whumper turns up the radio to drown them out. Whumpee sings along.

They really would do the responsible thing and gag their captive, but it’s a long drive and they just don’t want to make any stops.

At Whumper’s hideout Whumpee is deposited in a cell while Whumper goes to their room to pass out. Whumper doesn’t visit them again until the next morning.

“You’re healing quickly,” Whumper says as they reapply bandages to Whumpee’s wounds. “I’d like for you to fill your end of our deal today.”

Whumpee puts their shirt back on, wincing as they lift their arms above their head. “What deal?”

“You know. I don’t shoot you. You give me some info on your friends.”

“I didn’t shake on that.”

“I’ll get my gun, then.”

Whumpee flops back on their bed. “Okay.”

Whumper pauses, incredulous. “‘Okay?’” they mimic. “What is wrong with you?”

“I accepted my fate the second you grabbed me. Just make it quick, please.”

No wonder Whumpee’s team didn’t come for them. They’re a walking disaster. “You’re not in a position to make demands.”

“Then shoot me?”

“Wouldn’t you rather just answer my questions?”

“Not really. I don’t know what gives you the idea that I’d tell you anything.”

“Aren’t you mad at them?”

“Sure, yeah. But not enough to let you hurt them.”

“God. You are just…” Whumper shakes their head, at a loss for words for once. Something about Whumpee drives them crazy, but the thought of putting a gun to their head makes Whumper cringe internally. There’s potential here. They can’t waste it.

“The worst? Yeah, I’ve heard that one.”

“Pathetic.” That’s the word.

Whumpee shrugs, drawing blankets around their body and curling up as well as they can without disturbing their stitches.

“I’ll give you three days to think about it. After that… Let’s just say you’re going to tell me what I want to know whether you want to or not.”

“Can’t bring yourself to kill me, huh?”

“Shut the fuck up.”

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

@the-art-of-trepetnoi @unicornbeck

[whumpycries]

Attention Whump Community!

Clogging disability tags is a massive problem that we need to address. Many tags, especially those surrounding permanent injuries, paralysis, vision loss and certain illnesses have become unusable due to being flooded with unrelated things. Yes, that includes your writing. Those tags are not for you. It's isolating, frustrating and depressing to try finding a community and other people who share your issues but all that comes up is whump, fandom shit, gifs, headcanons, etc.

I'm newly paralyzed. I have looked at many tags surrounding paralysis, trying to find support, a community, anything of people struggling with the same thing. Nothing. There's barely anything for us in the general disabilty tags. I am BEGGING you to understand and recognize how AWFUL it is.

So, I have a proposition. A tag you can and should use exclusively for disability content in whump writing. Not any other tag surrounding disability, lest you'll clog it up.

#disabled whumpee

It's tempting to use more specific tags, I get it. Due to being in the whump community myself I know #medical whump is already a tag. You have those tags. Use them. Don't use the disability tags. Don't clog up the few spaces us disabled people have.

[whumpycries]

This probably isn't enough for an actual drabble, but I'm currently thinking about the idea of both Kane AND Jim waking up in the past at the same time. Just Kane running downstairs to fee Jim like he did in the AU piece you wrote, and finding Jim who is an absolute MESS cuz he thought he was back in Hell 🥺 cue Kane trying to calm him down like "no its ok Jim, its me! Well... the nice me? You're safe."

throwing this in the vault to drabble at some point

[whumpycries]

CYOA Whump Part 13

First | Previous

You chose: Confront him. I was going to eat that.

⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆

You're on your feet in an instant. "Hey! That's mine."

The man stops, his smile falling as he turns around to face you.

Behind you Onthyes gives a light tug on your chain. "Ventis, don't-"

You ignore him. You worked hard to earn that food and you're not going to let some asshole take it from you just because he's twice your size and armed and not chained up.

"What was that?" The man asks, his voice low. He drops your food on the ground and stalks over to you, grabbing hold of the chain that trails from your bound wrists and yanking you closer until you're nose to nose. "Did you say something, pretty boy?"

His breath is hot in your face. A glance at his bared, crooked teeth reveals haphazardly sharpened fangs. You can't help but scoff. Your own fangs are pure genetics, but not everyone can be as blessed as you are.

You do your best to look brave, glaring up at him even as you realize that you may have seriously fucked up. "I was eating that," you say. You carefully and slowly annunciate each word, like you're not sure he'll understand otherwise. "Get. Your. Own."

Your head whips to the side and you fall against the pile of crates you had been sitting on before you can even process what's happening. You blink slowly, squinting up at a spiraling image of the man standing over you and pulling his leg back-

His boot slams into your ribs hard and your pained cry quickly breaks off into rough coughing. He kicks you again, and again, and again wile you try and curl into yourself protectively. You can hear Onthyes yelling something but it's lost under the persistant ringing in your ears.

It takes you a moment to realize that it's stopped. Hands grab you under your armpits, lifting you to your feet. The man's form is blurry as he walks away. You shove away whoever is holding you and take a few stumbling steps forward, an involuntary growl bubbling up from your chest. It's not always easy to suppress your draconic instincts, but right now you don't really want to anyway. He's not winning this. You won't let him.

With your hands bound you can't use most of your spells, but the nice things about getting your magic from a dragon ancestor is that your breath is fair game for conducting your powers. You inhale deeply. Lightning crackles along your body and gathers in your lungs.

Just as you go to unleash a blast of electricity from your lungs to disintegrate this fucker, something clamps over your mouth and locks behind your head. Your teeth dig into bitter tasting rubber that covers your mouth fully. The lightning rebounds back into your lungs and you let out a muffled scream, your knees buckling as painful coughs wrack your body.

Strong arms are wrapped around your chest, holding you up as you threaten to crumble to the ground. It's Onthyes, you realize. He's muttering something into your ear - "I'm sorry. I really didn't want to do that. Please stop fighting you're just going to make it worse."

You slump into his arms, exhausted and in pain. He muzzled you. You can't believe he fucking muzzled you. Where did he even get this thing?

"What the fuck is goin on here?" Tinny pushes through the crowed that had gathered while that pirate was beating you. She grabs the man by the collar, and it's almost funny how he suddenly looks so small. "What didya do this time, Rye?"

"The prisoner started it!" Rye stammers. "I was teaching it a little lesson, and it tried to kill me!"

Tinny looks over at you, now muzzled and being held back by Onthyes. She rolls her eyes then turns her attention back to the crowd. "All of you, no beatin on the prisoner! Don't make me say it again! Now fuck off. Fun's over."

She lets Rye go and the pirates disperse.

Then Tinny is standing over you and you can't help but shrink back, a primal sort of growl rumbling in your throat. "Don't pull that shit again, kid," she says in a low voice. "I don't care what my crew does to ya. Save that freaky magic for when the captain needs ya using it. Got it?"

"Rye took his food and beat him up," Onthyes defends. "You can't blame him-"

"Rye's a sadistic piece of shit and I hate him as much as you do, but Ventis is still a prisoner. He doesn't deserve to defend himself. If you really don't wanna see him gettin hurt you gotta defend him yourself, got it?"

Onthyes nods, looking a little unsure. "I'll do my best."

"Good. Now I don't wanna hear any more trouble from you two tonight. Captain and I got big plans brewin. We'll need you alert and ready to perform tomorrow, freak."

You nod and Tinny walks away. Onthyes and his friends generously give you portions of their food, since yours has been seized by rats already. You get the sense you've earned their respect, but you've made a powerful enemy out of rye.

⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆

CYOA whump taglist: (let me know if you want to be added or removed): @scp-1296 @sapphicccici @acer-gaysimpstuff @morning-star-whump @rainydaywhump @whumperofworlds @hauntedroseart @3-2-whump @fleur-a-whump @whumpsday @whumpisfun @whumper-whimsy @ghost-whump @fabled-whump @violets-whumperflies @whumped-by-glitter @thewhumpening-thesequel @lumpofsand @whumpycries @unicornbeck @gala1981 @a-formless-entity @ryahisbored @mentallyunwellautism

[whumpycries]

K&J x MMSS 4: Valen & Jim Part 11

Part eleven of the fourth crossover with @whumpsday!

Bam!!! Back to back!! Once again again an XL chapter because I couldn't find a good place for a chapter break. lol... You can clearly tell these were written as RPs 😅 Hope you enjoy!

K&J masterlist

MMSS masterlist

K&J x MMSS crossover masterlist

To be added to the taglist, contact @whumpsday

Warnings: Aftermath of torture

In this chapter:

***

The next day, Jim comes down when Liz is set to arrive soon. He feels a lot safer in the daytime, making breakfast for himself.  Valen follows behind.

The bookshelf is undisturbed. Jim says, "Liz is gonna be working on the basement, installing silver stuff on the door. Kane can come up here? I can't move that bookshelf."

"Sure, that sounds fine. Just so you know, I had Kane demonstrate yesterday how strong he is as of now, and he could barely lift twenty pounds. The bookshelf was far in excess. Maybe that will put you at ease. I'll probably have to go to vampire territory tonight to pick up more blood, but I won't leave until Liz has made things secure so that you feel safe with me out of the house."

He walks over to the bookshelf and lifts it bodily, books and all, effortlessly and sets it where it belongs. He unlocks the door and cracks it open. "Kane, are you awake?"

Kane pokes his head out from the blanket cocoon he's encased himself in. "Yes, sir. I mean- yes." It's the best night of sleep he's had in a very long time. Already, he looks a lot better, the burns on his face having healed significantly. "Am I... needed?" They said they wouldn't hurt him, he tries to remind himself, but it's hard to internalize.

"Jim wants you to come upstairs. His sister is coming over today and will need to be in the basement. Shall I help you come up?"

His sister must be Liz. The hunter. Great, just great. There's no way he's going to escape that encounter unscathed. At least he has blood now, so he'll heal fast, but he's still dreading it.

"I, I can handle it." Kane wraps one of the blankets around himself, shuffling up the stairs to meet Valen. "Is it okay if I take it with me?"

"Of course." Valen watches Kane come upstairs, then has him sit down on the couch, then pokes his head into the kitchen. "Jim, dear, Kane is in the living room. Come out when you're ready. What would you like us to do until Liz gets here?"

Jim comes out with a plate of peanut butter banana toast. "Uh, I dunno. She shouldn't be long. Hey, K-Kane." Jim isn't supposed to use his name. He's supposed to use Master. He hates that his voice wavers. "How'd you sleep."

Kane eyes him fearfully.  "Very well. Thank you." Kane is trying to be as polite as possible, extremely tense. "And yourself?"

"Good. Hey, relax. Still not gonna hurtcha." Jim reminds him.

"Yes. Thank you." Kane barely calms. The hunter is almost here.

"I figure I'll go out and buy some stuff for him at some point today, before you go for blood. Clothes and stuff." Jim tells Valen. "That okay?"

"Sure, that's a lovely idea.  And while you're out of the house, maybe Kane can help me with my research project, since we're out of real blood.  I finally have a second test subject."  He winks at Kane.

Kane's face falls even deeper into fear. "What?" he squeaks, clutching the blanket tighter around himself. "What- research project?"

"Oh dear," Valen says with a laugh.  "I just realized how that might have sounded if you don't know anything about it.  I'm working on trying to develop artificial blood.  So far I've been the only one around to drink it.  You can help me taste test it.  You needn't worry; the worst that will happen is we sit around drinking shots, and one of them happens to taste bad.  Obviously you don't have to if it makes you nervous."

Kane relaxes. That's the worst that can happen, and the best that can happen is he gets more blood. "Yes, I would love to. That sounds, that sounds wonderful. Thank you for including me."

"Aw, I wanna do fake blood shots." Jim whines. "Stupid toxic mushrooms."

There's a knock at the door, and Kane jolts like it's a gunshot, whimpering.

"She's not gonna hurt you." Jim assures him. "Liz's just gonna make the basement secure and get you some restraints that don't hurt. That's all."

Restraints that don't hurt sound good. Kane nods, sinking further into the couch as Jim answers the door.

Liz is wearing her hunting gear and a stormy expression, carrying a bag of vampire restraints in one hand and a bunch of silver under the other. She glares at Kane with burning hatred.

Kane shoots Valen a desperate, pleading look.

Valen comes over and stands next to Kane, reaching down and putting a comforting hand on his back.  "Liz, it's so good to see you.  Kane, this is Liz, Jim's sister.  She and I have been good friends for years.  Liz, there's something Kane would like to say to you."  Valen leans down and whispers very, very quietly into Kane's ear, such that only vampire hearing would let him hear, no eavesdropping.  "Apologize to her, and try to make it sound like you're not doing it just because you're afraid of her."  There's no way it's going to mollify even a fraction of Liz's anger at Kane, but Valen thinks that addressing the elephant in the room up-front might ease some of the tension that he's sure is going to happen.  And maybe, just maybe, if Kane is polite and deferential and sincere right off the bat, it will help Liz see that he's different.

Kane focuses on the grounding hand on his back. Valen has been safe, so far, and unbelievably kind. At the very least, he's a vampire too, and the least threatening of his new wardens. He hesitates a moment before timidly speaking up. "I'm s-sorry, ma'am. What I did to Jim was- was cruel, and I'm glad he's safe now."

Jim's eyebrows raise at the apology. Kane's said I'm sorry many times already, but this feels different somehow. It feels weird.

"I know that it was cruel." Liz snaps. Kane cringes back, expecting a blow that doesn't come.

"Liz, he's already really scared." Jim says. "Please?"

She sighs, putting the silver down and approaching with the bag. "Arms out."

Kane extends his shaking arms. Liz fastens padded cuffs onto his wrists, and similar with his ankles. "Don't touch the keys, they're silver." she tells Valen, her tone much softer with him.

She tosses the bag to Jim, containing the keys to the cuffs and one other mysterious item. Jim peers inside, then closes the bag again with a frown.

"Thank you, Liz," Valen says.  "I know you have every right to be upset with Kane, he's just simply trying to demonstrate he knows what he did was wrong and behaves differently now.  He has been a perfect gentleman so far, nothing like how he used to be.  It's very kind of you to come over to help Jim and not hurt Kane."  It's a thank you, but also a warning to back off, a reminder of how they'd said it would go.  "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help with the basement."

"I get it, okay? That is what I came over to do." Liz rubs her temples. She gives Jim a quick hug before grabbing the silver. "Thanks, Valen. For everything. But... I think you're the last person who could help with this." She does offer him a lukewarm smile before going to work on the door.

Valen wilts as soon as Liz turns her back, desperately hoping he hadn't made a huge mistake and made things worse.  "Of course," he says vaguely.

Kane relaxes a little once she's out of eyeshot. "Thank you." he murmurs.

Jim fishes the keys out of the bag, stuffs them in his pocket, and throws the bag and its remaining contents in the trash.

Valen comes over and gingerly picks it from the trash.  "Hold on, Jim, dear, it sounds like there's still something in there."

"It's trash." Jim insists, taking it out of Valen's hands and putting it back in the garbage. "I'm gonna put the keys upstairs and head out to shop while you and Kane do shots or whatever. Unless you want me to stick around?"

Valen stares at Jim, then averts his eyes.  "I thought it might be good for you to stay here while Liz is here also, but I think I can handle it if you'd rather not be here."

"Yeah, you're right, it can wait. 'S why I asked." Jim takes Valen's hand, threading his fingers through Valen's. "And seriously, just forget about the bag. It's nothing we'd ever use."

"Jim..." Valen says.  Surely Jim must know that Valen is going to open the bag to see what it is as soon as he gets an opportunity when Jim isn't around?

"It's a muzzle." Jim mumbles. "Like I said. Trash. Prolly just came with the cuffs from whoever Liz got them from, which was why she didn't try to put it on. I'm not putting that shit on him." As afraid as he is of Kane's bite, the memory of Valen in a muzzle still haunts him.

"I don't mind wearing a muzzle if, if it doesn't hurt." Kane says. "I'll be good. Won't resist."

But Valen's skin crawls at the thought of a muzzle.  He understands Jim's instinctual reaction to it.  He tries to hide the look on his face.  Objectively, a muzzle is not such a bad thing, if it won't hurt.  He nods, trying not to look shaken.  "All right.  If you don't think you'll need it, we can get rid of it.  Kane says he wouldn't even mind, I assume it's padded.  I don't think Kane will try to bite you anyway.  I just want you to feel safe."

"I don't want it in our house." Jim cups Valen's face, running his thumb over Valen’s cheek. Soft skin that was locked behind a muzzle for three days during horrible trauma. "I'd feel safer with it gone."

Kane modestly averts his eyes.

Valen nods.  "I-I would also feel safer with it gone.  Thank you."

Valen takes Jim's hand and goes over to Liz, examining what she's doing curiously.  "So, Liz, what all are you planning to do while you're here?"

Liz has already replaced the door's hinges with silver, and is now installing a flat silver grating over it. "Just silverin' up this door. Obviously don't touch any of this, or wear gloves if you gotta. Assume that touching any metal within a foot of the door isn't fun. Gonna put a deadbolt on the outside next. All that should definitely be able to hold him. But both of you keep in mind it'll also hold anyone, human or vampire, so don't get stuck down there."

"Good to know." Jim says quietly. The idea of a prison inside his home makes him feel hollow. It reminds him uncomfortably of the human quarters back at Kane's.

Valen, by contrast, seems fine with this.  "Thank you, Liz."  He walks over and sits on the couch next to Kane.  "How are you doing?" he says quietly.

Jim talks with Liz for a bit, their conversation consisting of Jim chewing her out a bit for bringing a muzzle, Liz confirming what Jim thought about it just coming with the set, Jim asking where she got those anyway, and Liz saying she knows a hunter who did a hostage exchange once.

"I'm okay. Good." Kane confirms. "The cuffs don't hurt. I'm fed. I'm healing. You p-protected me from the hunter. Thank you. I'm... I'm actually okay." He's still scared, his fate uncertain, but he knows his life has at least had a major step up. 

"Good," Valen says, patting his knee.

"Um, can I ask... what did people say about me? After I was assumed dead, as I'm sure I was?"

"Um, unfortunately I don't really know.  I pretty much isolated myself from any other vampires a long time ago.  I moved out here to be with Jim not long after the last time we saw each other, and I don't keep in touch with my family."

"Oh. I see." That would have been years before Kane was captured, then. He hadn't even heard about Valen running off to human territory. It's scary how someone could just...disappear, and no one cares. He wonders if anyone cared when he did.

Suddenly, he smiles wryly. "He was still in your apartment, wasn't he. When I came by. I'm just realizing that."

Valen smiles, half-embarrassed, half amused.  "Yes, he was cowering at the bottom of my bedroom closet.  I've never been a good liar, so I was terrified you'd see through it.  At the time I was nervous I wouldn't be able to fight you off if you didn't believe me and decided to shove your way in and look around."

The implications aren't lost on Kane. If Valen hadn't done what he did, Kane never would have gone through this horrible mess. But it's an incidental consequence, not a purposeful one. He didn't even get captured until five years later.

And he really did plan on crushing Jim's ankles if he found him. And Jim doesn't deserve that.

"I'm glad you got him out. Thank you." Kane says.

"The poor thing was on the brink of death out in the wild," Valen says sadly.  "I couldn't just leave him there."  He wrings his hands.  "I'm glad you think this way, now, I was afraid when we came to get you that you'd--you'd be even angrier, and more violent."

Kane imagines, for a moment, a world in which he'd found Jim's corpse out there in the woods. He'd still have gone for a second human, probably in the same timeframe, and still been captured by the hunters. Except this time, there would be no Jim to save him and take him away. It would be forever. Neither one of them would have a happy ending. He's more thankful than ever for Valen.

"I've been subject to the other side. I couldn't possibly go on with my stupid fucking- s-sorry. I don't mean to be impolite." he says nervously, hoping that doesn't count. Just be polite, and you'll be fine. "With my views."

Valen smiles and pats his hand.  "You're all right.  Still, I'm very glad, it's making this all a lot easier.  I think in the long run this might be better for Jim's healing, too.  To stop thinking of you as some bogeyman that could swoop in to take him at any time."

Jim comes on over, only catching the last bit. "Yeah, not so much of a bogeyman now. So, shots? I can grab some cranberry juice and play along."

Kane perks up. He's going to get more blood, even if it's 'artificial'. He's never heard of anything like it, but he very much likes blood.

"Jim, dear, are you sure you don't want to wait until Liz leaves?" He hesitates, then more quietly: "And are you sure you want to see Kane feeding?"

"It's not like- it's just the mushroom stuff, out of a cup, right? No, like, biting anything?" Jim clarifies. "If I chicken out, I'll just slink off. We can wait if you wanna, though, and you can do it while I'm out. Doesn't matter."

"Yes. Okay, that sounds good. I do think we should wait until Liz is gone, though." No sense doing anything risky if they didn't need to, and having Kane do anything other than the absolute bare minimum to get through interacting with Liz is definitely risky

Kane is glad for the stalling. Drinking blood is bad behavior, and he doesn't want to do it in front of the huntress, even if it's not real blood and he has permission.

Jim puts the TV on for a bit. It's about 40 minutes until Liz is done. "Alright, that should do it." she announces. "If we really wanna test it, Valen can put some gloves on and give it a good knocking, but I get that might be uncomfortable and I'm confident it'll hold."

"I'm certainly willing to do that, but I'm confident in your work, Liz. Jim, up to you."

"If... you're really sure it's okay, could we maybe test it?" Jim asks sheepishly, embarrassed of his fear. "Just to make sure."

Kane wants to insist that he won't try to escape, but that could be taken as him wanting to leave the basement less-secured, and he doesn't want to imply anything like that, especially in front of the hunter.

"Of course! It'll be a fun activity."

Valen dons his protective gear, the things he uses to go out during the day, to be absolutely certain he won't touch any of the silver. He then has them lock him in the basement and bodily slams the door multiple times, demonstrating that even a full frontal assault with a running start from a healthy vampire is not enough to break it down.

Kane watches with wide eyes, listening to the pap-pap-pap-BOOM of Valen running into the door. He wasn't planning to escape anyway, he's behaving, and it's been good here so far, but the demonstration of just how trapped and helpless he is makes him feel small. He looks down at his feet, trembling a bit.

Jim unlocks the door. "Thanks, Vale. Think that about covers it."

Valen had, truthfully, enjoyed the activity just as he'd said. It'd been ages since he'd had any reason to unleash his full strength. He is panting a little when he comes out. "You're quite welcome." He catches sight of Kane. "I'm sure this is far in excess of what's actually necessary, considering Kane isn't going to try anything like what I just did, but I'm happy it will make you feel more secure."

Valen looks so hot, panting when he takes his mask off. Jim would eagerly comment on it if the other company in the room weren't his sister and Kane. "Yeah. Super secure."

"I'll leave you guys to it, then. You know I'm always a phone call away." Liz gives Jim a hug, and Valen a hug, and goes to leave. Before she does, she hesitates at the door before stomping over to Kane.

"Hurt my brother ever again and you are done." she snarls. "Are we understood?"

"Yes, ma'am." Kane says, cowering away from her.

"Thank you, Liz," Valen says dryly. "Drive safely."  Jim is similarly displeased with Liz's choice, even if he's glad for the protectiveness.

Valen watches Liz depart, and then turns to Kane. "You did very well, thank you for staying calm." 

"C-calm." Kane agrees shakily. He's relieved he's done well, at least.

Valen grins at Jim. "Drinks now, then?"

"Hell yes. I'm getting my c-berry." Jim heads into the kitchen.

"One moment, Jim, I have a great idea that will make this fun for you as well!"

Valen runs into the kitchen and mixes some shots of various kinds of alcohol, with red food dye, in with Jim's cranberry juice shots. He also makes Jim look away to keep it secret and adds a few prank shots, like straight pickle juice, vinegar, dredges of food leftovers that he's seen the human dump down the drain to discard, anything that's safe to ingest but strong in taste and can be passably disguised as cranberry juice. He also adds one shot that's the formula for artificial blood without the parts that would hurt Jim--he imagines it will just taste really salty, but he knows Jim will be delighted to taste a safe version of it.

He then pours little sample cups of his various concoctions, paired so that he and Kane will always be drinking the same one. He's had years to work on it at this point, and while it's certainly not real blood, not even as good as the imported stuff, it's much more tolerable than it had been in the early stages. He's currently working on trying to replicate the specific tastes of various blood types. He is getting closer to being ready to do something with it, although he's still not quite sure what his plan of attack for actually launching it will be, now that he's burned his bridges with the country's biggest distributor of blood.

Valen comes out with the shots, all labeled with some scribbles only decipherable to himself. "Okay, Kane, we're testing which of these taste best, which of them are stinkers, and as a bonus let's label each as to what blood type they taste most like."

"Haha, oh man. This is great." Jim laughs. "This is so cute. I'm so freakin' excited."

Kane eyes the not-blood curiously. It doesn't smell like blood, but it looks like blood. He hopes it sits in his stomach and sates hunger like blood. "Okay! This is... I've never seen anything like this."

Jim grabs the human-safe artificial blood first, the only one visually distinguishable from his cranberry shots. Kane grabs the shot opposite the one Valen grabs.

"Cheers!" Jim exclaims.

Valen clinks his glass against Jim's, then Kane's, then tosses the shot back.

All three of them make faces like they'd just tasted something bad. The first cup of artificial blood was definitely a bad one.

"Um," Valen says, smacking his lips. "Hm, I'm marking this one down as a no.”

It definitely tastes bad, but it really is blood, almost. Kane licks the remnants from the inside of the shot. "It's okay. I don't hate it." he decides. How could he hate something that would sate hunger? Just yesterday, he would have licked this off the floor and been grateful.

"I'll write it down that a starving man finds it tolerable."

"Ugh." is Jim's only comment on his own drink.

Valen grabs the next shot glass and downs it. He licks his lips. "Mmm.  Oh, this one is pretty good. I'd say it's AB positive.”

Kane agrees. "AB positive, yes. This is good." But maybe his standards are low, like Valen said.

Jim gets pickle juice, his face scrunching up again. "Pickle."

The next one, Jim gets a nice cranberry vodka shot. "Now this is a shot. Finally." he says with a smile.

"B negative. Really good." Kane says immediately after drinking his.

The smile drops off Jim's face and he looks away. After seeing Jim's reaction, Kane's mood similarly seems to drop as he shrinks back.

"Ah," Valen says. B negative is, in fact, Jim's blood type.  He discreetly makes a few notes in the ensuing awkward silence.  "Shall we take a break, then?"

"S-sorry." Kane says quietly.

"Nah, s'all good. You were doing exactly what Valen asked you to do." Jim takes another shot. "Bleh. Pickles." He motions for Valen and Kane to continue.

Valen wordlessly slides his notebook and pencil over to Kane, so he can directly write down what blood type he thinks they are, so as to avoid a repeat of what just happened.

The next blood shot is a whole lot of nothing. It doesn't taste bad, but it doesn't taste good either

They go through all of them like this. Jim is pretty giggly by the end, the B negative shot forgotten. Kane looks at him strangely.

"He never let me driiink." Jim complains to Valen. "Said it'd taste bad, in my blood. Boo. No fun."

Kane's experiences with humans and alcohol have been very different up until now, due to selection bias: the only hunters who would bother visiting him drunk were the ones who wanted something to hurt. He's never seen a reaction like this before.

"Oh, Jim," Valen says, giggling and giving him a smooch. "You're so cute when you're drunk. You can have all the fun you want now. Oh!" Valen goes red. "I-I forgot that you were supposed to drive to the store after this!”

"Well that's not happening. Don't wanna go to the stupid store anyway. Wanna stay here with you." Jim nuzzles into Valen's shoulder. "We got clothes here. It can wait a day. C'you wait a day, Kane?"

"Yes. I, I can wait. Thank you for going at all." Kane agrees.

"See? All fine." Jim says happily.

Valen decides to also put off leaving the house to go get blood until Jim is sober, imagining it wouldn't go well for Jim to be drunk alone with Kane, or to wake up alone with Kane in the house.  They have the artificial stuff to tide them over, which is in fact the whole point of making it.

After they're done drinking, Valen insists that Jim "makes" Kane watch Jim's favorite movie.  After it seems like Jim's had enough of being conscious on this mortal coil, Valen takes him upstairs and puts him to bed, then comes down to put Kane in the basement.

He apologetically asks him to go downstairs, and asks if he'd like anything to keep himself entertained.

"...Music?" Kane asks. "If, if it's convenient. I don't need anything. Thank you for the blood."

"Of course!"

Valen comes down with a radio, as well as some notebooks and pencils, which Kane didn't ask for, but Valen suggests to him to keep a journal, as Valen has found it good for his mental health.  He also brings down books and extra pillows and blankets, adding them to the outrageously large pile of blankets already on Kane's bed, because he thinks it's just so dreadfully cold down here.

"I'll see about getting us some real blood soon," Valen says on his way up the stairs.  "Sleep well."

"Thank you. So much, for everything. You too." Kane says with a small smile. For the first time in a very long time, he's actually hopeful about the future.

Valen locks the door, then goes upstairs to the very drunk and sleepy Jim, barricading the bedroom door once again and crawling up beside Jim.  "How are you, my dear Jim?"

"Good. Sleepy. M'not even scared." Jim proclaims proudly. "Valen. Guess what. I love you sooooo much."

Valen's face splits in a smile so big it hurts his face.  "Awww.  Well guess what.  I love you more!"

Jim breaks into a gigantic smile. "Yaaaaaay." He buries his face in Valen.

Valen strokes the nape of Jim's neck as they both fall asleep.

***

@barebarb

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@why-not-ask-me-a-better-question

[whumpycries]

CYOA Whump Part 12

First | Previous

You chose: Make friends with the crew. Try to get them on my side.

⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆

After almost a full day of resting, you're forced to follow Onthyes as he goes to get food. You still aren't sure how this whole being handcuffed together thing is supposed to work. Is he going to sleep on your floor tonight? Or will he take off the cuff and lock you in your room when its time to sleep?

You follow a few paces behind him as he gets food and rum for both of you and then heads up onto the deck where most of the crew has gathered to eat. Climbing the ladder is awkward with your bound hands but with a little help from Onthyes you manage it without falling.

"Onthyes! Over here!"

You find the source of the voice easily, a hulking dragonborn woman with greenish scales. She's sitting with some others: a red-haired halfling woman and human man with a mouthful of silver teeth that glint in the moonlight as he tears into a chunk of salted pork.

You and Onthyes join them, sitting on some crates. You notice that this group seems somewhat cut off from the rest of the crew, almost purposefully excluded from the roaring jokes and taunts that are being passed around. Misfits amongst misfits. You feel pretty confident you can gain their favor.

"Damn," the halfling woman chuckles. "Tin told me you got yourself shackled to the prisoner. Didn't realize she meant it literally."

"My name is Ventis," you say, extending your bound hands awkwardly to shake hers.

"Hildris." She stretches to reach you and shakes both of your hands with both of hers. "These two are Golkulildyth the Mighty and John."

"Pleasure."

Onthyes puts some food in your hands. You set it down in your lap and instead reach out for the bottle of rum he'd grabbed for you, and he passes it over.

As soon as you set your food down it's snatched from your lap. A man stands over you, his long brown hair tied back in intracite knots. He grins, taking a big bite and chewing with his mouth open. "You weren't gonna eat this, were you, freak?"

The others sitting around you have gone quiet, pertending to be interested in anything other than what's going on with you. They're either terrified of this guy, or they aren't willing to risk their necks to help a captive.

"Actually-"

"Good. Thanks for sharing."

He starts to turn his back, your dinner still in his hands.

⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆

CYOA whump taglist: (let me know if you want to be added or removed): @scp-1296 @sapphicccici @acer-gaysimpstuff @morning-star-whump @rainydaywhump @whumperofworlds @hauntedroseart @3-2-whump @fleur-a-whump @whumpsday @whumpisfun @whumper-whimsy @ghost-whump @fabled-whump @violets-whumperflies @whumped-by-glitter @thewhumpening-thesequel @lumpofsand @whumpycries @unicornbeck @gala1981 @a-formless-entity

[whumpycries]

CYOA Whump - Part 11

First | Previous

You chose: Yes! Father didn’t raise a quitter.

cw: metaphorical needles, coughing up blood

⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆

You're exhausted but you choose to push yourself even harder, squeezing your eyes closed. Controlling the winds is your birthright. You shouldn't have to struggle for it.

You can feel your whole body trembling. The pain has spread from your head through the rest of your body, a sensation like being prodded with thousands of needles. Under the roaring of wind you can hear yourself crying out.

"This has to stop, captain! He can't-"

"Silence, boy."

"But he-"

"I said shut it!"

You can't get enough air. It's like your magic is pulling the very breath from your lungs. You gasp and cough, the metalic taste getting stronger as you spit out blood.

Rough hands grab your face, tilting your head back. "Kid? Open your eyes."

You can't. Your eyelids are too heavy. An open palm slaps you across the cheek and even that doesn't bring you any closer to awareness.

"Alright. You're done. Stop it."

You can't do that either. You've opened the dam that holds your magic at bay too wide and you don't have the energy to close it again. You can feel your life force draining away...

~

When you wake up it's in small waves of realization. First, you're horizontal, not tied sitting up like you have been so far. There's a thin mattress under you and a blanket covering you. Your hands are cuffed together and resting on your stomach.

You pry your eyes open. The room is small and dark except for the soft orange light of a lantern. Sitting at your bedside is Onthyes.

He looks up, smiling when he sees you awake. "Thank the gods. I wasn't sure if you've make it. You've been out for a whole day and night."

You groan, your throat painfully dry.

"Here." Onthyes helps you sit up, and a clinking sound catches your attention. There's a length chain attached to your cuffs that reaches out and connects to a similar cuff around Onthyes's left wrist.

He holds a cup of water to your lips, letting you drink your fill before he gives you some bread and jerky. You're able to feed yourself with your bound hands, but the chain connecting you and Onthyes serves as a constant distraction.

"Why are we chained together?" you ask when you're finished eating.

"Captain doesn't want you unsupervised for even a second now that you aren't tied up. And he said I'd discourage any escape attempts, since my body would be too heavy for you to lug around if you decide to kill me."

You raise an eyebrow at him. "I could cut off your hand."

Onthyes winces. "Please don't do that."

You hum, not making any promises. You're not even sure you're capable of doing something like that, but he doesn't need to know that.

⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆

CYOA whump taglist: (let me know if you want to be added or removed): @scp-1296 @sapphicccici @acer-gaysimpstuff @morning-star-whump @rainydaywhump @whumperofworlds @hauntedroseart @3-2-whump @fleur-a-whump @whumpsday @whumpisfun @whumper-whimsy @ghost-whump @fabled-whump @violets-whumperflies @whumped-by-glitter @thewhumpening-thesequel @lumpofsand @whumpycries @unicornbeck @gala1981 @a-formless-entity

[whumpycries]

CYOA Whump Part 10

First | Previous

You chose: Sure. I’m pretty hungry.

⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆

You sigh, stubbornly avoiding eye contact with Onthyes. “Fine,” you say. “But I want to eat.”

Onthyes grins, looking relieved. “I’ll get the captain. Don’t go anywhere.”

He runs off and returns moments later with Erxik in tow. The captain is smiling triumphantly, but noticeably doesn’t have any food in hand.

“I’m hungry,” you complain.

“Ah- Don’t worry, freak. You’ll eat after you fulfill your end of the deal.”

Ugh. Fine. Your powers aren’t easy to use with your body weakened like this, but you can at least show him that you intend to help him.

You close your eyes, focusing on breathing as deeply as you can with ropes pressing down on your chest. You feel the air around you filling your body; feel the meager power of forcing it all out when you exhale. You are a force of nature.

The winds bend to your will, growing in strength and making the ships sails fill out impressively. The ship lurches forward. You can vaguely hear Erxik yelling out instructions to his crew, but it’s lost under the throbbing headache that has started to develop behind your eyes.

You can’t keep this up for very long. You hear Erxik urging you to give him more, his hand patting your cheek in an attempt to keep you conscious. You open your eyes. His face fills your vision but it’s fuzzy and your mouth tastes like copper.

“Come on, boy! You’re not done yet!”

Your whole body aches. You feel like you’re going to pass out if you don’t stop. You’ve never pushed yourself this far before.

⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆

CYOA whump taglist: (let me know if you want to be added or removed): @scp-1296 @sapphicccici @acer-gaysimpstuff @morning-star-whump @rainydaywhump @whumperofworlds @hauntedroseart @3-2-whump @fleur-a-whump @whumpsday @whumpisfun @whumper-whimsy @ghost-whump @fabled-whump @violets-whumperflies @whumped-by-glitter @thewhumpening-thesequel @lumpofsand @whumpycries @unicornbeck @gala1981 @a-formless-entity