#at least when the lockdown is over they'll be able to see them and have their precious family gatherings

[rainydaywhump]

Zombies Are An Afterthought - 7

Whumptober Day 9: Brainwashing

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CWs: lady whumpee (rescued); lady caretaker; conditioned whumpee; the author struggles to keep the same tense throughout her fic

@whumpcember @i-eat-worlds @pigeonwhumps (lmk if you'd like to be added or removed! I am a forgetful bastard)

Kel guides her in the breathing exercise until the former captive is at least slightly less panicked than a startled possum. She feels like Marie for a moment there, being all patient and methodical like that. No wonder Marie's had gray hairs since her early twenties.

"I need you to listen very closely to me," she says. It seems unnecessary, as the girl is hanging onto her every word; but Kel wants to make sure the meaning sinks in. "I am sorry for hitting you. I did not mean to. I will never do that again, I promise. I...I have flashbacks, nightmares, sometimes. When I woke up, I thought you were...someone else. I acted as a reflex. If I had known it was you, I never would have done that. Does that make sense?"

She's pleased to see that Anne thought it through before nodding. "Yes. But --"

She stops herself.

"Go ahead," Kel encourages.

"...But, mistress, I don't understand what my orders are?"

Kel's heart sinks. "Oh, shit. No, no, it's okay, I'm not -- I'm not angry at you. I just have a sailor's mouth. But anyway. Anne, you don't have to..."

Her words trail off as she takes a second look at the young woman: Anne, though more mobile and alert now, is still unhealthily flushed, shaky, and clearly exhausted.

And also looking like she'll need another round of breathing exercises if Kel doesn't finish her sentence.

"...okay. Okay, yeah. Here's the thing -- I'm not a mistress, I'm just a normal person. I brought you here to help you." Her words don't seem to sink in at all, because Anne just looks confused.

"I...er, thank you for bringing me, bringing me here. Is this -- is this your house, mi-- ah..."

"Yeah, this is my place. I live alone. 'Specially since lockdown, hah."

"Oh. The...the virus."

That was an odd way to put it, Kel thought, and then she has a sinking feeling that Anne doesn't know the full nature of this pandemic.

Priorities, Kel. Now is not the time to tell a kidnapping victim about the most disappointing zombie apocalypse to ever apocalypse.

"Tell you what," she says, switching gears. "Let me get you some clothes. They'll be way too big on you, but that's better than nothing now that you're awake. Then we can get you some proper food, how's that sound?"

Anne had been nodding along with the most rapt expression of obedience as Kel talked, as if she was taking notes in her head -- which she probably was -- but now her eyes are wider than ever and her lashes shine with tears. There is a look of reverence in them that forces Kel to stop herself from physically recoiling.

"You're...you're giving me clothes?"

...

In her bedroom, a folded sweatshirt and Nike shorts in her arms, Kel watches herself in the mirror as tears drip down her cheeks.

Kel is not the type to cry. Usually, she just can't -- even when she wants to. She envies Marie and her other friends for being able to cry so easily (and so acceptably-appearing, too! Kel isn't even sobbing, she's not even making any noise, but her face is already blotchy). But for the most part, she's just taught herself to shove those tears down before they can even start.

But now? Now, after she hastily excused herself from this half-broken, half-conditioned girl who looked at Kel like a churchgoer looking up at a statue of the goddamn Virgin Mary when Kel had mentioned getting some clothes for her? Those fuckers brainwashed her. Kel has seen some awful things over the years, and she's had the displeasure of seeing so-called Stockholm syndrome (and even Lima Syndrome, which is...sometimes beneficial, but incredibly disturbing) a couple times before. But this -- this is something else. Anne asked for orders. Anne was shocked to be offered too-large clothes that weren't even her own.

Kel furiously wipes away the tears and settles for throwing her pillow at the wall in anger. She wants to kill the girl's captors. If they ever come back...

She quickly pushes both the tears and the anger back down and heads back to the living room, folded clothes in hand.

#“miStReSs hAs giVeN ANnettE a sWeAtsHiRt” #whump writing #whumpcember #whumpcember2023 #whump #whumpcember2023day9 #whump prompt #whumpee #conditioned whumpee #lady whumpee #lady whump #whump rescue

[oumaheroes]

Okay, this has got me head scratching and I want to know your take on it. I have literally no idea where this scenario came from, but it's /lingering/ with me during finals week so now I have to subject you to it, too. It's only fair.

Say, if England were to be compelled to say the truth no matter what, and like any repressed brit went into isolated lockdown until this wore off, who do you think he would choose to spend that time with if he had to?

(I'm thinking Wales; my fruk heart keeps wanting France, though. But we all know that's a double-edged sword because while they have this kind of intimate knowledge of each other- and would probably not be surprised by any of England's admissions- it would be England's worst nightmare to have France find out something new and be able to hold more over England's head than England can over him. Of course, this isn't even factoring in any other nations that could also possibly fit the bill here for isolation partner.)

Gosh, sorry this got long. No pressure to answer, by the way, just needed to expose you to these obviously deep and troubling thoughts. 😂

Atticus my love, you are 100% right on every count

Francis and Arthur are, most of the time, very honest with each other. Even if this is by what they don't say as much as what they do, they don't usually hide aspects of themselves. I wouldn't even say this is a conscious thing most of the time- Arthur doesn't set out to be so open or 'himself' with Francis, it just happens. They bring out each other's unfiltered self, for better or for worse, just from having known each other for so long and having experienced so much of history together

I've said this is so many posts before, but they interact with each other without filter in the good periods, and in the bad they can see right through whatever bullshit the other tries. Francis knows instantly when something he's said or done has offended Arthur and he looks for it. He knows his tells and Arthur knows his- Arthur knows when Francis is putting on airs and Francis sees him realise this, know he's been caught. Knows Arthur can see him anyway which makes him angry and it's worse because Arthur can read that too.

Which, of course, is the problem. If this were to ever happen, if England were to ever come under the effect of a spell/curse/circumstance the forces him to be entirely truthful, he would be the furthest away from France he could possibly be. Not because he's not used to Francis reading him so easily, but because at least usually England can keep quiet. Lying by omission is one of the only tools to keep France at bay, even if only for a time, and if there's something that compels England to speak truthfully then this is a nightmare scenario. Their relationship being in a good place won't fix the situation because, sooner or later, they'll be in a bad place again and both of them know it. You're so right, anything that England does or says France will likely use against him when the situation arises and Arthur will want to give Francis as little ammo as possible.

I suppose it's the intentional vulnerability most of all. Arthur knowing in advance that he has a weakness, such an open one at that, will make him want to hide away from everyone, especially, and even, Francis

You're spot on though. If there is anyone Arthur will let in, it's Wales and Wales alone. No one else will both loyally keep whatever he says a secret, and also be someone he feels comfortable showing this unfiltered self to. His brothers have known him before he ever felt as though he needed to hide himself, but Wales is the only one he still trusts to both see it and not judge

#aph france #aph england #hws england #fruk #hws france #aph fruk #hws fruk #hetalia #heroes headcanons #atticusfinchthelegend #atticus youve got some big brain thoughts here #such big brain thoughts and i agree with you in every way

[shinra-makonoid]

i dont agree with fines and the government overreach when it comes to covid, and i would prefer to the government imposing their own rules in their own organizations and affiliations, together with stuff like "until the panny is over, no karen, you cant sue Walmart because they dont want your plague rat ass with a fake vaccination or exemption card with a bunch of misspellings on it" and if more businesses wanted and other private places want they can follow the precautions recommended by scientists. i do think we need more of a middle ground when it comes to how the government should be dealing with those situations, specially when big businesses get exemptions small businesses don't like being able to be open in first place during lockdowns

Those people don't settle for middle ground. They don't care for other people. Pushing them away from public places or private companies, don't work to protect them and their family suffering from their idiocy. It frustrates them but it doesn't change the issue. For example, leaving children without a father or a mother, or both, because they decided that their giga brain didn't need a shot, is not right.

Besides, putting on the burden of having random people from those companies have to manage the dumbasses and identify them and their papers so that they can go inside a building, is, to me, way closer to a totalitarian behavior.

If Karens are unhappy and decide to sue the company, that's not a big deal. If Karens and Kevins decide to assault the employees because they decided they were over this (or worse, especially in America), that shouldn't be to employees to suffer and go through this. The burden of this should be on the government, it's their freaking duty to protect citizens and make sure they can live healthily, it's their duty to serve the people.

People who don't want to vaccinate for no health reason should be fined because that's probably the only language they understand (considering they don't want to being their part to society and don't have any sort of empathy or understanding of other human beings, or science). And they should be fined at least the cost of the free healthcare they'll be abusing if they end up in the ICU incapable of breathing, at least in universal healthcare countries. Life insurances should get more expensive too, considering the risk.

I don't think governments go far enough considering the issue at hand and the suffering of the hospital staff going through this and the death counts. They are always thinking about being reelected the next year, or not lose all the good points they have from their fans, or are scared by how other politicians from the same side will see them. They are pussies. Lockdowns are not necessary today so I don't think they should be pushing for that. They need to push for the vaccine.

Private companies don't care for their employees most of the time, so I don't see how any would give a fuck about their employees or clients having covid, if the government isn't behind telling them they need to. There are countless of stories of people working at big fast foods with covid because their employer threatened to fire them if they didn't come. Employees need to be protected by the government from that too, without abusing them by giving them responsabilities they shouldn't have.

Yes, finning people for not taking a vaccine is not ideal, again, I would hope in a perfect world it wasn't necessary, just like i would hope in a perfect world there would be no need for laws against killing people. But here we are, people decide to kill/disable each other by transmitting a virus and don't care about it. Money will make them care, because not being human piece of shit isn't enough of a reason for them.

#ask #shoujoboy-restart