#lotus eater machine

[cold1dead1eyes]

9. lotus-eater machine

lotus-eater machine: a character goes to sleep, and wakes up in their own personal paradise. the truth, however, is that the paradise isn't real.

whumpee cuddles closer into caretaker. they're bundled up in soft, fluffy blankets, watching their favourite movie. cicadas chirp in the darkness outside. caretaker laughs at a scene, hugging whumpee closer.

it's the same movie every night. the same laugh, the same warm blankets, but whumpee doesn't care. here, they're safe and happy. something tells them that whatever's outside is the exact opposite.

caretaker picks up a piece of popcorn and brings it to whumpee's mouth. they hold it there expectantly.

"open wide~" caretaker coos, and whumpee freezes. their stomach drops. suddenly there's nothing but blood, thick red metallic on their tongue, choking up their throat. the smell of antiseptic. the bright white glare of a medical light.

'open wide~' whumper says, right before they cram the pliers into whumpee's mouth. and whumpee screams, cries, begs, but none of it stops whumper as they clamp the pliers down on a tooth and pull-

"whumpee?" whumpee makes a startled, wet noise. they break out of their trance and stare up at caretaker, who's looking back down at them with a concerned frown.

"are you okay?" the same words, every night. whumpee knows how the day starts and the day ends and nothing ever changes. it's all so predictable. a fabricated paradise. that's why it's perfect; nothing that's real could ever be this good.

"mhm." they whisper, and cuddle deeper into caretaker's chest. after all, it doesn't matter if it’s real. here, they’re safe and happy and whole.

they open their mouth and caretaker pops the popcorn inside. whumpee chews happily. they're already half asleep from the faraway glare of the TV, and it doesn't take long for them to doze off.

prompt from @whumpay

#lotus eater machine #whump #whump drabble #whump writing #whump prompt #medical whump #whumpee #caretaker #whumper #bittersweet fluff #hurt/comfort #manipulation #whumpay2023 #whumpay

[dismemberment-on-a-tuesday-night]

Whumpay day 9 & 11 - lotus-eater machine/multiple whumpees

Prompt list

• The false reality is Heaven for one whumpee and Hell for another.

• A demon whumpee in Hell gets trapped in a false version of Heaven, knowing everything is false but wanting to enjoy it while it lasts.

• Several whumpees get trapped in one false plane of existence, which appears differently to each of their perceptions.

• The whumper or caretaker (depending on how you want to spin it) creating the false reality feeds off life force and emotions, particularly joy.

• The false reality was created to take care of the whumpee, not torture them, but they have no idea it's fake.

• The false reality is meant to be perfect, but it glitches on occasion. This only gets worse as time goes on.

• The whumpee is of an oppressed or feared species, and extremely isolated and depressed. The whumper or caretaker creates the false reality where they can fit in, even though everyone else isn't real.

• The whumpee thinks that they were trapped in the false reality with several other people, only to find out that they were part of the illusion.

Taglist: @elim-flower @devourerofcheesecake @whumpsday @whumpshaped @heavenly-whumper

Event: @whumpay

#Whump #Whump prompts #Lotus eater machine #Yes I watch Star Trek shut up #Whumper #Caretaker #Whumpee #Whumpblr

[typezerostudios]

Think most people are familiar with the lotus eater episode, where the heroes get trapped in a dream world and have to throw it all away, right?

A lot of the time the one who breaks everyone out of it tends to be the pessimist, the one who refuses to accept the happy ending and drags them all back to reality.

I want to see a sequel episode to that, where the protagonist flips out because they are genuinely happy, because things worked out and that's not how the world works.

They almost always end with the ambiguity of "did we really get out," so who's to say they did? How are they going to convince this person that they did win, they earned their happy ending, and that things are alright?

It would be a great way to deconstruct the pessimist/never happy archetype, because they always expect the bad thing, they're waiting for the other shoe to drop, and letting go of that expectation is hard.

Don't think we'll ever see it in mainstream media, it's something that would have to happen in a post series episode, but damn, that would be a rough one.

#mental health #lotus eaters #lotus eater machine #happy endings

[fallenwhumpee]

Dream

Whumpay Day 9: Lotus Eater Machine • Masterlist •

Warnings: Nightmare, implied character death.

Whumpee watched the view. It was quite nice, nearly succeeding to ease the tightness in their soul.

They sighed, forcing themselves to think of something else than the pain. Things never ended well if they kept thinking like this.

Whumpee struggled to remember what happened the last time they had questioned.

"Whumpe?" Caretaker saved them from thinking about what was bothering them.

"Yes, Caretaker?" Whumpee smiled.

"You have to wake up." Whumpee hated how stern they sounded. Caretaker was never like this to Whumpee. They wanted to keep it that way.

"I'm awake." Whumpee sighed. They talked this before. Or did they? Surely, at some point. Caretaker was insisting that this was just a dream.

Having Caretaker at their side really sounded like a dream.

But it was not. Caretaker was well and alive, right next to them. This was real.

They needed it to be real.

"No, Whumpee, please." Caretaker bit their lip. "You know it too." A step forward. "No matter how bad reality could be, it is still better than being stuck in a nightmare."

"Nightmare?"

Caretaker turned back.

"What did you mean?" Whumpee turned to them, but they were already going. Whumpee walked after them, but Caretaker was always so far.

"Caretaker!" They cried, now running, but Caretaker didn't look back. Whumpee was so slow, and Caretaker was out of their sight in a blink.

This wasn't supposed to happen. And maybe if they repeated it again and again, they wouldn't wake up there.

They wouldn't wake up.

But everything was fading, and they tried to cling to the shards of memories, their rare and beautiful memories, because they wanted to wake up, but they also didn't want to.

They didn't want to wake up because Caretaker was gone, forever, but they were there, in their dreams, happy and unharmed and not bleeding, smiling.

But they wanted to wake up, Caretaker wouldn't want them to lose themselves in delusion, locked in Whumper's basement and dreaming.

More often than not, their desire to wake up would lose.

This was no often time.

They woke up.

The first thing they heard was Whumper, punching something with frustration.

Then, they slept again.

They dreamed of Caretaker, alive and well and smiling and happy...

#whumpay2023 #whump #whump writing #lotus eater machine #implied character death

[eudaemon-m]

i kinda liked some moments in chapter 41 so i wanted to draw something... inexplicably ended up drawing. this

#my sincerest apologies. #honkai impact #griseo #honkai nuwa #i rlly liked act 1... nuwa fuxi i missed you #and im a sucker for “groundhog day loop”/“lotus eater machine” tropes #BOOM! HOMU YAOI BLAST

[cruiseshipmoment]

The fact that, even in Mac's fantasy of saving the day, he imagines screwing up and getting killed pains me. That man's self-concept is a mess. The version of himself he imagines is more in line with the action stars he idolizes and yet is unable to keep people safe, in one case being directly responsible for a death. This is the same man who is deeply anxious about safety ("I kept everybody safe! Safe!," the sunglasses thing). Just, how warped is his own self image that he doesn't imagine succeeding at that?

This whole thing is capped off by the "happy ending" of the fantasy being... dying and going to Heaven where he will join God in "ignor[ing] everyone's prayers." There's a whole thing to unpack there regarding the way Christian fundamentalism simultaneously idolizes and downplays dying. There's a whole other thing to unpack regarding trauma and feelings of hopelessness, including the implication that Mac is pleading with God in vain outside the fantasy. The best thing he can imagine is being dead, and that is so sad to me if I think about it for more than 30 seconds.

#Every time I see it reminds me so so much of that episode of Red Dwarf #where Rimmer's brain physically will not let the lotus-eater machine give him nice things #taking the tragicomedy too seriously again what else is new #its always sunny in philadelphia #it's always sunny in philadelphia #iasip #mac mcdonald #the gang saves the day

[zeroducks-2]

An entry for the Bad Things Happen Bingo card that I received ages ago, at the voice "Lotus-eater machine". Can you believe I'm still doing this! Cause I frickin can't! (Jk I am working on a lot of these at the same time because I can't be normal. I have cramping, parrilla and captive push basically ready to post. "Then why don't you do it, Zero?" I actually have no idea. It has to be the executive dysfunction)

Also, this is the 10th and likely last installment of my Sladick connected fics. And also the hour is ungodly but I had promised a commenter I would have posted this today, and today it is. If you're reading this dude, love ya.

If you don't know and are curious as to what a "Lotus-Eater machine" is, go here.

#bad things happen bingo #lotus-eater machine #sladick #dickstroke #my fanfictions

[camshaft22]

@badthingshappenbingo Lotus-Eater Machine

https://archiveofourown.org/works/46915420

Kyle’s life seems adrift.

A Green Lantern story. 

#Bad Things Happen Bingo #My fic #Kyle Rayner #Green Lantern #Guy Gardner #John Stewart #Hal Jordan #Jason Todd #Lotus-Eater Machine

[magpiesbones]

Qifrey/Olruggio

Lotus Eater AU, gentle cottagecore horror, canon compliant, gaslighting, internalized ableism, unreality, Chapter 40 spoilers but not the normal way, a horrible angst fic masquerading as sweet fluff

3k

Qifrey has a perfect day, and cannot understand why it feels wrong.

#IF YOU ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE CONCEPT OF A LOTUS EATER MACHINE PLEASE LOOK THAT UP BEFORE READING THE FIC #unless you want a Surprise i guess though I really. really strongly urge you to look it up #Orufrey #witch hat #wha #witch hat atelier #tongari boushi no atelier #tbna #haha. enjoy. im a little sorry about the angst in this one but the concept was !!!! and I needed to stop my writers block

[girldraki]

for that matter crosstemporal median to median communication aside there is literally no reason alison would have anything to do with any o5 council member that didn’t involve trying to peer pressure them into helping her kidnap her dad

#txt #blackbird keeps trying ot hit on her and she goes sure whatever I Need You To Lotus Eater Machine My Dad Right Now

[cyrantelnovapaleorayeeso]

With nikki's memories of ln a soup... do you think she has nightmares about events from ln in sn???

#text #i literally don't know the state of nikkis memories anymore bc #i know she lost them between games #but she got... some back? #not to mention all the timeloops shes been in #and idk what's going on in ln i tapped out of the lore after the #lotus dream eater machine event that introduced dream lunar and dark Bobo

[britishsass]

what would gloria’s lotus be?

A good question, anon! Gloria's lotus-eater machine would be a simulation of her being famous, successful, and loved by all- possibly including a perfect family, but that part is up in the air.

Clear imagery: her name in lights, her friends all being in the front row to watch her, and her performing a glorious show, spotlit on both sides.

Theming: Fame, love.

She doesn't realize it's fake until someone breaks the illusion for her.

#lotus-eater machines #queue #ask response #anon #gloria von gouton

[orangetintedglasses]

( vibrates in Christ I Need A Lotus-Eater Machine-based Plot Real Bad )

#curtains down ✧〗( ooc ) #( grabby hands ) #( someone stuff the living battery into a lotus eater machine please )

[transhuman-priestess]

#tumblr polls #polls #horror #cyberpunk #body horror

[kaleidoru]

dream within a dream, lotus eater machine

#anthro #furry #wolf #canine #dream #oc: ike #Ike does not have a fixed species any more #his reality warping affects even his own body #the only thing consistent is that he is usually white and his sleepy time robes LOL

[feybeasts]

Yo, if I’ve followed and then unfollowed you quickly, you’ve done nothing wrong, I just keep fat-fingering the recommended follower thing, because this website is a lotus eater machine made of bad UI