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#tending to their strange human kids when they need them
ilovetvtoons · 2 years
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Adopted Mothers warming up their cold daughters.
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reallyromealone · 1 year
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The demon and his son
Kokushibo x son! Reader
Warnings: fluff, male reader
♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
(name) was a happy toddler, the little boy often seen watching his dad train or playing with his few toys his dad bought him.
Kokushibo sat on the engawa of their small home, enough space for the two of them as the demon watched his son a few feet before him play with his stuffed toys.
The boy had a plush doll of each moon, a gift from Doma after kokushibo left the other demon to watch his kid, the other surprisingly not bad at it.
It helped having countless loyal cult members fretting over the small child.
"Papa! Look!" (Name) said crouching before a beatle "what is it?"
"That's a rhinoceros beetle" his father said calmly as he stood beside his son "can we keep him?"
"No"
"Why?" (Name) pouted and the other stared "he has business to attend to" he said simply, having learned fast since he acquired the child as an infant it was easier to just lie with these things.
"Bye bye Mr beetle!" (Name) said as the beetle crawled off to go attend to his business.
It surprised the other moons and even Muzan that kokushibo had a child, the demon wasn't exactly the child rearing type but surprisingly he did well.
"You will be staying with Akaza for the next few days" kokushibo said to his son as he watched him eat his dinner, the demon couldn't eat and frankly food smelt like shit to him but his son needed it so he tolerated it.
Akaza lived in Tokyo, it was easy for him to get what he needed and people tended to leave him alone.
(Name) liked his uncle Akaza, the demon quite attentive with him and between his dad teaching him swordsmanship, Akaza taught him martial arts.
"Humans are weak so you need to learn to defend yourself" Akaza often said to the small boy, feeling a strange sense of pride when the boy who had claimed him as an uncle learned something new.
Kokushibo was usually gone for a few days to a week but he always came back with something for his son, usually a treat or a toy.
He knew he wasn't the most talkative and could be distant but he did care about his son as much as the demon could.
Stays with Doma were different, unlike Akaza Doma treated him like a doll in a way and enjoyed spoiling the boy.
Doma didn't have feelings, well not really but he did feel weirdly protective of the small boy.
Like he did with his petal, though he knew his "nephew" wouldn't do something to annoy him.
Or betray him.
Doma usually kept the tiny human in his lap and fed him treats or went about his business as the boy played with his toys.
The moons were on high alert though, slayers have been more active and thus Kokushibo was far more protective of his son.
(Name) could be an easy target.
And he was.
The slayer's believed the child was being held captive for some horrid reason and decided they were going to save the boy.
The demon slayers got the heads of the ones they sent back.
"Papa! You're back!" (Name) squealed as he ran to his dad, the demon silent but relieved his son was safe and handed his son some sweets "thank you papa" he said sweetly and the demon ruffled the boys hair "you're welcome"
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yanderes-galore · 7 months
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Anon couldn't be here for the request period so I reserved two requests for them, this is their second one
Anon Said: "With “Dittophobia” generating renewed interest in FNAF 4, how about we revisit the nightmare animatronics a bit? Could we get some rivalry headcanons between Nightmare Bonnie and Nightmare Chica? I want to see some nightmares throwing hands (or claws in this case)."
A/N: Sure! This is based off the small behavior talk I did a long time ago! Been awhile since I've written for the Nightmares and I'm excited for this!
Yandere! Nightmare Bonnie vs Yandere! Nightmare Chica
Pairing: Platonic/Romantic - Rivalry
Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Biting, Jealousy, Possessive behavior, Blood, Cannibalism mentioned, Stalking, Violence, Kidnapping implied, Supernatural forces, Mentions of death.
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When it comes to the Nightmares I'm pulling from other works I've done.
Both Bonnie and Chica, they're cruel, sadistic, and crave attention.
You need to pay attention to their presence or you could get hurt, right?
Plus, I'd write these two similarly to how I wrote Nightmare Fredbear and Freddy in the past.
How I tend to write the Nightmares is they're demons.
Which would mean you have strange anthropomorphic mechanical animals haunting you.
I've said in the past they take a twisted form based on things from their target's past.
This would imply you've been to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza at least once in your lifetime.
It would only be better if you were fond of Bonnie and Chica as a young child.
When you could have first encountered these demons can vary.
Maybe similar to the Fredbear fic I've done in the past they were masquerading as your imaginary friends?
Since you were young and you came home from Freddy Fazbear's, you were always greeted by a large bunny and chicken.
Maybe when you were younger you never saw them as demons.
With your childish mind you only ever saw your friends from Freddy's.
Perhaps here they play nice, although often argue about your attention.
Play more with the bunny and the chicken appears jealous that you care more for the bunny's songs.
Play more with the chicken or eat her food she made for you and the bunny appears irritable.
It's then you meet them again as an adult.
Only to learn they aren't quite imaginary.
It's this or you meet them as an adult with no prior knowledge about them as a child.
However I feel them originally being your imaginary friends is the best case scenario.
Unless you want something similar to the Nightmare Freddy fic I did where you're babysitting a kid they are haunting.
Either way, this Bonnie and Chica are much different from their usual counterparts.
Not only in appearance either.
Bonnie still wants attention, especially from his favorite human...
He just hopes you don't mind his games getting a little violent or his music haunting your ears.
Chica also wants your attention, to the point she craves it like a meal.
The demonic chicken even still makes, she just hopes you don't mind if she puts a bit of blood in her cakes.
Maybe it could even be yours, she bets it will taste amazing.
As expected, both of them like the idea of biting you to get a taste of you.
Chica seems a bit too fixated on it.
They're demons, demonic creatures that happen to be haunting your home.
In the corner of your eyes at night you'll see them slink back into the shadows.
Maybe you'll even see the small cupcake Chica sends to watch you.
Both of them would be possessive as they're territorial.
They wants to be your tormentors but they want to do it alone.
Since they've known you it's always been one or the other.
Bonnie tries to lure you in with songs written just for you, a twisted form of mimicry compared to the real Bonnie.
Meanwhile Chica tries to lure you to her with meals she mysteriously prepared in your kitchen.
Everything from pizza to cakes, the smell wafts through rooms and into your nose.
Yet it's all strangely metallic smelling when you look past the tasty smells.
Don't be fooled, when either of them get you close, they'll dig their claws into your flesh and claim you as theirs.
They yearn to bond to you, lapping at your wounds to devour you like prey.
They're monsters, way worse than just nightmares.
Unlike nightmares... you can't escape their terror by waking up.
This is reality.
The haunting songs and smells don't stop.
You can't do anything but hide in your room as the two fight.
They pounce at each other, clawing and growling like wild animals when not trying to lure you to them.
The smell of brimstone pierces your nose as mechanical clicks and clangs rings through your ears.
Being demons, they're immortal.
However, you are not, you are merely mortal.
One of them will take you and your soul by force if they have to.
Sure, hold them off as long as you can.
Soon you'll give into one of them
The question is which one?
Will you follow the bunny's songs and be lured in like a siren?
Or will you follow the scent of food the chicken made like a rat to a trap?
The two could battle it out for seemingly forever...
But you'll fall victim to them at any moment in your life, as they'll follow you and fight until the day you rot just to take you away.
Only then could their quarreling simmer down... and that isn't even guaranteed.
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lets-try-some-writing · 8 months
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Slight spoiler for beast wars, not really plot relevance but lore that makes me think and give me this idea.
So we all can agree that raf understanding beee is complete nonsense and just suspension of disbelif we need to accept. But what if it wasn't?
So, in the movie there is a small trive that live in close proximity to the maximals, they live in harmony for generations. What if that closeness to a new species affects humans causing them to adapt to better live with them?
Earth in transformers prime is just unicron that had been sleep for a long time in ita center. There is dark energon running close to earth surface (a god damn volcano erupted with it, I'm no expert but that can't happen unless is sources is close to the arth surface) so is not impossible to belive that an ancient human civilization could have found dark energon close to them. Sure they might not know what it is and it is stablish that its toxic for humans. but just been close to it for generations without direct contact might affect human physiology in ways no one might notice. We are an adaptive species. Each generation gets more strong to survive in the environment they ancestors live (people that are not use to the low level of oxygen in mountains and other hight places tend to pass out when reaching that point, is a real thing and there a people that have live in such places without any trouble for generations) what if they could even contact with unicron long ago, like just grab a pieces of dark energon and go "this is your God speaking, why did you interrupt my slumber".
They developed and entire society praising this "god" and its "magic cristals". They eventually died our but jot before being affected by their closeness to unicron
Like being able to understand our aliens cousins. Survive the same letal substance (even if barely) and even survive a regular energon intake even when is supposed to be bad for humans. I don't remember if it was ever stablish what could happen if a human was injected energon, but I still can't belive raf was save that easily, not without it having a reason.
That gave the idea that humans might have inherited some cybertronians traits, particularly those who have live close to energon mines and/or the different relics/predators bones scattered across the planet.
Like this are my ideas of traits the kids have that could be explain has them being close related to people that live in closeness to cybertronian influence.
Raf: smart enough to understand cybertronians technology in a matter of weeks. Can understand bee, and can withstand energon toxicity with ease compare to others.
Miko: it was never explain how she could use the apex amor despite it being made for cybertronians. So an affinity to such technology. I also like to belive that her recklessness can be because subconsciously she might think she is strong enough to survives such dangerous situations. Like her mind is telling her "you are strong, no matter what your body looks like".
Jack: he could use the key to Becton sigma, there is no way a human could have use it unless they were some what in tune with cybertronians technology. He is also drawn to mechanics (it was never a big thing but I remember him trying to build a motorcycle engine, that can't be easy with some deep knowledge)
That being explained. How could the bots find out about this? Simple actually "ancestry research" the kids might have to do a project about their ancestor and can end up telling stories that they hear for their familys and might even have some objects that they show to the bots and they connect the doslts abd found out how close humans actually are to cybertronians.
Like, Miko might have a nekless that is a small Predacon bone.
Raf family can have some small statues made by some strange glowing rock (some purple, some blue and maybe even a red one)
Jack might have a book that is just legends pass down fron his ancestor that are just cybertronian tales that unicron told old humans when he was still awake long ago.
I have more ideas but this thing is long enough what would you think wat are your ideas?
This is a phenomenal idea and I am incredibly pleased you saw fit to share with me. I will gladly take what you have presented and make it more long form.
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Remnants of a Bygone Age
When Unicron was cast away long ago by Primus's chosen champions, he could neither move nor sense what was happening around him. Consciousness came in bursts and never for long, and due to the damage sustained during his battle at the beginning of times, his memory from his various waking moments faded like smoke as soon as he returned to slumber. As such he did not recall his interactions with the ancient beginnings of humanity that spawned on his surface.
His essence was largely kept near to his core, but with time and various attempts to move every now and then, his energon flowed toward the surface. At first did nothing as the non-sentient fauna on his frame refused to touch his corrupted blood. The flora that came into contact with his energon often died or simply adapted to not accept any of it into their systems. Unicron's energon remained untouched save for by the most foolish, all of which perished or at least learned to avoid it if they lasted.
But of course, not all creatures on his frame were so cautious. The beginnings of humanity were curious beings, a trait that never faded from them even millennia later. They found safe haven in areas where Unicron's essence ran thick as no predators would dare take harbor in such areas. They lived in those locations for centuries, sometimes moving on and coming back, but never abandoning those relative areas of peace. They even forcefully began to have their crops grow in such a way that they had no choice but to adapt. And it was through these small things that humans gained their first adaptations to allow them to interact with their maker.
In the beginning they would constantly grow ill being so near to dark energon deposits hidden underground. But with generations passing, the illness came to be a rite of passage. The humans in areas with dark energon adapted to withstand its presence, so much so that the illness only hit them once as a child and then passed, growing less and less deadly with every generation. Through constant consumption of their crops tainted with the Unmaker's blood, their bodies grew stronger. Their minds sharpened and they gained unique senses that no other creatures on Earth had. The humans who were used to living around Unicron's energon deposits were made of sterner stuff than they counterparts and through the passing of time, comprised a great number of mythical figures in history later down the line.
Eventually in response to the march of progress, the humans who lived in such areas eventually grew tolerant enough that they no longer feared dark energon instinctually and instead found it safe. So many generations of associating it with protection from the horrors in the dark had them revere it. Thus once they had the means, small communities sprung up devoted to retrieving the dark crystals. This of course led to many more generations of premature death and horrid mutation among children as dark energon was dug up and experimented with. But humanity has always been adaptive, and so given time, they changed to handle it.
They could not find a use for the substance, but those who lived in areas filled with Unicron's essence for generations found themselves unable to leave. It was their safe haven, their home. Other human settlements sprang up around the globe, growing in size and marching onward, but the chaos touched never wandered. They remained, ever bound to the blood of their god. It is unclear exactly when it started, but at some point the emotions of safety they associated with dark energon warped into a worship of The Dark One. So many millennia of adaptation and so many centuries made the chaos touched able to hear whispers, to hold dark energon without fear and to carve it, care for it, and revere it without worry of death.
They were extraordinary in all things, to the point of being super human. They had adapted and from those many generations of death and lost young, they were stronger for it. The chaos touched humans were stronger, faster, more cunning, and possessed odd abilities that made no sense to humans without such adaptations. The Cybertronian origin of their Dark One infused them in such a way that the chaos touched were simply so different genetically at the end of the day that they could hardly be called human. They saw in ways their kin could never, heard things that other humans could not, and felt the spark of their god beneath their feet. They were beings that could not break the threshold to become something technorganic and almost Cybertronian, and thus they remained forever at the pinnacle, unable to evolve any further.
Sometimes Unicron would whisper to them, mistaking them for his own creations and telling them tales of the stars. Other times he would imbue them with his power, killing some but empowering others. He gifted them knowledge of the language of his brother's creations, he gave them visions of the stars, and in his daze he had them believing themselves to be but one step away from ascension.
However being akin to demi-gods amongst other humans was what ultimately led to their downfall. The chaos touched refused to leave their holy grounds for long, and so were destroyed when armies from their non-adapted kin came for them during a time of weakness. Their civilization came to an end, and those who were not adapted to the Unmaker simply never were able to rest easily in places where his blood ran thick. But of course, that was not the end of the chaos touched. The few survivors had children, they changed, and while their adaptations weakened in response to the mixing of blood, they were not all lost.
In the modern era, the blood of the chaos touch was thin and very frail, hardly present as most dark energon had long been hidden away. However a few bloodlines remained, surprisingly being quite prevalent in Jasper Nevada where the chaos touched unknowingly gathered on instinct due to the dark energon there. Humans are adaptive creatures, and so while most of their Herculean strength and Athenian wisdom was long gone, the different bloodlines specialized in what they could. Not a soul knew that these gifts were out of the ordinary simply because they had no application... not until Cybertronians arrived on Earth.
The children unknowingly were born into three of these old bloodlines, and therefore possessed power that had no use in an era without Cybertronian influence. But with Cybertronians on Earth, those gifts began to make an appearance, the most obvious of which being Rafael's unique ability. The team were immediately suspicious of Rafael's knack for understanding Bumblebee. The child claimed it to be binary speech, but Jack looked into it and the team did their own research and what Rafael claimed was simple was most certainly not. Bumblebee was speaking in Cybertronian Morse code, Autobot code specifically. There should have been no way for Rafael to know what he was saying, especially since the similarities between Earth and Cybertronians tongues were close to non-existent. It was a mess of impossibilities, but the Matrix did not say anything and Rafael never acted maliciously, and so while concerning, the team let it be.
When Rafael was struck with dark energon and poisoned, their concerns were brought back to light once more when he didn't keel over the moment the substance touched him. Even being injected with small doses could leave a Cybertronian dead on their pedes for deca-cycles if they weren't prepared for it. A human child managing to last more than a nanoklik was a miracle, one Ratchet did not try to abuse as he worked to heal the child before it was too late. Only after the incident did the team overlook Rafael's scans critically in search of some sort of indicator regarding what saved him. Organics were not the hardiest of creatures, it shouldn't have been possible... and yet it was. Looking at Rafael's DNA scans showed that he had minor mutations to his immune system and cognitive functions, but that was all. It didn't look like much, at least not immediately.
The team filed it away as more pressing issues came forward, but again they found themselves bewildered when Jack showed his quality in his ability to wield the key to Vector Sigma. By that point the team were looking for strange occurrences in the children and thus merely noted his acceptance of the key before moving on. Optimus was of course startled but did nothing to halt the boy as he moved to return the Unmaker to his slumber. Jack was not supposed to bond to the key, it shouldn't have been possible. At most he would be able to hold the relic for one of the team, but being bound to it? Again, it was an event that had the team scrambling to look at Jack's scans once all the chaos was over and Optimus was returned to them.
Once more they were left bewildered as looking at Jack's scans showed only minor mutations to his DNA that seemed to alter his base genetic code to make him more susceptible to Cybertronian technology. His alterations looked a great deal like the preliminary augmentations technorganic underwent before receiving implants. But again, it shouldn't have been possible for Jack to have those. Earth was a backwater world only just starting its pitiful attempt to reach the stars. Such technology and genetic augmentation was millennia ahead of them. Ratchet wanted to flip a table more than ever when they were forced to file Jack's case away too in response to Decepticon activity.
The concept of ignoring the strange mutations in their wards DNA went flying out the window when Miko managed to somehow get the Apex Armor to respond to her. The relic was designed for Cybertronian wielders, not organic children. Again, much like every other instance involving the children and Cybertronian tech, it shouldn't have been possible. The Apex Armor scanned the mind of its wielder in order to account for size and to be sure that the wielder was Cybertronian at all. How did she manage to trick a relic? Pure force of will? Considering it was MIKO messing around with the armor most of the team were half willing to ignore it and move on. The girl was an enigma on the best of days. But combined with Jack and Rafael being just as strangely in tune with Cybertronian tech, the team finally sat the children down and asked questions.
Ratchet: Rafael, how in the Allspark are you able to understand Bumblebee?
Rafael: Huh? I can hear what he is trying to say is all. Translating is not very difficult.
Arcee: Raf, you realize Bumblebee isn't speaking in your Morse code right?
Rafael: What? But it sounds like-
Optimus: Bumblebee speaks in Autobot binary code. His faux vocalizer turns Cybertronian digital glyphs into spoken sounds that only war veterans would be familiar with.
Rafael: So the fact that I understand him-?
Ratchet: We've looked at your DNA scans, you have strange mutations that don't make sense. You and the other two.
Jack: What? Me and Miko too?
Bulkhead: Yeah, its really weird. Your scans look like something straight out of a technorganic augmentation document.
Bumblebee: *Miko shouldn't be able to use the Apex armor at all*
Rafael: Really?!
Optimus: Bumblebee is correct. Jack, Miko, you two should not have been able to interact with our relics in any capacity. And Rafael should have been killed the moment he came into contact with dark energon.
Ratchet: The fact that Rafael understands us, survived dark energon, and combine that with your ability to use our relics brings us to one question.
Ratchet: What did your ancestors interact with in order to change your very DNA to be closer to ours?
The children were rightfully concerned but after receiving the knowledge of their odd genetic background, they did some digging together. Within the next week, they arrived at base with a few family heirlooms and some documents that had half the team doing a double take.
In her hands Miko held a small Predacon fang. That alone was not too startling considering such things could be found on Earth, but was concerning was her total lack of concern for it. Cybertronian components had a natural distasteful signature that kept most from touching the corpses of their fallen, even after the energon was long gone. And yet Miko played with the fang as if it meant nothing and pulled up her family history, showing that her ancestors likely came from the region of Earth that supposedly housed and Autobot base during the golden age of Cybertron. Everything lined up and the team could only assume that her ancestors adapted to become naturally unconcerned with Cybertronians and even size them up in some method of survival instinct akin to the honey badger.
Rafael for his part had a small crystal idol that he said was a family heirloom from back several centuries. Somehow his family never lost it and even prized it above their own lives at times. The idol simply never managed to be taken as others seemed disgusted by it and his ancestors were almost obsessed with the stone. It was old, but looking closer showed that it was a long dormant shard of dark energon whittled down with increadible skill into the shape of what looked to be the general outline of Unicron's frame. Compared to Miko, Rafael's heirloom almost had the team raising their weapons on instinct. He held his idol so carefully as if to keep it from even touching the very air and his eyes glazed over as he presented it. Looking at his family records showed that his ancestors most likely lingered near old dark energon deposits, and that had the team looking at the boy in poor veiled concern.
Then there was Jack who had no relic of his own but instead showed a written down version of a song that had been orally passed down his family line since long before proper records existed. Looking over the lyrics and the strange glyphs that Jack claimed his family had always been taught how to draw as a simple children's game had the team gawking. Once more, his family history showed his ancestors to have been near a dark energon deposit for much of their history and seeing the song... every single one of the team felt their spark flutter in slight fear. Just how long had humanity been exposed to the Unmaker? For how long had they been influenced?
Hail to the Lord of Dark,
For he protects us and gives us visions of starlight,
We were born of his will,
And from his will we are made pure,
Strength of giants,
Wisdom of ancients,
Stories of great beings made of living metal,
Hail to He Who Is Shadows,
Let him guide our sight,
May he heal us,
Grace us Oh Creator with thy gifts,
We herald thee,
Wake from thy rest,
Humanity was playing a game they weren't even aware they were involved in. Somehow they had adapted, they had survived, and now they had gifts they never should have had.
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clanwarrior-tumbly · 8 months
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Could you do—Garten of Banban Characters reacting to WereGator!Reader going through the games events to find their nieces? (Same principle as a Werewolf, just with them being able to turn into an alligator. They can semi-shift sharper claws or more menacing eyes.)
Monsters are secretly intermingled with normal society. They just tend to stay out of sight or hide their otherness to blend in. Cause humans are crazy population wise to them, seriously eight billion?! No lone species wants to get that many humans ticked off/scared of them. Reader was really wary of letting their sister-in-law leave her daughters at the daycare. Sure, it catered to monster kids but something was always a bit off… Weregators have strong nurturing instincts when it comes to their or any family member’s kids. The worry was just brushed away as that being in overdrive…
Reader goes through the various puzzles a bit aggressively (never destroying anything outright but Banban can see them barely controlling their strength/shifts).
Oh I love this!! I'll just be doing 4 characters
.......
Banban
You had your suspicions about letting your nieces get dropped off at the kindergarten during "Bring-A-Friend Day".
Your sister-in-law didn't see the problem. Sure, the place was apparently creating living, breathing mascots and likely violating all moral/ethical codes in doing so...but she thought it was fine.
Lab-bred monsters interacting with the natural monsterkind living quietly in the outside world? Surely nothing could go wrong...
Until it did and you found yourself going to this place to find your two nieces.
They weren't even your own children, though as a weregator your nurturing instincts went into overdrive the moment you heard of their disappearance.
And it's for that reason you'd be....quite aggressive and direct in how you solved the strange puzzles throughout the facility.
Nothing pissed you off more than the drone--as sometimes it refused to cooperate.
You came close to smashing the controller numerous times.
You meet Banban after he tries knocking you out, but he's stunned when you barely flinch and tackle him, eyes turning reptilian, alligator claws growing on your hands, and patches of your skin turning to scales.
And you growl angrily, threatening his very existence.
But since he shares Untham's fascination with monsterkind, he just stares at you like you're some spectacle, totally fearless.
"My, what big claws you have....sorry, bad joke-"
"Shut it, "Banban"." You snarl. "Where are my nieces?! I swear if you did anything to them-"
"I've done nothing to them. In fact, I feel terrible about what's been going on here. And that's why I want to help you find them."
"You do..?" You blink. "Then why did you attack me?"
"It's hard to explain. Sometimes I lose control over myself...I truly am sorry about that. Now could you let me go? I think doing that will benefit both of us."
"...how?"
"I promise I'll help you the whole way. Believe me, I've tried helping others before you, but...they were humans. Held back by fear and lack of physical endurance. You, however, stand a chance. But you'll need some guidance. This place is huge, after all."
You were surprised by his offer, albeit cautious of his intentions.
In the end, you let him go as killing him wasn't gonna bring you anywhere closer to your nieces.
He oversees your journey and helps where he can, although he cringes when you damn near shatter the glass panels when solving certain puzzles or fully shift into your gator form when you're trying to fight of Nabnab....
Or when Banban turns into his "hellish" form and tries attacking you, with you leaving some pretty deep scratches on his skin.
Once he snaps out of it, he's like "omg you're just like me fr, we both have trouble taming the beasts within ourselves-"
You take full offense to that and remind him that you're both nothing alike.
Opila Bird Up
She basically fucked around and found out when she first confronted you.
Her screeches of intimidation turned to shrieks of fear the second you shifted into your gator form, causing her to stumble and fall into the abyss where the ball pit once was.
So for the most part..she left you alone after that.
Even Banban was impressed.
When you put her babies back into their nest, she's at first terrified that you were going to eat them....yet you had no intentions of doing so as you calmly greet her before leaving.
Even though she's been aggressive and instigated your transformation in the first place, you saw her younglings as you would your own.
You'd never think to harm them even though everything here so far has tried to harm you.
And soon a shaky alliance was formed, but only because you two shared the common instinct to protect your kin.
The turning point was when you saved Tarta and Opila from being crushed by Jumbo Josh--you literally held up his fist in your gator form so the couple could flee the fight.
Even he was shocked
That's when Opila knew you were someone who could be trusted to the fullest.
Ya'll know how some species of wading birds have gators as their "bodyguards"?
This is where you and her family are at right now. You'll fight tooth and nail to defend them.
She trusts you with her chicks and knows they're in good hands (or claws, rather).
Your end goal was still finding your nieces, but you'll save whatever children you could along the way. Human or monster or both.
Banbaleena
You weren't inclined to sit in some uncomfortable plastic chair and get schooled by this "teacher".
First she saved you from Opila Bird and now she's basically holding you hostage, confiscating your drone.
At this point you're over it. You're wasting precious time here when your nieces could be in serious trouble.
When Banbaleena threatened to tear you into pieces the next time you're "late", you snap right back at her with "how about I tear you into pieces instead?"
As you say this, you show your claws, scales, and reptilian eyes so she knew exactly what she was dealing with.
Suddenly her strict demeanor goes away and she puts you at the "mean kids" table right away.
You suspected her donor feared monsterkind, a trait that was transferred directly to her, as she keeps stuttering when giving the next lesson and deciding you're correct even if you pressed the "wrong" answer.
She can't even look you in the eye and shakily asks you to be gentle with the tape recorders.
Yet she still calls you a "bad student" for leaving and attempts to give chase, but it doesn't last long and she gives up rather quickly.
She hasn't dealt with anyone who stood up to her and lived to tell the tale.
Especially a weregator.
Bittergiggle
He's not intimidated by you in the slightest.
You could partially-shift or even fully shift into your weregator form and this jester will find ways to make jokes out of it.
Besides stopping you from interfering with his plans to make the queen laugh, his goal is to make you laugh, too.
He knows killing you by himself is no longer feasible so he's gonna be an annoying mf who stalls you with bad jokes.
"What do you call an alligator examining a crime scene? An investi-gator!!"
"What's the difference between a crocodile and an alligator? You'll see one in a while, and you'll see the other later!"
When you don't laugh, it just irritates him a lot and he storms away.
He sets Kittysaurus upon you and is shocked when you manage to subdue her with ease.
Not by letting her ram into the walls over and over, but by throwing her into those walls/buttons yourself.
Never did you think you'd wind up in this situation when all you wanted was answers as to where your nieces went....
But you'll be damned if you let some clown and dino-cat hybrid stop you from finding them.
It's actually quite funny when you come back to the kingdom's throne room and see Bittergiggle throwing an absolute FIT because you once again stopped him from telling his joke to the queen.
And I mean stomping, waving his arms, hitting the floor, etc. Just a full-blown tantrum.
"Wow, even my nieces are more mature than you smh"
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canmom · 3 months
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Wait is ratfic not fiction about rats???
I can talk about fiction about rats too! Let's talk about some British childrens' book series! And one American comic book.
The four relevant works for our discussion would be the Redwall series by Brian Jacques, the Welkin Weasels series by Garry Kilworth, the Deptford Mice series by Robin Jarvis, and the Mouse Guard series by David Petersen. All these works portray a world inhabited by semi-anthropomorphic animals that are at the scale of real world animals. And indeed all of them include rats, albeit mostly as antagonists.
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Redwall is perhaps the one that has most penetrated internet pop culture, thanks to articles like this one on SomethingAwful which mocked some of the series's recurring elements while painting Brian Jacques as a bit of a nazi. I ate those books up as a kid, but in retrospect I truthfully can remember only snatches: the shrews' battle cry of 'logalogalogalog!', the pages of elaborate descriptions of feasts.
Redwall is a big sufferer from the 'evil races' problem. A certain arbitrary set of species (e.g. rats, stoats, weasels, ferrets) are ontologically evil, and various other species are standins for various stereotypical British social classes (e.g. iirc moles are always working class). As unfortunately tends to be the case, it even makes the strange decision to double down on this - I believe in one of the books, a member of one of the evil species is raised in the Abbey, but inevitably his evil nature comes out when the good rodents and mustelids are once again threatened by an army of bad rodents and mustelids.
Nevertheless, as repetitive and ethically dubious as these books are, they do conjour a very specific flavour which makes them memorable. The author's enthusiasm for food as child of the Blitz shines through, as does his evident love for the idyllic Redwall Abbey. There's a lot of really charming elements like the 'logalogalog' thing. Having these read out to me as kid was great, it had a bit of a panto feel, where I could join in with the expected beats.
The first Redwall book implies that humans exist in this world, but this is subsequently quietly retconned to an only-animals fantasy world.
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The Welkin Weasels series is a lot shorter at six books, and you may well bounce off the author's enthusiasm to insert puns and references all over the place (I recall one book managing to set up "badgers? we don't need no stinkin' badgers"), but from what I remember of them they benefit from having more explicit horror elements which makes the stakes much more engaging. I recall the weasels trying to weasel their way into a crypt full of horrible pitfalls and finding it very tense as a kid.
There is once again a sympathetic-unsympathetic species divide - weasels are our plucky heroes, while stoats tend to be aristocratic and cruel. However, it does play out a little differently: the first three books are in a medieval fantasy setting with explicit magic, but over the course of the novels, the mustelids manage to rediscover humans, leading to a timeskip forward into a more steampunk setting where the animals and humans have built a joint society together.
Honestly, I would quite like to reread these books! They may well not hold up today, but it would be fun to revisit them.
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The Deptford Mice series by Robin Jarvis - author of Deathscent, a highly memorable novel in which Elizabethans have been transported by aliens into a space archipelago where all the animals are robots which run on the four humours - is a pretty fun one, although my memory is very foggy. It's set in our world, in London, and as I recall the first book involves an evil cat wizard attempting to resurrect the Bubonic Plague from the plague pits. I recall a scene in which rats dig up the plague pit and have their paws melted by the lime coating it. Beyond that I can recall very little but I definitely think it merits inclusion in this list of rat fic.
Once again we have the good rodent/evil rodent problem. Mice and rats are almost identical creatures, so it's weird that the sympathetic/unsympathetic divide falls so consistently.
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Mouse Guard is an American comic series about mice with little cloaks and swords. Making it be a comic is kind of a great idea because you get to see how cute they are at every turn. The mouse guard are responsible for defending the other mice from threats such as snakes. They have a pretty high mortality rate.
I'm... actually not super familiar with the comics, but they inspired a roleplaying game by the creators of Burning Wheel, using similar mechanics - e.g. its beliefs system, the simultaneous-resolution combat system. That got a lot of buzz around the late 2010s. So if you want a game to play as an rat at the tabletop, it's probably a good one to check out!
We might also at this juncture mention the wildly popular novel Watership Down, which imagines an elaborate rabbit society complete with a substantially fleshed out rabbit religion. I wrote about the animated film for Animation Night a couple years back - it's quite a memorable one.
Sadly, this is mostly mousefic (with a bit of weaselfic). I don't know of any true ratfic - centred on rats as protagonists. Perhaps this is an opportunity for someone out there to write ratfic ratfic to correct this imbalance.
edit: omfg i forgot the rats of NIMH. thanks to both the people who reminded me of that one
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beelsnack · 7 months
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Back in the Saddle - Obey Me! Boys and an MC Who is Overcoming a Depressive Episode
Hyper-specific coping mechanisms? On my blog? It's more likely than you think.
(Just kidding that's like the whole reason I started the blog in the first place lol)
I'll be honest, I'm not caught up on the games at all. I got like 2 chapters into Nightbringer before the rhythm games gave me sensory overload. But they're still my emotional support demons and I'm still going to write about them on my silly little blog. Enjoy!
May make a part 2 with the other characters, this one was getting kind of long.
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Lucifer: The music room had always been one of the few places that Lucifer could seek solace from the chaos that seemed to follow him. Most of his brothers had no desire to practice an instrument, and those who did tended to want to do it on their own, so if he was there, they tended to avoid the area. He had come to expect the room to be empty when he arrived there.
So seeing the human hunched over the grand piano threw him off a bit.
He knew they played the piano - it had been in their paperwork when they first came to the Devildom. They played quite frequently before, taking comfort in the familiar feeling of the ivory keys when the strangeness of their new home got to be too much. But something in recent months stopped them, and he didn’t have the faintest idea what. They hadn’t been very forthcoming about their mental state, and Lucifer didn’t want to pry. 
Well, actually, he did want to pry, but each time he asked, they got more and more irritated and withdrawn from him, and that stung just as much as not being able to help.
They were making considerably more mistakes than they had before, likely due to a lack of practice, but Lucifer could see a bit of their old spark returning to their eyes as muscle memory took over. They were playing an ost from a human world show, something slow and soothing that they played often. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but Lucifer thought he could see the beginnings of a smile on their face.
Before he quite knew what he was doing, he had silently made his way over to them. His shadow fell over the keys, and they jumped in shock. They whipped around so fast he was worried that they would twist something. “Lucifer?!”
“Don’t stop on my account, my dear,” he smiled gently at them, perching himself on the bench next to them. “It’s been so long since I’ve heard you play, won’t you indulge me a little?”
Mammon: It was just a little doodle.
Borrowing the human's notes was a pretty common occurrence for Mammon. If he even remembered to take notes, they were sparse at best and incomprehensible at worst. He had just wanted to take a picture of them at first but the human insisted he write them himself. 
"We don't need to make it too easy for Lucifer to tell you don't pay attention," had been there reasoning, but Mammon wasn't going to turn down some alone time with them. Even if it was in the library.
When the human had presented their notebook to him, his eyes had immediately gone to the little drawing in the corner. It wasn't very detailed, more like random scribbles that eventually morphed into a flower and some stars. When they had first come to the Devildom, their notebooks had been absolutely filled with doodles and drawings, ranging from rudimentary shapes and shading to full-on sketches in the margins. They claimed it helped them focus, so Mammon had been a little concerned when the drawings had dwindled to nothing.
"What are you smiling at?"
Mammon jumped, heat creeping up his neck as he realized he had been caught. "Nothin'!"
He glanced back at the drawings, wishing he had his shades to hide behind. "...I missed the doodles, is all."
Leviathan: Right.
Left.
…Alright, the coast was clear. Sighing softly in relief, Levi emerged fully from his room and made his way downstairs. Most of the residents went their separate ways after dinner, and he knew for a fact Beel had his Fangol game so the kitchen should be free.
Levi stuck his hand in his pants pocket to make sure the folded square of paper was still there. One of his favorite Deviltubers are done a video recreating various dishes from different anime, but Levi just had to try them as well. But any sort of attempt at baking was doomed to fail if Beelzebub was in the house, so as much as Levi had wanted to jump right in as soon as he had seen the video, this excursion needed careful planning.
He was feeling rather hopeful until he got to the kitchen and saw the light on.
Defeated, he was about to turn around and head back into his inner sanctum to await his next opportunity before he realized that the shadow moving along the wall was far too small to be Beel.
Quietly, carefully, he poked his head around the corner and peered into the kitchen. There, in an old t-shirt with an apron tied around their waist, was the human scooping flour out of a bag.
Either he made some sort of noise or they just felt his presence. They turned around, looking startled for a moment before regaining their composure and grinning sheepishly at him. “Hey, Levi, what’s up?”
Levi blinked owlishly at them for a second. “Uh, well…”
The human’s baked goods had quickly become treasure in the House of Lamentation when they first arrived for the exchange program. It had been their passion, but something happened somewhere to tamp out the gleeful little spark they had whenever they were trying out a new recipe. But, like a storm passing, that light was beginning to peek through the dark clouds.
“Levi?” they asked, cocking their head at him like a confused puppy. “You alright?”
“I-I’m fine!” Levi had to physically shake himself out of his train of thought. “You-you’re baking something?”
“Mm-hm,” they hummed, turning back to the counter to glance at the recipe on their phone. “I was really in the mood for some chocolate cake.”
Chocolate cake wasn’t one of the recipes on his list, but seeing them passionate about something again made him forget about his whole mission. “Do you…want some help?”
Satan: Someone was humming.
Satan had thought he was alone in RAD’s library. Very rarely did students venture here at this hour, and his brothers were causing suck a ruckus back at the house that he hadn’t been able to focus on his book even shut within his room. And now someone was being annoying here.
His already short fuse was slowly but surely reaching the end, and he slammed his book shut with a bit more force than necessary. He would get his quiet time or there would be blood.
The perpetrator was somewhere in the fiction section, it sounded like, and Satan rounded the corner of the shelves like a predator sniffing out its prey. Finally, after a few moments of following the sound, he caught sight of another person. He stopped at the beginning of the aisle, mouth already open in a snarl to scold whoever had the balls to - 
“Oh, Satan, hi!”
He deflated like someone had poked a hole in him. Of all of the people he thought he would encounter, the human had been very low on the list. Recently, they barely left their room except to go to class or eat. Usually if he wanted to spend time with them he had to gently coax them out into the open like one would entice a cat with treats.
Satan cleared his throat. “Well, this is unexpected.”
The human had their arms full of books. Quite the assortment, too. A thriller, a book about previous kings on the Devildom, what appeared to be some sort of romance manga and an autobiography of a well-known witch.
“I ran out of things to read,” they shrugged, looking away. “Went through everything I had at least twice.”
“You know,” Satan walked over and took two of the books out of their arms - they always got irritated when he took everything, like a stubborn kitten, so letting them hold on to something would preserve their dignity. “You can always come to me if you want recommendations.”
Asmodeus: “Hey, Asmo?”
There were only a few people who were brave and/or stupid enough to go into Asmo’s room without knocking. Not because he would be angry or anything, but one never knew what kind of salacious activities would be going on in there and it was better for all involved if there was some warning before opening the door to Asmo’s den of debauchery.
“Hello, darling!” Asmo chirped, beckoning the human inside. They were lucky, he had just gotten out of the bath and was in the middle of his skin care routine. “What’s up?”
“Do you have anything for eye bags?” they asked, poking idly at the puffy skin beneath their eyes. It was clear that their mental health hadn’t been in top condition lately, their stress written in the dullness of their skin and drawn across the acne that dotted their face. But Asmo knew better than anyone that pointing out someone’s physical flaws did nothing for self-esteem, so he hadn’t said anything.
“Of course!” he grinned, scooting over a bit to give them some room on his vanity stool. “Skin care is self-care, darling, glad to see you treating yourself.”
The human sat down next to him, and now that they were closer Asmo could tell just how drained they were. They sat with their shoulders slumped, and they had an air of exhaustion about them.
“Oh, dear, haven’t you been sleeping well?” he asked, reaching over to pick up a small tub of cream. “Sleep is extremely important, you know. I’m a hot mess without my beauty sleep.”
“Really?” they quirked an eyebrow at him.
“Emphasis on hot,” he giggled, dabbing his fingertip into the cream. “Now, hold still for me, darling, wouldn’t want to poke your eyes out~”
Beelzebub: Beel had grown to like the quietness of the gym in the morning.
He was one of the few demons who had the diligence to work out every morning, and the ones who did make it a daily habit tended to leave each other alone to work on their own things. Everyone knew each other there, to the point where they each had their own spot where they left their stuff and there was an unspoken rule that nobody touched anyone else’s belongings.
It was also an unspoken rule that anyone who tried would get eaten by Beelzebub but he tried not to think too hard about that one. He still felt kind of guilty about it.
Muscle memory took him over to the bench by the weights where he usually set his things down, and he was in the process of sliding his gym bag off of his shoulder when he realized that there was another bag there that he didn’t immediately recognize. He stared at it for a moment, trying to see if he could figure out who the owner was until he got close enough to smell it.
Usually gym-bag-smell wasn’t something he would actively seek out, let alone find enticing, but he would recognize that scent anywhere. It was the human’s.
Sure enough, when he turned around, there they were, stretching in front of the weight bench. It had been…Beel didn’t even know how long it had been since he had seen them in the gym. They used to go quite frequently. Not enough to call themself a gym rat, but they kept up with their fitness pretty well. Until they didn’t.
Beel hadn’t wanted to pry, but he had been worried about them when they stopped working out. He could tell they were suffering physically from it as well - whatever had stopped them from exercising had also stopped them from taking care of their body in general, and he could tell by the weakness in their arms and the dragging of their feet that they weren’t at the top of their game.
He called out their name as he approached them. “You’re here.”
They jumped, eyes wild before they realized who was talking to them, and they shot him a sheepish grin. “Oh, hey, Beel.”
“You haven’t worked out in a while,” Beel stated matter-of-factly before smiling warmly at them. “It’s good to see you here again.”
“Ah, yeah,” they mumbled, looking away. “Kind of…lost my momentum for a bit, I guess. But!” they perked up. “I’m back at it!”
“Good. That’s good.” Beel dropped his bag next to theirs on the bench. “Want me to spot you?”
Belphegor: He was trying to stay awake this time, honest.
Belphie didn’t exactly have the best track record for showing up to class, much less managing to remain conscious for it. Lucifer had been nagging him lately about his attendance, but he was always nagging him about something. No, the real winner of the annoying yet effective big brother olympics was Mammon, who had looked Belphie dead in the eye and said “I bet you couldn’t show up to class for a whole week if you tried.”
And Belphegor was nothing if not a stubborn asshole.
Although, the dare was about going to class, not staying awake, so technically he could snag a nap and Mammon couldn’t say any - 
Belphie’s eyelids snapped open - he hadn’t even realized he had closed them - when something small and bright blue landed on the desk in front of him. It took a moment for him to refocus, but when he did he noticed that a small folded paper star had bounced in front of him.
He raised an eyebrow before turning to look at the human, who was sitting a few seats away from him looking too innocent for them not to be the culprit.
“Can I help you?” he muttered.
“Wakey-wakey, Belphie,” they grinned back at him. They had surrounded themself with a myriad of different-colored paper stars, something Belphie hadn’t seen them do in quite a long time. They had claimed that keeping their hands busy helped them focus during class, and even outside of class they were usually doing some sort of origami project. But at some point, they had stopped. Maybe someone had pointed it out to them, maybe something happened to make them depressed, he didn’t know. But he had kind of missed seeing their little army of paper animals.
“Can you make a fox?”
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officecyborg · 2 months
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I think Laios is intentionally written as autistic, but also (aside from “readings” of a character, which you could apply to anyone you like) I genuinely don’t think he’s the only one. Like Falin for sure, Kabru for sure. And I think you could also make a strong case for Marcille, Izutsumi, and Senshi.
Falin: She’s portrayed as sweet but clumsy and a bit odd. Not many friends at school. Hypersensitive to when others are in pain, but conversely doesn’t always seem to be in touch with her own senses, emotions, and needs. Sometimes messy personal grooming/comportment, especially as a kid. “Jacket hanging off the shoulder” is such an autism thing, and something I myself use with some of my characters to indicate that they’re autistic.
Kabru: I mean, I’ve been over it. Intense social masking, and there’s definitely also a racial/trans-ethnic adoptee dynamic to that, but he does additionally demonstrate an enthusiastic, hardcore interest in learning facts about people, their family trees, behaviour, languages, etc. that others would find extraordinarily dull.
Marcille: Strong adherence to “the rules”. She’s extremely academically gifted, but also developmentally delayed. As much as there’s an in-universe magical explanation for that, nonetheless, we see her hitting her childhood milestones irregularly, and I think that’s something a lot of autistic/LD people can relate to. Like they directly drop the concept of her wetting the bed at 13.
Senshi: Nothing super specific, he’s just similar to Laios, kind of a strange guy with specialist knowledge who keeps to himself, really feels like an old guy with undiagnosed autism to me.
Izutsumi: My wife has said (semi-jokingly) that “cats are autistic”. I do think any time you portray “robot behaviour” or “animal behaviour” it tends to come off as “neuro-atypical behaviour”—most writers are human, after all. Anyway, she’s the opposite of Marcille; she refuses to follow instructions if she doesn’t understand why she’s being asked to do them. Serious food sensitivities, picky eater. Elopement. Doesn’t have a strong sense of teamwork or empathy but is distraught at the idea of something happening to her friends.
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honey-minded-hivemind · 2 months
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(I may send in a few more requests for Dino squad as well-)
what about in the Dino squad a reader who is a Compsognathus (one of if not the smallest dinosaurs) who has hidden from everyone that they are anything less then human, and don’t know about the other Dino kids either? I’m thinking they were at the beach that day as well but at a different time then the others
Ahaha, yes! Let's see what I can whip up for ya:
You aren't sure what your life had come to.
You'd been with your biology class on a fieldtrip, down by the beach, and somehow, someway, it turned into something a lot more than just a quick trip to the shore.
Because by the time you'd gotten home, you discovered you could turn into something new. Something impossible to be.
A dinosaur.
A small one, a Compsognathus, but a dinosaur nonetheless.
It was... insane.
Scary.
It started to become worse when other dinosaurs started popping up.
And they were a LOT bigger than you.
So, with all the reasoning you had, you kept hidden. No need to reveal yourself and possibly get eaten, right? Nope, not you.
The situation died back a bit, things going back to a weird, settled normal... Yet somehow that didn't last, either...
They saw you.
There were a few of them, fighting mutated plant thingies, and you'd been helping on the sidelines, guiding animals to safety, when you crossed paths with the carnosaur. It locked eyes with you for a moment, then something burst inside your mind:
There's another one?!
That caught the attention of the other dinosaurs, who came thundering over, all tall and imposing. You took the opportunity to dart between their feet, aiming to escape into the streets.
Woah, woah, WAIT!
We're like you!
You ignored whatever the h*ck was grating at your thoughts, letting your feet carry you swiftly to safety. The rest of the night, you slept in a curled-up ball, hidden amongst your blankets, trying to keep your fears at bay...
After that incident, the dinosaurs always seemed to be looking for you.
Well...
Dino you.
And your classmates seemed a little rattled in class. The class was full of odd, strange kids, but these five tended to stick together no matter what. But something seemed to have excited them, because now they were talking with others in class, asking questions, listening to the biology teacher, who only sighed at their antics and told them to be careful.
They ended up talking with you.
You had Lance, a team leader of sorts, into sports, and always wearing shades of brown and black and red. A cool guy, but a little intense.
You had Fred, large and adept with plants, who enjoyed working at animal shelters and helping strays, in overalls and camo. Sweet, and didn't tolerate bullying at all.
You had Wanda, stoic, unstoppable, and dressed in red. She put any person to shame in the intimidating apartment. A twin, but the older, more scary, of the two. She tended to study medicinal plants and animals.
You had Pietro, fast, loud, talkative Pietro. Never seen without pale blues or greens, with a white shirt or blouse, he was someone who was quite popular with the school. He was also a bit of a diva. Wanda's twin, the ... less scary... one. He knew how to talk with people, how to make them feel welcome.
And there was Todd, or Toad, as people called him. Short, long legs, shaggy hair, and always wearing green. The guy loved amphibians, wore bracelets, and seemed pretty chill. Not too bad to round the whole group out.
You weren't sure how you caught the attention of all five of them. To be fair, you don't think they knew either.
Asking how long you'd been in the class, what animals and/or plants you enjoyed, what you thought might help the environment... Basic questions. Until they weren't.
"So, you remember that field trip awhile back, right? Went down to the beach, note the environment, clean up anything hazardous... Teach says you also happened to be there. Which group were you assigned?"
"I was... assigned to your group, actually. I just, hung back a bit. Stuck closer to the shoreline."
That seems to cause a ripple effect amongst them, some unspoken agreement.
"So... did Teach tell you anything about how to earn extra credit?"
"No...?"
"It's quite simple: You join up with one of the class groups, and we do a presentation on one of the prehistoric creatures who they've mentioned. We already have one in mind, if you're game."
"Sure! Sounds good."
"Okay. How does a ... Compsognathus, sound?"
And suddenly you believe your secret isn't so secret anymore.
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theshadowrealmitself · 3 months
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Thinking about the post I made about an omega getting transported to a universe without the a/b/o dynamics (unfortunately can’t reblog that original post with this addition cause both posts are gonna be scheduled) and I think a situation like that would really help give me what I want out of omegaverse
What I really want out of omegaverse is all the world building stuff, how a society and its people would function in that situation, but most of the time it’s a reimagining of intense misogyny, which is not my cup of tea
But I think a situation where a person goes from a society like that (without the omega hate) to a society where a/b/o isn’t a thing, would really highlight how different things would be
Technically the omegaverse society is different depending on the author, so I’m making up my own version, and adding in aliens:
Heats and ruts can cause health problems, the stress it puts on your body every month can lead to a ton of issues down the road, and honestly you just don’t wanna have your life be disrupted that much, so going on suppressants is common, especially for people who are single
But going off of suppressants can be deadly, and sometimes your suppressants can start being less effective as time goes on, so calling out of whatever to make sure you can go to the doctors and have that all figured out is not only normalized but also encouraged
(But now you’re suddenly in a universe where Humans don’t go through all that and you’re running out of suppressants and you’re just hoping the scientists, Vulcan ones who are strangely extremely interested in your heat suppressants and keep asking you about rut suppressants?, can quickly figure out how to make more)
Depending on the situation, scent blockers can be used (mostly in the maternity ward, so the medical staff don’t accidentally get their scent on the kids and accidentally cause the parents to instinctively think they’re trying to take away their kids), but it’s more of a personal preference
Alphas, omegas, and even betas can scent mark things, but alpha scents are usually just more noticeable because they tend to be more territorial and aggressive, doesn’t mean that omegas and betas aren’t scent marking things for the same reason, so just because you can’t smell an alpha around, doesn’t mean you aren’t encroaching on someone’s space, you can also tell people’s emotions from their scent
(You hate that in this new universe, no one can smell that you claimed stuff and you have to remember to verbalize it, you also hate that the only ones who can smell you are aliens who have to be weird about it because they aren’t used to Humans smelling like that)
I can never think of anything cool for betas and I hate that it’s usually just like “betas are usually just how Humans are irl”, so what, they don’t have cis guys that can get pregnant and cis women who can sire kids? boring! but I can’t think of anything fun for them!
Claiming bites are a thing, but mostly a thing of the past, still, you never touch go near an omega’s through without explicit consent
(If another fucker tries to go near your neck again you’re losing it at them >:/)
Nests are a big thing, even outside of heats, and kids, and stuff, it’s just really beneficial to an omega to have a safe, soft, place they have complete control over, their instincts demand it
(Apparently nesting isn’t a normal fucking thing for Humans in this universe?? you can’t find the round mattress with the round frame that has a headboard that goes around a majority of the bed to kinda cocoon you anywhere, that’s like, the most basic thing you’d used to find in stores, and now you keep having to find specialty shops that cater to extraterrestrials to find anything remotely similar, or figure out how to replicate it yourself, this is so frustrating!!! you’re gonna be so much more frustrated when you try to find the other supplies needed for nesting)
Instead of heats and ruts being quick things, there’s still a lot of time and clarity before it hits them, so like, let’s say if it’s a default alpha/omega, the omega will obsess over their nest and get it just right while the alpha get their scent on everything else in the room to let everyone else know to fuck off (if it’s any other pairing, then whoever feels the most comfortable fighting if a trespasser comes by, [even though that almost never happens, but there’s always that instinctual worry that if will happen] is the one who gets their scent on everything else and makes sure the room they’re in is secure)
(I love the idea of this omega getting a temporary Vulcan partner because their heat came on quickly, and Vulcans understand their predicament, so the omega is stressing over their nest while the Vulcan is walking around, methodically trying to scent everything because they know that also serves to make the other person not scenting feel secure in that scenario, and then, because I feel like Vulcans are a little bit of control freaks (lovingly) the Vulcan goes over to fuss with the nest as well and the omega is strangely content with that)
That’s what I have for now, may add stuff later
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oskidontle · 5 days
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A COLLECTION OF OVERLY DETAILED HEADCANONS ABOUT CRITTERS AS A SPECIES!
(Ahead is a wall of text! If you're prepared to read a bunch of non canon bullshit I made up to explain things that don't need explained you may proceed. If not, I would avoid clicking keep reading. Because I perhaps went a little overboard.)
General Lore:
Critters are a species of human originally created from U.S government funded human experimentation during WWII. Inspired by the extremes of the animal kingdom, the government hoped to make hyperdurable supersoldiers. Mostly unsuccessful, the main thing that sets critters apart from humans is appearance and wildly unstable genetics.
After years some of the subjects escaped and thanks to their various unusual methods of reproduction their population boomed fast enough that the world could hardly keep up. Generations later and critters are a widely abundant globally. Such abundance has allowed for them to integrate into society. However, not without difficulty. Food shortages in lower income states and social pushback has led many into bad living situations.
Physiology:
High genetic variation leads to a wide variety of critters, each with advantages and, more commonly, disadvantages.
For example; critters with proportionally larger eyes theoretically would have better eyesight. However, problems with eye dilation and distortion of eye shape leads them to more commonly have bad eyesight, or eyesight which easily wanes with age and sun damage. This is compounded with their general vulnerability to injury as they protrude due to their skulls barely keeping up.
Critters are prone to gene mutation. Two critter parents are likely to pass on faulty genes as the genetic makeup of reproductive cells often gets messed up. Upon inception these genes will mutate due to their faulty genetic code, sometimes leading to kids who looks drastically different than either parent. Even if this is not the case the faulty genes still create problems for the reproductive cells of the child as they grow, continuing to be changed and passed on.
Physical:
These mutations also lead to structural deformities. Strange growths and bone shapes aren't uncommon most commonly occurring on the skull, but can manifest as extra/less limbs unusual heights, strange spine deformations, fused/hyperflexible joints and bones presenting as cartilaginous or membranous.
Mutation of innards isn't all too uncommon either; ranging from lifelong organ issues, to benign growths of veins and nerves, to a unhealthy buildup/atrophy of fat and muscle.
Unfortunately all this genetic instability can lead to high rates of cancer, infertility, dementia, and mortality rates in infants
A few mutations are universal to most critters, most common is lack of visible nostrils and ears. Don't let appearances fool you however, they do still have functional noses and ears. Nostrils by default being closed shut by default can be opened and closed with adequate muscle control or significant air pressures. Ears meanwhile covered in a thin sensitive layer of skin allowing them to hear just as well, but with less directionality and mild trouble with environmental and internal pressure changes.
A critters epidermis has a wide variety of textures, colors, and hair lengths. Some of the texture of normal skin, some are velvety, some are fuzzy, some are scaly, some are smooth, some have hardened keratinous patches, and when exposed to cold enough climates for long periods of time, some can even develop a whole body coat of fur.
Phycological:
The high genetic variation also effects the brains of individuals. Critters are more likely to be diagnosed with mental disorders and learning disabilities of all sorts. They also tend to be highly emotional.
Interestingly as they develop their brains tend to latch on to specific emotions making them more likely to perform certain behaviors or feel a specific way. Individuals who ended up latching on to particularly negative emotions can lead rough lives as they find it difficult to feel any other way without active effort.
Despite this they aren't unable to feel other emotions if something to trigger another emotion occurs. In a sense the emotion they latch onto is more like a default then a solid state of mind.
Reproduction and development:
Critters can be seen with no reproductive organs, no visible reproductive organs, normal humanoid reproductive organs, both sexes of reproductive organs or reproductive organs not commonly found in mammals
Along with normal reproduction critters can reproduce with other means depending on the individual. This includes, but is not limited to: Parthenogenesis, external fertilization, vegetative propagation, budding and fragmentation. They can also have multiple ways to conceave and incubate the offspring. Live offspring, eggs and external fetuses, as seen in fragmentation and vegetative propagation are just some of the more common methods.
Development in critters is also highly varied depending on conception. While some are born through live birth. Some go through larval stages of sorts as they develop, some molt and spin cacoons as caterpillars would, some are closer to amphibians in that they smoothly develop as they grow, and some are raised in an almost plant-like fashion in which the fetus is placed in a sealed environment and fed nutritiants from external sources until they are developed enough to support themselves. On the whole a critter usually fully finishes their development by their early 20s
Many critters can reproduce multiple ways at the same time, leading to extremely high birthrates particularly with individuals who spawn externally. Despite high mortality rates the access to modern medical practices/technologies leads to higher survival rates than normal, offsetting the losses enough to where critters are still in the process of exponentially exploding in population.
SOCIOLOGY:
Critter populations are most dense on the North American continent where in the largest cities they can match human populations 1:1. Outside of North America, critters can also be found in relative abundance in other countries where they are better tolerated.
Due to a large chunk of their population having a rapid reproductive rate, It's speculated they will continue exponentially increasing their population until they will overtake human populations worldwide within a couple of centuries. That is assuming social pushback, laws, or lack of resources won't get involved.
Their sudden boom in population on a societal scale while surprisingly well accepted in their country of origin, worldwide they are less integrated into society and less accepted.
Those on the North American continent, particularly the U.S, are treated as any other person particularly by those in higher density areas who have lived with them longer. Classified as legal citizens they are entitled to the given benefits and privileges this brings. This is not without flaw however. Prejudice still exists, biases and income inequality are sadly common.
Interestingly due to a lack of visible sexual organs on some, it has become socially acceptable for said critters to wear minimal clothes. It is still preferable to wear at least some article of clothing, so most of the time you will see these individuals wearing an accessory or just a shirt/pants
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lustrous-dawn · 14 days
Text
A time in passing
Arashi watched the Ho-oh tend to his tidings with a newfound edge to his demeanor. The young Tornadus didn't understand Zhen's behavior, a small frown on his lips. Then he bit his lower lip, trying to wrap his head around the new expression Zhen bore.
But he couldn't ignore the small Butterfrees in his stomach at his expression, his small hand reaching out to touch, a slight tug on Zhen's pants.
The change was swift and the expression was gone as Zhen looked down. However, the strange look hadn’t receded from his eyes, and Arashi's tail swished behind under this glance. “Zhen?”
“What is it, kid?” Quietly spoken words. Arashi knew Zhen was being mindful, he always liked this when it came to speaking with him. But this was different. It was almost as if he was on guard. 
Things were different ever since the dragon had disturbed their dwellings. The Rayquaza rested in a private quarters arranged for him but not before a heated disagreement occurred between Zhen and Nahkti. Both Tora and Arashi were ushered away but they still heard it all. 
It was rare for Zhen to be angry and… Arashi didn't like to see him angry. It felt off. But eventually, the Ho-oh would relent and allow it.
“Give him some time, child,” the placating voice of his guardian in his ears.
The sight of Zhen springing into action that day, a human then an eruption of flames as the Phoenix stood, taking his place never faded into obscurity for the Tornadus. The angry shrills replayed in his mind, Arashi cupping his ear, pinched eyes averting.
“Is there something wrong?” A soft touch; a gentle hand placed upon Arashi’s head, rubbing his hair. That strange look in his eyes vanished. “Does something hurt?” Careful hands tilted the Tornadus’ head this way, that, inspecting. 
“No, no,” Arashi rasped. With a jerky shake of the head, he got himself free from Zhen’s hold. “No hurts,” he said more firmly, fending off Zhen as he reached in again. He knew he had to be strong, a grown-up eventually. But he liked the warmer touch of robes brushing against his cheeks. It reminded him so much of his feathers. 
Then the child paused. This was a hurt but of a different kind. One you couldn't see. 
It was with a sigh that Zhen hunched, looking Arashi firmly in the eye. “Arashi.” The Tornadus jerked at his name, recognizing what this was. “You know you can tell me if something is wrong. If I happened to scare you back then-”
“No!” Arashi exclaimed. “Not scary!” How could he ever find the Ho-oh scary?! He struggled to make out what was truly bothering him, his expression strained. It was something here. He didn't like seeing Zhen like this. 
The signs of fatigue on his face, the guarded look in his eyes. He missed the carefree nature that always emitted from the Ho-oh whenever the young child saw him. 
Like when they were flying-
A sparkle in Arashi's eyes as he gripped Zhen's long sleeve. “Zhen! Can we go flying?” 
A pause, Zhen's free hand scratching the back of his neck. But Arashi knew he won as the man sighed. “We can fly around for a little bit but not long.” A small smile that touched his eyes. “I need to give the old wings a decent stretch anyway,” he said, placing the Tornadus on his shoulder.
“Me, me, me! Me too!” Cried Tora as she sprang from the darkness, leaping onto Zhen's back. She gave an affectionate nuzzle against the cheek as she flopped over his other shoulder. 
Arashi beamed as he watched Zhen spark to life he returned Tora's gesture with one of his own as he laughed. “Yeah yeah. I wouldn't think to leave you behind!
“Yay!”
A sharp breeze opened the sliding doors, no doubt to Zhen's powers and he sprang into action, running into the great outdoors. 
“Hang on!”
The children didn't need to be told twice, tiny claws clung tightly to the fabric quickly shifting to become feathers as the Ho-oh took to the skies followed by sounds of delight. 
Powerful wings propelled them skyward, the sight of their little home growing smaller and smaller. But neither one was afraid, placing their trust wholly on the Ho-oh as he arrowed towards the sun setting over the horizon.
“Faster, Zhen!” They exclaimed, clutching onto his neck. Arashi remained focused on what was ahead. This is what he loved. The breeze caressed his hair. The sense of freedom from soaring made his small heart flutter.
“We’ll take it slow, guys!”
“Ok!”
A small leisure flight to permeate through the senses. 
At some point, they found themselves gliding over a gorge, a massive split in stone. They peered down to see neighboring Noctowl and Fearow riding lazily on the thermals from a small updraft. 
“Zhen!” A golden eye on Tora as she cried out. “I wanna see the one that makes your heart go boom boom!”
Zhen was so bewildered by the words coming from her mouth that he stopped flying for a second. They all dropped. He quickly recovered at once, tiny claws burrowing into his neck. “WHERE DID YOU LEARN THIS FROM?!”
“Momma says you like someone! So that’ll be our Auntie or Uncle right?”
 “Tora…”
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beeceit · 6 months
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For a place with hundreds of versions of himself, the multiverse felt lonely.
This was the Casey venue specifically, almost everyone in the room was some variation of himself. A couple of them were accompanied by their Sensei, or a teenage Leo.
There were several glaring commonalities in these variants, the clearest being that every single one of them appeared to be human. If any of them had inhuman traits under their armour or their hoodies, it didn’t show.
Casey pulled his hood a little further over his face. He was getting sick of the double takes the other Caseys kept making every time they noticed the hunch of his back or his tail out of the corners of their eyes. Every single time he lifted his head without his mask on, one met his eyes with shock in theirs, and he quickly looked back at the floor. It was a lot easier when it was people who didn’t know he was ever anything other than a mutant, or close family.
A couple of the younger Caseys had run up to him excitedly, asking how awesome it was to be a turtle, gasping in awe at his red stripes and his orange spots when he opened his mask to show them.
“I wanna be a turtle someday!” one of them had squealed. “Like Sensei!”
The others chorused along with him. They asked to see his shell, one of them wouldn’t stop poking his tail. One of them said he must be super strong like his uncles. Casey had turned around and left when one asked if he’d been born a turtle or turned into one. He lowered his mask in front of his face, and continued walking.
Casey shoved his hands deep into his hoodie pockets, fidgeting with the webbing between his fingers that he still wasn’t used to having. This was stupid! If he’d found out about this place only a week or two before he would’ve been like the others. Or at the very least he’d still look like the others, think he was human like they were. Maybe then he’d be brave enough to show his face. Hell, he might have even made friends. There was an understandable number of Caseys who stood off to the side, or walked alone through the crowd like he did, but even more were paired up or in larger groups. When he didn’t hear them speculating about him, he heard them talking about strange things they’d learned about the past, or comparing stories from their pasts in the future. Some of them seemed like they’d never gone back in time at all, listening to the stories of the past with wide, awe-filled eyes.
Casey kept his gaze to the ground. Maybe he should leave, his dad probably needed some protection from the other adult Leonardos. They tended to be left more or less alone if they had a child with them, especially if it was a Casey. Maybe he could find his Leo in the sea of teenage Leos (who seemed to keep losing the same arm) to provide some moral support. Or to just not be alone.
Stewing in his own self pity, he was distracted enough that he tripped right over the foot of someone’s Sensei, nearly falling without any grace before the Leonardo caught him by the wrist. Casey spun to meet the familiar stranger’s eyes.
“Crap, sorry kid,” the Leonardo rushed, before pausing. Casey’s blood ran colder. The Leonardo squinted at the hand he’d grabbed from Casey, green and webbed and exposed.
Any words Casey could’ve said vanished with the air in his lungs. He yanked his hand from the Leonardo’s grip. The Leonardo was staring at him just as incredulously as everyone else did. Casey turned on his heel to speedwalk away fast enough to make himself slightly dizzy. His pounding heart jumped back into his throat when the Leonardo’s hand seized him by the shoulder, pulling him back.
“Wait, don’t go!” he yelped.
Casey just stood frozen as the Leonardo moved his hand up to his scarf to do what, grab a notepad? Ask more stupid questions? Study him?
The Leonardo pulled the edge of his scarf down slightly, and quietly chirped into it.
‘Casey, look.’
A pair of black eyes that matched the Leonardo’s attached to a bright green snout poked a little bit out from behind the Leonardo’s scarf. They nervously looked Casey up and down, widening when they traced the curve of his covered shell and found his green hands and feet. The snout retreated back into the scarf.
Casey caught a soft click that was too quiet for him to interpret.
“Do you want to talk to him?” the Leonardo prompted the scarf turtle.
Casey barely moved while the turtle slid off of the Leonardo’s shell, leaving the safety of his hiding place to press himself against his Sensei’s leg.
They just stared at each other for a moment.
The turtle wore very little aside from the cape that almost every Casey wore. He had little spiral slider stripes under his eyes, and long black hair. He looked even younger than the teenage version of Mikey, somewhere around thirteen or fourteen. He seemed to only have three fingers on each hand rather than Casey’s five webbed ones. His tail was tucked between his legs.
Casey hesitantly, breathlessly took off his mask. The other Casey looked halfway to crying, but stepped a little bit forward. He looked up at his Leonardo, who looked back encouragingly.
“Go on!” The Leonardo nudged the Casey another step forward. Casey did the same.
Other Casey sucked in a shallow breath and sprinted the last few steps, wrapping Casey in a tight embrace. Casey shook off the surprise and hugged back.
Other Casey chirped quietly in his ear and gripped Casey’s hoodie as if it was the one thing between him and falling off of a cliff. ‘I knew I couldn’t be the only one.’
Casey squeezed. “I didn’t.”
‘I like your spots.’
Casey’s tail wagged a little bit of its own accord. “Your stripes are great.”
The other Casey hiccupped. ‘Thanks.’
They broke the embrace and held each others’ shoulders at arms length. The other Casey smiled at him tearfully, then wavered and sobbed. Then he smiled again, and Casey smiled back.
“It’s cold, isn’t it?”
The other Casey chittered a laugh. ‘Yeah.’
Casey pointed a thumb over his shoulder. “Wanna get something at the food court? Some of the Mikeys set up a kitchen, it’s warm and tastes delicious.”
‘That sounds so good,’ other Casey warbled. He all but fell back into the hug, nuzzling into Casey’s shoulder. Casey patted his shell gently.
This kid wasn’t going to hurt alone. He wasn’ going to hurt alone. Neither of him.
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I'M GOING TO WEEP AND SCREAM AND SOB, THIS IS SO PRECIOUS
CASEY'S GONNA BE THE BIG BROTHER EVER TO HIM AND THEY'RE GOING TO TACO BELL
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Note
Hi! So this isn’t exactly a request, more or less me just sharing thoughts/rambling. So it’s common knowledge that humans pack bond with damn near anything that they find cute, right? It’s human nature, to just look at a cute delivery robot and go “yeah, this is family now”. And I think this is a double edged sword because that’s what causes things attachment issues and the like.
How do you think team prime would react to something like this happening with the trouble trio? Like the kids eventually (inevitably) look at them and decide that these giant robots are their family and they will NOT let them go. Would the bots be confused? Or would they accept it and move on with minimal questioning. Personally I think that at first it would be awkward until the bots learn of how humans work, and then they realize that this is just how people work, and they accept it with time.
I think it has some really good potential for both fluff and angst.
Anyways I really love the blog! I’ve been reading a lot of your posts and all of them are very nice to go through and think about! :D -🦌 anon
OOooh! I really really like this thought. The human kiddos getting attached and the bots having to figure out how to manage that makes me happy. And thank you anon for your kind words! I am glad you like my posts!
Cybertronian Views on Relationships
Cybertronians are functionally immortal, they do not die from any sort of frame deterioration except in rare cases, and their sparks blaze on until forcefully extinguished. As such their views on some concepts are rather skewed to match up with their long lifespans. Time is one of those things, they simply do not see it the same way as humans. Days are fleeting moments, weeks are little more than a flash to them, years are but months in their view, and vorns are the closest they have to an actual measurement of time that matters. They see everything in a far longer view, planning for centuries into the future more often than not.
Despite the war forcing their views on time to match those of humans more closely, their ideas regarding friendship, family, and other bonds have not changed. Bonds are a sacred thing, they are not made in a day nor do they break easily. It takes years for a sparkling to bond to their Caretaker despite the Caretaker in question doing everything to love and care for them. While other species may find it strange, for Cybertronians it is completely normal since the sparkling does not have any actual relation to them prior to a bond forming. Not only that, but if the sparkling and Caretaker do not match it would be terrible for them to be stuck together when it clearly does not suit either party. They have eternity ahead of them, having a good family is more important than any benefits an immediate bond may bring. Unlike species who reproduce on their own and have an instinctual bond with their offspring for survival reasons, Cybertronians, while still feeling affection for their young counterparts, still need to put in effort to bond with their sparklings.
Friendships take even longer to form, anywhere from vorns to centuries. Cybertronians naturally tend to group together, its part of their code, a way to ensure they survive. And so they can easily be amicable with one another, but a proper friendship does not form until two bots can safely determine that the other is a good match for them. This can happen rather quickly if both save each other or prove through action that they are a suitable partner in a survival situation, forming a bond of necessity. This was common during the war and allowed the Autobots and Decepticons to form bonds fast enough to actually have a sense of comradery. But when not forced due to stress or other factors, friendships form through shared ideals, functions, or simply a harmonization of sparks. Take Ratchet and Optimus's relationship for example. Both were from wildly different castes and functions, neither having particularly close ideals outside of their wish for freedom for all, but with time they formed their bond.
Romantic relationships are not really a concept that Cybertronians are familiar with, at least not in the sense that organics are used to. They have no sexual drive since they do not reproduce through intercourse or other methods involving the union of two individuals. The closest thing Cybertronians have to a romantic relationship is an evolution of an Amica bond (the bond that forms between close friends), that being Conjunx Endura. Even then it isn't really a marriage, more like a shared habitation where both bots trust the other with their lives and to make decisions in their stead. They may be more affectionate with their Conjunx than with their Amica or other friends, but ultimately the bond is like the highest form of companionship instead of a marriage. Simply put, Cybertronians just have a different view on relationships as a whole.
As such when the children walked into their lives, it was rather awkward for a while due to the differing views of the bots when it comes to bonds. Especially with PDA and such not really being something Cybertronians do for various reasons.
The Children's Attachment
When the children became the Autobot's charges, they expected very little to change beyond the chaos that was guaranteed to come from human sparklings running about. At most they were prepared to have stress induced friendship bonds form between themselves and the children. Even though Optimus was near desperate to coddle the human sparklings he kept himself controlled as always and life went on as normal. That was until the children began getting all touchy feely, behaving in a manner around the bots that was reserved for Amica bonded or Caretakers and their sparklings on Cybertron.
It started with Miko. Her family life was less than stellar and so she quickly took a liking to Bulkhead who came to be an older brother/fatherly figure for her. She started hanging around him more than any of the other bots, and that was fine, in fact it was a normal starting point for any set of bots looking to possibly develop a friendship. Bulkhead didn't mind and the team didn't bat an optic, it made sense for Miko to begin attempting to bond with her guardian if only to make their time together more tolerable. But then she started getting all affectionate with Bulkhead, dragging him out to do things with her, giving him gifts, and even giving him the odd kiss on the cheek. And that baffled the entire team, not just Bulkhead who could only stand around in confusion and embarrassment from the mixed signals he was getting. Did Miko want an Amica bond? Was she trying to tell Bulkhead she wanted him as her Caretaker? Or was there some strange human nuances he was missing?
It was odd, but the team tried to chalk it up to Miko being Miko, that was until Rafael got in on it. He started purposefully checking in on Bumblebee, becoming a bit of a mother hen while also spending nearly all of his free time with the scout. This was once again seen as pretty normal for Cybertronians looking to bond, after all, it made sense for Rafael to want to spend time with Bee to see if he was a good match. But just like with Miko, he started getting more intimate, joking and playing around with Bee in a manner reserved for close friends or even Amica bonded. He carefully made stickers for Bumblebee to wear on his armor and went out of his way to try and find a way to fix Bumblebee's voice when nothing else was on the agenda. It was odd behavior and once again, sent very mixed signals. It certainly didn't help when Rafael began mimicking Ratchet and following him around, much like a sparkling would with a potential Caretaker.
Eventually even Jack started becoming far more affectionate than what the bots were used to and expecting. He worried for Arcee, fixing up her paint for her and playfully teasing her in fun banter. He gave her small gifts and took the time to teach her things about human society. This only served to drive home to the bots just how odd the human children were and made them begin to panic slightly due to the incredibly mixed signals. Arcee couldn't figure out what the heck Jack was trying to do with his interactions. Did he see her as a potential Caretaker? If so, why was he teaching her things? Did he want an Amica bond? But if that was the case, why was he allowing her to take care of him as she would a youngling? Not even Optimus was exempt from the children's confusing affection. All three of the children also made sure to offer him some love too, giving him little gifts in the form of small trinkets and constantly pestering him to play/assist them in something. It warmed his spark, but also left him just as confused as the rest of the team.
Of course it never occurred to the team to just ask what the children wanted outright because why would they? They were millennia old, they were pretty sure they understood what the children were asking of them with their actions. Hence began the team's very dysfunctional attempt to try and match whatever they believed the children wanted of them. It was awkward and felt rushed to most of the team, but they did try their best. And upon doing some additional research they came to understand somewhat the driving force behind the children's behavior. Apparently humans are pack type species and rapidly form and break bonds as a means to survive with their short lifespans. Hence their (not so sudden) sudden affection in the optics of the bots. So despite their own reservations and the blatant disregard for the normal order of things on the children's part, the team did their best to bond in whatever capacity the children seemed to want.
Bulkhead did his best to try and respond to Miko's affection with a more fatherly approach. He tested the waters carefully, doing his best to not pressure or overstep while still attempting to take on a parental role in her life. When he found no objection from Miko in response to his minor worrying and slightly more authoritative tone with her, he pushed things up a notch, feeling pretty confident in his choice to try and become her secondary Caretaker since her parents weren't available. When Wheeljack arrived and was met with similar levels of affection from Miko, he took one look at Bulkhead and followed his lead. In the end Miko did not realize it, but she gained two very very overprotective fathers. With Bulkhead being the more reasonable one, constantly checking on her to make sure she does her work and fuels properly and Wheeljack adding a little bit of chaos while also being the one to dole out punishments when needed. It has never been anything worse than having to stand in the corner or sit up in the rafters with no way down without help, but still Bulkhead frets.
Bumblebee took Rafael's concern and more understanding approach to mean that he was working toward trying to gain an Amica bond with him. It was surprising, and since he had never been presented with such a situation before, Bumblebee went to Optimus for advice on the subject. And so soon after Bumblebee took to doing what a good potential Amica should do according to Optimus, that being trying to understand and connect to his possible best friend. He took the time to listen, learn, and discover everything he could about Rafael without being a creep and digging through his files (that would break the rules, a good Amica doesn't do that). He spent as much time as possible with Rafael, having discussions and trying to bring them closer. And in the end, Rafael, much like Miko, had no idea when he gained himself a similarly very very overprotective brother and friend. No one touched Rafael without Bee being there to drive them into the ground before they could so much as lift a finger. Rafael was his friend, his potential Amica, no one was allowed to harm him so long as Bumblebee lived.
Ratchet saw Rafael's mimicry and overall interest in him as an obvious cry for a Caretaker, and so believing himself incapable of being incorrect on that front, did not even hesitate to begin the bonding process. When Rafael wasn't with Bumblebee, Ratchet took him and carried him around in one of his servos or on his shoulder, taking the time to answer all of his questions. Ratchet would check Rafael regularly and sing on a pitch too low for human ears but most certainly meant to calm a sparkling. He would also carefully listen to everything Rafael said to him, taking note of anything that could be bothering his little one. Anything at all that upset Rafael was tended to by Ratchet. A wound? Ratchet would tenderly put a band-aid on it and give Rafael a little treat he had June buy for him. Trouble at home? Ratchet was always there to listen and quietly coo at his small human sparkling, reminding him that he is loved. In the end Rafael got himself a highly devoted Caretaker, willing to do just about anything for him even if the medic in question refuses to acknowledge it.
Arcee took a lot longer than the rest of the team to figure out what the pit Jack wanted from her. He treated her like an equal, bantering and playing but still looked to her for care. And that confused her to the point of leading her to also go to Optimus for consultation. His advice was to try taking on a more motherly role and see how Jack felt about it. And so trusting her Prime, she did as advised, and surprise surprise, Jack didn't seem at all concerned if a little irritated at times. Seeing this Arcee rapidly took on the role of a secondary Caretaker for Jack. While he had his mother, he did not have a father, someone to protect him. So Arcee stepped up, becoming a more masculine parental figure for him, teaching him the things a father normally would have to the best of her ability. She even went so far as to look up things like how to tie a tie and how to change a car tire just for Jack since no one else was going to teach him any time soon. Of course she still mostly kept to a more feminine role when it came to Jack's care, but when required she took up the mantle his father left behind. And just like Miko and Rafael, he had no clue when he ultimately gained himself a doting parent ready to murder and hide the bodies of his enemies for him.
As for Optimus? He was perfectly content to take on the role his position as Prime offered him. On Cybertron, while sparkling had primary and secondary Caretakers to handle a majority of their needs and education, there was always a more communal effort involved. In small select groups like Optimus's team on earth, there was always a head to the clan that formed. There was always a protector and elder guide for all the young bots under their care. And in the team's case, that was Optimus, that with him being the Prime and old as dirt, being bested only by Ratchet in age. And so in light of this and his own desire to care for sparklings, human as they might be, Optimus took on the role of the clan guardian. He taught the children whenever there was time, teaching them important life lessons through simple tales and stories. He regurally sat them on his shoulders and sang to them songs of Cybertron and the history of all that his people held dear. He told them the history of the Cybertronian people, taking care to ensure the children learned well and grew up strong as a Prime should. And on top of that, he often made the children small gifts in return for their own, ranging from talismans to interesting objects he found on patrol.
In the end, the team bonded to the children, their attachment being far greater than anything the human children could have even conceived with the sacred status associated with bonds. As such, any and all attempts to touch the children by MECH, the Decepticons, or anyone else was met with immediate and sharp retribution, even being detrimental at times.
Bonds
Bonds are sacred, they mean everything to Cybertronians. When they form, they are often for life, never to be broken save for the most brutal of betrayals. The children did not understand this in large part due to the culture difference. As such when the bots began growing more aggressive and less content with things going on in the children's lives, they could not comprehend why.
Every single time Jack's bully turned up to harass him, Arcee had to struggle to keep herself from pommeling the brat. Jack was her boy, he was so kind and loving, he did not deserve to hear the slag coming out of the mouths of his peers. Bumblebee often found himself growing paranoid whenever Rafael was away from base for more than a day or two, wondering if something had happened to his potential Amica. He paced, concerned beyond words that something had happened, or worse yet, that Rafael had found him unsuitable for an Amica bond. And any time some kid tried to bother Rafael while Bumblebee was there waiting very nearly ended in bloodshed if not for the constant fear of discovery looming over his helm. Bulkhead and Wheeljack had many many profane words in store for Miko's foster and biological parents. How dare they leave the lovely girl alone! How dare they never give her any affection! Miko's quiet cries in the dead of night where she called out for her parents always tore Bulkhead and Wheeljack's sparks to shreds. They wanted nothing more than to comfort her, but instead all they could do was shower her in affection later as they knew interacting with her in that state would do no good.
Ratchet regularly contemplated just straight up kidnapping Rafael after he took a closer look at his home life and saw just how little his parents cared for him. Did they not know that sparklings were a rare and wonderful gift? Downright disgusting in his book. And when it came to a Con touching Rafael, Ratchet's normally calm demeanor went flying out the window, nearly leading him to kill a few Vehicons in rage. No one touched his sparkling. Optimus was not any better. If any of his little ones were touched, grown (Bumblebee) or otherwise (the children), he would not hesitate to destroy the perpetrator, primely duties be slagged. And much like Ratchet he tended to consider the possibility of up and adopting (stealing) the children, perhaps even finding a way to get them proper Cybertronian frames. His little ones needed to live long lives after all, Optimus would not stand for anything else.
Knowing all this, MECH really shouldn't have expected anything aside from an outright slaughter when they took the children. Even Autobots have breaking points..
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digimonloving · 1 year
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A Beelzemon who finds out that Lilithmon was hiding a human child from him and instead of telling the other demon lords he decides to help Lilithmon take care of the child
Beelzemon helping Lilithmon with the human child she hid from the other Demon Lords
Lilithmon had been acting strange. Stranger than she usually does, anyway. Beelzemon wasn't one t poke and prod at the other Demon Lord's business, since he absolutely hated dealing with them... well, mostly Lucemon anyway. But the way she was acting was a little too off... How she seemed to sneak around and bring food to her room - which she normally never did unless it was sweets. Most the food she brought wasn't her usual sweets.
He really thought about leaving her alone. She probably had some Digimon she was treating like a pet in her room or something - it was up her alley to do something like that when she found something she thought was cute. It was only when he was passing by her room and something small suddenly latched onto his tail. He almost drew his guns if it weren't for the sudden laughing coming from the small human child.
So that's what Lilithmon had been hiding? A human child? Well, with her want to near adopt things that seemed like they needed her at times, it didn't quite surprise him... but it also did since it was a whole human child she managed to hide away. Where did she even find the little thing? He confronts her when she gets back, holding the child by their leg as they try to climb and grab at him. Lilithmon can only laugh and grin.
She knows Beelzemon wouldn't hurt the kid. She knows that he also won't go to the other Demon Lords about it since he, just like her, doesn't want them hurting the little one either. She didn't expect him to state that he's going to be helping her if she's going to be keeping the kid like a little pet, they can split the time they get the little one since hiding them between the two will make it less likely they're found out.
It really doesn't take long until they're both caring for the kid together. Both taking turns making sure the little human is alright before they basically keep stopping by the other's section and hanging out for longer periods of time. They hardly really notice it happening at times, but it's whatever for Beelzmon. As much as he likes his quiet, the kid is welcome always, and Lilithmon.... well, isn't as insufferable as she normally is to him.
Lilithmon tries to not poke at how cute Beelzemon is when he spoils the kid and carries the little one near everywhere when he knows no-one is watching. Beelzemon thinks it's funny and strange to see Lilithmon actually be caring and not her fake care either that she usually is. Who would have thought she actually had a heart? He tends to joke about it, only earning a small threat from her and her threatening to call him such a caring and doting Digimon, to which he will quickly deny, even if he is..
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talenlee · 2 months
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Game Pile: Ouendan (Video)
Watch this video on YouTube
Thumbnail and script below the fold!
February is Smooch Month, a month dedicated to considering media that falls under the heading of smoochy. Things that are about relationships, forming relationships, building or deepening relationships, and things where a romantic relationship is important. This presents challenges because it might not surprise you, but in videogames, despite their breadth of content, haven’t done as much with this element of human interaction as you might think. Oh, there are a lot of games about romance, and a lot of them handle it in a linear or systemic way I dislike a lot. For all sorts of common cultural reasons you might be familiar with, romance in videogames tends to be about an agent pursuing an object and getting it. Super Mario Bros and onwards. Or Donkey Kong if you want.
None of this is to say that ‘all games that try to be about romance are bad,’ but there are a lot of games that are more or less replicating the same basic idea, existing in a binary between a language maze or an entirely unrelated linear story. What’s more, often romances aren’t depicted as if they express a relationship as an interested interaction between two parties who both want something. And this is pretty strange when you consider how much art has been made on this idea and how many forms that art has taken.
Like pop music.
Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan is a game whose name you don’t have to shout but come on, you should want to, you should be shouting in your heart, that is the original progenitor of a game you might have heard of called Elite Beat Agents. It’s a rhythm game on the NDS and 3DS, so the unique interface of the console presented designers with new(ish) opportunities to make a type of rhythm game. You tap the screen in time and place to correspond with the flow and movement of the music, and that’s kind of it.
(In a lot of ways, Ouendan as a game is a thing that benefits immensely from the material realities of what the DS is.)
If you know what a rhythm game is, you probably can work out how to play Ouendan in just a few minutes, even across the language barrier for non-Japanese speakers. In fact, it was that accessibility in part that led to the game being picked up in the west, and enjoyed so much we got a American localised version of the same game, Elite Beat Agents. This was in fact so much of a thing that at the end of the credits for Ouendan 2, there’s a thank you note in English. That approachability is only part of the reason why you can play Ouendan without literacy, though; another element is that the NDS doesn’t have region locking, so you can just buy a Japanese copy, jam it in your Belgian NDS (I assume you have one of those) and it’s going to work, rather than requiring you to pay distributors in your country. This meant that this game, in all the ways it’s very Japanese is available for you to experience without changing anything about what it is, its cultural framework, and its visions of what it wants to say in a story told through its particular framing device.
Because that framing device, to a common western audience member like me, seems at first impression to be bananas. In Ouendan, you are finding people who need help, then helping them. What kind of people? Well, you might help a kid with their university entrance exams. You might inspire a noodle shop cook to get over his problems with a stray cat. You might bring back the dead for one last dance. You might help a kid avoid wetting the bed in his sleep, or fight a virus or help Cleopatra build the pyramids. The first game culminates in the Ouendan saving the world from an asteroid strike through the power of rock and roll.
What’s important about this, though, is that in each of these stories, you aren’t playing the people who the story is about. You’re playing cheerleaders.
And you may be visualising something from your own perspective, and yes, you can unlock those, those are an option, but in Ouendan, you are not playing a western style cheerleader squat. You’re playing an Ouendan troupe: Which is to say, heavily masculine, disciplined cheer leaders who do ferocious poses, stomps, claps, whistles and shouts. This is a proud, established style of cheerleading in Japan. Manly cheerleading. In Ouendan, you play Ouendan who are more specifically, school toughs wearing gakuran and with all the signifiers of delinquents.
These roaming bands of goons find people who need help, burst into the scene in sometimes wildly inappropriate ways, and cheer them on to do their best. You are not competing for the exams; you want the person who is competing for the exams to know they can do their best. You are not capturing the bank robber, you are encouraging the horse to capture the bank robber because you believe in them.
It’s a great game.
It comes to my mind so often when I think about trying to find games for Smooch Month. Games about relationships, about expressing the forming and maintaining of a relationship in some way that doesn’t end when the characters express interest in them? They’re pretty rare. I could find more games about rescuing a dog than I could find about working with a partner!
(Don’t mention It Takes Two to me.)
That’s why I came back to this classic rhythm game, OSU! TATAKAE! OUENDAN!
There are some love stories in Ouendan. There’s a classic one where an Office Lady wants to date the Office Hunk (did you know sometimes those can be boys?) and the culmination of their story is her getting his attention in a literal Cinderella ref, backed by the probably somewhat culturally insensitive Koi no Dansu Saito. There’s also the story in Over the Distance, which is about a ghost coming back from heaven to apologise to his wife for the fight they had just before he died. It’s nice that there’s this bookending between these two types of relationship stages – a beginning and, sadly, an end.
It’s not the one that makes me think of Ouendan! in smooch month though. Melody, one of the early levels, is set in a Matsuri festival, where the person we’re helping wants to Win At Doing The Festival race, because that will get him respect and get the permission of a girl’s crappy dad to marry her. So far so Mario, woman as prize, right?
Now I pulled deep to find this game because I think this successfully breaks a lot of my problems with videogame romances. First, you don’t control the agents in the romance; you’re not the boy or the girl, and your relationship to the other has nothing to do with how well you play the game. These two characters are into each other, and their reactions to how well you play is how well you get them towards a goal they both want (where they want to get married). You want to do well, because you want them to have their chance to get married (and you get a rewarding tish sound). They are dating. They are in love, and they are being obstructed by her dad in this one instance. The girl isn’t the reward and the guy isn’t your character – she’s one of the participants. Your victory is not Him Getting Something, it’s Them getting what they want, because they set up a game event.
It’s a sweet story, it’s about something nice, and in amongst all these games I’ve been digging through to find just a romance that didn’t make me clutch my insides. Like you can read the dad as doing a thing that implies ownership of his daughter’s options for marriage, but even then he gets involved after the boy racer says that he’ll propose when he wins. In that case, it almost looks like the father is in on the game, because he wants the Matsuri competition to be a competition.
What’s more, everyone thinks he’s being a dick — strangers get involved and join in and help our protagonists. He goes from carrying the Matsuri on his own, and then, inspired by that, school kids and old folks and tourists all join in on the race. If you succeed, then the father in law is super happy because he sees it as a good omen for their marriage! It’s not ‘you shall not marry my daughter,’ it’s ‘well, do a proper Matsuri race then.’ At the very end, he’s not grumbling that this man stole his daughter from him; he’s joyfully attending their wedding.
And you know what happens when you fail?
They don’t get married and you failed. That’s it. She doesn’t leave him. The relationship is not contingent on the Matsuri race, just the father blessing them here. They were in a relationship beforehand, and there’s no reason that ends. The story doesn’t need to make this event the contingent requirement for the romance.
And that’s nice!
It can be a big story moment for these two, where you get to show up and encourage them to their best. It’s not told as if this is the make-or-break, it’s not told as if this
Incidentally, I did consider doing this with Elite Beat Agents instead, because, you know, it’s slightly more available and didn’t get a sequel. Thing is, it’s uh, it’s not got a story like this one in it. The closest we get to this song is Queen’s I Was Born To Love You, which shows us Leonardo Da Vinci harrassing Mona Lisa until she agrees to pose for him as a model, which is so much worse as a story.
Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!
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