#< his name is not actually johan that’s just what i call him
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Okay guys time for my absolutely unhinged thoughts okay?
There’s an extra who is in like literally every fucking scene. He talks to almost everyone in the entire main cast, he sits next to Vincent at meals, he eats chips before the ball and gets pulled into someone’s room, he’s on the rowing team but doesn’t have the fancy turtleneck shirt that most of them do, he’s talking to August about Seychelles and laughing along with Nils and Vincent as if he were with them on the trip, he 100% caught August making googoo eyes at Sara and i simply would not be surprised if he somehow figured out Wilmon too. He is literally fucking everywhere.
He has no name and no lines but more screen time that fucking Alexander does. The actors name is Maximus. I’ve found him on instagram but I do not follow him because he only has 1k followers and I’m not going to be that person.
Anyway, point of this is, I have named him Johan and @insomnaticwilmon and i have given him the most elaborate backstory, so.
Everyone meet Johan.
#young royals#johan young royals#<- his name is not actually Johan that’s just what I call him#unhinged zee hours
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Damn Samuel simps are thirsty huh (same but I wanna dom him so slightly different from the ones that want him to step on them) BUT I am here to ask for hcs or something where Johan falls for a girl that makes him hot meals. He needs the nutrients. Straight up one of the dudes that will fall for you if you feed him. One of the prime examples of "best way to a man's heart is his stomach".
Seaweed Soup and Curry
Pairing: Johan Seong x Reader
an: omg anon, your request has been in my ask box for so long! I kept you waiting for a long time lmao. I hope you enjoy this one! Also, I have not proof-read this
During a specific time of night, you always notice guy with brown hair looking through the small make shift window of the tarpaulin tent that houses your family's snack bar. Dressed in all black, his tall figure, blends in with the dim lighting outside the snack bar. You don't know how long you've been staring at him, but it seems like he noticed you staring at him before you can realize what you're doing. You tried calling out to him, but he walked away before you even got the chance to. For the following nights to come, this is how your meeting with him would take place.
Friday night comes, and you made sure to hide behind the tarpaulin snack bar waiting for the time when he usually comes around-- 10pm. You waited for a couple of minutes to pass before coming around, and sure enough, there he is standing in-front of the snack bar, a white dog sitting next to him. The dog noticed you, and gave a small bark towards your direction causing him to look towards you.
"Hey, I noticed you're always here during this time looking through. Aren't you going to go in? You're always lurking out here like weirdo." You raised your brow as you study his face in the dim lighting. You aren't going to lie, this guy looks quite attractive. The yellow lights of the street lights bounces off his brown hair making seem like he has a halo on his head. An angel on earth perhaps?
"How long have you been there?" His question snapped you out of the trance you were about to enter when admiring his face.
"Not long, I was hoping to catch you actually."
"And I'm the weirdo?"
"Hey! Any one in their right mind would wonder why some guy keeps staring, but never buy anything! Much less enter!"
"It's called window shopping, dumbass." His rebuttal got you confused. Who even window shops food? But before you can get the words out of your mouth, he had already walked away with his dog on his tail. You're not sure why, but you hoped that he would come again tomorrow night.
When the next night came, you waited for him outside in-front of the snack bar unlike last time, and sure enough, he came again at the same time. He paused in his tracks when he noticed you standing outside the snack bar with your hands inside your apron pocket.
Upon noticing his arrival you told him, "Follow me inside." You grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the snack bar. There were three tables inside and a few folding chairs around the tables. You pulled him directly towards an empty table made him sit. "We have rice and curry, fried chicken, tteokbokki and seaweed soup. What do you want to eat?"
"I'm not hungry." He said pointedly, looking you straight in the eyes with his dark pretty eyes. As he said this, his stomach growled loud enough to catch the attention of his dog.
"Just tell me what you want. My grandma figures that you're probably 'window shopping' outside because you're hungry." You said as you pointed towards your grandma sitting behind the counter. "Just tell me what you want before I change my mind."
"I don't want your charity." He said as he glimpsed at the food.
"Look here, uhhh..."
"Johan" Johan was unsure why he told you his name, but when he gave it out anyways. It was quite unusual for him. Often times, he would just stay quite and leave the other person hanging.
"Look here, Johan. Do I look like I got room to be charitable. I'm not doing this to be charitable. My grandma would probably kill me if I let you starve any further."
Johan smirked and said, "I wouldn't mind seeing that."
"Forget it, I'll just choose for you." You walked behind the counter where the small make shift kitchen is. Using the ingredients the prepped ingredients, you made a quick and easy curry and served it to him on top of hot white rice. "Here, don't worry about paying for it, and if you feel like you should pay, you can pay me by helping my grandma grocery shop."
"Thanks, but shouldn't you be helping your grandma though?" Johan asked as politely as he could.
"Well yeah, but I'm in school during the day, so I can't help grandma."
Johan nods as he silently ate the food that was served to him. Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. Soon enough it's been a year ever since Johan started helping out your grandma. Sometimes, he'd even help out setting up the stall or cleaning up at the end of the night. Ever since then you and Johan have gotten closer. You'd have banters all the time so much so, that some customers have said that the two of you banter like an old married couple. You would simply brush off the comment and say, "as if I'd marry him." The redness of your entire face kind of give away how flustered you are because of the comment.
Today is the weekend, and as you were setting up there was a guy wearing a tracksuit that came up to you handing you a package meant for Johan. A few hours later, Johan came with your grandma with the prepped ingredients for tonight's menu.
"Hey Johan, this came for you earlier. Some guy named Zack dropped it off earlier for you." You informed Johan as you handed him a neatly wrapped gift. "He said, 'Happy Birthday and come home.'"
Johan grabbed the gift from you and thanked you. Before he can go on about his day you asked, "How come you never said today is your birthday?"
"Why? Were you planning on getting me a gift?" He asked in a teasing voice.
"No, you ass." You rolled your eyes and get to cooking. Not long after, you came back to him with a small steaming hot pot filled with seaweed soup. Johan looked up at you in surprise as you set the soup down on the table in-front of him.
"It's seaweed soup. You probably haven't had some in a while ever since you left home, so I thought I'd make you some. Happy Birthday Johan." Johan felt a comforting warmth envelope him as he watches the small and gentle smile on your face. The smile may have been small, but it's the kind of smile that reaches your eyes-- making them shine despite the terrible lighting in the snack bar. Out of all the food you've made for him, curry is his favourite as well as the seaweed soup you've made for him on his birthday.
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i love you more than i can ever scream
finnick odair x reader
synopsis: you wonder if finnick’s sacrifice was truly worth it
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
you sighed deeply, hoping to contain your feelings for when you were alone. but as katniss neared to sit down next to you, you flinched, “stop. please.” your voice quivered and you looked down, knowing that if you looked up, your face would be covered with tears.
finnick was gone. he had died, a horrible, painful death.
katniss stopped in her tracks and she sniffled, “i’m sorry. im so sorry.” her voice was hoarse. you looked up and met her eyes. “finnick and i both knew what the consequences could be, if this were to happen. i- i just didn’t think it actually would.” you whispered, quietly and moved to slump back down on the ground.
your face felt hot as you saw the group just overhead. you had lumped in with johanna, you had parted from her the moment you saw his familiar head of hair. but there was fog all around them, and you screamed as you recognized what it was.
“finnick! run!” you screamed, but it was useless, for they were too far, and the fog was too close to them.
johanna dragged you away, “we have to go!” and you screamed as the fog took him with katniss and peeta.
“finnick would’ve voted-“ annie’s voice echoed out into the room and you slammed your hands down on the table, all the attention turning to you. you realized with a deep pang that this was the only time they all had voluntarily looked at you, without any pity lining their eyes.
usually everyone gave you bowed heads, whispers and awkward smiles. but now, there was the flash of acknowledgment that you were still a person.
the sinking feeling that he was in danger didn’t leave you alone, and you walked through the jungle, hoping that you would find them. and you did, you found katniss and peeta holding finnick in the water. you screamed, running towards them, your hands shaky and your palms sweaty, you kneeled down next to finnick and watched as his eyes opened to see you. as if a weight had been taken off his shoulders, he heaved deeply, “y/n..” he whispered.
“you don’t get to say what finnick would or wouldn’t say. you don’t get to say that.” your voice came out as evenly as you had hoped and she faltered, “i-“ you shook your head and annie quieted, “this is all bullshit.” you stood up, the chair kicking back with force that it hit the wall with a cracking sound.
you shouted his name as he ran after katniss, hoping to stop her as she frantically ran back into the jungle. but you saw her screaming, and finnick began to whip his head around as he too, began to scream.
silence met your ears and you felt disoriented. finnick’s face was nothing but anguish as he cupped his ears, and birds, jabberjays, flew all around him and katniss.
peeta too had ran after them, and he launched himself against the force field that kept them apart. you neared the force field and stood speechless, watching finnick scream in pain.
the pain of his death still felt fresh. it all did. you felt like a ghost most of the time, you hardly felt apart of the revolution at this point, feeling like they only kept you around because your husband had paid a price they couldn’t pay back.
“you need to get a grip.” johanna had tried her best to be there for you, even if she was still recovering from the things the capitol had done to her, she had made a promise.
you shook your head, “stop. just stop, okay? im not strong enough for this, it’s eating me alive.” you sighed, “everyday i wake up and he isn’t next to me, i feel like a shell of who i am.”
johanna grabbed your hands and held them tightly, “he wouldn’t have wanted this for you. he probably would’ve given you some harsh pep talk, made you spar with him and call it a day.” you laughed weakly, knowing she was right.
you nodded, “thank you.” johanna nodded, “anything for you, just like finnick did, i do too.”
you looked down at your hands with hers and realized that maybe telling johanna would be a good thing.
“i’m pregnant.” your voice didn’t feel like your own as you finally said the thing that had been in the back of your mind for weeks now.
“is it-“ she spoke slowly and you whispered, knowing what she meant “yes.”
the silence was deafening as your bodies collided. you grabbed the fabric of his shirt tight in your hands and cried hard, “oh finnick.” you hadn’t known when you would see him again, but here he was, his calloused hands running up and down your back, he kissed your forehead, “y/n..” his voice sounded shaky and you looked up at him and he smiled, his eyes twinkling brightly.
#finnick odair oneshots#finnick odair x reader#thg finnick#finnick x you#finnick x reader#finnick imagine#finnick odair angst#finnick odair x you#finnick odair smut#finnick odair fluff#thg imagine#thg angst
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STRIPPED
▶︎ TRACK 001.
bad liar | Johan Liebert x Reader
Banner Credit: @bunnysrph
Content Warnings: manipulation, inexperience, codependency, seeing through people, psychological play, implied nsfw, but still sfw.
“Do you think your sin will disappear when you lie?”
He’s circling me; it was like we were in a tango. His hands were formally placed in the back, and his mind probably wanders while I bow my head out of pure shame. He’s stripped me off of my dignity, I’m unable to form coherent sentences upon uttering what my pride told me to say.
His hand reached for the right areas, he’s being incredibly unfair. His eyes wandered. It was almost as if he saw right through me. This damn monster.
I refused to look back. I had to keep searching, search for a place to stare blankly into oblivion. I wouldn’t dare look back at the monster’s eyes as he cornered me like a hungry predator. But no, he wasn’t just any predator, he’s just playing dangerously innocent. I felt like a small, curious nymph before his gaze; he looks calm, but definitely not pure. This man was definitely far from being pure, I believe he’s hiding something from the untrained eye.
But I just know he got one or two things on his mind.
I bit my lip. My thoughts are filled with nothing but inner despair—I had to be careful with what I chose to mutter.
“I’m not lying, you’re just…..you’re just assuming things about me. I know myself far better than you do, Johan.”
“Johan, huh?” he asked, his bedroom eyes cornering me. I wasn’t looking up at him, but I can feel his haunting lips shape a crooked smile while I could only wish to escape. “Those sweet old memories of me going by that name. I’m quite surprised you’d catch up to me by deciding to pick up my call.”
“I answered your call out of respect,” I replied. “It’s not….it’s not like I like you or anything….”
“Oh? But you’re trembling. Are you perhaps curious? They say curiosity killed the cat, and it seems to me as if I dragged the cat in.”
“What?”
“Don’t play innocent, missy. You know your intentions have been quite obvious.”
“I don’t exactly know what you’re talking about, Johan.” I frowned at his remarks.
“I was just testing the waters. And it turned out that my then assumptions were correct. [Name], let’s be clear. You know very well that no one would want to sleep with you tonight, right?”
“Wha- I never said that!” I exclaimed.
“You never said anything, indeed. In fact, you never really say much. You don’t really do much, [Name].”
“So that means, you just called me for nothing?” I retorted.
He’s pausing. He looked elsewhere. This was my time to run away. He seems defeated. This was my chance. I tried to push him away. Not literally. I tried to deny him. I lifted my foot and stared at the exit.
“Staring into space, little one? Perhaps I can help with that.”
“Let go!” I retaliated. He raised his eyebrow at my response thereafter. “Oh, I’m sorry, I….didn’t mean to frighten you or anything. I just….I don’t know. Do I actually spend the night?”
“Sssshhhh…..you’re not leaving. Spend the night.”
He’s pulling me closer, I try to push him away, but he pulled me in. He’s calm, but his grip was far too strong. Next thing I know, he’s battling for access. I shivered, no fucking way. I struggled against his grasp, not because I didn’t like it, but because of my fears.
What if he’d discard me after this?
He pulled away.
“Such a sensitive, fragile little angel.” Johan smiled, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear. He smiled. Even his smile was fake. “I’m glad you picked up the phone.”
I frowned at the remark.
“Why the sour face, angel? I just tell it like it is.”
I can’t speak, I can’t retaliate. But he’s got me in a trance, so I gave in. He’s there to show me the ropes, and that’s all I could ever lean on for the rest of my life.
“You’re lying to yourself. Is it a lie you don’t just tell yourself, but to me as well? Too bad. I see through you.”
“I-“
“You’re trembling. Is it because of fear? Or is it simply because you can’t stand one day looking away from me?”
“No.”
“You’re lying once again, so typical of your kind indeed.”
He lowered his voice, he’s being cruel. I tried to object but he pulled me in, and he’s losing his patience. I closed my eyes, not because I didn’t want it to stop.
It felt good, far too good.
The time ticked. I could hear the clock ticking as he slowly, yet skillfully explored every inch of me. Well, not all inches, but just the right amount. It was painfully awkward, but he pulled off our confrontation so well.
Then everything came to a halt.
That intoxicating voice of his spoke once more.
“I guess it’s time for you to reach home. I have one last thing to ask of you before we part ways.”
“What is it, Johan?” I asked.
“Don’t ever make me forget you.”
#johan liebert x you#johan liebert x reader#johan x reader#x reader#yandere x reader#johan liebert#monster anime#yandere johan#dark psychology
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incorrect lookism 2
we back on our bullshit with this one
1:
sally: i just watched eli drop a remote on his foot and the only thing he said was "im tired of being alive"
2:
jake: hewwo! i will be youw suwgeon today! intewnal bweeding you say? let's make our fiwst wittle incision
sinu: dowcto, we'wre loswing him!!!! 🥺
jerry: quick! hand me the defwibwiwatow
samuel: please. just cut off my fucking life support
3:
johan: met a dumbass today, awful
zack: you looked in a mirror?
johan: one day you will have to answer for your sins and god may not be so merciful
4:
zack: Go big or go home!
mira: Please, for once in your life just go home. I'm begging you. Go. Home.
zack: I'm going big!
5:
sally: are you drinking enough water?
eli: sometimes tears fall in my mouth
6:
samuel: Something’s off.
jake : Maybe you’ve finally developed human emotions and feel bad for hurting people.
samuel: No, but that’s funny.
7:
goo, to kouji: Look at you! All cute and small! I could just eat you up!
kouji: proceeds to kick him in the shin and run away
crystal, walking past: Rule number 1, don't call kouji cute or small.
8:
daniel, about jay: Time sensitive question how flirt boy.
vasco: Throw rocks at he.
zack: Hot Dogs.
eli: Kill him.
daniel: Thanks guys.
9:
jake: "It's easy to forget what a sin is in the middle of a battlefield."
samuel: Opposite over hypotenuse.
samuel: Dipshit.
10:
warren, to eli: you can't make everyone like you! you're not sally
sally: w-wait, but not everyone likes me!
warren: who doesn't like you?
sally: w-what
eli: names.
sally: w-
warren: give us their names.
11:
jerry: jake told me to stop worrying and just go get it boy so i'm gonna' go get it boy
jason: go get what?
jerry: i dont know, so i'll just get everything to be safe
12:
goo: we need code names
goo: I’m thinking you all can be sexy beast, marshmallow, record player, beer, and bitch
gun: who’s bitch
goo: who do you think bitch
13:
kouji: send me a pic of you doing the peace sign
crystal: why
kouji: i used you to catfish a sugar daddy
14:
daniel: ok, i get it, you're really stressed out, seven people died-
zack: twelve, actually
daniel: that's not my point. look, theyre dead and whose fault is that?
hudson: yours!
daniel: that's right, nobody's
15:
zack: Why isn’t the statue smirking at me?
daniel: It isn’t smirking at anyone, they’re all just imagining it.
zack: Three of us saw it, daniel. How do you explain that?
daniel: points at jake Sleep deprivation. points at johan Paranoia. points at samuel Delusional personality disorder.
#lookism#lookism manhwa#gun park#jake kim#goo kim#kim joongoo#samuel seo#daniel park#eli jang#johan seong#zack lee#vasco lee#hudson ahn#crystal choi#kouji lookism#warren chae#sally park#sinu han#jerry kwon#kim gimyung#seo seongeun#han shinwoo#park jonggun#lee jinsung#park hyungseok#lookism webtoon#incorrect quotes#incorrect lookism quotes
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Monster: Johan Liebert Headcanons
Art belongs to respectful owners, although please check my likes, I believe the artist is in there. Warning, not very good at headcanons, so please point something out.
Johan is NOT the romantic type. Sure, he may be romantic in how he fantasizes his goals & philosophy on life, but he isn't interested in love nor anyone.
So why did he take an interest in you?
You could be out on a walk, reading on a bench, eating at a cafe, or even visiting the museums, & he'll always be there, watching you.
You did speculate that someone was stalking you, but you shrugged it off at first.
That was until you met him...
Johan isn't your typical yandere guy like any other. He was gentle & kind. Though he was concerned about your whereabouts, he wasn't the overprotective kind of person.
He let you wander freely & even allowed you to leave the country if you wanted. But he always made sure you had his contact info just in case something happened.
Referring back to what I previously said, Johan is not the romantic type. So, anything going beyond distance, like touch, is a big no.
The only time he would touch you is if he was holding your hand or moving a strand of hair out of your face. No cheek kisses or even intercourse. Maybe a few hugs here & there, but that is all.
If he had to choose, of the Five Love Languages, I think it would be Words of Affirmation.
Being the bookworm he is, he had to search through dictionaries for hours, even months, to find a positive word or maybe even a romantic one.
Most of what he would say would be compliments on your outfits or maybe just your personality. Or maybe, just the beauty of what he'd discovered was your morbid mind.
He rarely calls you any nicknames, but when he does, its either just your actual (or not actual) name, or "Darling" or "Flower" (I had to look some up XD)
Once again, referring back to what I previously said, Johan is not the typical yandere. He doesn't lock you inside, tie you up, or even abuse you.
You may find him a bit eerie, but you trust him so much because of how different he seems from other people you've met.
Plus, he didn't kidnap you, especially by force, you accepted his invitation into his life by free will.
The only concern though is that he likes to seem to brainwash you a lot. If he's not in a good mood, he'll most likely just make you feel bad about yourself or even manipulate you. Either then that, he always keeps that smile on his face & it makes your heart melt, even with those loving, bluebell eyes.
You may not be his wife, lover, or girlfriend, even having a platonic relationship with him, but being a very close friend of his is the best gift you could ever receive from someone like him.
#johan liebert x reader#yandere johan#johan liebert headcanons#yandere monster x reader#monsteranime#yandere monster#yandere johan liebert#johan liebert
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Random head-cannon time!!!!
For those of you who aren’t aware, one of the story board artists for ATLA made a sort of ‘what if?’ comic series called water tribe. ( @rufftoon her name’s johane matte seriously look her up!) Where-in Zhao lives, has his memory wiped by the moon and ocean spirits and lives in the northern water tribe. This particular episode of brain rot came to be when I was re-reading the series and came to when they were discussing when Zhao was first discovered to be alive, and how he’d been an empty shell and had to relearn everything. It got me thinking, Nauja and her family basically had to re-raise him he had to relearn how to do everything. What if that experience made him weirdly good deciphering non-verbal cues? Imagine it… toddler Payu trying to tell Nauja he wants something, grunting and crying because she doesn’t understand what he’s asking for and Zhao just walks up like “Hm? Oh yeah? Sure ok, got u.” And grabs whatever handing it to Payu. Who’s suddenly not crying? After being handed a thing he’s never asked for or shown any interest in whatsoever?! It would get so bad, Payu just straight up stops trying to talk and just goes to this ex-fire nation caveman for whatever he wants instead and Nauja’s PISSED.
“He needs to learn to talk dammit!!” - Nauja
“Y tho?” - Zhao probably
They never stopped wanting to keep a close eye on Zhao, Nauja just made her dad find him a house so Payu would actually try to learn to talk. I.E. - The really reason Zhao got his own place.
#avatar the last airbender#avatar Zhao#admiral zhao#atla zhao#water tribe#rufftoon#johane matte#zhaokoa#fan art#fanart#my art#don’t own the characters#obviously#Payu#Nauja#yus#firecaveman#he thicc
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What would make August decide to reject the crown prince title?
Well, you know my brand! I actually think it’s possible for August to get to a place where he leaves behind the crown prince role. It’s a bit of a claw machine game, but isn’t that more fun to think about than letting him suffer forever? We love a challenge! We love growth! We like acknowledging the messiness of the character, and not always assuming the worst of every last thing he does! So let’s get into it.
I’m actually not going to talk about Sara much here. A lot of posts that talk about this crown prince situation mention how sad August is to have lost Sara, and while that’s true, I actually think there are other emotional undercurrents at work. Similarly to the way Wille is more than his relationship with Simon and has to leave the monarchy for his own self-actualization, August will leave for reasons that go beyond losing Sara.
I also want to open by agreeing with everything my esteemed colleague @heliza24 says about therapy and time and community in this post over here. What I’m going to say here is going to be long and rambly, but I think it will build on her talking points.
So let’s think about August holistically, in terms of his values. In order to get August out of the monarchy, the first step is understanding (excavating, even, because this shit works in layers) what draws him to it in the first place, and what his emotional needs are. I actually think it’s a common misconception that he’s into the whole thing for the power of it all. I actually think this is more about August’s need for belonging, particularly in terms of his wanting to be part of a family and the way he values traditions that bring people together. Monarchy runs on this idea of a sacred first family that sets the tone for the nation and leads them in following traditions. This ideal family is, in theory, the ultimate exemplar of what August desires in life. And yet the reality of the monarchy is far from the ideal. I think we sometimes assume August has a clear view of what monarchy is like, since he’s related to the royal family and all. But I also think his close proximity clouds his judgment. More details below…
The thing about being in the crown prince position is that at first it would set up opportunities for August to connect with family members, namely Kristina, which initially would meet a family-related need. August seems to hold Kristina in high regard. He’s looking forward to the possibility that she might visit during parents’ weekend in season 1, and he’s pretty afraid of facing her in season 2 when he’s called to the palace. Of course, that is about her position as queen as much as anything, but I can’t help but wondering if it’s also that Kristina was August’s father’s favorite cousin. And isn’t that a fruitful piece of information? There’s so much that can be done with that connection! For instance…
A lot of August’s trauma is rooted in grief. Some of that is complicated grief for Erik, which his reconciliation with Wille (and probably their shared sessions with Boris) has helped him start to feel and unravel. We haven’t really seen August fully grieve his father yet, but I imagine that if there were seasons 4 and 5, this would be the next step in his character arc. Grieving his father is crucial. In season 3, August has (clumsily, in front of Sara when he shouldn’t have said it, but the lines happened and I find them fascinating) just begun to idealize his father less—he says he misses his dad even though his dad was shitty, and that makes me go, okay, what else is behind that line? (A really amazing fanfic by @sflow-er is what.)
Meanwhile Kristina mentions that she and Carl Johan were really close until Carl Johan started to fall into addiction. Lots to peel back there, too! Like, what happened? What was the timeline of all this, and was it a big falling out or a slow breakdown in the relationship? Does Kristina feel any guilt related to August’s father’s suicide, like August himself does? We don’t know how she feels about Louise—is she sympathetic toward her for having to be married to a man who was potentially abusive? Or would Kristina have bought into Carl Johan’s potentially false narrative of Louise, and blamed Louise for her husband’s addiction and mental health crisis?
Whichever direction you take this, I think working with Kristina day to day would bring up opportunities for August to confront his sense of loss. Kristina probably has all kinds of stories about August’s dad, and how they got up to trouble together in their childhood and youth, and which now-deceased family members responded to their antics. August might be able to share a few stories about his dad as well. Sharing memories is an important part of the grieving process, for so many people, and I imagine at first August would feel connected to his father’s side of the family for the first time in a while, and there might be some good things that come of it.
On the other hand… those initial benefits might not last forever. And August would soon discover the fucked up aspects to that side of the family. It’s possible Kristina might try to help August mend his relationship with his mother, but in the scenario I mentioned above (Kristina buys into Carl Johan’s narrative of Louise and blames her for his death) I can see her trying to interfere when August and Louise try to repair their relationship. Wouldn’t that create some fun tension between August and Kristina? I do think August wants to repair his relationship with his mother. As mad as he is with her in season 1, we also see hints in seasons 2 and 3 that he doesn’t actually hate her and wants to feel connected to her. After graduation he goes to find her and Rickard in the graduation line where all the parents are holding photos. I could see a situation where August, a year or two after canon, decides he wants to patch things up with his mom, and keeps running into pushback from Kristina about it. Aren’t there so many ways that tension could escalate? Wouldn’t that be a fun thing to play with in fanfic?
And then there’s Wilhelm. The way I read their reconciliation, it felt like August would try to maintain a good relationship with Wilhelm in the future. What does that become if he ends up in a position where he’s always mediating between Kristina and Wilhelm now that their relationship has fractured? And then we know Kristina tried to turn Wilhelm into Replacement Erik, I can absolutely imagine a situation where she starts thinking of August as Replacement Wilhelm and behaving accordingly, and August grows to resent that. Ultimately I can see August siding with Wilhelm over Kristina in the end and they end up banding together.
All those paragraphs above basically just mean that like… I feel like being in the crown prince role might bring a lot to the surface for August, in terms of how he relates to his family. And once he sees what wounds being crown prince can’t heal, that’s going to shatter his idealism and make him question the monarchy as a representation of the family in general. And that’s an important step out the door.
Now, August also needs to see what alternatives to this “perfect ideal family model” are out there. He also needs to realize that family isn’t just about blood relatives. Which just means he needs honest friendships with people who don’t subscribe to that kind of patriarchal nonsense. I don’t mean August needs patient queer friends who will hold his hand and explain the concept of heterotemporality to him in a soft voice. I just mean that being around more people who break his mental schemas in that regard would be a good thing. Like how does his friendship with Nils develop now that Nils has come out? What if, I dunno, it turns out that Louise and Rickard are both bisexual and poly? And then of course there’s his continued relationship with Wilhelm, which I imagine he’d continue to invest in now that they’ve turned things around at the end of season 3.
Does that wrap up the family stuff for now? Probably. There’s a thousand more things I could talk about but we’ll put it aside for now.
I mentioned August valuing tradition in my opener, so I want to address that too. Surface August—aka the protective suit of armor August has constructed for himself in season 1—seems to value tradition for its own sake, and mostly defines inclusion for some as something that can only exist when there’s exclusion of others. These are all the broken things Surface August has been taught or (we now know) traumatized to believe, and they come out in his behavior, and it sucks.
At the same time, what happens over three seasons is that we see there’s this deeply buried version of August that’s struggling to get out, and in my opinion at least, that deeply buried August actually gives a shit about others feeling a sense of belonging. I feel like this part of August is influenced by his own experiences with isolation and loneliness, and we see glimmers of him from time to time. (Especially when it’s Vincent doing something exclusive and shitty, for whatever reason. See August standing up to Vincent when Vincent is shitty to Simon in 2.3.) I think for August, traditions and rituals and events are something he sees as being deeply important in creating a sense of belonging for people. And he’s not fully wrong. Traditions and events done right are how humans make sacred their bonds with one another… which is why you get a bunch of Wilmon wedding headcanons. Because we love traditions too, you know.
As much as August gets a reputation for being rigid, there are times when we’ve seen him budge from what’s expected of him and change up the rules. I think August is actually more willing to rewrite tradition than fandom gives him credit for. He’s got suggestions for the speech Jan-Olof wants him to recite verbatim. He tells Vincent to rethink the senior superlatives. And he’s one of the third years who makes a pact to remove the really homophobic part of the initiation.
I say this not to give August undue credit—these are half-steps and there’s clearly more he can do, and some of these traditions should be eliminated, not modified. But I want to point out two things. First, that imperfect half-steps (and some pretty epic backslides) were part of Wilhelm’s journey too before he made his full break with the monarchy. Second, by season 3, we can see that August is actually capable of reflecting about traditions and considering ways they could be rewritten to create more of a sense of belonging for others.
Again, this is imperfect, and we may want him to do more… and this is another place where he could potentially end up clashing with the royal court in time. One thing that I’ve thought about is that being a prefect at Hillerska is a little different—in theory if not in practice—than being the crown prince of Sweden. As a Hillerska prefect you’re just leading the elite and the few who get into your school, but as crown prince you really are supposed to be there for the nation as a whole (albeit in a “non-divisive” way) and I think August does actually recognize that distinction and would try to approach it differently than being prefect or rowing captain. Except he would continue to be a total overachiever.
Like, look. On some level August would be incredibly earnest about the idea of being the keeper of Sweden’s traditions, and earnestness is not the same as being a rubber stamp or a yes-man. The royal court may think they’ve finally got someone who will carry out whatever monarchical agenda they set without question but like… idk, do they? Do they really??? August is going to want say in the process, and August is going to have so many ideas about how to make traditions better/more awesome, and August is going to annoy the hell out of Jan-Olof and Farima. He is going to be so annoying! He is going to have slides presentations! He is going to crunch the data on how the royal family is getting bad press for their carbon footprint and come up with a plan for renewable fuel on the private jet so now they can totally show people they’re legit! Meanwhile he’s going to be annoyed when his ideas are getting blocked. And I find the slow build in conflict that would arise out of a situation like that pretty entertaining.
Okay, it’s time to wrap up. For real this time. (This would all be better in a fanfic than in an analysis post, really! I should write.) Ultimately I think August would be drawn into the monarchy because he’d see it as a way of living his values of family and tradition and hell, service to the nation and being part of something, but he’d grow frustrated and disillusioned when it didn’t, actually, allow him to do that or give him the space to do it. The answer to Rickard’s question—does the monarchy love you back?—is no. And I don’t know how long post-season-3 August is willing to put up with being unrequited like that. Maybe for a time, but not forever.
You may also wonder why I have faith that he’ll get here. And the simple answer is: after season 3, my faith in August is intertwined with my faith in Wilhelm. Wilhelm breaking with the monarchy at the end of season 3 (especially after some pretty intense backsliding moments.) shows me that it’s possible for August to do it too, someday. That is perhaps a post for another time. For now, let’s just look forward to all the opportunities for a fix-it fic.
#young royals#asks#august horn#august is a dumbass but he’s my dumbass#and i will take a seam ripper to the crown on his little crocheted frog so i can save his soul
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"Les yeux sont la fenêtre de l'âme"
So, regarding the last chapter.
We know that Vampires have one regular eye color and that when they are thirsty for blood or attack their eyes turn red right ?
Regarding the Dhamps now.
Johan as purplish/blue eyes
Riche are turquoise
Dante are brown
However, the chapter revealed that like Vampires, their eyes can glow of a special color : golden
Now, according to Nox and Manet, their eyes turning gloden is something they cannot control, which I think is why Riche and Johan wears glasses. In order to hide their eyes.
However, Dante doesn't wear glasses. Was it always the case though ?
Right. It wasn't.
You can also see that his mother wears a veil hiding her face. Who else his identity and is linked to the Dhampir ?
Somehow all of the people closely or not related to Dhampir hides their faces or their eyes...
except Dante.
Unlike them, Dante is revealing his actual nature to the face of the world. If eyes are indicating of one's soul, while the other Dhampirs are hiding it, Dante is showing them regardless of the risk of being exposed.
How does Dante react to Noé pointing out how no one wants to acknowldege the Dhamps as invidividual ?
However, the same Dante has a complete different reaction when Vanitas told him straight up that he hates everyone equally.
His relationship with Vanitas is actually a relationship where both will call each other "Quack" or "Baldie" and act as though they don't get along but in reality they are pretty complicit
Now, does Dante have that with Noé ? No. While Noé does point out the problem, he seems to be not noticing what it means that they refuse to call them by their name. Domi realized it. Noé ? He did not. Hence Dante's reaction.
Dante is the only one not wearing glasses because unlike Riche and Johan who "accepted" that they had to reject their identity to survive, he refuses. He doesn't want to hide who he is because he is born that way and cannot help it.
Vanitas reaction was explicit enough : he hates everyone equally having seen the worst aspect of both side, therefore he will treat him equally which is the bare minimun that Dante could ever hope, even if it comes to a feeling such as hatred to which he is used to.
What he isn't used to however, it's someone openly taking his defense, for him or the other dhamps and Noé's reaction creates an ambiguity hence why Dante ask him : is it on purpose ? Or is he just showing the extent of his naivete and ignorance ?
Dante stand out as being the only Dhamps not wearing glasses and exposing his identity to the world. What people try to hide by wearing glasses, a veil, a mask, he wants to expose it, a truth people are willing to ignore, to pretend not to see. They say indifference is worse then hatred. Well, in the Dhamps case, worse then hatred, they are being robbed off their identity. Hence he doesn't try to hide unlike when he was young, he gave up on the glasses. As a way to affirm that he, as a Dhamps, exist. That unlike what society does to him and others, he doesn't want to give them the satisifaction of feeling ashamed by his birth by trying to hide it as a mean to survive. He wants to be acknowledged.
So his relationship with Vanitas is in reality the one and only time he can feel that.
Noé however, openly points out how the refusal to name the Dhamps by their name is a refusal to see them as whom they are before they are Dhamps. That's the thing though.
Dante exposing himself as a Dhamps means that he wants to be seen as that. It's not going beyond the fact he is a Dhamp like Noé may do. It's the fact that he is both an individual with a name and dhamp.
While it's as discriminatory from Nox and Manet to refuse to call them by their name, reducing them as a group labeled with negative conotation, not acknowledging that they are Dhamps is going back to wearing glasses to hide the "ugly" truth that vampires ignores.
It's also worth poiting out that Noé says "Dante and the others" thus poiting at Dante in particular and that out of Johan and Riche, he always acted as the most hard boiled of the lot. So the fact that he in particular feels calls out by Noé's remark is clearly highlighted.
VNC as this theme of "name = true self" right ? On one side, refusing to call the Dhamps by their name is robbing them off their identity, but saying thigs such as "going beyond the fact that they are dhamps" is just as alienating for them. That is the kind of sentence you say about someone who committed a crime or a mistake and is making up for that or made a choice of life you disapprouve of, not people who are literaly born. The Dhamps cannot change that and they are stigmatized for that, being half-breed.
So the idea that Noé might be saying that lightly and not realizing the full extent of the situation would obviously upset Dante, as someone who doesn't want to be denied as who he is, a dhampir.
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Can I ask your top 10 fav fics ever (from any fandom, if you don't mind)?
Also, just curious, is there a story behind your name "cursedvibes "?
I called myself "cursedvibes" because I thought that's the kind of impression the fics I want to write give off. My first beta reader @kaitakushi agreed (hehe) and so it was decided. As for fanfics, I'm not really gonna rank them but more list them by fandom...
JJK
Complicity by SenZen_Travers
Mahito/Kenjaku and my favourite fic of their ship. The characterization is really good and this might sound silly, but I'm glad Kenjaku is allowed to bottom here for once (very rare with Kenjaku ships in general unfortunately...)
King's Ascent by Acromos
Unfinished, but best Sukuna/Uraume fic I've ever read. Uraume is asexual and nonbinary. Love the world building and general prose here. Most of the chapters are focused on how the two grew up and they only really meet in the last one, but it's still incredibly good.
CSM
Well Prepared by Gay_as_fuck
Fic about Santa Claus and Tolka, his feelings for her and how she used him and gradually turned him into a weapon. There are only two fanfics about Santa Claus on AO3, but I'm glad this is one of them, it has exactly what I'm looking for. It's sweet, but also eerily creepy.
Houseki no Kuni
Shards of the Two of Us by undeadrabbit
Technically Kongo/Phos, but their love is platonic. Absolutely wonderful, kind of like someone wrote down all my thoughts about what happened between scenes or you got some additional canon material. Very heartbreaking to see them slowly drift apart and hurting themselves and each other despite still caring about the other.
Naruto
xenograft by Misfit_McCoward
AU where Sakura becomes Orochimaru's student while he's in Konoha and they do lots of experimentation together, on humans and animals alike. I like how Sakura slowly gets sucked in deeper in Orochimaru's machinations and loses any moral qualms she would otherwise have about the research they are doing, going so far as to compromise her own health for it. Just the sort of Mad Scientist story I like.
Be It Ever So Humble by Orochimartyr (ffnet)
A civilian enters one of Orochimaru's abandoned bases and inspects what has been left behind. I love stories that show the horror we are often familiar with in a story from the perspective from an outsider, especially if it involves the discovery of medical malpractice. There's a creeping sort of terror as we discover with this person what happened and piece together what horrible acts have been committed here. It actually really influenced my writing and was what I always aspired to write as well.
JJBA
can you tell that I like the Pillar Men?
I'll Follow You by Opus_Love
A Kars and Pillar Men origin story with Fix-It elements to it, since this is the 37th version of Kars we follow and this time he has the chance to make things right and not lose everything only to be cast into space. I especially love the slow development of Esidisi and Kars relationship and the little tidbits of information we get about the society they originated from.
We turn that old wheel round again by dratinigirl
AU where Kars lands on Earth again after being shot into space, but it's present day and Esidisi has been incarnated as a regular human, which gives Kars quite the culture shock. Very sweet, a bit angsty, but all ends well.
Youth, Man, and Father by dratinigirl
Another Pillar Men origin story. What can I say, I love the whole culture and society people come up with and I'm a sucker for EsiKars slowburn.
Monster
Five Roads Home by Lindra (ffnet)
Post-canon. Dieter and Johan bond over the child abuse they suffered and how it affects them even now. Johan is being cagey of course, but still more friendly than during canon events. It feels in-character though. Also found it nice to see Johan living as a woman now, but removed from the identity of "Anna".
#order of fandoms doesn't mean anything either it's just how I have my bookmarks organized#asks#jujutsu kaisen#chainsaw man#houseki no kuni#naruto#jjba#naoki urusawa's monster
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Another Monster Post!!
(SPOILER ALERT‼️)
Is anyone else kinda desperate to know what became of Christof Sievernich? I know he’s a royal skid mark of a human being, but like with Roberto and to an extent Johan, the guy can’t actually help it! Seriously what the hell did they actually do to the boys at 511 Kinderheim?!! Anyway I found him to be an interesting side character. While he probably thinks of himself as being on the same level as Johan (although why anyone would want to be him is a mystery to me as Johan doesn’t actually like being Johan!) but it’s obvious that he doesn’t have Johan’s composure or self control. It’s also interesting to me that he’s somebody’s father! Will he ever get to meet his child and what will he or she think of him considering that he had their mother killed? There’s just so much material there that I can’t help but feel cheated that we don’t know! Now that everyone including the media knows about what went down Johan or "J" as he’s been called (Mistah J 🃏🤡), surely Christof's name must have come up? Also what is his life like now that Eva shot his ear off??? I can’t help but imagine him having grown his hair longer to cover his missing ear/scarred ear, but that’s just me🤷🏼♀️ If anyone has any info on this please let me know🙏
#naoki urasawa#monster anime#monster anime characters#Christof sievernich#another monster#spoiler alert
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I would love to hear Johan's elaborate backstory
Bestie oh my god you do not know what you’ve just asked of me.
So Johan is a third year right? Friends with August, Vincent and Nils. He must be rich as fuck. But then we run into this thing where it’s like: why didn’t he buy the fancy turtleneck for the rowing competition? Everyone else on the team except Simon has one, so why doesn’t Johan have one?
So maybe he isn’t rich. But that doesn’t make sense either because why would Vincent and Nils be friends with him if he wasn’t? If he was there on scholarship they’d make fun of him like they do with Simon.
But THEN we were like, wait, Simon isn’t on scholarship. He’s just a non-res. So maybe Johan is on scholarship. He has a rowing scholarship. He was the first one to make the team on that run, so he’s obviously athletic. He’s at Hillerska on an athletic scholarship. The boys like him so much that they keep him around and someone paid for most of his trip to Seychelles.
I propose that he is Half-Way-Rich. One of his parents is probably still wealthy, went to Hillerska and that is why they wanted to send him there. The other parent isn’t rich and does not understand why Hillerska and all the fancy clothes are important, which is why they didn’t buy the rowing uniform. I’d say his mom is the rich one.
My proof? None. I have zero proof of any of this.
He got pulled into someone’s room before the ball. Probably Vincent’s. This then started a spiral of thinking. How close is he with the other boys?
Very close apparently. He sits next to Vincent at every meal. He’s seen talking in private with August on multiple occasions. And then it struck me like lightning:
Nils and Johan hookup arc.
They were First Year Boyfriends. Broke up in the summer between first and second year. Classic case of wrong person right time. It was all a secret of course. They remained friends. Johan is now a Nilcent shipper but keeps it to himself because he doesn’t want to ruin his friendships.
He absolutely knows about August and Sara. He has caught August making eyes at her too many times. He hasn’t said anything, but he knows other people know. I also wouldn’t be surprised if he’s heard the whisperings of Wilmon. Like if anyone knows about the episode 5 hookup, it’s Johan. He’s always in the background.
You cannot escape Johan. He sees everything and everyone. I have adopted him as my new son.
Johan, the pansexual, half-way-rich, no lines extra who has had a personal conversation with more than half of the main cast.
Johan.
#young royals#unhinged zee hours#johan young royals#< his name is not actually johan that’s just what i call him#I’m fully delusional but let me be
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Infidel | Johan Liebert x Reader
Chapter 5
“And then I told the little fucker to get off my back ! And now here we are !” He paces back and forth behind the worn sofa before finally taking a seat.
“I mean can you believe that ?!” He scoffs.
“No I can not.” You mutter, eyeing the man up and down. Mister you can’t bother learning his name. Middle aged yet looks way older than he actually is, overweight, low income and quite literally has nothing better to do then bullshit.
But that’s was just your little analysis after meeting the odd man just half an hour prior. Yes, your father had warned you that you would be speaking to a weird man.
His colleges snickered and howled when finding out you would be meeting with the man. With his little sympathy he informed you to take what the man says with a pince of salt.
Apparently the man you now regretfully meeting had a reputation in the pass for harassing anyone who would listen and deal with his so called “incidents”.
He was a profound liar but it was clear that his loneliness was a cause of the issue.
However it did not excuse his behaviour. He was constantly harassing people in the detective department not budging until someone addressed it. Of course everyone knowing he made stories up just to gain attention, they didn’t address it.
Until they just threw it at you because of course to them, you could never handle. a serious case all by yourself.
So you’re left with the shit show.
“So what will be done about it ?” He genuinely asks. For once you force yourself to hold back a smirk because deep down you get the sense that this man isn’t exactly wanting to cause harm.
More so just wanting someone to listen to his problems. Even if those problems were completely made up.
“Leave it to me sir.” You nod. “This file you’ve presented me will be in safe hands. You can be sure of that.” You state, grabbing the file from the coffe table before standing. “Thank you once again !”
He clasps his pruny hands together.
“Since no one else would take the job-
With that you leave, making sure to slam the door in frustration at the reminder of you taking the job and wasting your time.
Stepping outside you don’t hesitate to walk straight over to the public street bin and dump the file inside. Good riddance.
Walking away ever so causally yet determined to go to your next dreaded destination.
“Back from your very serious conversation already !” A colleague of your father snickers as you enter through the doorway, the load of drunks sat around the table with drinks twice the size they are. “I need to speak to you.” You nod towards your father, completing disregarding the drinks sat around you.
“Can this wait some other time, daughter of mine ?” He sighs, downing his drink before its taken away. Resting your hands on the table, you lean forward, sure to glare down at t he man. Oh how he hates to feel like s being out in his place.
“No it cannot, father of mine.” You glare, and at look he finally obeys.
“What now has occurred ? Has the fool informed you of another heroic tell of his ?”
“That man is clearly showing signs of a undiagnosed mental illness but that is not my point.” You shake your head at your now amused father.
“Why are you sending me out on single jobs that clearly does not value a resolution ?” You furrow your brows.
“You’re a mere woman, you needn’t have the hassle of handling a tough job. Especially by your lonesome.” He smirks, thinking he has the upper hand.
“I’m quite use to be surrounded by drunken fools and yet I foolishly thought you couldn’t end up like their current state !” You sigh. It was almost as he he had sobered up in that instance.
His once glazed over eyes turned dark as he glared back at you.
“Do not forget yourself, daughter.” He steps closer but you hold your ground much to his dismay. “I easily gave this job to you that you clearly despise and now you complain ? I can easily take it away as quick as it was given.” At that your eyes glare at him.
“Perhaps you shouldn’t forget yourself either, father.”
#x reader#reader insert#anime and manga#johan#johan liebert x reader#yandere johan liebert x reader#yandere#monster anime#monster manga#dr tenma#anna liebert
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Thanks to @illarian-rambling for the tag
OC Quotes
Rules: write quotes based on the prompt for some OCs, then come up with a new prompt for the next people
My prompt is: a quote about a time you got hurt.
I think I can do this for the protagonists across all my WIP's (plus the two characters from a little side project I've started writing that I'll have some info up for as soon as I finish writing up the introduction post for it)
TW: mentions of disfigurement, allusions to chronic pain, broken bones, amputation, pain, torture, long term psychological and physical abuse, psychological torment, burns, and impalement.
Echoes of Shadows
Johan: Other than that crazy Rostovan motherfucker Maxim dropping the sun on me, I've actually lived a pretty injury free life. Of course, I still need to go in for healing almost every week, but that's just the perks of knowing you will bleed out from a paper cut long before your body manages to close the wound. I don't even think a paper cut can bleed faster than your body produces more blood, but you get my point.
Hans: *Silently shrugs off his coat and pulls off his shirt, revealing scars all over his chest and upper arms, and what look like marks from a whip on his back* This is all you're getting from me.
Anastasia: Gemeendaal, about... three months ago? Around that? Anyway, Johan ask I watch target, learn routine so he can figure out if she is suspect. I pray that Bozhe leave... particulularly toasty spot in hells for whoever installed roof tiles like shit. I step wrong, I fell three stories: break leg. Then there was chase, shootout. Long story, but story for other time.
Maire: Wha', this old thin'? *Hits her mechanical leg for emphasis* Tha' was wae back in th'war, dearie. One o' our guys (Wha' was 'is name...? Jako, A' think) took a bullet while coverin' our retreat. Bein' th'medic, A ran out tae get 'im. Had 'im on mah shoulders an' everythin', runnin' back tae safety with gunfire, explosions, fire,- utter bedlam 'round me. Fifteen measures from our perimeter, A fell. A didnae e'en know wha' had happened at first, hell, A thought A'd tripped and was actually just annoyed. Well imagine mah shock when A looked down only tae see mah left leg about three meters back, cleanly severed by some Bioworker who'd probably been watchin' me through a rifle scope and wanted tae lure our people with me as bait.
Sasha: People always think it must be so nice to be a high order mage, to have that kind of power at your finger tips. "Must be nice to not need fire to boil a kettle", "I wish I could constantly keep myself cool in the summer", "Wow, it must be so fun to sculpt images out of fire," - well guess what else I can do, Svetlana- *points to the burn over her eye*-I can also burn my own bloody face off with just a stray thought, it's fucking terrifying to have this much power.
Children of the Stars
Adrian: When you're in combat, on the defending side of a full scale planetary invasion, sacrifices must be made. No matter how small the payoff, they are cumulative victories. The ship I was on was commandeered by Tyrus drop forces, so I rigged one of their ammo packs to explode and take down the ship. Unfortunately for those Xenos fucks: I survived having more than half my body vaporised. It's funny, really, they called me a hero for saving maybe two, three million lives with my actions. Meanwhile human casualties in that battle were counted in the billions. People are strange creatures.
Lyanni: Adrian had to shoot my arm off after calling an orbital strike on top of us. To be fair, it was stuck, probably crushed well beyond the capability of anything to even mend it, but it still hurt like a bitch. I don't hold it against him though, it was my arm or my life, and given the pressure he was under, I think he made the best choice.
Wilhelm: The Crimson Dawn- for all their talk of being pro-human and believing us to be the rightful masters of the stars- seem to have a very specific and exclusionist policy of what constitutes as human. Clones? Well, we're just faulty hardware and they hated us for being created by them, as if our minor imperfections from their tampering with our progenitor's genetic makeup were some grave offense on our part. We were beaten, hacked at, burnt, spit on, and oftentimes killed over the most minor grievances or demented pleasures, and we were expected to take it all with a smile because our creators had deigned to even give us the time of day. Being the only one who showed enough competency to become a commander, to be put in the limelight and earn Overseer Yalena's favour meant that I often got the worst of it. God knows how much I sometimes wished I'd been one of the rejects, the ones fit for nothing better than immediate recycling. Though, having met Lyanni and Adrian... I think it may actually be worth it to have my life after all.
The Tempest Prince
Jason: I mean, I've been struck by lightning... multiple times. it never hurts any less but my god, the rush of power that follows might actually be addictive.
Helga: Demihumans, like the beasts, are functionally immortal as long as our head remains on our shoulders and our heart is undamaged. And as a hunter, that has been put to the test time and time again in several very interesting ways, but the one that stands out the most was getting run through with a lamp post of all things. Of course it hurt like hell, but you get used to tuning out pain after a while. If anything, I was moreso flabbergasted by the fucking audacity of this bitch.
Alex: Varus, that swamp-nethered moerkont son of a motherfucking who- ...calm yourself, Alex... if you've ever wondered why I'm covered in so many rune shaped burn scars: the Rogues tried to turn me into their aberrants a long time. Turns out, the blood of a Great One and their corruption runes do not mix. Varus- may even the void torture his thrice damned soul- found the pain it caused me... amusing. You can piece together the rest by yourself.
11 Past Midnight
Kat: Where do I start? I've burnt my hands on a running engine, had my ribs broken by a Pulse-spear, damn near lost my arm to Kamchatka's front door of all things... What else? Oh yeah, and Artur broke my nose one time. I guess there was also that knockoff thunderdome back in Magadan where I got stabbed with a barbed wire spear of all things, and the countless times I've been shot or thrown out of a window. Really, take your pick moi druz'ya, my scars are my trophies.
Artur: Turns out, these people see their 'mutants' the way their ancestors saw Unicorns and the like. I was captured one time, and I don't think it even took an hour before two of my four arms had been cut off and sewn into some warlord's armor as a good luck charm, and lemme tell ya, seeing a part of your own body warn as a godsdamned trinket fucks with your head very badly.
Open tag for whomever wants it, and your prompt is: a quote about your favourite person
#writeblr#writing#fiction#wip#ya fiction#sci fi#echoes of shadows#11 past midnight#children of the stars#The tempest prince#oc quote tag#writer tag
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Alien Alien: Encephalitic×Lullaby
The Prince of Orange is infected with a strange virus never before seen in the Netherlands. Supposedly it will kill him, they say it all the time, but when you hear that this or that or the other thing will kill your Prince...well, Bentinck's patience is stretched a little thin.
I would post this on AO3 but I don't have a proper reference post yet, so I think people who find it will just be very confused. It'll be there eventually, maybe?
CW: illness, religion, attempted murder, cannibalism, violence, period-typical homophobia, sexual tension involving insects, mentions of drool, implied/referenced unreality.
Story under cut, please enjoy :)
The Defender of the Faith was but one of the species of insects that dominated the Netherlands; though they had been chosen by God to far outrun the intelligence and advancements of the other, insentient beasts, they still found themselves hunted on their own land as the prey of larger beings.
Their Prince could chase off a hungry spider with a few swipes, drive a sword through a frog’s eye, in no small part due to Johan de Witt’s mentoring of the little spiderling— but good luck getting the Prince to admit that. Yet it was not in one of these oversized monsters that William found his match.
They said it was something like rabies, caused by a virus that had somehow survived countless journeys through galaxies and many, many species. Hans William Bentinck shamefully knew very little about any of those illnesses; even his database found almost nothing. He only figured out that it could kill his Prince when he first came across the symptoms.
In that moment, despite William’s head being held up by a few pillows, his breathing was still labored, wheezing, his tail lashing furiously under the blankets as Bentinck approached. His lips were damp as he ran his tongue over them, again and again with an anxious fervor.
“Your Highness,” Bentinck greeted him with a dip of his head. So-called emotions had been coded into him long before, and yet he still couldn’t name many of the ones that came to him, such as this one he felt currently as he stared down at William.
“Hans,” the Prince managed. “What- what are you doing—?”
“Did you think I was going to leave you alone here?” Bentinck asked. He knelt beside the bed, reaching a hand out towards William’s head. “You know I am immune to illness, so why shouldn’t I come see you?”
William flicked his antennae back and snapped his jaws at Bentinck’s hand. Bentinck drew his hand back just in time, buzzing with irritation.
“Please don’t do that.”
William buzzed as well, his gaze drifting to the ceiling. His smaller eyes were screwed shut, as if the room was much too bright for all of them at the same time, even with the dim neon lamps flickering from the walls and floor.
“They tell me you cannot drink,” Bentinck went on. “So I wanted to try because I hear you keep trying to bite everyone.”
Another buzz from William.
“I think there are more civil ways of telling someone you don’t like something,” said Bentinck. “I think you can shake your head and just hide.”
William’s eyes widened with outrage, and he turned to Bentinck, trying to sit up. “No- no more hiding—!” He broke off with a fierce cough, falling back down with a shudder running through his body, and Bentinck hurriedly pulled the blanket back over him.
“Very well, you don’t have to,” he said. “But you don’t have to bite, either. You’ll get other people sick, William.”
William said nothing. His tail kept lashing in its erratic manner, and Bentinck realized then that he wasn’t doing it willingly. It swung before him like a noose, the spikes on it shaking and producing a rattling sound like a serpent’s tail.
Actually, he’d never heard a rattlesnake. He’d never even seen one, but he knew the sound as sure as he knew his own name. The name that William had chosen for him. So he decided that the snake sounded like William and not the other way around.
“Well, where is the water?” Bentinck glanced to the side, and William hissed, shaking his head rapidly.
“You have to drink something.” The android stood up and hesitated as he took the bowl of water from beside the bed. He could see the light of his eyes reflected right back at him.
Don’t spill it. His fans whirred faster for a moment, and then he turned to William, holding the bowl up to his lips.
William’s eyes widened, and he batted his claws out with another hiss, his tail slapping Bentinck in the legs. Bentinck pulled the bowl away with a sigh.
“Why don’t you want it? You need it.” He lifted William’s head in his free hand before quickly pulling his hand back with a shocked buzz. “Oh, look at how you are drooling!”
William opened his mouth, and Bentinck could see the saliva drip down from his deadly canines. He shook his head in disbelief.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” he murmured. “Please, William, could you at least try?” He held the bowl out again, and this time William sank his teeth into Bentinck’s arm.
“Oh, um, ow, I think?” There was no pain from that, but he could feel the saliva begin to dampen his sleeve, too warm and too heavy. He shuddered, setting the bowl down before gently prying William’s jaws off of him.
William lay back, wheezing once more. “I am sorry,” he whispered.
“It’s...no problem.” Bentinck lifted his arm and realized there were tiny tears in the fabric where William’s teeth had buried themselves, the infected saliva aside. That would be a problem; not for him, but for all the Defenders he spoke to on the daily. The fingers he had used to pull William off of him, too, had the saliva on them, slipping deep into the openings where they bent.
“Don’t bite anyone else,” he said firmly. “Please.”
So William would not drink. He would only keep biting, Bentinck knew, and by experience he also knew that William’s bite force was possibly one of the strongest in the galaxy. Consequently he suggested to even the physicians that maybe they should keep their distance unless Bentinck was there.
He spent the rest of the night out under the waving flowers, blocking out the light of the moons, far from any Defender. On occasion he would blink to increase the brightness of his eyes as he paced in front of a stream.
Just wash your hands, he told himself. What are you waiting for?
He couldn’t do it, not ever and not now. He could almost understand William’s reactions to being given water, if only William would certainly die if he lapped up every last drop in the bowl.
But he’s not going to die. It would make him better.
He has to get better. He looked up to the stars and crouched down in front of the water. He held his hand out, cautiously dipping his fingers in for a second or two before pulling back again.
There. That’s enough, isn’t it? He buzzed as he examined the water dripping from his hand, then dried it on his coat before he had to stare at it any longer. Whoever heard of a wet robot? How unnatural.
No damage was done. All his systems were functioning properly and up to date.
He lifted his head, at that moment hearing a sort of miserable weeping behind him, sobs of a lady getting closer. He gasped and stood up, looking wildly about him before realizing that through the leaves he heard the steady crawling of an insect. A large one, too.
The animal dragged itself out into the light of Bentinck’s eyes. It was a green praying mantis, certainly a female judging from her size alone. He ducked back down to make himself smaller in front of her, and she looked at him, holding one of her forelegs up to her face. She was the one crying, though without any hint of tears.
“Oh, android, forgive me, I did not mean to interrupt- whatever you were doing,” she said in rather coarse Dutch, trying to speak through her gasps. “I- I had nowhere else to go.”
“It’s no problem,” Bentinck said softly. Somehow he wasn’t awfully shocked that a praying mantis should be speaking to him. Maybe they had always spoken to the Defender of the Faith, but none had ever listened. He could listen now.
“Thank you,” she said, a little quieter now. “Thank you.” She crawled around him, towards the water, and he sat down, looking curiously up at her. He had never dared to get closer to a mantis, de Witt had always forbidden it, but what could they do to him?
“Is something wrong?” he asked. “If I may know.”
“Oh, I suppose,” the mantis replied. “No one else will listen.”
“The Prince calls me a good listener.”
“The Prince himself?” She tilted her head to the side. “Well, may your android ruler reign long.”
“Oh, no, no, we- I do not- androids have no monarchy,” he said, shaking his head. “The very thought, robots ruling themselves! No, I work for the Defender of the Faith.”
“And who is that?”
“You have never seen them?” he said incredulously. “They’re magnificent Asterothiriots. They hunt the males of your kind sometimes.”
“Then they should come for my husband next!” the mantis cried then. “I cannot take it anymore! I- I cannot love him, much as I have tried! He will not listen, he will not even look at me.” Her voice shook, as if she would start crying all over again. “And I have been faithful.”
“Is that why you are here?” Bentinck asked.
“Yes, I just had to get away,” she said. She bowed low, burying her head in her forelegs. “He has no heart, though I suppose I should not have expected him to fit one in his tiny body.”
“Of course, he’s much smaller than you,” Bentinck murmured.
“He never speaks to me,” she went on. “And when he does, it’s only to be cruel. I feel as if I can never please him.”
“No man should treat his wife like that,” he said, narrowing his eyes. “What is he thinking he’ll get away with?”
“That’s just it, android.” She shook her head helplessly. “No one knows. He hides behind so much, but I just know- I know there is something there. There has to be.” She sighed. “I wish I knew how to find it.”
“Oh, trust me, it is very easy,” Bentinck said, reaching out to pat her on her leg. “You must look inside him.”
“Inside him?”
“Yes,” he said with a firm nod. “That is what you do with a robot. If something is not working right, you open him up and look inside. And then you repair him.”
“I must...repair him?” She sounded skeptical. “Why must it all be up to me?”
“Well, nothing of mine is up to me,” Bentinck said. “I would know love if I could. Maybe he knows nothing of it, either.”
“Love is something difficult to define. Maybe you do know it and you haven’t realized.”
“I- I don’t believe so,” he said, laughing a very metallic laugh.
“Why not? Already you have been much kinder to me than my husband has been in all the months I have known him.”
“Nothing is real within me.”
“It has a real effect on me,” she insisted. “And does that not make it real enough, Bentinck?”
He thought it very sweet of her to remember something he had never even told her. He shrugged his shoulders.
“To a girl like you, perhaps anyone looks kind,” he said. “Anyone that isn’t him.”
“I should have known,” she said, her voice hardening. “You and him— you crawl in the dirt like worms and never bother to stick your head out to the skies. Only when it rains. And by then it will be too late.”
Bentinck was silent. In the rain? He’d never come out in the rain.
“Very well, I will open him,” she said. “I will tell you how it goes. Thank you, Bentinck.”
“It’s been my pleasure,” he said. And he meant it.
The next morning, a dark, early morning, he was with William again, who had only worsened over the night. The bristles on his insect arms shook, and he bit down on his pillow constantly, his tail flicking from side to side in a manner that reminded Bentinck of when the Prince was younger. He loved to bite de Witt, constantly, and it was only acceptable because de Witt was the one who had taught him to bite in the first place. And William’s tail would always wag, like he found it very exciting.
Bentinck sat on the floor beside him and stroked William’s head, being very careful not to tangle the damp curls in his heavy fingers. William twitched once, twice, then sprang up and bit Bentinck’s hand.
“Please don’t do that,” the android tried, though he didn’t expect William to listen. “Do you want to try water now?”
William chewed on one of Bentinck’s fingers and shook his head.
“Please don’t do that,” Bentinck repeated. “Please don’t bite my hand.” He wanted to pull away, but it was as if the warmth trapped him there, the drool seeping into the open parts of his hand and wrist.
Please don’t...do that. He buzzed nervously and shook his head, unable to say more.
William looked up at him, and Bentinck took the chance to jerk his hand away, shaking off the excess saliva. He flexed his fingers to check if they still moved, but he had no time to run a system scan as William was snapping his jaws at him again.
“Alright, calm down,” Bentinck said, shuffling back. “What is it?”
William blinked, digging his claws into his blankets and bowing his head. Bentinck realized he was trembling.
“Do you think I will die?” he asked faintly.
“You?” Bentinck shook his head. “No.” He never once believed that of William. God was always watching the Defender of the Faith, for one reason or the other.
“They say it used to be fatal. Every time.” William paced on the bed, turning around to nip at his tail.
“Used to be. The chances of survival are higher now.”
“What makes you think that I will survive this?” he snapped. “Look at me, Hans!”
“I am looking.”
“I should have died,” William said. “I should have been dead long ago.”
“You know there’s a reason you’re still here,” Bentinck said. “Why do you think your life should have been cut short? You know God chose you. You cannot take that for granted.”
“You think this is a gift?” William wheezed out, his eyes widening. It gave him a wilder appearance, one Bentinck would have been afraid of coming across in battle. “Nothing is so simple.”
“Well, it has to be something. At the very least your reason to live.” Bentinck leaned in and cupped William’s face in his hand, carefully avoiding his lips. “Though I think you should live for more.”
“What do you live for, Hanni?” William leaned into the touch and closed his eyes, managing to purr.
“I—” Bentinck paused. “I live for you.”
“I told you you that you did not have to.”
“Then what else should I live for?” The robot shook his head. “I was created for one purpose.”
“So was I,” William retorted.
“Then maybe we can find more reasons to live later on,” Bentinck said. “Right now, you have to focus on getting better. You have to take what they give you, without biting.” He wagged his finger in William’s face, pulling it back just before William’s jaws closed around it. “What did I just say?!”
“I- I don’t know,” William said, backing away. He had always been small, but what he lacked in physical size, he made up for in determination, and, beyond that, spite. But Bentinck couldn’t see any of that in him now; he was just what he was, small.
Oh, William. He sighed and stood up, looking around for the bowl of the water that the physician had left for him.
“Are you not thirsty?” he asked.
“Very.” William glanced at him, lying back down and chewing on his pillow again.
“Then why...why do you refuse the water?”
William’s spikes shook warily at the word. “It scares me.”
“But nothing ever scared you,” Bentinck said. “And we are Dutch, William.”
“Do you fear water?”
“Well, I must. To survive.”
William said nothing, then sat up, turning to look at the bowl of water. Bentinck took it and cautiously held it out to him. Much to his surprise, William did not spring back nor try to bite this time. He shut his eyes and leaned forward, the spikes on his tail shaking rapidly.
He lapped at the water once, then jerked back, coughing and hacking up the few drops he had managed. Bentinck set the bowl aside and rubbed at William’s back.
“Closing your eyes was a good strategy,” he said.
“I- I want to try again,” William said. He shook himself and buried his face in his claws, this time nipping at the blankets.
“Very well,” Bentinck said. “I could try covering your eyes, if you’d like.”
William looked up and nodded. Bentinck brought his hand down on all six of William’s eyes, and the Prince fell still. Even his shaking stopped. The only sign of life from him was his heavy breath.
“Here,” Bentinck said, holding the bowl to William’s lips again. He stroked soothingly at the antennae as William sniffed the air warily and began to lap at the water with his tongue. Much of it he did not swallow, as he appeared to have great difficulty in doing so, coughing as he was, but Bentinck was pleased to see that he was drinking something now.
William made it clear he was done by throwing the hand off of him and biting into the wrist instead, shaking it furiously in his jaws. Bentinck buzzed and looked away to set the bowl down. The water and saliva from William’s mouth was sliding over him, into him, freezing and yet somehow burning him—
Do not say a thing. He covered the speaker on his chest and shut his eyes. Give him time.
Indeed, William did not let go for a long time, and Bentinck sat down on the floor, resting his head on the bed to watch his master slowly fall asleep. By then his hand and wrist felt nearly detached from him, and his fans were whirring faster than before. Somehow, despite the noise from the robot, William fell asleep, purring slightly.
“Very good,” Bentinck murmured, carefully opening William’s jaws and pulling his hand out. It was a little scratched up now, the fingers stiffer as he tested their movement. Or was he imagining it?
Oh, please don’t do that again. He stayed there for a moment as his fans slowed down. William snored softly away as if he had never bitten anyone at all. Bentinck wondered, for the first time, if he would wake up the next morning. He might have prayed, but surely God could not hear the words of an android.
As Bentinck had no reason to stay inside during the night, he made his way back through the plants once more. There were Defenders still out, watching him warily from their places on their flowers and webs. He knew they could smell the sickness on him.
He ignored them and kept walking until they fell behind him and he was sure he was alone. He had dried his hand, but not very well, so the saliva still clung to him and his parts. He hadn’t been imagining it— movement was definitely limited.
He didn’t want to wash his hand, but he remembered his First Law and decided to walk to the stream again, where smaller insects and bacteria swam. He threw off his coat, rolled up his sleeves, and shoved both of his hands into the water, scrubbing hard with his fingers.
He hadn’t realized water was so heavy. His movements were not as flexible, and he was relieved to finally pull his arms out. He found he could no longer make a fist with either hand, rather the fingers stopped short before reaching his palm and shook in place.
Reduced mobility. Well, that was going to be a problem.
“Are you doomed to die, android?”
“W-What?” Bentinck looked up, high above into the cattails, where a black spider hung from a small web. “Oh. No, not me. My master might be, though. I mean, I wouldn’t like to think so, but they always say he will. I never believed it.”
“Because you have no concept of death,” said the spider. “You think you live forever.”
“No, only until my plutonium core has reached its half-life,” Bentinck said. “And- and I know what death is.”
“What is it?”
“When life ends,” he said indignantly. “Everyone knows that.”
“I fear you have a dull understanding of the world,” the spider said. “Poor thing. Why is it all so simple to you?”
“I was created to understand the world around me as I see it,” Bentinck replied. “I know what life is as I know what ends it, and that is death.”
The spider barked out a laugh, a highly unnatural sound from its body. “Well, is that what you were seeking when you touched the water?”
“No, I wanted to get clean.”
“Are there not better ways?”
“No, I—” Bentinck paused. “Sometimes the Prince will wipe at my face and hands with bleach, but I never liked it.”
“I assume it is safer than this,” the spider said.
“I suppose, Mijnheer. But he is very ill right now, so I couldn’t ask,” said Bentinck. “And I cannot do it myself.”
“But you can- you think you can touch water?”
“Water I must have an aversion to,” he said. “That is part of my Third Law; I must protect myself from damage. But I can disobey it if it comes in conflict with my First Law, part of which is to stop harm from coming to biological beings. It is not a specifically coded restriction like avoiding dangerous chemicals is.”
“What odd programmers you must have had,” the spider said.
“My mother did very well,” Bentinck protested. “It is for the safety of the Prince and everyone else.”
“You care so much for the safety of your master,” the spider said thoughtfully, raising a leg to his face. “The Prince, is he? Look here upon my web, android, and see all the harm that would have come to your beloved Prince had I not caught it before.”
Bentinck narrowed his eyes. There were flies and mosquitoes tangled in the web, even a bee near the center. All creatures potentially dangerous to Defenders, but nothing William had never fought off.
“Those are just your meals,” he said.
“Ah, ah, ah, Bentinck,” the spider said, shaking his head. “They told me themselves that they were all plotting here, amongst the cattails. They said that they were coming for your Prince, that they would kill him and bring about the rule of the queen bee, who ruled long before he did and will rule for centuries after.”
“The queen bee?” Bentinck buzzed in disbelief. “I have never heard of such a thing.”
“She is a Catholic,” the spider said. “All bees are.”
“Truly?”
“I have met many bees myself. All follow the same God.” He kicked a leg out towards the dead bee in the center of the web. “Including this one.”
“Then why do they produce honey for a Protestant planet?” Bentinck asked.
“Because they had no choice. It was either work for the Defenders, swear allegiance to the Prince...” The spider tilted his head to the side. “Or die.”
“No one ever told me that,” Bentinck said ruefully. He was always sort of offended to hear new information; he was supposed to know everything!
“Why would they?” said the spider. “You would think it unfair.”
“I do not.”
“You don’t?”
“No.”
“I see.” The spider ducked his head. “You are a very faithful robot, Bentinck. And yet for all your loyalty, it was I who caught these traitors. Not you.”
“You cannot call them traitors if they never had an allegiance to us,” Bentinck said. “They were just a bunch of angry insects.” He stepped forward, precariously closer to the edge of the stream. “And you took care of them, yes? So there is no more problem.”
“Of course, I will be expecting a reward,” the spider said. “I saved the Prince’s life.”
“He could have fought them off himself. He did not need you.”
“Never underestimate the cunning of the queen bee,” the spider went on. “Besides, these ones may be dead, but there are still traitors within your web.”
“You cannot be serious,” Bentinck scoffed. “The Prince knows who he employs. He can get within their heads. He knows where every Defender is at every time.”
“But you said he is ill, yes?” The spider leaned in, crawling onto one of the cattails. “He has no mind for that now. There are Defenders in your midst who would kill for the queen.”
“And- and your prey told you this?”
“I injected them with my venom,” the spider said, “and then they told me everything. They were going to assassinate the Prince, but should they fail, it would be up to their Defender allies.”
“Traitors.” Bentinck’s fans whirred in fury.
“Yes.”
“Who are these men?” the robot demanded. “If you tell me, I will make sure you are rewarded.”
“I do not share such things with the Prince’s little android,” the spider said. “Bring him here, up to my web. I do not mind his illness; he cannot infect me with it.”
“But he may be too weak,” Bentinck said. “Can you not come with me instead?”
“No, it must be here. In my web, it is safe. Safer than any other place in the Netherlands.”
“Safe?”
“Very, very safe. I will protect him. He is my Prince as much as he is yours.” The spider crawled upwards again. “In fact, you must come see how safe it is.”
“What- up there?” A spiderweb had never held Bentinck before.
“Yes.” The spider tilted its abdomen towards him, shooting down a thread of silk. Bentinck lifted his hand to catch it, but as his hand could not close around it, he felt it slip through his fingers, getting caught there.
“Oh, it’s...very sticky,” he said. “And a little thicker than what we— than what the Defenders produce.”
“I do take pride in it,” the spider said. “Nothing escapes my web, Bentinck. Now come up here, come see it.”
“Shall I climb the plant—?”
“Yes, I will pull you up.”
Bentinck brought the silk up to his mouth and clamped his jaws around it. It was a better hold than the one he could take with his stiff hands. Instead, he climbed up the cattail with them, which bent slightly under his weight, but was surprisingly strong enough to hold him as he made his way up to the web.
The spider, too, was strong, helping him up and moving back onto his web as Bentinck got closer. He pulled Bentinck onto the web, and the android lay back on it, staring up at the sky. He was closer to the stars.
“You have a nice view up here,” he said. He looked down and realized he still had the silk in his mouth. He tried to lift a hand to pull it out, but it was stuck to the silk he lay on. “Oh, I- I am sorry—”
The spider stared at him. “What did I say, Bentinck? Nothing escapes my web.” He severed the silk that still connected them with his fangs and began to crawl towards Bentinck. “You have nothing to apologize for, save perhaps to your master for betraying him.”
“What are you talking about?” It seemed to Bentinck that the more he struggled, the more the silk stuck to him.
“You will bring him to me,” the spider said, “so I can kill him.”
“No- no, I will not!” Bentinck buzzed in terror as the spider looped silk around his limbs, pulling his arms behind him. “Please don’t do that—!”
“The Prince is a shameful excuse for a ruler,” continued the spider calmly. “Peace will come only when the queen bee rules the universe, but you only know what you are told.”
“Nothing can kill William!” His arms having been tied back, he kicked out at the spider, who hissed and backed away. “And I certainly will not allow you to do so!”
“They all say that, until they get a taste of my venom,” the spider said. He shot silk out at Bentinck’s legs and pulled hard on it, pinning them back against the web.
I can’t move! He buzzed again like a helpless insect as the spider crawled up behind him.
“Your Prince was a mistake,” he said. With that, he dug his fangs into Bentinck’s neck, and Bentinck tossed his head back with a metallic shriek. The fangs had not pierced through his metal, but he felt the venom that they injected slip through the opening in his neck, leaking into the parts within his chest. It was like a snake in him.
“Mijnheer- please don’t— please—” He couldn’t even finish a sentence, breaking off with his miserable, broken buzzing. He was sounding more and more like static.
But the venom was still going, and when the spider at last stepped away, he felt it dripping through the openings in his legs and feet. The spider snapped some of the threads behind him, and he fell forward with a cry, towards the water. The silk had not let go, however, instead leaving him dangling upside down over the water.
Oh, my God! “Please don’t do that, please don’t do that, please don’t do that—!” He tried in vain to wrench his arms free from the silk. The venom ran back down to his face, trickling out his lips and eyes like tears.
“How are you still fighting?” the spider said curiously.
“I- I will see to it that you are never forgiven—!” Bentinck’s voice could hardly be heard through the rapid glitches; he did not know if it was caused by the fluid in his parts or simply his fear.
“Bring me the Prince and I will consider not letting you drown,” said the spider, “like you robots know how to do.”
“Caution: vision impaired,” came automatically from Bentinck’s speakers. Indeed, the venom falling from his eyes was pooling in his eyelids, blurring the sight of the water before him.
“Never,” he said of his own volition.
“Then you can die.” The spider snipped the remaining silk from his legs, and Bentinck shut his eyes and mouth, a bit like a Defender who held its breath.
The impact did not come from below, however, like he expected; rather it came from the side, powerful arms throwing him against another cattail. He landed a fly-length away from the stream, and he looked up to see what it was that had saved him.
It was the praying mantis from the other day, staring at him with her wide eyes. “Are you damaged?” she asked him, but Bentinck did not get to answer as the spider jumped from his web and landed in front of him.
“You think you can get someone else to protect you?” he snarled. “Just like the Prince thinks he is so safe. I will kill him, and the queen bee will return, and you will die like all unnatural children do—”
“That is enough from you!” The mantis fluttered her wings and carried herself over the stream. The spider looked up at her and hissed, batting his legs out at her, which she sliced off with a nimble swipe of her foreleg. She hooked her other leg beneath his head and ripped it off without much effort at all.
That there is death. Bentinck shuddered, unable to look away as she kicked the spider’s body away. She landed in front of him and leaned in.
“There, he cannot hurt you anymore,” she said. “Nor anyone else.”
“Did you know him?” Bentinck whispered. It was the only thing he could manage.
“No. But I saw enough.” With the same leg she had used to kill the spider, she tore the silk off of him, and he stretched. “How are you?”
He wiped away the venom from his eyes and lips. “Running system scan.” He paused, then buzzed with alarm. “Moderate moisture detected in critical systems. Mild disruption and impairment of mobility signals.”
“Is that a problem?” the praying mantis asked.
“Yes.” Bentinck nodded, trying to quiet his fans down. They whirred away at full speed, but it seemed like it took more energy out of him than usual. For once, he was exhausted.
“I do not want it fixed,” he said.
“Why not? Is it not akin to illness?” She prodded him in the shoulder and handed him his coat. “And it can make quick work of you, too.”
“I was created to be very- very resistant,” he said, slipping the coat on gratefully. “It’s no problem.”
“Should you sound like that?”
“Like what?”
“You sound a little muffled,” she said. “Muted. Even if you wanted to hide it, you couldn’t.”
“The Prince orders all repairs on me,” he said. “But he cannot notice anything now.”
“What about your Third Law?”
“You know about it?”
“Well, I must.”
Bentinck hummed thoughtfully. “I would hate to cause trouble.” Changing the subject, he asked, “How are things with your husband?”
“I did as you said,” she said, “but it only seems like he has spoken less and less to me. Truthfully, Bentinck, I cannot say if I fixed him at all.”
“It never goes right the first time,” he said. “There is usually a lot of trial-and-error involved in these sorts of things.” He winced. “Trust me, I know. It hurts very much.”
“For him?”
“For everybody involved. That was what my mother used to say, at least; supposedly I was very dangerous to create.” Bentinck shrugged. “I know very little about biological pain, though.”
“If he hurts, then he should tell me,” the praying mantis muttered. “I have tried to say— many times— what he does is hurt me. I tell him everything and yet I cannot tease a single word out of him.”
“Something has to work eventually.”
“I wish things were as simple as you saw them.” She sighed and waved her leg at him. “I must get back to him now. He would still like me at his side.” She helped him up and patted him on the head, accidentally tearing a few strands of the plastic wig out with her claw. “Be careful around spiders from now on.”
“I- I will,” Bentinck said, smoothing down his hair. “It’s one of the first things Defenders are taught.”
The mantis tilted her head to the side but said nothing more.
In the days following Bentinck realized he was trembling, which had never happened before save for a few times when he’d been shocked by the wires the technicians liked to shove in him. But this was something highly unnatural, and every movement, every step forward, felt like it took everything out of him.
Still, he was ordered by the doctors to stay with William, and he obeyed, even when the Prince’s jaws closed around his arms and made him want to vomit. There was a good, nice biological word; it made no sense to him, but it sounded like what he felt in the moment.
It was with this shaking, scratched metal that Bentinck was meant to bathe the filthy Prince with. They said he was getting better, but nobody knew if he was safe to approach yet, or truly how one could become infected at all, so they gave Bentinck some gloves and locked him in a room alone with William and a bathtub.
William immediately scurried to the door, his wide eyes fixed on the water in front of him. He had been able to drink more, but not yet without a great fight on his part.
Well, first of all, this is just too much. Bentinck shook his head and brought the switch down at the side of the door. There was a loud click heard from it, and then the two of them were in total darkness save for the light from Bentinck’s eyes. The light that was, he saw now, much dimmer than before.
“Is that better?” he asked.
William blinked and looked up, his pupils widening to cover much of his eye. He gave a slight nod. Under the spotlight of Bentinck’s eyes, his body fully exposed, the state he was in was all the more shameful— in particular his matted, tangled hair, almost resembling Bentinck’s own.
“Well, you certainly need the bath,” he said. “Come, William, get in.”
“Will it not— should it not hurt you?” William asked. He backed up against the wall, and Bentinck sat beside him.
“If it helps you, it cannot hurt me,” he said. “We can get this over with quickly. It doesn’t have to be so hard.”
“I- I cannot even look at it.” William turned away to nip at Bentinck’s finger, tearing the glove away, much to the android’s relief. “Oh, Hans...why are you shaking so much?”
“I don’t know,” Bentinck said honestly. He suspected it was the venom that had gotten into his parts, maybe that and something else, but it was all just his own theory.
“Are you afraid too?”
“Yes, very.”
“You don’t sound like it.” William bit into Bentinck’s wrist next, tapping his claws against his friend’s thigh.
“I have to sound calm for you,” Bentinck said.
William shook his head. Bentinck sighed, leaned his head back on the wall. Were they just going to sit here uselessly the whole time? The doctors at least wanted him to stop stinking of his own drool.
“Just take a look in, I promise it’s not so bad,” Bentinck said, leading William to the tub. They both peeked in, and then froze, buzzing warily as they stared at the water.
That spider nearly drowned me. He looked into his own eyes, batting at them once with his gloved hand, and as the water fearfully drew back, so did he.
“Just- just think about how nice it will be when it’s over,” he said.
“It will not have to be over if we don’t do anything.” William began to step away again, but Bentinck took his arm, pulling him back in.
“Maybe it will make your fever cool down,” he said. “My mother used to spray water on my core every time I heated up too much.”
“Water on...plutonium,” William said with a lazy flick of his antennae. “I see. And what am I?”
“You are the Prince of Orange, the hivemind ruler of the Defender of the Faith, William Henry—”
“I am all of those things,” William interrupted, “but not made of radioactive substances.”
“I would not be too certain. Your mother was definitely exposed to something before your birth.”
William coughed. “Hilarious. But I am no—” He broke off with another cough, and Bentinck rubbed at his back. “I’m not a- not a robot.”
“Lucky.”
“Unlucky.”
“So lucky.”
“Un-fucking-lucky.”
“How obscene.”
“I’ll cool down, Hans.”
“You have to do this first.” Bentinck held his hand out to William, who gave it the gentlest bite and wagged his tail in what was perhaps amusement. “Please? I want to see you recover.”
William drew back, glowering up at him. “You first.”
“Me? You- you want me to take a bath?”
“Just touch it some more. I want to see it is safe. I would like to- to convince myself.” William lifted his head, and Bentinck glanced uneasily at the water.
“Very well.” He tore off the remaining glove and braced himself before dipping his hands in the water. A dim, tantalizing feeling came over him, but it was by no means peaceful; in turn, it scared him how he wanted to fall in and let the water take him.
“Look how great it is,” he said, his voice blinking in and out in his speakers. “Look— come here, just look at it, William.”
“Is something wrong with you?” William asked, digging his claws into the ground.
“Never. Come here, William, you’re safe. See how safe I am—” He broke off with a buzz as William jumped into the water, splashing it all over his face and clothes.
Oh, no, no, no! Bentinck hurried to undress, and William bit into the side of the tub. Wet clothes were the closest thing to cold that Bentinck could feel.
“That was- that was very, very uncalled for, William,” he said once he was done, shaking himself off. “How are you doing in there?”
William bit down harder, the spikes on his tail shaking so quickly over the water that more of it was spilling out again. Bentinck pushed his tail under the water and stroked at William’s head, emitting a low, constant buzz like the one that Defender mothers used to soothe their children.
“You’re doing well,” he said, smoothing out William’s antennae. “See? If you can stay here, it means that you- you will survive, like you have survived everything else.”
William shut his eyes and let out a weak purr. He brought his insect arms out of the water and tapped them over Bentinck, as if he was attempting to crawl over him, but the rest of his body was still.
What is he doing? Bentinck winced when one came near his face. Kneeling down in front of William, still buzzing, he reached out for the soap, but his shaking hands only knocked the bar into the water. At the noise, William drew back a little.
“Oh- oh, forgive me.” Bentinck scratched William’s head between the antennae. “I have been...unstable as of late.”
“You have?” William opened one of his eyes. “And...why is that?”
“It could be anything.” It wasn’t the full truth, but it wasn’t exactly a lie, either.
Who knows what it was? He shrugged it off and tried to take the soap again, but it kept slipping on his sleek hands.
“Now that I hear it...” William sat up. “Something is wrong with your voice.”
“Nothing is wrong,” Bentinck insisted. “Nothing is wrong. Nothing is wrong.” His voice was being overtaken by glitches, his buzzing rising into high-pitched static. “This- this is nothing—”
William covered his ears. “Oh, whatever you say, just stop that noise!”
“Recognized.” Bentinck clamped his mouth shut, slowly bringing his buzz back to the low one William liked. As he did so, the light in one eye flickered, and when it came to again, he saw half of the world in black and white. Well, half of William, who was the world, anyway.
William started to crawl out of the tub, and Bentinck pushed him back in, more water landing on his face. His legs slipped out under him, and he fell forward, slamming his head against the water.
Oh, God, no! He brought his head back up with much effort; water had never been so heavy before. No, it wasn’t the water, he realized, it was all of his body, and he realized now why he had slipped.
My systems are not obeying me. He huffed and sat back, and William frantically jumped out of the tub and onto him, shaking the water and soap onto Bentinck’s face.
“Please don’t do that,” Bentinck said, pushing him off. He let out a frustrated sigh. “You are not going back in easily, are you?”
William narrowed his eyes and shook his head.
“Then that’s that, I suppose.”
Bentinck didn’t care where he found himself that night, he just wanted to get as far away from William as possible. When Defenders spoke of the stench of sickness, he thought he could almost smell it when he was by the Prince, but today it felt overpowering, like it followed him everywhere. He was not ill, though, certainly not— he could survive anything.
Anything except water! He glared at every Defender crossing his path, eventually just kicking out the wheels under his feet and skating past them. He was far less balanced than he usually was, though, and had to grab onto the surrounding plants to keep himself up.
He sat beside a pitcher plant and let out a relieved sigh as the light of the moons fell over him. The constant trembling of his body and the colorless vision of his eye, however, made it impossible to enjoy the moment.
Ugh! He turned his head abruptly to the side and slammed it against the pitcher plant. It didn’t hurt, but it was sudden, so sudden that as the plant wavered, it looked surprised as well.
“Very sorry,” Bentinck said hastily. “This is nothing like me, I swear. I fear that I am breaking, but I am afraid of making it better. I- I don’t know what else to do.”
He looked back down at the ground, only for a small, clever voice to come from the pitcher plant.
“You are breaking?” it asked.
Bentinck nodded. “Yes. Just a little.”
“Let me look at you.”
“You have no eyes...”
“What- of course I do! Who do you think is talking to you?” The plant leaned forward, and Bentinck shuffled back.
“The, uh, plant,” he said. “But I suppose plants don’t talk, do they?”
“No,” said the voice, laughing. “I am a moth trapped within the plant. If you can get me out, I can tell you what is wrong with you.”
“I know what’s wrong with me.”
“Then I can kiss it better.”
“You promise you really would?” Bentinck leaned in towards the plant, and the supposed moth laughed again.
“As to how effective it is, I cannot say,” it said. “But whatever helps you sleep better at night.”
“Robots do not sleep,” Bentinck sighed, blinking wistfully at the sky. “At least, I do not.”
“You must be run by nuclear energy,” the moth said.
“I- yes. How did you guess?”
“Those robots have no need to charge.”
“Oh.” Bentinck looked up at the plant. “How do I get you out of there?”
“I would tell you to rip through it, but then you would say that that is against your First Law,” answered the moth. “I would then say that I am a biological being, too, and that leaving me here would also go against your First Law. You would say that I am a prey animal of the Defenders, and you see my species hunted everyday, and I would tell you that I am no longer a prey animal if I can speak to you and the plant cannot. You cannot allow me to die alone here, and besides, it’s only one plant, so, Hansi, rip through it with your hands.”
“I think I may want to hear you speak forever,” Bentinck declared.
“I would return the compliment if you sounded any better!” the moth giggled. “Now, would you save my life?”
“Recognized.” Bentinck slammed his fingers through the plant, seeing the beautiful moth just barely managing to keep his body over the digestive liquid, gripping onto the slippery walls of the plant. “You haven’t been here for long, have you?”
“Long enough, my legs are weary.” The moth lifted one of its legs, and Bentinck pulled it out through the hole in the plant. The fur upon the moth was soft, and, he realized when it fell against him, delightful to press his nose to.
“Oh, my, thank you.” The moth shook out its wings. “What a horrifying situation.”
“It’s very good that I found you.” Bentinck sat beside it, running his hands through the white fur. “You can take a break here, if you would like.”
“I would like that very much.” The moth placed its head on Bentinck’s lap. “Why are you shaking so much? Are you ill?”
“Impossible, Mijnheer Moth.” Bentinck shook his head.
“Ah, one would think,” the moth sighed.
They fell silent, and Bentinck looked back towards the plant that he had torn through. It really was a shame; it was so pretty.
“I can see you want to say something,” the moth said.
“I do, yes,” Bentinck said. “Did you know that what captured you is a cobra lily? Very rare around this side of the Netherlands, you see. Every Defender is taught to keep away from these plants, but my master once was caught within one; he thought it had a very nice smell to it.”
“Did he escape?”
“He had to be rescued by his tutor at the time. Mijnheer de Witt, perhaps you’ve heard of him?”
The moth shook its head. “No, never.”
“The Defenders said he tasted a little like spider meat.” Bentinck laughed. “Well, that’s nothing to think about now. What was I saying? Right, cobra lilies! Very beautiful plants, and such skillful hunters, too. I read that you cannot see the sky from in there.”
“I could not,” the moth murmured.
“Ah, wonderful!” Bentinck clapped his hands once. “Very, very good. My master said the same thing. Ah, such clever little things. If they were not so regulated, I would care for one myself.” He glanced fondly back at the plant.
“If they make you happy, why not?”
“They pose a threat to Defender children.” Bentinck sighed. “I would hate to see a little one in such agonies. My master only narrowly escaped.”
“You think about everything and everyone,” the moth said, drawing back and staring at Bentinck with its great, black eyes. “If only my kind had half the kindness that you robots exhibit.”
“Well, you are a very kind moth,” Bentinck said. “Your species is thought to be very annoying around these parts.”
The moth chuckled. “And isn’t that the truth.” It crawled closer to Bentinck, its haustellum hovering over the android’s lips. “Do you want your kiss now?”
“Are you leaving so soon?” Bentinck asked, disappointed. “I was going to ask if you wanted to come back with me.”
“I must return to my own master. I’m sorry.” It pressed its head against Bentinck’s nose, staring right into his glowing eyes.
“You will come back?”
“I don’t know.”
“I want you to stay.” His voice broke off at the end. He didn’t know why he wanted the moth to stay; William would never let him keep it, and yet he suddenly couldn’t imagine a life without it. “Nobody else understands.”
“I am a moth, I really understand very little,” the moth said apologetically. “Here is your kiss.” It extended its haustellum out towards Bentinck, and Bentinck placed a tiny kiss on the tip, as gentle as he could. It improved none of his systems, only made his fans whir faster. But he welcomed it.
“Thank you,” he said. The moth bowed its head and flew away, leaving nothing but the rush of a dam nearby to fill the silence.
Just when you think it all might get better. Bentinck lay back on the grass and stared up into the stars. Nothing could hurt him here.
“Mr. Bentinck,” called a gentle, familiar voice. “Mr. Bentinck, is that you?”
“Oh, yes!” Bentinck sat up, turning around to see the praying mantis from days before crawling tentatively towards him. She looked as mournful as ever. As she approached, Bentinck took her foreleg. “What is it, madam?”
“It is very good that you are here, I needed someone like you,” she said, glancing to the side. “What have you been up to? I waited yesterday night and you never came.”
“Well, things have come up,” Bentinck said with an awkward buzz. “You will have to forgive that.”
“And I do.”
“What troubles you?”
“My husband, sir, it is always him!” She raised her voice, then, turning to the side and pacing about the android. “I have done what you told me to do. So many trials, or errors, or whatever you called them; none of it matters because he is impossible to get through!”
“You have opened him, you have tried to repair him?”
“Yes!” She brought one of her forelegs up to her face and began to cry. “Heaven forgive me, I was never made for this—! Oh, what must I do now?”
“Please don’t do that,” Bentinck said. “Cry, I mean. If you take me to your husband, maybe I can tell you what needs improvement. I cannot do it myself, but I can at least point you in the right direction.”
“He would listen to a man,” she said miserably.
“No, no, not at all that, no,” he reassured her. “I am no husband, but I know what the proper way to treat a woman is.” He held his hand out, and she took it in her leg. “Take me to him.
“Well, if we must,” she said. She led him through the mess of plants everywhere, twitching her antennae as she walked. “I- I must warn you, he is very cold with strangers, from what I have observed.”
“You must not be a stranger anymore.”
“If only...”
She stopped at an exceedingly small pond, what would probably have been a puddle to one of the larger frogs inhabiting the planet. It was covered in black, but he couldn’t tell if it was the reflection of the dark sky or algae, or just his malfunctioning vision.
“Here,” she said, “is where he last spoke to me.” She pushed the cattails aside and motioned for Bentinck to come closer.
He saw a far smaller mantis, indeed, lying beside the pond with its legs splayed out beside its body. The forelegs were still raised in their usual prayer, but the body never moved, and when Bentinck leaned in he saw that it was headless, and a black sort of blood flowed endlessly from it into the water.
“Madam,” he said, “did you consummate the marriage?”
“We did, but it was a very disappointing performance,” she said. “I don��t wish to talk about it.”
“Do you think it might be because you ate his head?”
“What- what are you saying?” She drew back in horror, and Bentinck motioned towards the body.
“I don’t know death very well,” he said, “but this is what it looks like to me.” It felt then that something was splitting apart in his chest, like his core was being torn in two. He thought it was a familiar pain, and maybe he could fall to his knees and weep because of it.
He was nothing to me. Why should I care? He stepped back, covering his mouth with a trembling hand.
“I told you he would not listen!” said the mantis.
“Madam, we must go,” he said, turning to her and taking her foreleg. “There is nothing for you here.”
“But- but my husband—”
“Your husband does not deserve you,” Bentinck snapped. “No one can speak to him now.”
“You said I could make him better!” The mantis was crying again, pushing him away with one sharp swipe from her leg. “Is there no hope, then? Have I- have I failed, Hans?”
“No,” he said, stumbling back over the body. “You were only doing what you had to.”
She stared at him as she wiped at her tears, though they still came, falling over the body of her husband. “What now?” she whispered.
“You can start by leaving.”
“And then?”
“Kill more men?” Bentinck shrugged. “I was never a praying mantis.”
“I am no murderer,” said the mantis. She dipped her head towards him. “I thank you for everything, Bentinck.”
“Recognized,” he said, though he didn’t know what he had done.
He watched her leave, pushing her way through the plants, and he was tempted to follow her, knowing very well that he would never see her again. But perhaps it was for the best.
Instead he glanced down at the body and kicked it, letting it fall into the pond. Looking at it was only making him feel worse— he recognized it as grief, as if he had just lost his own husband.
Or...wife. He buzzed as if he were scolding himself and left the water as it was.
Apparently it should have been a shock that William was recovering well by the next week, because everyone couldn’t get enough of it. But Bentinck already had. He had to admit, however, that it was a great relief to see William crawl out of his bed and hurriedly lap at the water as if he had never feared it at all. He truly was biological.
“How are you today?” Bentinck asked, observing William bat around at a fairyfly that had gotten into his room.
“I want to hunt again,” the Prince said. He snapped his jaws in the air, catching the fly and shaking it furiously in his teeth. He spat it out again with a disappointed flick of his tail. “You think I want to catch these pathetic things for the rest of my life?”
“It isn’t for the rest of your life, Will, it’s just while you recover,” Bentinck said with a sigh. “In the state you are in, even a cicada could knock you over.”
“It’s no worse than it ever was,” William mumbled.
Bentinck paused, narrowing his eyes at his master. There was some truth in that, he supposed; William was as pale and thin as ever, but in fact his eyes were brighter than they had been in the past few weeks. They still fluttered shut when the light of Bentinck’s own eyes flashed over him.
“Maybe not,” the android said, “but I could never risk it. Maybe a walk when less predators are active would be nice. And I must be with you,” he added.
William rolled his eyes, turning away. “I was ill, not a prisoner.”
“You are ill.”
“I am going to bite you again.”
“Please don’t do that—” Bentinck lifted his arm as William sprung at him, clinging onto it while batting his claws against his friend’s metal belly. But he was purring, his tail flicking from side to side excitedly, once again in the manner that he had done it when he was younger with de Witt. The purrs weren’t so bad, Bentinck had to say.
“It’s not so long now,” he said. “You will recover, and then you can go back to terrorizing hapless insects and other horrible creatures.”
“Like the heart-eaters.”
“Yes, very good, Your Highness. You are very, very fierce.”
William drew back, licking his lips. “I know. So I can handle a little walk.”
“Not until the physicians say you can.” Bentinck lifted William in his arms and placed him back on the bed. “I can bring in a few larger flies if you would like.”
William groaned, falling onto his pillow. He blinked, staring out the window listlessly, before his tail twitched suddenly and he sat back up again. “Oh, would you?”
Bentinck nodded.
“Then go, I want a crane fly.”
“Which one?”
“The biggest one you can find, now!” William sprung forward, snapping his jaws, and Bentinck hurried off.
Biggest one I can find? Does he expect me to kill it before or after I bring it to him? He shook his head as he walked, causing his vision to be covered in static for a moment. He covered the speaker on his chest before anyone had to hear the embarrassing warning again and walked faster, calling for the wheels on his feet. Perhaps he was imagining it, but it seemed that every Defender who looked at him this time did so with fear.
Is something wrong with me?
He dismissed the idea and kept going. William always found crane flies near the streams; maybe he would have the same luck. Just as long as he didn’t fall for the claims of a spider again.
He heard a curious buzzing up ahead, one much louder than anything he had ever heard from any insect in the Netherlands. He was tempted to turn back, but he decided that as long as he didn’t provoke whatever it was, he would be fine.
He looked up, trying to find what could possibly be making that noise, only for the wheel on his left foot to spring back inside him. Before he realized what had happened, he stumbled, and he fell hard on the grass, his arm failing to catch him. He landed on his face, his vision shaking as if something had knocked him on the head.
What on the Netherlands is this? He put away the other wheel and tried to push himself back up on his shaking arm. He couldn’t find the strength this time, however, and let himself fall again, staring out at what he found in front of him.
At least I got to the stream. Much to his disappointment, though, there were no crane flies around.
But he did find the source of the buzzing. Looking up, he saw a huge bee perched on a water lily, staring right at him with its head cocked to the side. From the size alone, he recognized her instantly as a queen, but a very peculiar one. The fur on her abdomen had a strange, cross-like marking running across the back instead of the usual stripes.
“Your Majesty,” he blurted, trying to sit up to kneel before her.
“Hans William Bentinck,” she said. “Do not move.” In her voice ran the unmistakable confidence of a monarch, and he obeyed, bowing his head.
“F-Forgive me.”
“Ah, there is nothing to forgive.” She flew over to him, landing at his side. “I have heard much about you.”
“An honor to be known by a being such as yourself.” Bentinck tried to back away, but the queen flung a leg over him.
“Is something wrong, what troubles you?” she asked.
“My whole body, I suppose.” He shuddered at the feeling of the leg and closed his eyes. “I must be looking for a crane fly for the Prince of Orange.”
“The Prince, you say?” He felt her lean in, the fur brushing the side of his face. “How is the boy?”
“Error: you do not have access to that information.”
“What are you—”
“Error: you do not have access to that information.”
He cried out when she slammed her leg against the side of his head, forcing him on his back. “Look up here,” she growled, “look at me. What is it that you are so afraid of, Bentinck?”
“I said that you do not have access to that information.” He glared up at her, though looked only at her wings; the black eyes were terrifying things. “I only serve a Protestant monarch.”
“So you do know about me.” She laughed. “You think you are so faithful, don’t you? You think your loyalty can never waver because you are an android. But let me tell you something, Bentinck; it only makes it easier for you to betray your precious master. I mean, look at how easily you fall apart!” She leaped onto him then, ripping through his waistcoat with a swipe of her leg. He buzzed in fury, shaking his head but unable to do much more than that. He couldn’t hurt her.
“Please don’t do that.” He lifted his head, and she forced it back down with a fierce shove from her mandibles. He let out another buzz, this time one of fear.
“You think he cares for you?”
“Please don’t do that.”
“You think he would be surprised if you turned your back on him? If you began to work for me instead?” She shook her head. “No one would be. You know no such thing as loyalty. God did not create you.”
“Please don’t do that.”
“You believe in Him,” she continued, “but He does not believe in you.”
“Please don’t do that—!” He kicked his legs out, and she drove her stinger into the opening that connected his thigh to his torso, tearing through his breeches. He tossed his head back and screamed as he felt the stinger sever the wires there, the venom squirting through finally taking any movement left on that limb.
“A shame about your strength,” she said. “It really could have saved your Prince from my vengeance.”
“Please don’t do that,” he pleaded. “Please don’t hurt him.”
“Nothing can stop me from what I have planned for that little monster,” she spat. “Not you, not him, and not all the armies in the galaxy.” She lifted her stinger and shoved it in the same place in the other thigh, achieving the same result there.
Bentinck bit back another buzz. “You- you can always go be Catholic somewhere else—”
“This is my kingdom!” She buried her mandibles into his hair and slammed his head back against the ground, again and again until the vision was gone from his eye where color had disappeared.
“Please don’t do that— caution: vision impaired— please don’t do that-” His voice was quickly becoming unrecognizable.
“Then fight,” she said, leaning in until the only thing he could see was her empty eyes, “if you think you can give me orders.”
“I- I don’t know what I did to you—”
“You ask as if working for the Prince isn’t the crime!” She drove her stinger into the speaker on his chest until she broke through. He felt the venom seep through him, burning up everything it touched, and he let himself fall limp, unable to speak coherently anymore. He knew he was still speaking, please don’t do that, but it sounded like nothing to him.
“Pathetic beast, always breaking, always whining,” she said. She pulled the stinger free, flying high above him, and the venom from her stinger fell to his face. It was disgusting. “I would kill you now, but I want to see William’s face when he sees me do it.”
Do not speak his name! Bentinck opened his mouth to tell her so, but before he could manage a sound she took his head in her legs and pushed it back into the water.
It was so quiet. So peaceful. He knew he should have been fighting it, but what was his Third Law compared to this? He was prepared to go, if he could hear nothing forever—
There was a screech from the surface, and then the weight was lifted off of him. The instinct to live returned to him. Using all the strength within him, he pulled himself out with a gasp, water leaking from his eyes and lips. He turned his head to the side to see where the queen had gone.
She had not gone willingly. There was the Prince, beautiful William, swiping at her face, hissing as he drove her back. He was many times smaller than she was, but she couldn’t manage to push him off.
“No one will touch my android!” he snarled.
“No!” Bentinck tried to call out, reaching out towards William. He wasn’t supposed to be out here! He had certainly never fought a queen before.
“You have brought him straight to me!” At last the queen bee threw him off, and Willaim landed with a huff on the ground. She lifted her head triumphantly, glancing at Bentinck. “Good boy.”
No, that was never—! He dragged himself forward with his arm, but was too unsteady to keep the motion. He let his head fall. Was this how William would die, with Bentinck watching on helplessly?
I was supposed to protect him. He wanted to cry, then realized that he was, the water from the stream still dripping slowly from his eyes.
William bared his teeth as he stood back up, the spikes on his tail shaking in warning. And Bentinck saw then that he would not die here. If he had survived illness in the past month, if he had defeated mantises, spiders, frogs, and liars, liars, liars, then a bee would never be anything at all.
“I am going to rip those beady little eyes out of your skull until there is nothing left to see heaven’s light,” the queen hissed.
William’s eyes flicked to black, and he sprung once more at her, clinging onto her abdomen with his claws as she flew up. She kicked at him with her legs, thrusting her stinger forward, but he held on from behind. She could land nothing on him. He crawled over her body, bringing her lower to the ground, and out of the plants bounded out more Defenders, old and young, hissing along with him at the queen.
It was undoubtedly his hivemind. Their black eyes matched his as they pounced on the queen, and they moved as if they had tails, carelessly unbalanced on top of her. William himself slipped off the side and bounced back, wheezing and circling the scene.
He needs me! Bentinck tried to call out to William, but it was much too low to be heard, and William never looked over at him. He seemed incredibly focused as he shifted his claws on the ground, as his Defenders shot silk from their wrists and tangled it around the queen’s legs. He tensed, then jumped back onto her, burying his claws into her wings. With the way her abdomen was moving, trapped within the silk, Bentinck guessed she was trying to sting him again.
William bit into her head and rolled sharply to the side, taking her with him. The rest of the Defenders stepped back, their eyes returning to normal, though wide with terror. These were not soldiers— they were merely the Defenders closest to the area, and thus could be anything. There were even a few children in the mix, hiding behind their mothers with nervous growls.
William shook the queen in his jaws, then threw her down below him, his jaws dripping with the hemolymph he had taken from her. It looked as if he was drooling again, but he licked the liquid away almost too gleefully.
“Kill me, then, but I will always return,” she spat at him. “And when I do, you will have more to lose.”
“Heaven take you, Your Majesty.” William bit into her antennae and tore her head from her body. Her legs still twitched under the silk as he jumped off of her, shaking himself and trying to catch his breath.
“A queen without a hive,” he huffed. “Now I have seen everything.” The Defenders backed away from him as he bounded towards his android. “Hans! How are you?”
“You- you need me—” Bentinck propped himself up on one arm as William curled his tail around him. He could only manage a broken whisper; anything louder than that would spook William with all its clicks and glitches.
“Shh, don’t speak,” William said. “I- I am very well—” He broke off when he started coughing, and Bentinck shook his head.
“You were not supposed to do this.”
“Then who else would, if I had not disobeyed you?” William smiled, leaning in to purr against Bentinck’s cheek. “My antennae couldn’t have sensed danger if I had been inside.”
“Enough, just kiss me.”
“I don’t need it—” He attempted to laugh, interrupted by another hacking cough, and Bentinck brought his head closer and kissed him. He prayed that the inhaler function in his throat still worked.
Out of all my systems, please, please, please.
William blinked, then backed away, his eyes wide. “No, Hans, I-” He took a deep, rasping breath, his tail twitching uncomfortably as he glanced at everyone around him.
Did it not work? Bentinck reached out, took William’s hand.
“I- I am sorry.”
“Hans, it isn’t—”
“She said she would come back.” Bentinck’s voice rose. It was like speaking through shattered glass.
William stared at him, still stepping away. “What are you talking about? Who?”
“The queen!”
William shook his head. “You are not well,” he breathed. Then, turning to his subjects, he said, “Help me- help me take him back—! Now!”
Did I say something wrong? It could have been anything, Bentinck thought.
“You are safe now, Hans, don’t speak anymore,” he heard William whisper on his blind side. His warm breath on Bentinck’s face was labored, but reassuring nonetheless. “Just- just close your eyes.”
He knew what that meant, but closed them anyway. He felt William reach his claws into his throat and shut him off. From there he could have been out for a few minutes or centuries upon centuries; he could never tell.
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Lookim ships:
So, I’ve been reading lookism lately… and I really have to talk about those ships. Once and never again. So lemme walk you through, yeah? I’ll try to keep my personal opinion out of it, this post will mainly just analyze and try to figure out the endgames :) so, let’s hit it:
The most straightforward seem Zack and Mira.
I mean- he worships the ground she walks on and has even changed for her. All we need for this ship to sail is Mira accepting her own feelings. And yea, Johan exists, but- he’s been too long away that it makes any sense for him to be with Mira in the endgame.
so my theory is: Mira and Zack are endgame. Proof: they babysitted together. If that isn’t foreshadowing.
Moving on to nr. Next: Vasco
I don’t have a whole lot of hints for him. He seems to want a relationship, but there’s no obvious partner(s). Popular among fans is Vasco x Jake, but in all honesty: I don’t see it happening. We have seen from neither of them any signs of any more but platonic feelings. Which is fine, they can live in your head (if you want them to) and we canonically just have an amazing friendship! Otherwise there’s this boy who turned out to be a girl (I think her name is leonn?) which kind of came random and idk if kicking someones split leg is the right way to start a relationship, but you go girl, as long as you make our boi Vasco happy :)
theory: actually, I might go with her for my endgame guess. But, for Vasco, there’s still a lot of room, in my opinion, we might haven’t even met his endgame yet. Or it just wasn’t hinted till now. Ig only time will tell ;)
but, in truth, his endgame are blond dogs. We all know it. Just admit.
And, I suppose now I have to talk about Daniel. Oh Danny. I was rarely ever that confused with someone’s love affairs. So I have to sort this out a little. I think we have 3 competitors in total.
Zoe
Cristal
and Jay
Now , if you’re like: What, Jay, now that came out of nowhere- yea it did- if you were blind! There have been more than a couple of occasions where he acted differently than all of Daniels other friends. If you still don’t believe me: reread. You’ll find hints.
Now, to Daniels ships, I have to say: ANYTHING but Crystal. This is not supposed to be offensive and has nothing to do with bad chemistry, it’s just- too easy. The double body boy x double body girl? Too obvious. It’s like saying there’s a girl who’s supposed to kill Voldemort and she and Harry fall in love. I- I don’t think the creator is going to push that ship. But that’s only my guess.
Honestly, I still hope for Crystal and Eli, but again, just me. Can’t judge if they have an endgame shot, but if it isn’t Daniel and Crystal, they might.
Since the creator has given so much screen and development to Zoe, she has a real shot now. And, really, she went from a total prick to an amazing character. So yeah, that’s most people’s endgame guess. And I see why. It makes sense for Daniel to be with her, esp for his smaller form (though I’m still bothered that she calls him piggy) . For tall Daniel, I don’t see that much sense in it, but if we assume that they stay one person, it’ll automatically make sense as well. So yeah, it’s a cute ship and a good bet. Honestly, I’m still a bit sus about it bc I didn’t know what to think of Zoe for long, but after the thing with Logan, I’m pretty sure she’s good and, up to now, probably the most likely endgame for daniel.
also, who else would she end up with? There’s like no obvious alternative for her so that might hint on a serious ship.
And now last but not least, let’s talk about jay. Secret ninja, always there though never noticed and ready to help daniel out of any problem that might appear. It’s by far the most popular ship amongst fans and by a long shot the most mysterious. Like seriously, I can’t tell why the author included it. I mean, at this point I’d call it canon that jay has a thing for daniel, but you can’t tell the same from danny. Though honestly, he’s shown so less romantic interest in anyone that we must see the possibility of him ending alone. But that doesn’t have to mean anything. Maybe the author just wants to make us uncertain. (Which they managed fabulously, at least with me.) BC for janiel there’s a lot to unpack, I might make another post just for them, there’s no way I can say all that now. So here I’ll just sum it up a bit. Most people don’t believe it’ll happen. They say it’s gay bait, tried representation, and that Daniel isn’t gay. And tbh- I don’t understand all these points. I mean yeah, he did get red when he accidentally looked in Zoe’s décolleté, but that doesn’t necessarily say that he’s not interested in boys at all( though I agree, he’s very likely not (only) gay) . If you know why everybody says they’re not likely to happen, pls tell me.
so, the theory: they might have a shot, but it’s the one where we really can’t be certain of, which is really sad, bc drama and action genre could use a little more representation. But, as always: time will tell. And also, another reason why they might be an actual ship: jay has (like zoe) no obvious alternative.
So, that’s as far as I can think. Please feel free to ask anything or explain things I didn’t understand
#lookism#webtoon#netflix#daniel#jay#zoe#cristal#eli#zack#mira#lookism anime#lookism ships#ships#unpacking#damm I’m in too deep#jay hong#daniel park#zack lee#park hyungseok#mira kim#park haneul#Cristal choi#vasco#brasco#vasco x puppies#daniel x crystal#eli x cristal#jay x daniel#zack x mira#hong jaeyeol
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